Are you open? What do you have? Where are you?

What do people search when they are hungry or shopping?

Diners type "restaurants open now," "pizza near me," "brunch," "gluten free options," "catering" and "private dining." Shoppers type "gift shop near me," "boutique," "bike shop hours" or the name of a product they want today. Most are on a phone, standing somewhere, deciding in seconds.

The questions are practical. Are you open? Where do I park? Can I see the menu or the inventory? Can I order ahead or reserve? Do you do catering?

Timing matters here more than almost anywhere. Lunch searches come before noon, dinner searches come late afternoon, and gift shopping peaks before holidays. A site that shows today's hours and what is available right now matches how people decide.

Which pages should the site have?

• Home: today's hours, address, phone and a map link above everything else.
• Menu or product list, written as text on the page, not a photo or PDF.
• Hours and holidays, kept up to date.
• Order, reserve or catering, whichever applies, with clear steps.
• Your story, short, with real photos of the place and the people.

What mistakes do these sites make?

• A menu that is a PDF or photo. On a phone it is slow to load, hard to read and invisible to search.
• Hours that disagree with your Google listing. Visitors trust whichever one is wrong. Setting up your Google Business Profile is $295, and the site and the profile should always match.
• Autoplay video or music that startles a customer on a phone.
• Holiday hours that never get posted.
• Rotating banners that hide the one thing visitors came for.
• Prices that changed in the kitchen but not on the site.

How do you keep it current?

The simple answer is to keep the pieces that change small. Hours, specials and the menu should be easy to edit, and a small edit costs $49 if you send it to us. Most places do not need a large site. A 5-page site is $2,500, and a one-page site is $750.

If you want to sell products beyond your door, look at online stores. Otherwise start with our posted prices.