Recent articles about a Florida-based restaurant chain focused on how they doubled their online ordering in their restaurant in two months, from 2 to 3 percent of their volume to more than 5 percent.  Some of what they did was just good sense.  Other things were a bit more innovative.

Here are three that worked well:

Here are a few tips on fleshing out your online menu, and keep in mind that the addition of some of these key words can also help your SEO rankings:

Mention preparation methods – Words such as grass-fed, house-made, in-house and artisanal are all associated with higher prices.  One study found that the average price of an order of French Fries goes up $1.68 when the words hand-cut are included in the description.

What’s the source of the food? – 86% of consumers in a global survey rank ingredient transparency high on the scale of importance.  This used to be a tactic of smaller chains and independent restaurants, but now you see larger chains boasting the origins of their beef and vegetables, or where they may get their catch-of-the-day.  “Locally grown … (fill in the blank)” or a specific region (Northwest, Chilean, etc.) can help boost orders, even at higher prices.

Dietary considerations – Vegetarians, vegans, and those on a gluten-free diet all have a challenge when ordering from restaurants.  Making note of these issues on your online menu will make you a favorite and help increase your sales among people that fit these profiles.  A simple icon attached to a menu item can identify if it’s vegan, gluten-free, etc. 

You regularly send out messages to your social media followers – Facebook and Twitter – about news, deals, restaurant online ordering, takeout, and other general information about your restaurant.  But how do you know that your messages are effective, and you’re not just throwing meaningless content out there?

Here are a few tips:

Maintain your brand voice. Whatever your brand image, make sure you keep it consistent.  It’s who you are – don’t deviate from your image.

Watch what gets action. If you see spikes in comments, likes, or sharing and retweeting, then you have hit a nerve with your audience. Did you get a lot of action when you posted info about your new recyclable takeout containers?  Or, something simple like Taco Tuesday?  If so, that’s important to your audience.

Include photos and video. People look before they read. Photos of attractive dishes, a video of the final preparation of a menu item, or just your chef slicing onions faster than the eye can see. All are interesting to the social media follower.

Keep an ear out for oversaturation. There is such a thing as too much. Don’t sacrifice quality for quantity. You don’t want to annoy people. 

And for Twitter only…

Pin important Tweets. This makes sure it stays at the top of your profile. Do this to attract attention to special offers and information that you don’t want your followers to miss. 

Request a retweet. Ask specific folks to help spread the word about your restaurant and let them magnify your voice. 

Here are two numbers that will catch your attention – 200,000 and 250,000.

According to Yelp, during a recent business quarter, consumers called businesses through Yelp's mobile app 200,000 times a day and generated over 250,000 directions a day.  These numbers refer to all businesses, but as we all know, restaurants represent a sizeable chunk of Yelp’s listings.

These aren’t numbers to ignore.  There are a variety of mobile apps available and some of them can play a big role bringing in business.  Here are some tips on how to make the most of them:

Find out where customers are hearing about your restaurant – Yelp is the 800-pound gorilla of restaurant search/review, but there are others, both locally focused, as well as broader reaching apps.  Have your wait staff survey customers to identify your top three sources of referrals.  You should monitor your listings on those sites regularly.

Use what’s available to help you promote your restaurant – Each site is different, but many of them allow photos (which you should include), the opportunity to make special offers, and a place to add a business description.  According to Yelp, people stay on a business page two-and-a-half times longer when it has photos.

Don’t forget Online Ordering – Make mention of your NetWaiter online ordering capabilities as prominently as you can.  Include a link to your branded online ordering site so customers have easy access to order from your menu.  If a customer links to your NetWaiter site from their mobile device, they will automatically be routed to your mobile NetWaiter site.