Do you have a Website Yet?

If you are reading this post is because you probably still don’t have a website, but you are considering having one.

Our main core of business is to help restaurants, globally, get set up with an online menu.

For those who aren’t familiar with building sites, WordPress has created an amazing platform and a powerful Content Management System (CMS) that can be used for more than just blogging. With WordPress, you can build a blog, a website, or both providing you with the following advantages:

- Good Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

- Easy access and update of content on website without knowing HTML

- Great variety of choices on themes and plug-ins

Furthermore, companies such as BuildMySiteforFree.com offer  free website builder for small businesses and individuals. 

What makes BuildMySiteforFree.com a great resource is that it is the ultimate destination providing everything needed for those who want to build their own WordPress website.   Whether you need a blog or an Ecommerce website builder, BuildMySiteforFree.com offers hundreds of graphic designs, feature plugins and articles providing everything you need to build a site in less than 10 minutes. 

Do you have any tips on how to easily and quickly build a website? Please share with us below.

The MealClick Team
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Create Interaction with Your Online Menu

MealClick - Online Food Ordering Solution

 

Hundreds and hundreds of restaurants are realizing on a daily basis the importance of building an online presence; Simply having a “business card” website does not mean much anymore. As a matter of fact, we live in an era where we are witnessing a major shift in the whole marketing process for every single business and industry.  

With the presence of social networks such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and more, clients are expecting from your website nothing less but a fully-interactive experience!  

If you haven’t yet, you should start venturing into adding an interactive online food ordering solution to your operation; in order to allow your clients to:  
- browse your menu, learning about the choices you offer, AT THEIR CONVENIENCE
- go through the succulent images of your dishes
- Add-on sides and customize their orders
- place advanced and group orders
- re-order from history
- apply coupons and discount codes
- fill out surveys and voice their opinion  

While social networks are a two-way communication between businesses and followers/fans, your online menu should offer similar interactive features giving your clients the power to browse, select, order, and more… while allowing you to listen, monitor and analyze your clients’ preferences, needs, and demands.  

The MealClick Team
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Leveraging Online Food Ordering Through Social Media

You are all set – Your online menu is up. You integrated a clear message about your online presence through your marketing messages. You trained your staff to encourage callers to order online. You are receiving orders through your online ordering system on a daily basis. Now what?

If you have not tapped into Social Media yet, this is the time to start researching it.  It might be an overwhelming process for some taking into consideration the multiple available platforms to choose from, putting a strategy together, tracking and adjusting your plan, and be interactive with your followers and fans.

The following is a list of some platforms to consider and what you can do:

#1 FACEBOOK

Since Facebook has the social taste into it, it is an amazing option to consider.  Start by implementing a FAN PAGE on Facebook and then put a plan to include the following:

• How often you should post
• Types of posts
• Creating a real sense of community
• How to incite comments and interaction
• Ways to promote your Facebook fan page

#2 TWITTER

If you are looking for the real interaction, Twitter is the tool for you. Your tweets, limited to 140 characters, you can generate a conversation with your followers, listen to their feedback, announce new menu additions, and more… including:

• Interacting with 140 characters
• Replying to @ messages and DM as well
• Scheduling tweets through SocialOomph, for example
• Monitor and listen
• Creating Twitter lists
• Types of posts
• Using Twitter favorites

#3 YOUTUBE

As for YouTube, it is an amazing resource to connect with your clients and prospect through videos while helping spreading the word and establishing higher ranking for Search Engine Optimization.  Here are some ideas for what you can do:

• Publicize event about your restaurant
• Introduce a new menu
• Demonstrate a new recipe
• Record clients’ endorsements

Regardless which platform you decide to use, one or more, make sure that your combine your messages and stay consistent to your brand.

The MealClick Team
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Seamless * Accurate * Fast

Who is Using Online Food Ordering?

The following is a break-down of different categories and group who are already benefiting from Online Food Ordering:

Busy Parents Lunches/Dinners Birthday Parties Social Gatherings Family Get-Togethers Clubs/Sports Teams Group Lunches Post-Event Dinners Meetings Fundraisers Parties/Events Businesses Office Parties/Events/Meetings Group Breakfasts/Lunches Catering for Clients Drug Reps. Ordering for Office

Schools/Churches/Colleges Catering for Parties, Events, & Meetings Group Breakfasts/Lunches Fundraisers High-school/College Students Lunch/Dinner When Home Alone Share One Family Account Easy, One-Click Reordering Busy People! Lunches/Dinners Social Gatherings/Parties

Does your target market fall under one or more of the mentioned categories? If so, why holding off? Get on board today and offer your Online Menu to your clients, for additional convenience and satisfaction.

The MealClick Team
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Your Staff and Online Food Ordering

There are multiple elements that help your restaurant in achieving success; your staff is one of the most important elements.  If happy and excited about what they do, your team will be most productive helping you take your restaurant to the next level.

