Monster.com (formerly known as MonsterBoard.com) — is the first public website for finding jobs online, launched in 1994. A team of programmers, several years of real time work, and a million-dollar investment was required for the creation of this project then. Now you can launch such a site in a day with no programming knowledge required. We tell you how to do it in this article: how to create a clone of the Monster.com online board quickly and without programming knowledge.
Choose your project niche
It is quite risky to develop a site, where it is possible to post ads looking for employees and vacancies of any specialization. It is because this project will have to compete directly with Monster, Indeed and other market giants. It requires a big budget and a team of great programmers and marketers.
It is much easier and more appropriate to launch a niche product, which would only work with vacancies in a certain industry like Hey Marketers, where marketers are looking for work, or It says , where technical experts are looking for employment. Creating this niche board requires less money ($200 will do, but more is better) and time (a week or a month). It is much easier for a project of this type to stand out. The main thing is that the niche meets three requirements:
- Low competitiveness. It is almost impossible to find a vacant niche, but you can select one industry, where there are few direct competitors. You can bet on a small but fast-growing niche like WeWorkRemotely did by launching a remote job search portal for technicians. The niche grew rapidly and WeWorkRemotely with it.
- Sufficient market size. According to expert estimates, employers will be interested in the dashboard if it has at least 5 thousand visits per month (this is true for the US and Western Europe; minimum levels are lower in developing countries). This means that it is better to avoid narrow niches such as gastroenterology, gambling, driving freight or growing marijuana. You can check the popularity of the niche with the help of Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner, or other search query analysis tools.
- Focus on online search. You should always keep in mind that according to statistics, 40% of the world’s population does not have access to the Internet, and yet the Internet seems ubiquitous.
Choose the monetization model from the website
Monster.com makes most of its profits from employers, who subscribe, giving them the opportunity to post job seeker ads and browse candidates’ CVs who have responded. Subscription Pricing: $280, $400, and $700 – The more you pay, the more ads you can create, and the more CVs you can review. Aside from that, Monster.com also makes money from advertising and various additional services.
Here are several monetization options with examples and pricing, that you can implement when starting your Monster.com website clone:
- Advertising. Employers often want to differentiate their ads in some way to appeal to more applicants or speed up the search process. It is possible to implement this in several ways: first place in the search results, place on the main page of the site, brighter design, adding the icons (fire, dollar, growth). You can charge a fee like Indeed ($0.1-1.5 per click) or like Glassdoor (buy a package for 50 and more clicks). In addition, you can also charge additional payment for promotion on social networks.
- Subscription (membership). You can implement a subscription like Monster.com, charging money for a certain package of possibilities (Х ad posting and Y CV views), or you can do it like Glassdoor, where they offer three free job ads in 7 days and then charge $255 each month to display these posts.
- Pay per listing. You can charge only for each advertising post. The cost of publishing usually depends on the niche, but not always. For example, when Corey Haines launched Hey Marketers, he used a “pay what you want” scheme ($1 to $500) because he thought a new website can’t cost as much money as Monster.com or Indeed.
- Premium packages. This means that most of the features are provided for free, but if users need advanced features, they have to pay for them.For example, a job seeker search feature on Indeed is free, but you must get a $100-250 subscription to contact people who haven’t applied for your opening on Monster.com, you can get access to human resources tools and contact management at an additional cost.
- Career services. Many job sites provide services such as writing and improving CVs and cover letters, advice on how to succeed in an interview, etc. The cost of these services usually starts at $50 per CV or consultation. In addition, there is often the possibility of enrolling in a course on improving professional skills and/or changing qualification.
Develop a board brand
Choose and buy a domain name. Almost all simple clickbait domain names in popular areas are already taken, so you’ll either have to choose from what’s available or buy a taken domain. You can check the availability of the domain you are interested in at GoDaddy and Launchaco. The price is from $10 to $3000 per year. You can buy a seized domain at GoDaddy’s auction. The price is from $100 to several million dollars and then from $10 to $50 per year.