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Generative Engine Optimization or GEOwill greatly effect how restaurants will be found online! We're all familiar with the term "SEO" or search engine optimization.  Since we're in a constantly evolving online world, SEO has evolved into "GEO" which is Generative Engine Optimization.  A fancy word for an AI powered search.  Our guests are already transitioning over to using AI tools like ChatGPT, Google's Gemini or newer platforms like Deepseek to find restaurants. The question is, are we giving them the info they're looking for?? This is a quick run-down on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) for restaurants. Give the people (and [...]

SEO Strategies for Restaurants: 3 Proven Ways to Get More Customers Did you know that implementing SEO strategies for restaurants is the most effective way to attract new customers? Restaurant SEO generates more online orders than all other marketing channels combined - including social media, direct mail, billboards, and flyers. What makes restaurant SEO strategies even better? They require significantly less ongoing effort than platforms like Instagram that demand daily posting. When executed properly, restaurant SEO delivers long-term results with minimal maintenance. Why Most Restaurant Owners Struggle With SEO If you've previously found SEO confusing, you're not alone. Most guides [...]

Your restaurant’s reputation is one of its most valuable assets. In today’s digital-first world, restaurant review response services are essential for managing customer feedback, building trust, and driving growth. With nearly 50% of diners more likely to order after reading a positive review and 29% deterred by negative feedback, how you respond to reviews can make or break your business. At Bar Marketing Basics, we specialize in helping restaurants like yours to have the best online presence through the art of review management. In this guide, we’ll cover: What restaurant review response services are Why they’re critical for your success 11 actionable tips to manage your [...]

In today’s digital age, a strong online presence for your restaurant isn’t just a luxury—it’s a necessity. With customers searching for dining options across multiple platforms, including AI platforms, which are quickly rising to the top of the customer's go-to choice, ensuring your restaurant is easy to find is critical. Enter restaurant website SEO, the key to driving traffic, increasing online orders, and growing your revenue. Restaurant Website SEO: Boost Your West Hollywood Eatery’s Online Presence Bar Marketing Basics  is located in West Hollywood CA, so for the purposes of this article, we'll use West Hollywood as our example.  Restaurant [...]

In today’s digital-first world, online reputation management for restaurants is no longer optional—it’s essential. With diners increasingly relying on digital platforms to make dining decisions, your restaurant’s online presence can make or break your success. From reviews and ratings to social media interactions, every digital interaction shapes how potential guests perceive your brand. Online Reputation Management For Restaurants: A Guide to Boosting Your Digital Presence This guide explores why online reputation management for restaurants matters, actionable strategies to enhance your digital presence, and how technology can simplify the process—helping you save time, improve operations, and attract more guests. Online reputation management for restaurants [...]

Running a restaurant is no easy feat.  Restaurant review management can provide a well-needed boost in business.  With rising competition and slim profit margins, restaurant owners need every advantage to stay ahead. According to the National Restaurant Association’s 2024 Industry Report, 45% of operators expect competition to intensify, while 38% reported their restaurants were unprofitable last year. The Ultimate Guide to Restaurant Review Management in 2025 In such a challenging landscape, restaurant review management is a game-changer. By actively managing your presence on top review sites, you can: Collect positive reviews and ratings Boost your restaurant’s online search ranking Increase reservations and [...]

Local SEO For Restaurants (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing your online presence to attract more customers from local searches. For restaurants, this means making it easier for hungry diners to find you when they search for terms like “best pizza near me” or “vegan brunch in Chicago.”  In the future, AI searches will include long-tail terms like "sushi restaurants with a covered outdoor patio, that is dog-friendly, within walking distance of my current location." What Is Local SEO for Restaurants? Unlike general SEO, local SEO for restaurants focuses on hyper-local strategies to drive foot traffic and online orders. It’s [...]

