No, TacoBell.com doesn’t have a shopping cart for chalupas, but it does have a supreme website. And if the word supreme has you in the mood for a Crunchy Taco Supreme, its homepage has a user-friendly location finder (reference 1) to help visitors get their fix faster by providing them with the closest franchise.

Taco Bell’s social network properties (reference 2) are clearly centered at the top of its homepage. These links escort visitors to the brand’s Facebook and Twitter pages for news updates, to YouTube for its ad clips, and to its mobile-friendly site, which has a GPS locator to further help people find the nearest drive-through.

At the top to the far left (reference 3), Taco Bell features its logo, which links back to the homepage. Best of all, when users click it, the bell rings. In this section, users can navigate to “food” to view menus, to “discover” to display new menu items and combo specials, and to “nutrition” for ingredients, a calorie calculator, diabetic options, etc.

Perhaps one of my favorite sections of the Taco Bell homepage is its reputation management (reference 4), which is located in the lower left corner. Here the brand addresses the recently dropped lawsuit regarding its seasoned beef. It is upfront and logical as it explains the issue (via videos, press releases, etc.), providing customers with the facts. Although the questioned quality of its beef was a PR nightmare, there’s no question about the quality of the brand’s site — it’s pure premium.

The company also does an excellent job of displaying large product images and descriptions (reference 5). Since the company isn’t posed with the e-commerce challenge of having to promote all of its menu items on the homepage, it’s able to have a bright graphic background that ties in with its branded image.