Setting and Starting Your Own Jobsite

Type in the words ‘jobsite’ on any Internet search engine and you will get, at last count, some 9 million items. Many of these jobs sites are general services offering positions varying from teaching jobs to telecommunications sales people. Invariably, most of these sites have very few positions available and consequently very few hits. However, some 8% of the job sites online are large profitable organisations turning over a net profit of over $2 .5 million a year. This is an average figure.
To create a commercially viable jobsite that has a chance of distinguishing itself online there are a number of things you must do. The first thing is research, research, research. Spend some time on identifying a gap in the market. After that, your next task will be to create a market in that gap.
If you have some experience working in a certain profession for a number of years then this is a good place to start. Specialising in one particular type of occupation or profession gives you several advantages. First of all, you are able to use your previous contacts in order to spread the word about what you’re doing. Although paid for advertising will have a role to play later on, good old-fashioned word-of-mouth is a great way to start the ball rolling.
Secondly, you may already belong to a professional organization within your field. Contact them and let them know that you have a jobsite tailored specifically for their members. If you are already registered with this professional organization, you may well find that they are open to the idea of advertising your agency for you.
It’s also important to quickly identify who else is offering a very similar service to the one that you’re proposing to launch as a business idea. In order to ensure your project survival it’s important to adopt a ‘blue ocean’ strategy of business management. According to management strategists, the red ocean school of thought relies purely on undercutting your rivals, flooding the market with your product to muscle them out and (in some cases or) offering your goods or services at a price that leaves a very thin profit margin for yourself.
This strategy creates a red ocean which is quite literally awash with either your blood or that of your competitors. The blue ocean school of thought advises you to focus on growing the market by introducing something new. This ensures that you have no competition, at least for a little while, while also providing consumers with an alternative to existing products or services. So, identify who else is in your market, what they’re doing, and how your jobsite will add to the overall industry.
As your business will be an online one, search engine optimisation will be essential to its survival. Making sure that your site comes up whenever someone searches for relevant keywords in your industry will help boost your Google rankings and also direct jobseekers and agencies your way. There are many aspects of search engine optimisation that you can do yourself, although it’s always advisable to get an expert on board. There are also online forums that can provide you with free pointers on what you can do to boost your sites visibility.
Once people come to your site it has to be easy to use and intuitive to those who may not be expert Internet surfers. Make sure that all of the links work and that all of the pages are updated regularly. It’s a good idea to view your new site in many browsers for example Internet Explorer, Opera, Firefox and the new Google Chrome. You may find that the site looks slightly different from one browser to another. This will allow you to iron out any wrinkles that users may experience depending on which browser they have on their PC or Mac. People also feel more comfortable if they can get hold of the site administrator should any problems arise. Giving a working contact number or e-mail address in the “contact us” section is a good idea.
The most important aspect of any jobsite has to be the availability of jobs. There are a handful of companies that will provide a vacancy population service for your site. None of these services are free, and most of them charge fees starting from $4000 a month.
A more viable option would be for you to talk directly to companies that are already advertising positions and asking them if they would like to place their job vacancies on your site. This can be a laborious and time-consuming endeavour but, ultimately, it’s one that will save you a lot of money in the long run.
Also advertising on the free classified sites that you have a job service available online is a pretty handy way of spreading the word.
Lastly, give it time. The most successful websites often take months if not years to become big hits with Internet users. There’s no reason why yours shouldn’t be. Just work hard at it every day, involve to solve (that is, involve people in order to solve problems) and put yourself in the position of both the jobseeker and the job agency. Ask yourself: “how can I make their lives easier?”
The answer may well give you an insight that others have overlooked.