Did you know that 90% of diners research restaurants online before deciding where to eat? With so many options available, how can you ensure your restaurant stands out and gets discovered first? The answer lies in restaurant SEO services—a powerful strategy to drive more traffic, attract hungry customers, and boost your online presence. In this guide, we’ll break down everything you need to know about SEO for restaurants, including how it works, why it’s essential, and actionable tips to optimize your website for search engines like Google. Google's "near me" radius is usually 5 miles What Are Restaurant SEO Services? Search engine optimization (SEO) [...]

In this video, Erik Shellenberger from Bar Marketing Basics breaks down The top 10 AI marketing tools for restaurants in 2025 and beyond. Covering crucial topics like local SEO optimization, short-form video content, AI-driven marketing, and influencer partnerships, Erik shares actionable insights to help bar and restaurant owners bring more customers through the door. Discover how AI will reshape search behavior and why digital storytelling and community building are essential for long-term success in the food and beverage industry. Whether you’re a restaurant owner or a marketing professional, this video provides everything you need to stay ahead in 2024. Top [...]

I've been using H-Proof – The Hangover Prevention That Actually Works for six months, and I can confidently say it lives up to the hype. Just to clarify, I have no affiliation with H-Proof and wasn’t asked to write this review—I just decided to give it a shot. As someone always looking for the best hangover relief products, I’ve tried many options. Check out my other reviews at Bar Marketing Basics. H-Proof – The Hangover Prevention That Actually Works As you get older, hangovers hit harder than they did in your youth. I've tackled the dehydration aspect with products like [...]

When it comes to marketing a restaurant in a tourist-heavy area, the belief that social media is an effective tool is a major misconception. Why do I always mention tourist market restaurant fail: Social Media is NOT the Solution?  While social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have a place in modern marketing, relying on them for attracting tourists can lead to failure. Tourist Market Restaurant Fail: Social Media is NOT the Solution This is especially true for restaurants and bars located in tourist markets where the focus needs to be on visibility and location-based discoverability, not just social engagement. [...]

Before launching a marketing campaign that costs money, it's crucial to test your marketing tools and theories. Not every strategy works for every restaurant. If most effective restaurant marketing tools you need now use certain tools, like hashtags, that don’t resonate with you, it’s likely they won’t resonate with your audience either. Most Effective Restaurant Marketing Tools You Need Now In fact, many traditional marketing techniques that once worked now bring little to no ROI in today’s digital landscape. The restaurant marketing industry has evolved, yet many marketers haven't kept up. The truth is, the bar is set low when [...]

Country music singer Ryan Bexley and I test the Last Shot hangover reducing drink and here are the results.  Does it actually work??  So far it's stronger than vodka and Jack Daniel's in the struggle to dominate your morning after.  Last Shot just gained a few life long customers! Product Review - Last Shot Hangover Reducer Here's how it's done So we got some "how to" input from the creators of this drink so we knew we were doing it right for maximum results.  Drink this the night of drinking, it doesn't do much good after the damage has been [...]

Understanding why hashtags fail for restaurant marketing is simpler than you might think. Originally popularized by Twitter for organizing topics and linking to related posts, hashtags worked well for Twitter's purposes. However, only a tiny fraction of the population uses Twitter to search for a bar or restaurant, making hashtags ineffective in driving local foot traffic. When Instagram and Facebook adopted hashtags, the feature didn’t translate well for businesses in the restaurant industry. The Truth: Why Hashtags Fail for Restaurant Marketing Why Hashtags Don’t Work Like Keywords Think of hashtags as keywords for social media, but not nearly as effective. [...]

Your marketing is only as good as it's message Your marketing is only as good as it's message.  All of the impressive sounding numbers and data collection can't help your business if your content sucks.  Again this sounds like common sense but most content I see as a consumer is just horrible.  I also get all of the spammy emails, texts, and half thought out offers.  When a blurry cell phone pic is used on social media with text like "Come see us for lunch today" how could this possibly work?  It doesn't but it happens every day. Quality over [...]

