Every recruitment business needs a recruitment website, but where do you even start? Whether you’re a recruitment start-up and need a website for your new business or you’re in need of a new recruitment website to boost traffic and candidate and client conversions, you’ll need to go through a similar process.
We have outlined the key steps to building your recruitment website, although if you already have a website, you can skip step 1. Think about and action each step, and you’ll be well on your way to being the proud owner of a first-class recruitment website.
1. Choose and register a domain name
Before you can start thinking about the design and build of your recruitment website, you will need to choose a name, check it isn’t already taken and then register it. A domain name, or a URL, is the address of your website. It is unique to you, and when someone types it into a browser or clicks on it from a search engine, it will take them to your website. Your business name must be across your domain name, your email address and your social media. Once your domain name is registered, you can start to think about the website itself.
2. Choose a website development company
You could do it yourself, but if you want a professionally designed website that looks the part and brings results, you’ll need to employ the services of a website designer. One that specialises in recruitment is your best bet as you can then be assured it will be designed and built with recruitment features and functionalities at its core. Choose one with an established reputation and a good portfolio of finished websites. Read client testimonials, check out their pricing, see if they offer additional services like ongoing support or a content writing service and ask lots of questions about their process.
3. Work out what pages you will need
There are certain pages that are fairly essential and others that are not vital but incredibly useful. Remember that you can always add pages further down the line if you’re not sure if you need them or if budget is an issue.
Essential pages include the homepage, a jobs page, a contact page and disclosure pages such as a privacy policy and a cookies policy. If you can also include separate pages for candidates and clients (with clearly separated journeys from the homepage), a dedicated about us page, a meet the team page, blog page and testimonials page, it will help to boost your results. Other pages will depend on your industry and the services you provide. For example, if you recruit in Education, you will likely need information on safeguarding which may require its own page. If you provide a host of candidate guidance services, you may want pages for those.
4. Decide what features you want
Features are a different consideration to pages but the two work in tandem. For example, on your jobs page, you may want a candidate registration area and the option to run either quick or advanced searches. You may also want to highlight the newest jobs and/or blogs on your homepage with a slider. Do you want to enable candidates to receive job alerts? Do you want social media buttons? How about multimedia? You’ll need images, but will you also need video? All of these and more are the sort of considerations you’ll need to make when it comes to choosing features for your recruitment website.
5. Focus on branding
Branding is key as it will inform the design of your website. If you haven’t got a logo or brand colours yet or want a re-brand, this can be something your website designer could do for you. Alternatively, you could employ the services of a brand agency that could also help with brand identity, messaging, positioning and tone. Your brand should be weaved throughout the design of your site, from shapes to colours, to images, to the voice you use in your content.
6. Determine your main calls to action
What is your end goal for visitors to your website? What do you want them to do before they leave? You’ll want candidates to apply for a job, register their CV or contact you, whereas the end goal for potential clients is to fill in a contact form or send an email. You want to persuade both that you are trustworthy, experts in your field and better than your competitors, so encouraging them to read a blog article or visit your testimonials page will also be important. Each page will need a different call to action or multiple CTAs, depending on its content and its aim. Prioritise the most important actions you want your visitors to take and ensure your CTAs reflect that.
7. Hone in on keywords
Establishing your keywords is essential for SEO purposes in order to be ranked highly in search engines and therefore bring traffic to your website. Think about which words are highly used in recruitment and in the sector in which you recruit – which ones are searched for most? Each page should contain relevant keywords but don’t use them to the detriment of your content. Your copy should retain a natural flow; the keywords should not feel forced.
8. Write your copy
Once you’ve made all those decisions, it’s time to write your content. This can be a truly daunting task, and a content writing service is something a website company can sometimes provide if you’d rather leave it to the professionals. You need to immediately capture the visitor’s attention and keep it on the page or persuade the visitor to perform an action. It needs to be optimised for search engines but be engaging and leave the reader wanting to read and find out more. Know your audience and write for them, using a tone that matches your brand and is appropriate for your sector. Make it scannable and break it up into short, grabbable paragraphs mixed with images and graphics.
Embarking on the start of a new recruitment website is incredibly exciting but can also feel overwhelming as there is a great deal to consider. Breaking it up into a step-by-step list like this should help you to make the right decisions and think about everything you want to include on your site.
A great recruitment website can help boost your branding, deliver quality candidates and potential clients to you and increase applications and hires, so it’s worth taking the time to get it right.
