Success for Livebookings' third academy event

30th June 2009, 4:48pm

Key industry speakers took to the stage this morning at the Livebookings third Academy event, hosted at The Smollensky's Bar and Grill in London, to explain how restaurants can boost their revenues through online channels.

Olivia Fitzgerald, Livebookings UK and Ireland general manager, kicked the academy off by introducing the four speakers – Jay Savage, product manager of Livebookings, Paul West, managing director of Ignite hospitality consultants, David Norris, chief operating officer for Livebookings and Frances Dore, director of sales for D&D London – to the audience and by giving a quick recap on the previous two academy events.

She then handed over to Jay Savage, who spent a fraction of his time introducing the new Livebookings Console. He described the console as an "easy to use one stop shop reservations system which looks after a restaurants table management, online availability management, and email marketing."

The manager then went onto explain that Livebookings has also recently launched a table management maximisation module that allocates tables as a reservation is made, and cancelled.

"The function, known as the 'shuffle', does exactly what restaurateurs do when they sit down to do their table plans in the evening," said Savage.

"They shuffle the tables around to get the best use out of them and make the most use of the space provided. The difference is that the console does this as every booking is made and cancelled so that restaurateurs never miss an opportunity to take a larger party that maybe a VIP had been sitting on and cancelled in the last minute."

Next up was Paul West who used his time on stage to talk about Smart Web Design and what makes a good website. He explained that restaurateurs should avoid putting music on their website and must unsure the website reflects the brand.

The managing director used the independent restaurant Yum Yums as a prime example of a well designed effective website, and explained how it delivers over 350 table bookings per month through the Livebookings system.

"A good website is functional, easy to navigate, and provides all of the information potential customers or a potential user is looking for in a clear, organised and concise manner – the less fuss, the better."

He said that the starting point for any restaurateur who is developing their own business website is to ask themselves why should they have a website. He then went through the correct process of designing a website and the features every restaurant site needs, such as a menu, contact details and a map.

And after a mini break of coffee and croissants served up by the staff at the London eatery, next up was David Norris who used his time to give guests a teaser of what search engines are about from a restaurant's perspective.

He kicked off with some interesting stats, one of them being that 62% of diners search the internet as well as there being a staggering 35 million UK internet users. He then moved swiftly onto look at issues such as site structure, google analytics, the significance of key words and why it is important that restaurateurs get people to link to their website.

And last but not least, Frances Dore concluded the academy by explaining how her newly revamped website now boosts profits, despite the economic climate. She said herself and her team improved the site by adding competitions, regular newsletters, adding a 'book now' button on the home page, and adding more food and drink stories, to name a few.

Dore gave us some impressive figures as a result of taking part in the Livebookings initiative: "Looking at May 2008 to May 2009, the number of visitors is now up by 355%, number of page views are up 760% and the average time on site has now doubled."

This morning's audience was made up of a mix of journalists, press, restaurateurs and industry experts.

The Livebookings Academy launched in April this year with the first in a series of free industry marketing sessions for restaurants.

More information and advice given out during today's academy will be found in our business advice section next week.

Weblinks: 
www.livebookings.net 
www.ignitehospitality.com
www.danddlondon.com

Related Articles:

• 30 Aug 2011 - Giraffe restaurants partner with Livebookings
• 18 Aug 2011 - Livebookings launches new deals marketing platform for restaurants and consumers
• 12 Aug 2011 - Livebookings celebrates its 20 millionth diner
• 03 May 2011 - Livebookings reveals continued strong growth in online restaurant reservations
• 27 Jan 2011 - Some 39% of restaurants don't have a website, finds Livebookings
• 25 May 2010 - Livebookings launches Barometer for restaurateurs
• 12 May 2010 - Livebookings hosts first Academy event in Manchester
• 17 Mar 2010 - Online restaurant marketing expert Livebookings launches second Academy
• 10 Mar 2010 - Livebookings appoints chief technology officer to develop services offered to restaurants
• 24 Feb 2010 - Livebookings and Restaurantdiary team up
• 19 Feb 2010 - Livebookings reveals partnerships with top restaurants
• 07 Dec 2009 - Restaurant marketing expert Livebookings holds its final Academy this week
• 06 Nov 2009 - Livebookings announces its fourth academy event
• 27 Oct 2009 - Livebookings reveals top eating out bugbears
• 12 Oct 2009 - Livebookings appoints key account manager
• 21 Aug 2009 - Michelin-starred restaurants help Livebookings pass two million covers
• 27 Jul 2009 - What Livebookings can offer the restaurant industry
• 18 Jun 2009 - Livebookings announces third Academy event
• 15 Apr 2009 - Livebookings Academy to launch
• 30 Mar 2009 - New marketing director at Livebookings
• 17 Feb 2009 - Online restaurant bookings surge
• 09 Feb 2009 - Livebookings experience online surge
• 26 Sep 2008 - Free online marketing workshops for restaurants
• 04 Apr 2008 - Online Restaurant Marketing Workshops launched
• 15 Jan 2008 - Livebookings teams up with Hotelympia
• 15 Jan 2008 - Livebookings teams up with Hotelympia
• 24 Aug 2007 - Live bookings in real-time restaurants

Click here to submit a comment!

Have your say!

To comment on this article, simply enter your name and email and send us your views. Please note that your comment will appear publicly below this article once it has been processed. For enquiries please email info@eatoutmagazine.co.uk.