Archive for December, 2010

2012.10

Calling All Recruiters in Exeter

Posted by Alastair in Company News, News

We have launched an new exciting website for Exeter – Yourjobsboard.co.uk and the first step is to make sure as many recruiters start using it as soon as possible

Here’s some background

Over the last ten years we’ve worked closely with many recruitment companies in the South West and especially Exeter. We’ve built over 10 recruitment based websites and been involved in online marketing strategy for many more in that time. Many of them have become good friends of the company.

We recognise what makes successful recruitment work and what the challenges are. One of the biggest marketing challenges all recruiters have is accessing the best candidates and they quite often pay through the nose for this service. Traditionally job ads were placed in newspapers (which cost a fortune), now much of the searching is done online. So this is where we find ourselves now. On average an independent recruitment company or business recruiter in a town like Exeter will have to pay and access CV’s from at least two or three of the large job websites. These sites are (in our opinion) quite faceless and also quite expensive but they are a necessity for our clients because they attract the candidates to the roles they need to fill.

Roll on YourJobsBoard.co.uk – We’re all about local at Optix. We have been working in Exeter since 1999 and our directors were students of the University before then. We love working with local people and businesses and supporting the local economy. About a year ago, Alastair Banks (one of our directors) had the idea of building a local jobs board to take on the nationals (well sort of). “Why don’t we build a jobs board for Exeter, purely aimed at Exeter recruiters, including Recruitment Agents (of which there are over 120!), Exeter companies and Exeter Candidates”, Alastair said.

There are two reasons that James Dawkins (fellow director) and the team at Optix got behind him:

1) It’s Niche – In the current economy it’s important to focus – working in a niche is more important that spreading yourself thinly – you are far more likely to get better results this way. The likes of Google are paying far more attention to offering up the best local results they can.

2) Relevancy – If we can build a site that is so relevant to Exeter then it should be able to gain traction in the search engines and show the most relevant results to both candidates and companies alike, helping the local economy

The idea of YourJobsBoard.co.uk was born. Initially we went to our recruitment clients and sounded them out about the idea. They loved it and helped us hugely with new ideas and challenges to overcome, that we would never have come up with ourselves – we thank them for that.

What makes the concept unique?

There are a number of factors that make this unique – here are just a few:

  • A truely local jobs board for a local market – run from Exeter, about Exeter, with Exeter Jobs, People and Places
  • Integrated with Social Media – A candidate can link up their Twitter Feed/LinkedIn and Blog if they have them
  • Candidates can also use video to promote themselves
  • It’s completely free for recruiters to post jobs
  • Recruiters can add tips and career advice for free- We embrace and encourage collaboration
  • It’s linked up with the local University to promote their job schemes

How you can help?

Without the people of Exeter behind this it will be a far harder job to take on the nationals so please tell people wherever possible about this new and exciting jobs board. If you know people looking for work, make sure they register and if you have a placement then get it online – it’s free after all.

The address is http://www.yourjobsboard.co.uk

If you have any feedback then as always we’d love to hear it.

You can find us on Facebook http://goo.gl/Zs9r4 

and on Twitter http://twitter.com/#!/YourJobsBoard

 

1512.10

2011: Year of the pro-active search engine?

Posted by Nick in News, Online Marketing

When I read about Nigel Leck’s Twitter chatbot, @AL_AGW last month and technology review’s report on what he has created, essentially a pro-active search engine that directs the information to you without actively searching for it, I have been excited by the prospect that eventually the relevant information to what I need will just find me.

A few days ago, Google announced that they are looking into ways to push the information to you, before you even know you need it!

Mayer said Google is looking at what she called “contextual discovery” as a way to evolve search – pushing information out to people before they’ve started to look for it, based on factors such as their web browsing history or current location.

This is exciting news and I can’t wait for it to evolve. I think it is the future of searching and hopefully as soon as 2011. Could this be a playground for spammers, though?

0812.10

Zooplus, E-commerce and why I love it

Posted by Nick in E-Commerce

Being E-Commerce specialists it is very easy to criticise every e-commerce website out there. We can usually find something that’s wrong, even with the famed John Lewis website that everyone loves referring back to – but very rarely do we come across a company that just does E-commerce right. Sure, it has its flaws – but Zooplus demonstrates that it knows its stuff and I thoroughly recommend using it if you have any pets!

The Design

A clear layout is essential, with very clear calls to action. Promotions are carried across the website with a clear red indication that it relates to a special offer, a subconscious thought process that the discount hungry shopper will associate with value throughout the rest of their experience.

A link to a Christmas Advent Calendar, offering daily deals indicates added value and seasonal campaigns, while the McAfee secure button above the payment box reassures the customer in knowing that their order will be processed safely and securely.

The delivery price is clear at a glance like it should be, promoting their free delivery on orders over £19 and the £2.90 fixed charge for all orders below this. In todays economic climate, it is very easy to get caught up with complicated delivery options.

As you navigate the site, the design remains consistent with clear calls to action and is not cluttered with banners.

The Experience

The order experience is intuitive. Enter in the quantity you want and click add to instantly put this in your cart. This pops up a mini cart and also marks the row for that option with a tick so you don’t accidentally put it in more than you need. Being in a list format means the user is more likely to buy more, and the fact it is put together with similar products gives each product a benchmark against the other ones. On its own, the user would have a much harder job giving it an absolute value and determining just how good value for money it is.

The telephone number could be a bit larger but it is great to see it on every page to the right. Each product has a number next to it so I know that if I had any queries, I could pick up the phone and ask about it. A 01 number indicates that a representative is far more likely to pick up on the other end than an automated service, which even a free phone number may indicate.

As I move into the cart to finally review my purchase, I can see my welcome coupon has been applied and if I was outside the UK, I can easily find the shipping costs which are clear and easy to understand. Finally there is a breakdown of the order, the discounts I have received and a clear button to proceed to the checkout.

The checkout reassures me constantly that it is safe and secure, segregating it from the rest of the site removing everything except the top header and the checkout process itself. At this stage, the user has committed to their purchase so you need to keep them there. Oh, they take American Express too!

The site makes it easy for me to just make the purchase or sign in if I already have an account, which I do (this was easy to do and just one extra field to put in a password!)

At this stage, all I needed to do was put in my cv2 code from my credit card and as it remembered everything else from before, my order went straight few in a matter of seconds.

The after-sales process

My purchase had been made, it was easy and I feel confident that my products will arrive soon. It would be nice to have an exact delivery date, which if they had the right processes in for wouldn’t be hard to do – but I can understand how it isn’t always possible. I received an e-mail to confirm my order and the next day had a dispatch notification e-mail to give me the parcel tracking number and when they expect it to arrive.

Since my order, I’ve received targeted campaigns around the products I have ordered. As I’ve ordered cat products, the most recent one I received was for tinned cat food. The e-mails make me feel valued as a repeat customer, they send me deals once a week and most importantly they run a loyalty scheme, allowing me to collect points with my orders – leading me to more and more repeat purchases.

In conclusion

It is very easy to go into a lot of detail here and explain the ins and outs of why I think it is such a great example of E-commerce, but this post would go on for pages! Sure, there are a few minor things that could be tidied up here and there but all in all, one of the best examples I have ever seen of E-commerce.