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www.AgencyCentral.co.uk is not a job board – rather it’s your cost-effective business development tool:

· Most popular directory of UK recruitment agencies.
· Last year we had over 200,000 employer (and 5.5 million candidate) visits.
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Would you be interested in receiving a share of these new business leads? Ring 01925 639100 or email enquiries@agencycentral.co.uk.

Article: 10 Things to consider before starting work on your web site by Adele Poole

1. What are the objectives for the web site?
What your objectives are will depend on the nature of your recruitment company. What works for contingency recruitment won’t fit the requirements of executive search. Objectives may include increasing job applications, building a candidate database, attracting new clients etc. The objectives should and will define the design, the content and the functionality of the site and how the site should be marketed in the search engines.

2. What is your budget?
When you are considering how much to spend, much will be determined by the return on investment you expect. This can be defined by the number of placements you may make as a result of candidates visiting the web site but as the web site forms part of your marketing mix it is also part of your general brand awareness. Your budget should include the design and development of the site, ongoing costs such as hosting and support and appropriate ongoing amount for marketing your site on and offline. You will also want to budget for making changes to the site during the life of the site. Establishing a three year budget is a good idea for any online presence.

3. Who is your target audience?
Is it clients, is it candidates or both and if it is both, how are you going to make sure it meets the needs of both parties? Sometimes recruitment companies forget this and design the site for themselves and are happy with the results but confused as to why the site isn’t working for them. The best way to ensure it works is to test it with real clients and candidates with a usability study that shows you how the site is going to be used in practice rather than assuming that it’s just going to work. 

4. How are they going to find you?
Getting maximum exposure and traffic to your site needs a comprehensive and integrated digital marketing strategy. The correct mix will depend on your objectives but it likely to include search engine optimisation, search engine marketing, email marketing, integration with social media and good online PR.

5. How are you going to maintain the web site’s profile?
An ongoing digital marketing strategy is essential as outlined above but the web site itself is a key element in maintaining success. Relevant content is a major part of your optimisation strategy and is enhanced by it changing on a regular basis, e.g. regularly updating jobs, news, blogs etc.

6. How are you going to represent your brand?
Online branding is as important as your offline identity. The web site is an effective way of communicating your brand values and differentiating yourself from your competitors. Be clear about the image you are putting forward and reinforce that through your content and copy, imagery, testimonials and tone of voice.

7. What are your key selling points?
Imagine that a visitor is coming to your site for the first time and will spend no more than 10 -20 seconds viewing your home and/or key pages. What are the key messages that you need that person to understand about your company, its proposition and specialisms. Make sure that these are obvious on those key pages. Don’t make the visitor work to find out whether they should be staying longer on the site.

8. How are you going to engage the visitor?
Obvious and clear calls to action are essential. Good examples include job search and application, register for email alerts or news letters, offer and subscriptions and an obvious contact form, email address and telephone number.

9. How are you going to ensure the visitor returns?
The most obvious means is by alerts by email, mobile phone or through an RSS feed to encourage potential candidates to come back to the site to view jobs. RSS feeds in particular are an effective tool when it comes to integrating with social networking sites. The use of third party tools, such as Twitterfeed and RSS Graffiti, allow you to display relevant vacancies within relevant groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twiter etc. By using share this functionality in conjunction with RSS feeds, you can dramatically increase the reach of your vacancies through viral marketing. Other sophisticated ways to maximise your returning visitors include candidate portals with career development tools and advice, polls and surveys, regular online news letters and opinion pieces.

10. How are you going to monitor the site’s success?
Analytics are essential to see whether the site is working for you. Not just to show your progress in visitor numbers but how the site is performing in practice and how visitors are converting and engaging with you. This information will give you key data on how to develop your site going forward.

Adele Poole, Commercial and Operations Manager, HotLizard.  Adele is best known for forming online recruitment solutions business HotLizard in May 1999 and is responsible for developing the business to a £2M turnover and to the successful acquisition by the Aspire Media Group in January 2009. HotLizard has worked with over 400 clients over the last 11 years, including Telegraph Jobs, Pulse and Global Radio.  www.hotlizard.net | info@hotlizard.net | 01635 527900 | @HotLizard_News

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