The next steps

[Eben]

Hey all,

Im looking for advance in the next steps of my business. I run several Facebook groups that allow employers to post job vacancies within their business. In total the groups have over 10,500 + followers with over 35,000 views across the groups a month.

I’m now looking to take the next steps in the business, so it can actually generate money.

How I believe I can achieve this is by requiring employers to fill in a form on a website which will automatically then post their job advertisement on our Facebook page, groups’ and our website. Before the employer submits their job advertisement, they can choose from a free option or several paid options which gives them different perks when posting their job.

I’m just looking to see if anyone may have a different approaches or could just give me general advice to get.

I should add that I am a web developer, so building the website for this business I will do myself.

 

[fisicx]

Really difficult to monetise this. As soon as you add additional steps or payments employers will leave in droves.

If you force them to use the website to post a vacancy they will just move to a different group or platform.

Sorry to be all doom and gloom but many have tried to monetise a facebook group and failed. There may be the odd employer willing to pay but most won’t be interested.

 

[Eben]

Really difficult to monetise this. As soon as you add additional steps or payments employers will leave in droves.

If you force them to use the website to post a vacancy they will just move to a different group or platform.

Sorry to be all doom and gloom but many have tried to monetise a facebook group and failed. There may be the odd employer willing to pay but most won’t be interested.

Thank for the reply.

Nope, it's not all doom! That's why I was looking for some advice. Maybe I need to create the website and develop the business as a job board website using the Facebook groups as support to promote the online job board.

 

[fisicx]

But…

Why would an employer want to use your job board instead of all the other existing and popular job boards?

Why would they want to give you money when the ROI on indeed is much better?

What’s your USP?

 

[Eben]

But…

Why would an employer want to use your job board instead of all the other existing and popular job boards?

Why would they want to give you money when the ROI on indeed is much better?

What’s your USP?

That’s a very valid point. I would say my USP is local business and communities. Only focusing on a county of Cumbria.

But I have done some research and you right! I spoke to pages that did what I wanted to do and they closed for the very reasons you mentioned!

So back to the drawing board!

Thank you for your advise!!

 

[fisicx]

A local free website can work. Get the traffic and put adverts on the site.

 

[Eben]

A local free website can work. Get the traffic and put adverts on the site.

I might do that, keeping it very simple but well designed and see what happens. Get some good connects!

 

[Shopclicks]

That’s a very valid point. I would say my USP is local business and communities. Only focusing on a county of Cumbria.

Cumberland or Westmorland?

A local free website can work. Get the traffic and put adverts on the site.

This could work. It's going to be next to impossible to get business owners to pay to list but if you can generate traffic, you can certainly charge for advertising space. I run a local town website which sells business listings and promotional advertising. You need traffic and added value for the businesses.

 

[Eben]

Cumberland or Westmorland?


This could work. It's going to be next to impossible to get business owners to pay to list but if you can generate traffic, you can certainly charge for advertising space. I run a local town website which sells business listings and promotional advertising. You need traffic and added value for the businesses.

Hey,

Both really!

I was always going to offer a free option. The free option was going to allow people to post their job ad which would go onto the website for free. In addition, it would also go on the Facebook group of the area that they are advertising in alongside the Facebook page.

The paid options were going to be to allow businesses to add their logo or the cover photo alongside featuring their post on the website, so it would be right at the top.

 

[Shopclicks]

The paid options were going to be to allow businesses to add their logo or the cover photo alongside featuring their post on the website, so it would be right at the top.

I think you're going to need to offer more than this to get businesses to pay. If the job listings are posted to Facebook, why do people need to visit your website? The website needs to generate its own traffic.

 

[Eben]

I think you're going to need to offer more than this to get businesses to pay. If the job listings are posted to Facebook, why do people need to visit your website? The website needs to generate its own traffic.

The website would generate traffic. The reason for this is when someone post their job via the website, the back end of the website will create a job post on the website with the URL. This URL will then be posted on Facebook, within the post the job title, the hourly rate, location and a very short extract from the job description will be shown.

The idea behind this would be to funnel viewers to our website to get the full details of the job.

The beautiful thing about websites is when you share a link, there is usually a preview photo on most websites. This is something that the website would set but you can also change this by putting a unique photo on it which customers could pay for to grab more attention when on Facebook.

 

[fisicx]

Ok. But job hunters will only be visiting the FB page. Employers won’t pay to show a logo when they already get applicants from the FB page - if they can fill their vacancies for free why bother to pay.

 

[Shopclicks]

This is something that the website would set but you can also change this by putting a unique photo on it which customers could pay for to grab more attention when on Facebook.

What is your placement rate? And how do you measure it?

 

[Eben]

Ok. But job hunters will only be visiting the FB page. Employers won’t pay to show a logo when they already get applicants from the FB page - if they can fill their vacancies for free why bother to pay.

That’s the hiccup and the debate that I’m currently having with myself. Do I go down the path of free model and then try to mould that free model into something that could make money?

It’s one of those things where I don’t wanna go down a free model and I don’t have a clear plan of how to make revenue.

 

[Eben]

What is your placement rate? And how do you measure it?

Great question! And I’m unsure. Currently there’s about 300 job posts throughout all the groups each month.

