Job Board Traffic Sources Checklist

Job site marketer’s checklist of job seeker traffic generators and JobMount tips for improving on those for job board software clients:

1. Search engines: organic (via SEO)
Key source of free job seeker traffic delivering high application rates.

1. Concentrate on optimizing for Google (75% traffic) and peers will follow (Yahoo / Bing, AOL, etc)
2. Optimize for both popular and long tail keywords (long tail keywords might generate up to 90% traffic)
3. Add more jobs from employer websites via job wrapping & aggregator
4. Increase conversion by providing branded landing pages
5. Estimate potential traffic your job board can achieve via SEO

2. Search Engines: Pay Per Click
Advertise job board or specific openings on Google, Yahoo, etc.

1. Hitwise data reveals that only 9 percent of Googlers are clicking on sponsored listings when searching jobs
2. Can improve your key clients’ jobs performance by advertising on Google

3. Aggregators
Massive paid traffic generators: Indeed, ZipRecruiter. Syndicate on free boards to increase coverage: GoogleBase, Oodle, Juju, Trovit.

1. High bounce rates for job boards (60-85%)
2. Concentrate budget on priority postings / clients
3. Use client branded jobs landing pages to improve application / reduce bounce rate

4. Social networks
Advertise both job board brand and specific jobs on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.

1. Integrate by providing single sign on (i.e. Facebook Connect authentication) – improves new visitors registration rates
2. Advertise your board on registered applicant wall / status updates
3. Create a group for your job seekers to join and post profiles to
4. Auto-post to Twitter / Facebook accounts: carefully differentiate job channels to make them worth following (don’t spam all of the openings into single account)
5. Create your own community (Ning, WordPress / BuddyPress) & integrate with job board

5. Social bookmarking
Key content bookmarks submitted to Digg, StumbleUpon, Del.ici.os, Squidoo can help both traffic and SEO.

6. Mobile devices
Offer mobile application to download or improve user experience by opening mobile version of your website on iPhone and other mobile devices.

7. Subscriptions & direct marketing
Generate returning traffic via job alerts (email, RSS, Twitter, sms) and newsletters. Mass mailers.

8. Online adverts, PR
Paid links, banners, press releases, virus / creative, newsletter sponsorships for both job seeker traffic / brand awareness and recruiter leads generation. Relevant links help both traffic and SEO, but make sure your banner ad or link is placed on a page well ranked on Google for your target keywords (or part of your keywords)

9. Offline
TV, industry magazines, boards, job fairs, etc. Can generate both direct traffic and improve brand awareness. Google organic search click-though-ratio increases for brands advertised offline.

10. Sticky content
Create a blog, social network, publish a newsletter or white papers with useful content. Helps your SEO for relevant content and external links.

11. Partners
I.e. publish Jobg8 network jobs on your website to obtain Pay For Performance revenues and / or have your clients advertise jobs on other network websites.

See also:
– Key sources of hires and niche job boards challenges
– Google personalized search influence on job boards