AQUA Website Brings Waterfront Dining Experience to the Web
For popular Tampa waterfront restaurant AQUA, a new website proved to be more than just another marketing tool — thanks to the interactive team at Social Forces, it's an extension of their immersive brand experience.
Tampa, FL, August 29, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Thanks to interactive agency Social Forces, Tampa Bay’s AQUA now has a website that gives diners a taste of the restaurant’s unique experience before they ever leave their home. Not only is the website visually smart, but it is incredibly user friendly, especially when compared to the near unending sea of notoriously bad restaurant websites.
The Social Forces team initially toured AQUA to drink in what the restaurant had to offer. Inspired by the visit, the team created a website that perfectly emulates the experience at AQUA.
“AQUA wanted to use the website to reintroduce themselves to Tampa Bay, and really do something that was creative and stood out from the competition,” says Kris Solberg, Social Forces Account Strategist.
Visually, AQUA’s website exudes the essence of water.
“The curves and lighting inside the restaurant beautifully mimicked the motion and colors of the ocean, and we wanted to capture this feeling in the design of the website itself,” says Adam Nerland, Social Forces Interactive Director.
The front page greets users with the sights and sensations of the restaurant. Bright pink, green, and aqua accents pop against the deep blue palette as bubbles fluidly float in the background, simulating a descent into the ocean while visitors scroll on each page. The website is more than sleek and eye catching. Its perfect placement of essential information allows for easy navigation, resulting in happy online visitors.
A Google search for “Why are restaurant websites so bad?” returns hundreds of results, which include everything from editorials to comics illustrating frustration caused by restaurant websites. The most common complaint is hard-to-find or non-existent important information and features, such as hours, address, menu, contact information, and online reservations. Further frustrating online diners, Flash or downloadable PDF menus make it incredibly difficult to see, or even open, on a mobile device.
These habitual restaurant website pitfalls are all avoided on Social Forces’ website for AQUA. The most sought out information is easily found at the top of the home page, and AQUA’s location, today’s hours and links to the rest of the site are present at the bottom of every page.
Not only can browsers easily learn about AQUA on the site -- they can also pull the trigger. Thanks in part to an always-accessible reservation tab, the site has generated more than 1,100 reservations in the last six months. The tab also encourages social following and sharing through Facebook and Twitter widgets.
The menu is SEO friendly and managed through a user-friendly content management system, allowing anyone on the restaurant’s team to effortlessly reflect menu changes on the website.
“We built the AQUA website on WordPress, a powerful and user-friendly open-source content management system that gives our clients a huge amount of flexibility,” Nerland says. “They can change and improve the website as the restaurant and its needs evolve.”
Social Forces also set up a mobile site to quickly and easily draw attention to the most important website aspects to diners on-the-go: Contact information, directions, reservations, and menus.
"On the back-end, everything is updated through the same interface as the full site, making updates a breeze for the client,” Nerland says.
"The team at Social Forces were a pleasure to work with,” says Shirin Kanji, Vice President of Impact Properties, Inc. “The new site launched months ago and we still get compliments from our guests on it. That is the best type of validation one can receive for a project such as this one."
The new AQUA website can be viewed live on the web at AquaTampa.com.
Social Forces is a digital creative agency — helping brands create immersive digital experiences that increase advocacy, awareness and sales since 2009. The team is proud to have helped create immersive digital experiences on behalf of leading brands, including Circle K Stores, Monster Energy, and Mars Chocolate. The team regularly publishes their expertise on the Social Shopper Lab – a collection of tips and trends on how social media can engage shoppers before, during and after their visit to a brick-and-mortar store. http://socialshopperlab.com
The Social Forces team initially toured AQUA to drink in what the restaurant had to offer. Inspired by the visit, the team created a website that perfectly emulates the experience at AQUA.
“AQUA wanted to use the website to reintroduce themselves to Tampa Bay, and really do something that was creative and stood out from the competition,” says Kris Solberg, Social Forces Account Strategist.
Visually, AQUA’s website exudes the essence of water.
“The curves and lighting inside the restaurant beautifully mimicked the motion and colors of the ocean, and we wanted to capture this feeling in the design of the website itself,” says Adam Nerland, Social Forces Interactive Director.
The front page greets users with the sights and sensations of the restaurant. Bright pink, green, and aqua accents pop against the deep blue palette as bubbles fluidly float in the background, simulating a descent into the ocean while visitors scroll on each page. The website is more than sleek and eye catching. Its perfect placement of essential information allows for easy navigation, resulting in happy online visitors.
A Google search for “Why are restaurant websites so bad?” returns hundreds of results, which include everything from editorials to comics illustrating frustration caused by restaurant websites. The most common complaint is hard-to-find or non-existent important information and features, such as hours, address, menu, contact information, and online reservations. Further frustrating online diners, Flash or downloadable PDF menus make it incredibly difficult to see, or even open, on a mobile device.
These habitual restaurant website pitfalls are all avoided on Social Forces’ website for AQUA. The most sought out information is easily found at the top of the home page, and AQUA’s location, today’s hours and links to the rest of the site are present at the bottom of every page.
Not only can browsers easily learn about AQUA on the site -- they can also pull the trigger. Thanks in part to an always-accessible reservation tab, the site has generated more than 1,100 reservations in the last six months. The tab also encourages social following and sharing through Facebook and Twitter widgets.
The menu is SEO friendly and managed through a user-friendly content management system, allowing anyone on the restaurant’s team to effortlessly reflect menu changes on the website.
“We built the AQUA website on WordPress, a powerful and user-friendly open-source content management system that gives our clients a huge amount of flexibility,” Nerland says. “They can change and improve the website as the restaurant and its needs evolve.”
Social Forces also set up a mobile site to quickly and easily draw attention to the most important website aspects to diners on-the-go: Contact information, directions, reservations, and menus.
"On the back-end, everything is updated through the same interface as the full site, making updates a breeze for the client,” Nerland says.
"The team at Social Forces were a pleasure to work with,” says Shirin Kanji, Vice President of Impact Properties, Inc. “The new site launched months ago and we still get compliments from our guests on it. That is the best type of validation one can receive for a project such as this one."
The new AQUA website can be viewed live on the web at AquaTampa.com.
Social Forces is a digital creative agency — helping brands create immersive digital experiences that increase advocacy, awareness and sales since 2009. The team is proud to have helped create immersive digital experiences on behalf of leading brands, including Circle K Stores, Monster Energy, and Mars Chocolate. The team regularly publishes their expertise on the Social Shopper Lab – a collection of tips and trends on how social media can engage shoppers before, during and after their visit to a brick-and-mortar store. http://socialshopperlab.com
Contact
Social Forces
Carl Vervisch
813 421 2127
socialforces.com
@social_forces
Carl Vervisch
813 421 2127
socialforces.com
@social_forces
Contact
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