 

[Shopclicks]

Great question! And I’m unsure. Currently there’s about 300 job posts throughout all the groups each month.

Being able to advertise a good placement rate is going to get you more job seekers and more listings. So you should work that into your plan.
If you don't have an advertising budget, then seo is going to be your best option. I'm in Cumberland and so I see Cumbrian job opportunities in the top ten search results, when I search for 'chefs jobs' (search volume 2900/month) as an example.
You need industry categorised listing pages and they need to be optimised for local search.
You also need application forms (and CV uploads) direct from the listings. If an employer is receiving applications through your website from targeted job seekers, that's a metric you can measure and sell.

Automated follow-up emails to keep you in the process will also help. 'Was your application successful?' 'Did you find a chef?' 'Here's a guide to help you with your next application', etc.

Solve as many problems as you can and make the process as simple as possible for both sides of the interaction.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

So here are a couple of things. Have you thought about showing the value you add? So spending £150 to post a job on Reed vs £20 on yours. If you have customer testimonials - people saying how amazing your site is, you can generate revenue.

Also, advertising. Have you thought about this element?

 

[Eben]

Being able to advertise a good placement rate is going to get you more job seekers and more listings. So you should work that into your plan.
If you don't have an advertising budget, then seo is going to be your best option. I'm in Cumberland and so I see Cumbrian job opportunities in the top ten search results, when I search for 'chefs jobs' (search volume 2900/month) as an example.
You need industry categorised listing pages and they need to be optimised for local search.
You also need application forms (and CV uploads) direct from the listings. If an employer is receiving applications through your website from targeted job seekers, that's a metric you can measure and sell.

Automated follow-up emails to keep you in the process will also help. 'Was your application successful?' 'Did you find a chef?' 'Here's a guide to help you with your next application', etc.

Solve as many problems as you can and make the process as simple as possible for both sides of the interaction.

Well, it looks like my workload has just increased! Thank for this, I’m going to take this and apply it in the development of the site. I will make a plan and milestone flow chart and get cracking!

Insee you have SEO knowledge, would you mind if I ask a few queuing down the road?

 

[Eben]

So here are a couple of things. Have you thought about showing the value you add? So spending £150 to post a job on Reed vs £20 on yours. If you have customer testimonials - people saying how amazing your site is, you can generate revenue.

Also, advertising. Have you thought about this element?

I think I will need to really think about that, @Shopclicks has made some valid points in regards to my offering and USP which I need to really think about. The only main concern be that I have, that I can’t banking is because it’s local.

A questions that I do have for you and everyone is, do i roll out a fully developed product or do I develop as I go? Will it detract from potential clients and customers if I develop as I go or do I develop the whole thing and then launch it?

 

[fisicx]

You do a bit of both.

Build the job board and launch. Do some marketing and see if you get any traction. Make sure you pull all the adverts from FB and publish on the site so you have some content.

If you start getting applicants applying online you can then start sending emails to all the employers.

If they then start posting vacancies you can then look at some automation.

After a year or so once the site becomes popular locally you can think about monetising with adverts.

I did something like this for a local business directory. Took about 3 years to build up traffic. Once monetised it covered hosting costs wit some left over for marketing and couple of beers each week.

 

[Shopclicks]

A questions that I do have for you and everyone is, do i roll out a fully developed product or do I develop as I go? Will it detract from potential clients and customers if I develop as I go or do I develop the whole thing and then launch it?

I would get the basics of the website in place and populate it with your current job listings as @fisicx suggests. Don't show empty categories, just expand as you go.
You might be able to do something with free 1 week listings and the employer pays to extend (at least until the site is established). You could also look at 'Homepage featured' or similar promotions at a cost.

The question of whether people are put off by an incomplete website is answered with seo. The page that shows in a google search should answer the query. So you don't send everyone to the homepage and let them find their own way around. You optimise the 'Chefs jobs' category so that people searching for 'chefs jobs' land on the only page they need to take the next step.

 

[Paul FilmMaker]

I think I will need to really think about that, @Shopclicks has made some valid points in regards to my offering and USP which I need to really think about. The only main concern be that I have, that I can’t banking is because it’s local.

A questions that I do have for you and everyone is, do i roll out a fully developed product or do I develop as I go? Will it detract from potential clients and customers if I develop as I go or do I develop the whole thing and then launch it?

I think there's a lot of value if you can prove it works. E.g. one of my customers would bite your hand off if this type of job board worked in other locations (not Cumbria, sadly). They have huge factories which no-one wants to work in. Since Brexit, they've been really struggling to recruit.

We just did a load of recruitment videos for them because they're desperate to get people in.

So I think you'll come across some great opportunities if you can both prove that you have something that works and secondly start marketing it a bit.

 

[Eben]

I think there's a lot of value if you can prove it works. E.g. one of my customers would bite your hand off if this type of job board worked in other locations (not Cumbria, sadly). They have huge factories which no-one wants to work in. Since Brexit, they've been really struggling to recruit.

We just did a load of recruitment videos for them because they're desperate to get people in.

So I think you'll come across some great opportunities if you can both prove that you have something that works and secondly start marketing it a bit.

Perfect thank you for that! I will definitely press on with the project