In mid-October at the Healthcare Staffing Summit, I had the opportunity to present at the expert round table discussions. Each session, people were lining up to learn how their website can grow their staffing business.
How does your staffing firm see its website? Have you ever really put much thought into it? The approach you take to your website can determine whether it simply serves the same function as your business card, or becomes the most effective component of your recruiting and new client acquisition strategy.
The first step toward getting your website to grow your staffing business is to first determine your goals. Do you want your website to:
- Bring in more leads?
- Attract more candidates?
- Entertain?
- Address customer service issues?
- Educate your clients?
Next determine what message you want your site to convey and in what voice you want that to be done in. For example, which of the following is the most important impression for your company to give:
- Innovative
- Fun
- Creative
- Professional
- Educational
Once you’ve made these decisions it’s time to build a site that is simple, useful and creative.
Keep it simple. Simple isn’t boring. Simple is beautiful and simple is useful. Avoid adding things to your website simply because you think they should be there or because you like them. The most important thing to do is make something simple that is clear to your customers and drives results.
It has to be useful. Everything you add to your website should be useful — anything that isn’t doesn’t belong. One way to ensure your website is useful is to not overwhelm your visitors with options and information. You know that feeling you get when you head to the cereal aisle to find Cheerios but when you get there you can’t find the Cheerios because you’re so overwhelmed with other options? Avoid that.
Make it creative. Start with simple and useful. However, if you really want to stand out from your competition and really WOW your customers, then you have to get creative. What’s it mean to be creative? Well, that’s a bit more of a subjective answer. Creativity takes time and iteration to develop. But it’s well worth the effort and investment.
If you couldn’t make it to my talk last week just follow this link to get the handout and learn more about How Your Website Can Grow Your Staffing Business.
