Starting January, 2013, we will be reviewing local business websites and areas that they could easily improve upon with their SEO. These reviews are unsolicited, completely our opinion in terms of where they can improve their SEO, and DO NOT contain any personal review or reflection of the business being described. We are hoping that through these reviews, we can raise awareness of the importance for local businesses to market themselves online, and give some tips directly to the businesses we review for how they can go about doing that.
Today, we’re reviewing a local French restaurant called Coquette Café.
Coquette Café is located at 316 N. Milwaukee St., Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202. As previously mentioned, they are a restaurant that serves French cuisine. They are moderately priced, they are an established business, they are seemingly well liked by the general public, and they have a fairly good rating within Google+ Local (24 / 30) with over 108 reviews / rating (you can view their Google+ Local page at: https://plus.google.com/108054133551706427190/about?hl=en).
This is important because they’re obviously doing a lot of stuff right already. What I’m hoping to do with our review series, is provide a little insight for the organizations we cover and give them a bit of direction for how they can really “kill it” in terms of taking their online activities with SEO, website, social, etc. to the next level.
#1. New Website based on WordPress
Just as a great home is built on a great foundation, so must a website be to be truly search engine / user optimized. Currently, the website is built on the “Homestead” website builder platform provided by Intuit. Many websites using Homestead site builder are typically Intuit (a.k.a. Quickbooks) customer and thus use it because it’s a built in cost, and thus “affordable”. Ultimately though, these platforms can be very restrictive in terms of scalability, ease of content display, and most importantly with this post, SEO.
Here’s the current website:
So, first things first, they should invest in moving their website away from this “built in” service, and build a WordPress-based website. There are a few reasons why we would recommend WordPress as the platform for Coquette:
- Super easy to manage and maintain content, add new pages, update existing pages
- Great opportunities for posting specials, notices, etc.
- Easy to add and manage media, such as high-res imagery, video, and more
- Very SEO friendly out-of-the-box, with plugins to help (and sometimes hurt)
- Low-cost in terms of the platform - you only pay for what it takes to design / develop the website
- Would allow for easy entrance to the mobile world (via responsive design or dedicated mobile theme)
- Greater potential to build out new features or functionalities in the future
There are plenty of other reasons why WordPress is a fantastic platform and one that would be perfectly suited for Coquette, but we don’t need to get into that now. The point is that by using an SEO friendly website that is easy to update and maintain, whether by Coquette or a hired digital marketing partner, the ability for Coquette to win big in search results and generate a higher volume of reservations & foot traffic will be much bigger.
#2. Keyword Optimization & Content Creation
Coquette has the world in front of them in terms of opportunities for optimization and providing valuable resource to their customers. Through some basic searches and checks, it appears as though Coquette is visible in the search engines (local search, specifically) for general keyword phrases, such as “milwaukee restaurants”, which is good; however, most of their competition (other restaurants) are not optimized either, which presents both a great opportunity (and threat) for Coquette.
Through some basic keyword research, analytics review, or perhaps even “gut instinct”, the Coquette website could be optimized for keywords that would drive relevant, and potentially lead-worthy, traffic.
Using ubersuggest.org (love this website for keyword research ideas), we can start developing a list of relevant keywords that can be used to develop highly relevant, traffic-oriented content that will help build visibility, brand recognition, and hopefully leads via increased interest in dining at the restaurant.
Some keyword examples that could easily be used include:
- milwaukee restaurants in third ward
- milwaukee restaurants french
- milwaukee restaurants for lunch
- milwaukee restaurants monday specials
- milwaukee restaurants romantic
… and so on. Ultimately, these are just a few variations that may be relevant to Coquette using “milwaukee restaurants”; of course many more can be discovered that would help Coquette secure their position within search engines results pages. Rankings, however, aren’t the most important metric that we want to worry about, but they are a gateway to other measurements and goals that we have.
But this is just the start. The aforementioned keywords are phrases that are mostly transactional, which means that most people using these keywords for search to act upon the information they end up finding. “Milwaukee restaurants for lunch” or “Milwaukee restaurants in third ward” are most likely phrases where someone is looking for a restaurant to go to. Of course, they may just be researching restaurants in the third ward at that point in time as well, but the point is, that these are keywords and phrases that are meant to drive relevant, reservation-ready traffic.
What Coquette could do next is develop new content that is not transactionally related. Now, you may ask yourself, what would be the point of doing this, if it’s not going to lead to an immediate reservation? This would be a good question to ask. Ultimately, if it’s within the core strategy by Coquette, developing content that is not immediately transaction-focused, could lead them to become an ongoing resource for consumers in Milwaukee. This opens the door for increased brand awareness, which allows for increased reservation opportunities down the road.
