The need for a website is reaffirmed
I made some changes to the website
When we created our shop's website, web services like blogs were still popular, but as more people began posting information on social media, social media became more popular than blogs. Our information is increasingly being buried, and with changes to the algorithms of social media itself, I feel like the number of views on my blogs has decreased. In fact, it seems like people have stopped clicking on links that appear on their timelines.
For this reason, I haven't been putting much effort into the blog itself for the past two or three years, but I had the opportunity to update the store information, so I decided to make a complete change, albeit just a little to the appearance.
Although there is a limit to the information that can be displayed in storefronts and on menus, a website that can be displayed without restrictions and is fixed is still convenient. You can also capture information by adding QR codes to menus, so I'm once again realizing the need for a website. I feel that a website itself is more convenient than a blog.
Introducing the service
I use a web hosting service called Mixhost . I'm on their 880 yen per month plan, which offers decent storage and speed, and I found it relatively easy to install WordPress, the software used to create blogs.
I've installed WordPress on this web hosting service and am using a free theme called Cocoon . Previously, I used Simplicity , created by the same person , but I switched to Cocoon after this update. While there are many themes available for WordPress, I think Cocoon is by far the most user-friendly free option. I highly recommend it.
The key changes are mobile-first and inbound
As smartphone usage has increased in recent years, we are placing more importance on displaying content on smartphones and tablets. Also, in anticipation of the number of foreign tourists continuing to increase, we would like to be able to cater to inbound tourists.
More smartphone-first
For more information on this, please see the WordPress themeCocoonWe are currently working on ways to make it look good and match the store's appearance, and to make it easy for customers to access the information they want.
We hope to continue improving it as we monitor its usability.
Translation button for inbound tourists
Among the shops in the area, I think this shop has a relatively high number of customers from overseas. We've also seen an increase in inquiries about our business hours via social media messengers such as Instagram. We expect the number of customers from overseas to continue to increase. I think the number of customers in the Showa-cho area itself will also increase.
If you ask me if we are aiming to attract inbound tourists, the answer is no, but if they come as customers, we want to treat them equally. It's a reasonable accommodation. It's the same stance we take when dealing with people with disabilities.
Because they speak different languages, it can be difficult to serve foreign tourists, so about three years ago we changed our menu to one that includes some English as well. However, compared to Japanese customers, the information provided is still not as user-friendly, and there are limits to how much information we can provide in-store, so we decided to use our website. We hope to be able to use our website and other aspects of our customer service.
We try to use English as the base language as much as possible. We have installed a "Translate" button in the top right corner of the screen, which allows you to translate into several languages, including English, Chinese, and Korean. However, since the accuracy of the translation is questionable, we have created an English page for the cafe menu, which simply lists the in-store menu.
Since I cannot judge the actual usability, I would like to improve the content by consulting with people who are knowledgeable about it.
For translation functions, since the Google Web Translation service has been discontinued, we use the WordPress plugin "Google Language Translator."
I'll be adding more information little by little.
Now that I've settled on the appearance and other aspects, I'd like to add the information that I think is necessary that I have in mind, probably.
We have temporarily removed the pages with peripheral information, so we hope to make it easier for people who visit the website to design their daily schedule.
