Throughout the years I’ve bought various job boards and relaunched them in order to turn them around. The most recent ones were four dot net sites—longislandjobs.net, philadelphiajobs.net, baltimorejobs.net and washingtondcjobs.net.
They were all using some basic job board software so I initially put them on Jobamatic (pre-Google PANDA) and watched their traffic soar. But then SEO reality set in so I decided to move them all to Jobtarget and make them a permanent part of the AllCountyJobs.com network.
The first step in any turn around project is picking the job board software. My advice here is get the most expensive one you can afford. Then start planning a new logo and design for it. If you have no design skills post a project on 99designs.com and you’ll get a great new look for just hundreds of dollars. The designers that will bid can in some cases even code the pages for you.
Design is very important because you want job seekers and more importantly employers to use your site. They wont if your site is poorly designed. Invest in a nice look.
Once your site is launched, start getting back-links to it to improve its ranking. Dedicate 1 day each week to emailing potential blogs, career advice sites, and other job sites for links back to you. Create a link page of your own so that you can link back to them as well.
Form a network. If you have multiples sites you are trying to relaunch, link to all of them to form a network. I did that with 3 of these new sites by forming a “mini” network called the Mid-Atlantic job network. This will create more credibility and exposure over time.
Lastly once your old site has its makeover, publicize it. Put out a press release on eReleases.com to get a jump start.
