Remember that blog page you created for your restaurant website six months ago?

It started off with the best of intentions, but has since lay dormant and bereft of anything even remotely useful for your audience or business.

Well, it’s time to turn that digital graveyard into something far more interesting; something that will build an audience, promote your brand and provide a genuinely cost-effective marketing channel through which to find new guests.

Here’s four awesome blog ideas that will get your creative juices flowing:

1. Share your recipes

What? Give away your secrets?

Well, not exactly. If you rely on grandma’s magic concoction of spices and herbs to create the chicken dish you’ve become known for, the last thing you want to do is break it down on a blog post.

Instead, share details of the menu items that are less exclusive. By doing so, you can latch onto the nation’s increased appetite for home dining, and if you become known as a brilliant source of epic dish ideas, you might just tempt them out once in a while, too…

2. Highlight the nice things people say about you

Having a bunch of lovely reviews on TripAdvisor and Facebook is great, but why not take advantage of your blog’s ability to bring them together?

Every month, spend time curating a post that lists the most recent positive reviews you’ve received. If you have access to the reviewers’ Twitter handles, you can tag them in resulting social posts, too, and possibly start a very nice little conversation.

3. Promote events in your area

If you can get friendly with organisers of local events, your blog is a great vehicle for promoting the way in which your business is getting involved.

Perhaps you’re supplying outside catering to a summer festival on the village green, or providing somewhere cosy to relax and eat after a charity bike ride. Whatever it is, use your blog to shout loud and proud about the way you’re interacting with the community.

4. Give a behind-the-scenes glimpse at operations

People love to see what goes on behind closed doors in businesses, and in the world of restaurants, there’s an awful lot to see.

Your staff’s daily activities and interactions with guests will be fascinating for onlookers, as will the hustle and bustle of a professional kitchen.

If they’re up for it, ask your staff to ‘guest blog’ occasionally, by offering a few words on what it takes to do their job and the multitude of stories this wonderful industry inevitably throws up.

Blogs of this kind will humanise your brand and demonstrate that you’re considerably different to the flat-pack, big-chain competition.

Why bother?

Blogging might seem like a thankless task, but by doing so consistently and leaning on the above ideas to create content that is unique and relevant for your audience, it’ll help the business grow by:

  • giving you unique content to share on social media and help develop your digital persona;
  • enhancing your online marketing effort;
  • adding a human voice to your restaurant business;
  • strengthening your relationships with existing diners; and
  • adding immeasurably to your search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts.

It’s time to dust off that blog!

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