We’re delighted to announce the Website of the Month winner for January 2018 – The Hearty Goodfellow!

Perfectly balancing the key ingredients of design and development, with large warm photos, well-placed information touchpoints for the user, and, most important of all, menus that are not giant PDFs, The Hearty Goodfellow’s website provides a comfortable and attractive home for this Southwell family-run pub.

Built for easy mobile optimisation and a strong keyword strategy, the website was built by Toggle Create, a Lincoln-based agency specialising in the pub and restaurant market. We sat down with Matt Tomblin and Jim Deverell, co-founders of Toggle Create, to talk about their website.

What does Toggle Create do for the restaurant industry?

We specialise in supporting the pub and restaurant sector with our effective feature-rich website solution. Recognising that cashflow is often an obstacle for many landlords and restaurant owners, and as business owners ourselves, we made the decision to base things on an affordable monthly plan with no upfront fees. Having witnessed how many establishments are badly let down by dated sub-standard websites – we were determined to instigate change in the sector. Design-led, we felt ‘Mouth Watering Websites’ best summed up our service, and so this become part of our brand.

We have also produced a free web checklist, written exclusively for the restaurant sector and packed full of hints and tips. It was something that Landlady Lisa at The Hearty Goodfellow found helpful to refer back to whilst we produced their new website.

How does the website enhance and support the business’s goals?

In such a competitive sector, we know that a professional websites helps attract valuable customers and ultimately secure more table reservations. An effective and visually striking site can really tip the balance in making someone want to visit a pub or restaurant.

The Hearty Goodfellow has witnessed an increased number of booking enquiries throughout December and January compared to the previous year, and undoubtedly a contributory factor was the Special Events area of the homepage. We used that section to promote both Christmas and New Year’s specials – which saw a full house and fantastic takings.

What would you say the website’s personality is?

Warm, friendly, and reflective of the unique charm of the pub. The Hearty Goodfellow is a family-run business, and you really are treated like one of the family when you step inside. As part of our project, our photographer John went to spend a day capturing a true sense of the setting, opting for a coloured lens filter to heighten the sense of ‘warmth’.

When you designed the website, did you design with the customer in mind or did you have a fixed idea on how you wanted to portray the brand?

Visiting the pub in person inspired the design. We always produce a flat visual before any coding work commences, and believe this to be an important part of capturing the brand successfully. The site needed to be an extension of the colour palette of the pub’s interior, and patterns on the carpets were used as background textures to give depth to the pages. This encapsulates the level of personal branding we apply to our work.

What’s your favourite thing about the website?

We loved bringing the photography to life on the opening section of the website. We feel that the zooming movements draw the viewer into the setting, and selecting the right three or four shots here is important in painting a picture in the mind.

On a project level, we thoroughly enjoyed working with the team at The Hearty Goodfellow, who were excellent in supplying us with the content we needed. Hopefully, our step-by-step approach to this aspect helped, and it was rewarding to see everything come together.

What do you think makes the website different from the competition?

The front-end of the website is uniquely branded and ‘complex’ in its execution, yet the back-end is still ‘simple’ to update for our client. Usually, there’s a compromise, but we believe this website offers the best of both worlds. As for our offering itself, we believe that what we’re providing for the affordable monthly package price is hard to come by.

What are your future plans for the website?

We’re continually evolving features for all of our ‘Mouth Watering Website’ clients, and see it as a two-way process, as we ask them what would benefit them in the future. Last week, we were speaking with the Hearty Goodfellow team during a training session, and discussed the potential for even greater levels of social media and TripAdvisor integration.

We also provide a ‘site refresh’ 24 months after launch as part of the service, and this includes bringing in newly developed features, so the website certainly never stands still.

How has it been being a Heart Internet customer?

We’ve been with Heart Internet for many years, and are always impressed with the customer service. The ticketing system is efficient – we always receive prompt replies to queries and the knowledge of the staff is always impressive.

Having a rock solid hosting service is crucial for any web business, and we’re proud to have chosen Heart Internet as our trusted supplier. Keep up the great work!

Thank you, Matt and Jim, and congratulations on winning!

There are just a few more days to enter this month’s Website of the Month post! Submit your site today!

Please see our previous post for further details.