Some ideas for this include:
- milwaukee cooking classes 2013
- milwaukee cooking classes
- milwaukee cooking lessons
- best milwaukee restaurants journal sentinel
- french food at home
- french food recipes
- french food blog
- french food words
- french food vocabulary
… and so on. By building general interest resources that are still related to Coquettes core business, the opportunity to increase brand awareness and potential reservations, cooking class signups, etc. becomes much greater.
#3. Curate and Communicate
As a restaurant owner, or as the staff of a restaurant, it’s very important to provide superior service and build relationships with your customers. As a service industry employee (years ago), I learned this was one of the things that should be focused on by everyone, if the restaurant was to be truly successful (of course, there are other items that go into the success of a restaurant as well, but service can literally kill a business, regardless of the type of business).
So, what better way to connect and communicate with those who love you and show how much they really mean to you than by finding those who write about you and thank them for their great reviews!
As an example, there is a seemingly newer food blog in town called “BrewTown Eats” that was written about Coquette. It was a positive review that provided great accolades for the restaurant all around.
These types of reviews are great examples of perfect opportunities to connect and communicate with customers and thank them for visiting the restaurant. It could potentially be taken a step further by saying “thank you” through offering a free desert, glass of wine / drink, etc. on their next visit in. Reaching out and providing a fantastic experience before, during, and after the visit is what really sets one business apart from competitors.
Our first recommendation for Coquette would be to setup a Google alert for the restaurant name “Coquette Cafe” and start tracking references to the restaurant.
Next, schedule time into their weekly schedule to follow up, respond to, and converse with those that reference them. This process can be used to connect and build relationships with customers, reviewers, critics, news outlets, and can not only build rapport, but also be used to resolve or graciously thank, any reviews given.
#4. Focus on Local
Local search results are extremely important for a local business, and restaurants are no different, especially with the increasing number of local and mobile searches being conducted on a monthly basis. By making local a core part of Coquette’s strategy, the opportunity to increase search visibility, and potentially reservations, becomes much greater.
Coquette should continue providing superior service and food to their customers. They should then encourage their customers to leave reviews at one, or few, of their primary review websites to let others know about their great food and service. Finally, they should proactively respond to reviews left by their customers, whether positive or negative.
Some great local review sources include Google+ Local pages, Yelp, and UrbanSpoon. The Coquette profile for each of these (and others local directories too) should be reviewed, updated, and maintained by Coquette to ensure the most accurate information is being provided to searchers, and the most appropriate response is given to reviewers’ reviews.
In Summation
Coquette Cafe has many opportunities in front of them to improve and solidify their presence online. Through integration of a local search strategy, development of a mobile friendly website, and communication with their customers (both happy and unhappy customers), Coquette can become a leader in the Milwaukee restaurant market for both their food, customer service, and online marketing strategy.
If you’re a local business, whether you’re a restaurant or not, and are looking to improve upon your brand awareness, goal conversions (sales, leads, website traffic, etc.), and are wanting a partner who can help you get setup and work with you ongoing to complete your goals, then get in touch with us; we’d love to help you out!
Hey, I think the move to a locally driven strategy is sensible for smaller, local businesses. Trying to compete in the universal search can be tricky whilst improving the existing listing should be fairly simple.
We do a lot of SEO audits and often, the biggest problem is a lack of direction. The customer flails around, trying to build links, do content optimisation, maybe some blogging but they ultimately don’t commit to any area long enough to see results. With a simple audit, not only can the best course of action be identified so they don’t waste time (and money) it also gives them confidence to truly commit to what it is they are doing.
Look forward to seeing some more of these audits, it’s a great idea. :)
Hi Marcus,
Thanks for stopping by, we greatly appreciate your comments and input!
It definitely is tricky to compete in the organic results, especially for small businesses who work in broad, competitive industries. We really think focusing on local and social is a priority when it comes to the small business owner.
I think the most difficult thing for small business owners with audits is “where to go next”. Often times they pay for the audit and then have to engage someone to execute it, which can be intimidating. The flip side of the coin is that they do it themselves, which can be even more intimidating.
With audits such as this, which is really more like a SEO review, we’re hoping to raise awareness for what website owners should and could be thinking about, and give them some basic direction for how to start working on taking care of it all. We really just want to see local businesses (well, all businesses really) succeed faster and better, online.
Cheers, Marcus - look forward to more thoughts from you in the future!