Please review my new vertical Job Search Engine

[jobuzu]

Hi Guys,

Just joined the forum. So be kind!

I have spent a full year stuck in my server room developing a vertical job search engine. I took my time as i wanted to get it right from the start and just launched the site on the 10th its currently in BETA stage but i feel the core function's of the site is working fine and i would be most grateful if you guys could give me some useful feedback.

The site is aimed at UK job seekers and aims to make search easier and quicker. One of the great features of the site is Smart Ranking a custom built algorithm that i have developed and looks at over 200 different signals before ranking a job ad.

I want Jobuzu to be one of the best job search engine's within the UK and hopefully you wonderful people can help!

The url is: http://jobuzu.co.uk/

Also can you tell me if you like the name: Jobuzu

Here is a quick meaning of what the name means:

"In a nutshell Jobuzu (pronounced ‘oo-zoo’) is a vertical search engine for jobs, we search the whole internet to bring you the latest job offers from job boards, company sites, newspapers and agencies all listed in a single search."

I want Jobuzu to be one of the best job search engine's within the UK and hopefully you wonderful people can help!

 

[seemly]

It looks and functions exactly like:

http://www.indeed.co.uk/

In fact, even all the CSS and naming conventions are the same, too.

Are you sure you're not using their API?
https://ads.indeed.com/jobroll/?hl=en&cc=GB&grp=pub

 

[jobuzu]

It looks and functions exactly like:

http://www.indeed.co.uk/

Are you sure you're not using their API?
https://ads.indeed.com/jobroll/?hl=en&cc=GB&grp=pub

Nope otherwise the Url when clicked would show indeed.co.uk I have setup dedicated servers to extract jobs directly from source sites. Currently extracting over 500 different job sites and adding more daily.

If you do the same search on indeed.co.uk and jobuzu.co.uk you will see the results are different. I use a completely different back-end to indeed.

 

[jobuzu]

It looks and functions exactly like:

http://www.indeed.co.uk/

In fact, even all the CSS and naming conventions are the same, too.

Are you sure you're not using their API?
https://ads.indeed.com/jobroll/?hl=en&cc=GB&grp=pub

The css is similar but thats because we have similar designs. Indeed copied Google's layout but that's because for vertical search this design is seen as the best for user experience.

 

[Tricky1]

Why dont you use an external stylesheet..

Looks to me like a complete clone of indeed co uk..?

 

[jobuzu]

Why dont you use an external stylesheet..

Looks to me like a complete clone of indeed co uk..?

Ok thanks for your feedback, can you checkout a new design for the homepage if you get time? I have redesigned the homepage.

I used a similar design to theirs because i know it works but if the impression people are getting its a clone that's not what it should be since its a completely separate system and i have put so much effort into building this up.

Thanks again this very helpful.

 

[Tricky1]

Ok thanks for your feedback, can you checkout a new design for the homepage if you get time? I have redesigned the homepage.

No problem, PM me a link or image.

 

[stender]

Hi Guys,

Just joined the forum. So be kind!

I have spent a full year stuck in my server room developing a vertical job search engine.

You should try remote desktop.

 

[seemly]

That's not really a re-design - more just a case of background colour and background image that doesn't repeat across the whole width of the screen

 

[mat]

Your meta keywords are exactly the same as indeed.co.uk aswell.

 

[mat]

Give me a minute guys, im off to make an auction site that looks exactly like ebay. brb!

 

[jobuzu]

Your meta keywords are exactly the same as indeed.co.uk aswell.

Thats apart of SEO Most competitors are using the same standard set!

 

[jobuzu]

Give me a minute guys, im off to make an auction site that looks exactly like ebay. brb!

Go on then and i will see if you can setup the back end infrastructure! Its one thing doing basic front end development and whole new ball game when working with developing a solution to that scale.

 

[Retired_member41]

It's just a web site advert, like walking into a local pub by me with a shotgun asking for all the money, only to have 30 uzi's trained on you.

