8 Ideas to Write About for Your Restaurant Blog
If your restaurant is thinking about launching a blog this year, that’s a great step towards getting your venue seen by having more content online that can be found by search engines.
What’s next?
You might be stuck on the next step: figuring out what to write about.
There’s no need to worry — we’ve got eight topic ideas for your first blog post. Before we list them, keep this in mind: whatever you decide to write about should share something about your business or expertise and it should be something that your customers or prospects should be interested in or provides value. Ask yourself “Why would my audience care about this?”
1. Event trends
Are you thinking about updating your event offerings? Write about the new food trends, decor, entertainment, or cocktails that you’re introducing to your clients or trends that you’ve seen in the industry.
2. Event tips
You are an event expert, so share that knowledge! Create a post that offers your best tips for clients who are booking an event with you.
3. Employee profiles
Do a question and answer post with a member of your venue’s staff so clients can be familiar with the people they’ll be working with. You can ask questions about the business but also throw in a few personal questions so readers can relate to the staff members as regular people.
4. Client profiles
Interview a recent client about why they held their event with you and what they loved about it. Post photos from the client’s event as well. This type of blog post will give potential customers a look at what to expect and it’s a great testimonial about your services.
5. Anything new
Did your team create a new menu for the season, add an entree or appetizer, introduce a new cocktail, or give your space a makeover? Share this in a blog post and include photos. Clients and prospects will be interested in any changes going on and it might pique their interest in booking an event with you.
6. Your venue in the news
If your venue won an award, got featured in a “best of” list, raised money for a local charity, catered a popular event, or had a special guest bartender or chef, write about it for the blog. These recognitions from the industry and your community will show customers that you’re the best at what you do.
7. List posts
A blog post that shares a number of items in the headline and body copy is a list post. In fact, this post is a list post — we’re sharing a list of eight tips. Group some tips or topics together and write a post similar to this one. People love lists posts because they know exactly what they’re going to get out of them and they know that they’ll learn something new.
8. FAQ
Take your FAQs — frequently asked questions — from your venue’s website or your team and write a blog post that answers each of those questions. If clients are asking the same questions, there’s a need to get that information in writing. FAQ posts are also very helpful resources to send to clients or to use when training your new staff.
Use these writing guidelines to shape your post
When you write your blog post, it doesn’t have to be very long. A few paragraphs, anywhere between 300 to 500 words is plenty. Make sure you’re using specific keywords so your post will come up in search engine results. The keywords should include anything your customers may be searching for, including the name of your venue, your town, events, and event-related words such as weddings, cocktail party, birthday party, private dining, holiday parties, graduation, networking, and corporate events.
If you have writer’s block, remember the tip way back from elementary school English class: Tell them what you’re going to tell them (opening paragraph). Tell them (body of your blog post). Tell them what you told them (closing paragraph). The words don’t have to be perfect in your first draft. Simply writing lists or fragments or an outline of what you want to say can get you started.
Before you hit publish, make sure you have something visual to catch people’s eye. Upload a photo in your blog header. This photo will show up next to your blog post titles in your post and list of past posts. Use photos in the body of your blog post as well to help your readers visualize what you’re sharing with them.
You’ll want to proofread your post before it goes live for the world to see. Make proofreading easier by installing the Grammarly app on your Internet browser. It’s a free grammar and spell check tool.
Stand out and get more bookings
Adding blog posts to your restaurant blog gives your venue credibility. It shows off your venue’s expertise and will convince clients that your team has what it takes to host the best events possible.
Want more help with marketing and other industry topics? Listen to Two Chicks, Three Seats for interviews with event industry guests and discussions of news, food and beverage trends, and marketing tips for the hospitality business.