I know that you, as a baker, have more important things to do than spend time building your website. But believe me, your new online bakery can bring new customers to you with minimal effort. In this brief guide you’ll find the most important aspects of how to start a bakery website, that will help your business grow.
How can a bakery business benefit from a website?
You need to offer exceptional products to your customers in order to be successful. Traditional recipes have made a big comeback. If you’re using high quality ingredients and handcrafting your pastry, you don’t need to worry about not having enough customers.
The ability to be honest and to be "different" is the first and most important prerequisite for success - and you should apply the same approach to your website.
One thing that can truly “sell” your website and bring you new customers are photos.
People eat with their eyes first. They love looking at gorgeously arranged meals. That’s why food blogs are so popular. The best baking blogs and the most popular Pinterest boards have enormous amount of visitors and millions on views every month.
Adding nice photos of your bakery products to your site will make your web visitors want to taste them. And since they’ll know you bake from honest and high quality ingredientes, they will be happy to visit your bakery even if they live at the opposite end of the city. Or they’ll want to order bread and cakes from your online bakery.
So make sure the photos look yummy. The advantage of nowadays technology is that you can make good pictures with your mobile phone. And then upload them straight from your phone to your website.
Add a portfolio of your online bakery products
Another must-have of your online bakery shop is the section devoted to your product. But it shouldn’t just be about tasty photos, it should tell the customer a little more. If you bake pre-ordered cakes for birthdays and other special occasions, describe all the options like possible sizes, types of fillings and the estimated price. If it’s difficult to estimate the exact price, you should at least specify a range from - to so that the customer has some idea. This saves time for both - you and your customer.
Tell your story
When you start your own bakery it’ll most likely be a local business. This means you know your customers quite well. To get closer to them, you should write a story about who you are and how you got to the baking craft. Don’t forget to upload a few real photos directly from the production that will create confidence for your customers.
Do you own a family bakery where baking cakes was a tradition carried on for generations?
Make sure to mention it in your story and add some old photos of your grandparents (scanned, black and white photos are fine). The more you present yourself as a local and traditional baker, the more you will be searched for by customers who prefer honest little bakeries instead of large supermarkets.
Starting a food blog
If you want to work harder on building a community of supporters and gaining more regular customers, it’s a great idea to start a baking blog. It doesn’t have to be a typical blog about food and meals. You can turn it into FAQ section where you help your customers. For example, which pastry need to be stored in a refrigerator and which at room temperature; whether the products are gluten-free or whether you bake for the celebrations or if you also provide complete catering for weddings.
Food is an endless topic, and it is always possible to write something interesting. It would be a shame not to, right?
Do you use any special ingredients or craft techniques that people have not heard of yet? Write a few lines and see what kind of feedback you’ll get from your customers. Speak about current prices, new legislation or share your opinions about possible improvements of the business environment. A simple blog post can be made very fast - just write a brief description and add a photo.
By adding some recipes can make your blog even more interesting. It can inspire your web visitors to order from you. This will turn your site into an online bakery shop without having to have a classic eCommerce solution. So if you plan on starting a food blog don’t forget to add a call to action or a button and refer potential customers to the Contact section.
Blog is a very valuable part of your website from Google’s point of view, too.
Link social media with your online bakery website
People spend a lot of time on social networks. That is why you should present yourself via social media too. Whether you are starting a new business or your bakery is already up and running for some time, marketing is the key. Market your bakery from the beginning to increase awareness of your customers. Promoting your online bakery on your social media page can help increase your traffic. Social networks are great for receiving feedback from your customers as well as building a relationship with them. How?
Run different competitions for your fans on social networks to engage with them. Ask them for their favorite flavors or give them the choice of other types of cakes that you put into the menu. You'll see how great it works!
Each of these online marketing channels has its own specifics. Don’t avoid them, use them to support sales and acquire new customers.
Create your online bakery in less than 15 minutes
As I mentioned at the beginning, we know that you’re a baker and your passion is baking - not building a site and taking care of it. That's why Pixenio is the best solution how to start a bakery website in a few minutes.
And not only you’ll have it done in minutes, thanks to the available templates, you will be able to manage it extremely easily. It’s as easy as your Facebook or Instagram. Whatever you bake, you can take a photo of it with your mobile phone and add it to your site. You can do everything before the bread you’ve just baked cools down.
