Gio Bistro Website Is Easy to Find but Lacks in Presentation

Name of site: giowineanddine.com

Who runs it: Gio Bistro*

How long online: September 2008

Monthly traffic:  Averaging 103 unique visitors per month for 2011.

What the website does right: Gio has done a great job of maximizing their search engine visibility by ranking well for certain keyword searches. For example, if you search under the keyword query “wine La Mesa,” six out of 10 results on the first page are Gio's—an impressive achievement for what could easily be a competitive term. In addition, under the search query “wine bar La Mesa,” seven out of 10 links (including the top six listings) belong to Gio. And under the query “restaurant La Mesa,” Gio places well on the first page of the Google search results, and also is one of two restaurants that have gone to the trouble of claiming their local map listing. This is becoming an increasingly important task for local businesses that hope to rank well on search engines.

What the website doesn't do well: The website layout looks like it’s cobbled together by a mishmash of random elements. This makes it difficult for the visitor’s eye to figure out what to focus on. It also gives the website an amateurish feel, which gives the impression that Gio doesn’t care much about its website.

In addition, Gio commits a common mistake a lot of restaurants make: forcing the visitor to download a print version of the menu as a PDF. Why not just include the menu as part of the website? Doing so would make it easier to update the menu if needed, as well as further helping the website’s rankings by giving search engines additional content to index.

Suggestions for improvement:

1. Clean up the layout with a consistent and cleaner look. Lose the white text over the red and black background—it gives the impression that a high school sophomore designed your website (not to mention, it’s difficult to read).

2. Include the menu as part of the website, rather than force a PDF download.

3. Create a mobile-friendly version of the website. More and more people are browsing the web over their mobile devices. You could be losing prospective new customers if they’re looking for a place to have dinner and your site renders poorly on their cell phones. Another reason to have your menu as part of your website, rather than as a file download: it’s that much more difficult for a mobile customer to scan through it.

4. Get social by placing links to your Facebook, Twitter, Yelp and Foursquare pages. Social media is the ideal platform for restaurants to promote specials and foster loyalty with their customers.

Bottom line: Does site deliver on its promise? In a nutshell, Gio does a great job of being easy to find in the search engines. It just needs to improve the other part of the equation: its presentation and social media presence.

*Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Laurie Ohnesorgen ran the website.