During rush hours, every single member of your staff is extremely busy by either taking orders, fulfilling them, responding to customers, serving tables, payments, picking up phones…  They have to take care of everything!  The whole experience might be overwhelming for some causing a lot of stress and unhappiness, which would soon enough reflect on your operation and come through to your customers.

Implementing Online Food Ordering in your daily operation helps you streamline the ordering process and relieve the pressure off the staff by lowering the probability of human mistakes.  Offering Online Food Ordering as an option to your customers makes their experience easier and more enjoyable.  This option will simply allow your customers to browse your Online Menu without being rushed into completing their order.  They can order for delivery, pick-up or even dine-in. The first step would include selecting a food item from the menu, adding it to the cart, and click the button to order. The restaurant will receive the order by fax or email. The customer will receive an order confirmation.  Your staff will then gear their efforts towards contributing to the success of your restaurant. Everyone is happy!

The MealClick Team
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Your Website and Online Menu

Building an online presence has become very crucial.  Consumers are using the Internet more frequently than ever.  If you are not online yet, you are missing out on a big share of the market.

All you need is a basic website with few pages including: a Home page, About Us, Contact Us, and Online Menu.

While building your website, make sure that you are consistent with your marketing messages and branding as well.  Make it easy and simple to navigate. Remember the purpose of being online is for consumers to find out and learn more about you. That does not mean though that you should over-load your pages with information. Include enough content to make it appealing enough to get your clients to browse more through your menu and order from you.

As for your online menu, it needs to be simple and easy to navigate as well. Make sure to include succulant images of your plates. Detail the items into categories and groups. Upsell by including additional items such as drinks, chips, and cookies as options within each item.  Keep the customer updated throughout the ordering process by providing a summary of their order on each page. As for the check out process, make it quick and easy by providing multiple payment options.

Although Flash is nice to look at, keep in mind that loading pages with Flash could be a problem which would prohibit users from accessing your website.

In addition, while working on your website coding, make sure that you keep in mind all the elements for Search Engine Optimization.  You need to include titles, keywords… all to help with your SEO efforts. Although having a website is great, but what is the purpose of having one if no one can find you? Correct?

The MealClick Team
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Why Online Ordering?

We are living in a fast paced world. Any minute we can save is worth it. That is exactly when technology comes in place to provide us with all the tools to make our life easier and our day smoother.

Online food ordering is one of those tool to help many, if not all of us, run a smoother day. The following is a list of who is using Online ordering and how it is being used:

- Busy Parents for birthday parties, lunches and dinners, and social gatherings.

- Schools and Colleges for catering purposes (parties, events, meetings..) and fundraising.

- Clubs and sports team for group lunches, event dinners, meetings, fundraising, and parties.

- Businesses for office parties, meetings and events; group breakfast and lunches, catering for clients, and more…

The bottom line is that almost EVERYONE is busy. Therefore, using Online Food Ordering definitely offers a solution.

The MealClick Team
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Helpul Tips from MealClick

5-Time Messaging – Create a 5-time messaging campaign geared towards getting your message across to your customers at least 5 times as soon as customers walk in the door and even before ordering. The 5-time messaging includes the following:

• Outside Banner
• Inside Banner or Sign
• Counter top sign
• Buttons to be worn by the staff
• Table tents on all tables

Phone Greeting – Train the staff to answer the phones with an introduction to online ordering, informing the calling customer of the availability and benefits of MealClick.

Keep Customers Abreast - Include 3×5 or 8.5×5.5 card flyer about the availability of MealClick with every takeout order.

Orders Always Ready - Orders should be ready at the specified time the customer requested. Customers who place orders online expect to have their orders ready without having to wait in line or any delays.

MealClick Features - Use all the available features that MealClick provides to maximize effectiveness and build customer loyalty.

Coupons & Promotions - Take advantage of the Coupons & Promotions tool to provide your customers with even more incentives to order from you. Discounts can be generated as you desire. Customers can use a coupon number when placing orders to receive the promotion or discount.

Point System – The Point System tool is a powerful tool available to further build customer loyalty. When configured, ordering customers will earn points for every order they place based on the dollar amount spent. The more they spend the more they earn. Collected points may then be used for discounts or free meals.

Online Catering - Online Catering is also available through MealClick. The catering tool provides an easy way for your customers to place large orders and order in advance. In conjunction with the Corporate Tools and Group Ordering, providing online Catering will further increase sales.

Email Club - An email club can be created simultaneously with an email database buildup. The email club involves collecting information about customers birthday, anniversary or the likes and therefore providing you with the opportunity to attract your customers to come in the store or order online by sending them an electronic discount or coupon that can redeemed as desired.

Customer Incentives - Provide customers with incentives to use MealClick. This is extremely important especially when first introducing online ordering, since it helps customers take the initiative and order that first time and therefore getting them started. Incentives may include: Free fountain drink, $1.00 off, % discount, etc…

The MealClick Team
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Seamless * Accurate * Fast