Don't guess, know your marketing number and redemptions If your bar or restaurant isn't tracking marketing numbers, especially redemptions, you are missing the boat.  Any marketing "expert" can tell you about impressive numbers when it comes to impressions (which is another name for the number of people who see your marketing message online).  It is up to you, the restaurant management, to measure how many people actually walk in the door as a direct result of your marketing efforts. Redemption is as easy as a POS button Simply add a button in your POS system that will allow the servers [...]

Market to customers who have not yet heard of you Think of social media as a Fishbowl.  You send posts to your fans and followers who obviously know your restaurant or bar and have opted-in to see them.  Begin to market to NEW to customers instead of regulars and locals.  With social, you send message after message to the same captive audience.  Your numbers are growing slower than ever in this market.  Facebook marketing is all but dead unless you pay per post.  Instagram is great as long as you have a younger audience and target the demographic who uses [...]

 KNOW how customers find your business online, don't speculate KNOW how customers find your business online, don't speculate...  I've spent the last 6 years polling the public.  My goal is to figure out HOW customers find your bar or restaurant online.  You can jump to the poll results now by clicking here. Experts in restaurant and bar marketing do not take other people's word for it.  They don't go off of national statistics.  They don't speculate.  I ASK the public and the results will surprise most bar and restaurant owners.  We are so conditioned to think social media is [...]

Measure your Marketing Results Measuring Marketing Results is the difference between a well planned out, successful marketing campaign and throwing money away.  Measure you marketing results or don't bother marketing at all. With the recent decline in the effectiveness of Facebook pages, measuring it's reach is at an all time importance.  I have a current client that I just pointed this out to and his business posts are now reaching about 14 people per day.  14! The person that posts to Facebook for him is receiving $1500 per month for this service. This practice is a blaring waste of money [...]

Stop focusing your marketing efforts on customers you already have Think about your marketing angles, you probably use social media to get your message out there.  In essence, you are marketing to people you already have.  Every social media platform is full of people who have heard of you, many of them are already customers, some are regulars.  It’s hard to follow a bar or restaurant on social media that you don’t know exists yet.    This is where the new customers are.  People looking for a new place use primarily 3 sources – word of mouth, online review platforms […]

Paying Yelp will NOT improve star ratings if you are a restaurant or bar owner, sooner or later you will get the call from Yelp asking to advertise with them.  They offer several options including wifi marketing and call to action buttons.  One of their main products is "Putting your listing at the top of the search results".  What this usually means is giving you a "sponsored" (paid) listing which looks like this: These listings have the "AD" designation in front of your business name. The problem with this is, no one pays attention to "ADs".  People will subconsciously filter [...]

7 Restaurant Marketing Ideas - How to Market a Restaurant Here are 7 Restaurant Marketing Ideas & How to Market a Restaurant that you probably haven't heard before.  These aren't the same copied/ pasted tips or tricks you've seen online recently.  This is real data from real research that I have done over the last 5 years or so.  There will be several people who will tell you I'm crazy, or just plain wrong.  I'll go head to head with my data and numbers any day.   There is a TON of bad info out there regarding restaurant marketing ideas.  Some are [...]

How to make Bar or Restaurant Flyers easily & CHEAP !   There is no need to pay a designer hundreds of dollars to make flyers for your bar or restaurant. Download Photoshop for $19/ mo. click Adobe Creative Cloud and buy templates for your flyer at Graphic River .  Most templates are around $7 and up to $20ish depending on how intense you want to get.  Once you get used to this process a flyer shouldn't take you (or your staff member) more than 30 minutes or so.  Bar or restaurant flyers have their place but do not rely on them as a [...]

The best controllable way to bring in NEW customers Believe it or not social media comprises about 4% of the NEW FACES walking through your door! If you think social media is the best way to bring in NEW customers into your bar or restaurant you need to watch this. If people haven't connected to you YET on social media, how would they find you? Learn what "virtual word of mouth " is and optimize it! Paying more attention to your social media content than your online reviews and search engine results is a common problem. If you do this, you're [...]