As the economy continues to slowly improve, there’s no doubt that both employers and job seekers are going to be increasing their activity online, and now is a great time to start getting your job board optimized for people in both of these categories. In order to do this effectively, however, you need to first know what job seekers are looking for in a job board site. Once you’ve figured that part out, you can then concentrate on offering more features to employers and recruiters, thereby maximizing the potential for increased revenue and continued business.

SEE ALSO: 3 Ways to Better Your Job Board in 2015

Convenience is the Key

First and foremost, job seekers want convenience in a job board site. Requiring users to sign up in order to view open positions is a bad idea as it means jumping through hoops with no promise of a return. If a job seeker goes through the process of signing up for your site, only to discover that there are no relevant jobs listed, he or she likely won’t be back. In addition, don’t make visitors click too many times to view listings. Consider placing a search tool right on your site’s homepage, and also include job listing categories. This will allow visitors to get right to your site’s listings, and that’s exactly where you want them to be.

Job Seekers Want Local Matches

In the vast majority of cases, job seekers are looking for local openings, so make sure your search results reflect these listings first. While it’s true that some job seekers are either open to relocating for a position or they are purposefully seeking positions in other areas, by and large, local is where it’s at. This isn’t to say that your job board site should not include non-local listings in search results, but it would be better to have these listed after local results. Likewise, you could include an option to search locally, nationally, globally, or a combination of the three.

Deliver Quality Content

In a world where job board sites are popping up all over the place, it’s important to differentiate your site, and one easy way to do this is by offering regular, valuable content to visitors. By creating content, you provide visitors with a reason to continue to visit your site over your competition, and you also build brand identity. Content on your site can be anything from tips to ace an interview to videos discussing the perfect resume. Keep in mind, however, that the content you generate needs to actually create value, and you’ll need to update your content often in order to keep visitors coming back.

Let Users Upload Resumes

Finally, job seekers today want to maximize their time spent searching for jobs, and one way job board sites can help them do this is by allowing users to upload resumes that employers can review. By offering this service, you not only assist job seekers, but you also help employers and recruiters, meaning they are more likely to continue to purchase listings on your site instead of your competition.