Promoting your restaurant’s website is an ongoing process, but if done correctly it will improve your online visibility and lead to more traffic.  There are many ways for a restaurant to promote its website such as paid ad placement, link exchanges and social bookmarking.  

One of the most simple and inexpensive methods is through listing in online directories.  If you’re an established restaurant, chances are your name and address are listed in most yellowpages directory websites.  However, those sites may not include your website’s url and may have outdated information.  It is critical that restaurant owners regularly check these directories to make sure their information is accurate.  

In addition, your website should be listed in major online local business directories, valuable sites that are jammed with potential customers.  The following directories allow you to list your restaurant for free.  You simply submit your URL and verify your information.  To create listings for all of the sites in this article should take less than a couple of hours, but it’s a critical task in maintaining a popular and successful restaurant website.  

Citysearch. Citysearch is comprised of local online guides with information on entertainment, shopping, dining, hotels and more.

Insider Pages Local business reviews for about 30 U.S. cities.

Judy’s Book In addition to business listings, Judy’s Book provides information on deals and discounts.

Local.com Another directory of local businesses, products and services.

The Open Directory Project When you submit your site here, it will be accessible both through the Open Directory Project site, as well as Google Directory Search.

Outside.in Outside.in aggregates local news and conversations as well as business listings.

Yahoo Local Yahoo Local provides information on businesses and services in local areas.

Yelp Add your restaurant listing to the popular business review and social networking site.

In addition to these general online directories, restaurants can take advantage of additional opportunities to promote their websites.  For example, many states have directories such as the New Jersey Dining Guide (njdiningguide.net) Cities, towns and metro areas also typically have their own restaurant directories. [see Seattle Dining (seattledining.com)  as an example.]  There are global directories for many cuisines and types of food such as Chinese (chinawok.com), Thai and vegetarian.   Getting even more granular, you can find directories of individual dishes such as pho at PhoFever (phofever.com).  Some additional places to list your restaurant’s website include both city and county chambers of commerce, local newspaper dining guides and state and local restaurant association websites.

Remember, your restaurant listing may not jump to the top of search results overnight.  However, maintaining accurate online directory listings is an important task in growing your restaurant’s online presence.

By: Sarita Haines