Planning guide
What should a bakery's website show customers first?
A bakery website serves walk-in customers and planners at the same time, and they need very different things. The walk-in wants hours and today's case. The planner wants examples, notice times, and a way to order. Here is how we lay out a bakery site so both find their path, what to photograph, and how the site helps nearby customers find the shop.
Split everyday baking from custom orders
Start with two clear doors on the home page: what is in the shop today, and how to order something special. Everyday items get a simple page with hours and directions. Custom work gets its own section with a gallery, an explanation of the ordering steps, and a form. When both share a single page, walk-ins wade through wedding cakes, and planners miss the order form beneath a list of croissants.
Photograph your own cakes and pastries
Customers order custom cakes by pointing at past work, so your gallery is your catalog. Photograph each finished cake before it leaves, in good light against a plain background, and group the photos by occasion. Label them as your own work and avoid inspiration images from other bakers, which set expectations you may not meet. For the case, a few honest photos of a full tray tell people what a morning visit looks like.
Make the order form do the asking
A good custom order form asks what your decorator would ask on the phone: the event date, number of servings, flavors and fillings, colors or theme, any dietary requests, pickup or delivery, and an inspiration photo. The answers arrive in your inbox, and you reply with a quote and confirm the details. Say plainly how much notice you usually need and how a deposit works, if you take one.
Seasonal rushes deserve their own pages. A holiday preorder page with the items on offer, a clear last day to order, and the pickup times you will run saves your phone line in the busiest weeks of the year. When the list is full, change the page to say so, and point people to what is still available in the case.
Help nearby customers find the bakery
Bakery searches mix the immediate and the planned: bakery near me, birthday cakes, a specific pastry by name. Keep your address, hours, and phone the same on the website and your Google Business Profile, and add photos of the shop and your cakes to both. Pages for birthday cakes, wedding cakes, and specialties give search engines something specific to match. Reviews mentioning a cake that made a party help more than any slogan.
