Sussex Pub Links - pub websites

The pub directory website Sussex Pub Links features pubs with websites in East and West Sussex. Managing the website has entailed a fair amount of work tracking down and browsing pub websites. Some comments from our experience…

It may not be important for a town pub to have a website because there is always passing trade. However, we would say that a country pub down a quiet lane could attract more business through its website – if done properly.

Some country pubs are really missing out on attracting new customers. Most do not have a website and some that do make no effort with it at all. If you are a pub with a website, it must be kept reasonably up-to-date. There is absolutely no point having a website that says “Last updated 2001” or similar. What kind of impression does that leave?!

Secondly, any website and its creator must spend some time doing the basics so that search engines can find it and list the information that it contains. It may be too much to hope to get a top listing but there is even less chance if you have a page called “Untitled” or if the title of the page is simply the name of the pub. A lot of potential customers will not know the name. Instead, it is more sensible to have a descriptive title and page content that includes the keywords that people would use to search for a pub in your area.

A lot of pubs with websites just assume that no work needs to be done once the website is set-up. Web visitors will somehow magically appear. However, a website is part of your business and it has to be treated as such. Regular maintenance and some hard work are normally required.

On second thoughts, this applies to any website.