You probably know that there are scores of people searching for your Chinese restaurant on the Net – the challenge is how to get them to find you! This post can only provide a rapid overview – but hopefully it will be a useful place to start.
If producing your own site seems like a lot of work (and it can easily be), then don’t panic, there are several other ways to get the job completed: If you have the money, you can choose somebody to do the task for you. Either look at websites you love and find out who developed them – or ask some local businesses to recommend someone. You could even outsource the job on a site like Rent a Coder – you’ll receive quotes from across the world – and much of the work done in Russia or India is superb quality and very cheap. If you decide to build the site yourself – there are plenty of services available that can make it very easy. Try WordPress.com or Yola – they don’t take long to learn, and you’ll have the benefit of always being able to update the website in future without spending more cash.
One very important tip – install an analytics system on your website so you can track the success of your promotional efforts. Professional Internet Marketers could not be without a good analytics system on their websites, so don’t sabotage your endeavours with a beginners mistake. There are terrific web stats programs available free of charge – and they’re simple to install and set-up – so there’s no excuse.
Once you’ve finished your site and added web stats, the next action is to develop links to your site by persuading other web sites to link to it. One of the simplest ways to get started is using general word wide web directories for instance Best of the Web (which is paid), or DMOZ (free). There are literally thousands of web directories – and it’s worthwhile submitting your website to a few of the better known ones. It’s not worth submitting to 1000s of directories, but if you’re thinking of doing a hundred or more, then there are specialists that will submit your web site on your behalf, very cheaply.
Sites specialising in Chinese restaurant are pretty scarce – which is a shame, because that type of vertical market web site is invariably a highly valuable place to advertise your business. There is however one site that concentrates on Chinese restaurant and will also allow you to list your details for free – and that’s http://www.ClickChineseRestaurants.co.uk/ – it’s worth looking into.
Look at signing up with Google Adwords or another of the Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising systems out there. PPC can start sending you traffic within a few minutes of configuring your account and creating your first ad – there’s no quicker method to begin getting customers to visit your site. You only pay when somebody visits – so it’s usually a good way to advertise on the net. Just make sure that you track your results with analytics software so you know whether or not your activities are profitable.
Now that you’re getting visitors to your Chinese restaurant website – you’re ready for the next job – persuading them to return – and perhaps do business . Putting together an email autoresponder series is a wonderful way to get visitors back to your site. Simply register with a service like Aweber, persuade people to type in their email address , write a series of helpful emails, and get them sent out automatically. This will develop your recognition, and potential clients will become aware of your name.
In an article this length, I’ve only been able to supply a limited overview of the most important topics involved in promoting your Chinese restaurant on the net – there’s a lot that I’ve needed to leave out. The good news is, all the information you require is out there on the web, and readily available – so you’ll easily be able to get more detailed material on any of the themes covered above.

