If your website includes a custom job board, you have to promote it to generate high quality traffic and make employers want to list with you. Job boards can be a terrific way to monetize blog content, but only if they are frequently updated and utilized.

If you have a job board or are considering adding one, consider the following 8 promotion tips. You’ll have an easier time selling job listings, and could discover a reliable way to monetize blog posts.

1. Blog Announcement With Follow-Up

When you first add a custom job board to your site, make an announcement on your blog. Don’t be afraid to create some buzz by occasionally hinting at it in the weeks leading up to your job board’s launch: ”Be sure to stop by on Feb. 1 for an exciting new feature on our site!” For existing job boards, periodically create blog posts with job board tie-ins: ”5 Ways to Find Your Dream Job, Even if You’re Not Actively Looking.”

2. PPC Ads on Google

Consider using some of your advertising budget to run ads for your job board on Google. Create the ad using important keywords that address your site’s target audience. Bid on keywords in specific cities if your job board is location-centric to avoid ad impressions that reach uninterested parties. Set your budget carefully and monitor how well your ads perform, so you’ll know whether this track is worth continuing.

3. Issue a Press Release

Issuing a press release about the premiere of your job board is a smart. Even if you use a paid press release distribution service, there are plenty of free press release distribution sites you can use in addition. Also consider issuing a press release when something notable occurs with your job board, for example when a major employer lists multiple, highly desirable positions, or when video becomes an option in job listings.

SEE ALSO: 5 Tips for Marketing Your Job Board Using Social Media

4. Use Facebook

Integrate information about your job board into your social media strategy. Facebook gives you a terrific platform for job sharing with social connections. Additionally, you can use Facebook profile information to target Facebook ads better, whether by location, profession, or interest in particular product brands. Even when people use Facebook primarily as a social outlet, they can (and do!) still click on ads, like pages, and apply for jobs through links they find there.

5. Remind People Through Your Twitter Stream

Though most of your site’s Twitter stream should be informational and not sales-y, it’s still smart to have a steady drumbeat of Tweets about your job board. Perhaps every Monday you could send out a Tweet about new listings of interest. Use appropriate hashtags and spend time searching Twitter for trending topics and influential people to follow so you can keep your site’s Twitter stream as relevant as possible.

6. Run a Contest

When you launch, upgrade, or redesign your job board, you could run a contest people can enter when they browse jobs or submit job applications. You could hold a drawing for a prize like a free membership upgrade (if you run your site on a ”freemium” basis), a book, coffee mug, t-shirt, or a popular item from your site’s ecommerce shop.

7. Create a LinkedIn Group

If your blog and job board target a particular profession or trade, you can create a LinkedIn group for that type of professional and occasionally promote your job board in the group. The title of your group should include relevant keywords to help those in your target audience searching for groups to join. Creating an open group with member pre-approval lets you keep out spammers while allowing discussions to be indexed by search engines. To make your group successful, you have to interact and maintain it, so be sure you’re ready for this commitment.

8. If You Run a Local Website, Get Business Cards

If your site is local, consider ordering business cards advertising your job board. Make sure anyone who sells ads on your sites, speaks to the local Chamber of Commerce, or meets with local business owners has a supply of these cards to hand out. The more local employers know about your job board and your site, the more likely they are to want to list job openings there.

Job boards can be terrific for those who want to monetize blog content. You have to make sure that your job board is relevant to your target audience, and you have to be willing to promote it so you’ll have a steady stream of job seekers and employer listings. Promoting your job board requires commitment, but it doesn’t have to require an onerous time commitment or spending a lot of money. Invest in your job board, and you can monetize blog content and develop a promising revenue stream for your site.

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