How to Create a Website That Drives Business to Your Recruiting Agency
Imagine you want to find a design agency that can help you design a logo for your company. What’s one of the first things you’ll do? Look a few agencies up online, of course.
Let’s say that, as you are researching possible agencies, you find one website that sticks out — but for all the wrong reasons. The fonts are dated, the copy doesn’t make sense, and the design is sloppy. After spending just a few seconds on the agency’s site, you’ve decided not to give it your business.
The same thing can happen when potential candidates and clients visit your recruiting agency’s site, if you’re not careful. If you want to create a website that attracts new business rather than repels it, follow these tips:
1. Use Honest, Clear, Concise Copy
There’s no point offering the world if you’re not going to deliver. Don’t make any promises on your website that you can’t keep. Word of mouth and the independent reviews of previous candidates and clients will always reveal the truth.
In addition to avoiding false promises, you need to ensure your website copy communicates your message quickly and clearly. The average reader won’t stick around very long if they can’t find the information they want. In fact, according to one study, you must communicate your value proposition within 10 seconds if you hope to capture a reader’s attention. Skip the jargon. Think more along the lines of Ronseal’s “Does exactly what it says on the tin” and get straight to the point.
What sort of information should your website readily communicate to visitors? Ask yourself these questions:
– What recruitment services does your agency offer?
– Do you handle temporary, contract, or full-time positions?
– Are you a niche recruiting agency responsible for hiring candidates in a specialized field?
People don’t read webpages; they scan them. The answers to these and other important questions should be clearly presented through headings, subheadings, and bold text.
2. Use Genuine Images
Studies have shown that readers ignore “feel-good images that are purely decorative.” You know the type: the laughing office workers, the smiling coffee drinkers.
Instead, users are drawn to photos of real people. The same study cited above found readers may spend 10 percent more time looking at photos of real people than reading the content on a page.
Instead of relying on stock photos, take real pictures of your real employees. Snap some candids at the office holiday party. Take pictures during team-building activities. Ask employees if they have photos of their own to share.
Some areas of your website that could really benefit from genuine images of real people from your company include your blog, your team bios, and your “About” page. Testimonials are another easy place to display genuine images. Tell the stories of candidates and clients you’ve successfully helped — accompanied, of course, by pictures of them.
3. Make It Navigable
Just as important as clear copy is a clear layout. Candidates and clients must be able to navigate the website and find relevant information with ease. Your website should make it easy for visitors to complete key tasks like contacting you, registering with your agency, and finding out more information about what you do.
4. Highlight Social Proof to Cultivate Trust
If a lot of people are doing it, it must be good, right? This is the logic of social proof.
To quote Hubspot’s Sophia Bernazzani, “Social proof is the idea that consumers will adapt their behavior according to what other people are doing. … When we see a line of customers waiting to eat at a restaurant or a photo of a celebrity drinking a certain brand of coffee, it lends an air of gravitas and quality to the product[.]”
You can prominently feature social proof on your agency’s website in order to reap the benefits of this phenomenon. For example, if visitors to your website see you’ve placed hundreds of candidates or filled hundreds of open roles for clients, they’ll be more likely to trust you can get similar results for them.
Some examples of how you can display social proof on your website:
– 200 New Signups
– 12,191 Live Jobs
– 30,000 Twitter Followers
– 132,012 Facebook Likes
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Your website’s copy, images, layout, and social proof can be powerful tools for business success. Use them correctly, and you’ll have more candidates and clients vying to work with you in no time.
Colleen Branch writes for Chameleon-i.