Come clean jobzu and you may enjoy it here, these guys are like Internet ronin

 

[Murray]

Just some general thoughts/questions..

What is different about your job search site?

Why is it better than anything out there atm?

Why would people use your job search site over established sites that already exist?

 

[TinkyWinky]

For a USP how about an aggregate of an aggregators... otherwise it's no different

You can then pick off the big companies to upload their jobs with you directly so you can start earning some cash (i.e. a PPC starting at say £0.05 per click) - but it will leave you with lots and lots of work to do to get anything ranked...

 

[jobuzu]

For a USP how about an aggregate of an aggregators... otherwise it's no different

You can then pick off the big companies to upload their jobs with you directly so you can start earning some cash (i.e. a PPC starting at say £0.05 per click) - but it will leave you with lots and lots of work to do to get anything ranked...

Aggregator of aggregators would be pointless! Since we can easily retrieve the jobs directly. And we are already seeing rapid growth in traffic and very positive feedback from users. PPC will come later as we want to make sure our site is offering an excellent user experience and PPC would dilute the results.

 

[TinkyWinky]

Well I am not sure what your USP is then... you may get so far - but up against Indeed - JobRapido and their budgets and sales teams all I can say is Good luck...

TW

p.s. The PPC model can be added without any need for dilution of results - you simply apply a charge for all clicks going to the advertiser that pays you. You should be able to see which companies are getting the most clicks from your stats - so approach them first.

 

[jobuzu]

Well I am not sure what your USP is then... you may get so far - but up against Indeed - JobRapido and their budgets and sales teams all I can say is Good luck...

TW

p.s. The PPC model can be added without any need for dilution of results - you simply apply a charge for all clicks going to the advertiser that pays you. You should be able to see which companies are getting the most clicks from your stats - so approach them first.

Exactly the kind of attitude that sets you up for failure even those you mentioned started from somewhere and Jobrapido is very recent well after Indeed and Simplyhired became established brands and were able to build there brand up even though i personally don't rate there search experience.

I have been in the industry for over 10 years and know that dilution will occur when user experience drops (bounce back from job ads). But once we have enough data inhouse to chew on we can then consider adding ads to the site as we will be able to detect best placement and what kind of an impact certain ads have.

I am all for monetization but sometimes its best to let your users experience the site without ads and then use that data to figure out how best to serve them without harming user experience. From what i can remember Facebook, Twitter, Youtube all started without ads to get that initial data.

Our USP = Smart Ranking Algo, Low Cost footprint search. But we are in the process of developing a tool that can detect salary estimates even if the job ad does not list the actual salary. < Unique to us.

 

[TinkyWinky]

Exactly the kind of attitude that sets you up for failure even those you mentioned started from somewhere and Jobrapido is very recent well after Indeed and Simplyhired became established brands and were able to build there brand up even though i personally don't rate there search experience.

I have been in the industry for over 10 years and know that dilution will occur when user experience drops (bounce back from job ads). But once we have enough data inhouse to chew on we can then consider adding ads to the site as we will be able to detect best placement and what kind of an impact certain ads have.

I am all for monetization but sometimes its best to let your users experience the site without ads and then use that data to figure out how best to serve them without harming user experience. From what i can remember Facebook, Twitter, Youtube all started without ads to get that initial data.

Ok - I am not trying to get into a spat here - I've been in the industry for 15 years in my own business - so I do have a little experience. All I am trying to point out (having failed on a few sites in the past for not having a USP) is that in my humble experience you MUST have a USP to have longevity.

Users will need a reason to switch, newspapers a unique story to hang an article off and most of all, advertisers need a sound business-justification to pay you!

Users in this site can help you only so far and there are a lot of far better people than me that would say similar things about the USP and design (that has been mentioned previously in this thread).

As I said good luck, 'we' are simply trying to point out that all the hard work and effort you are putting in needs to be focused and channelled and the product needs to be 'newsworthy/unique/excellent' in order for you to increase traffic, users and loyalty beyond the initial flurry of activity.

TW