Simply Hired vs. Google: Job classifieds ad network launches
Simply Hired, which bills itself as “the world’s largest job search engine,” launches today the Job-a-matic publisher network, “a service that connects the audiences of blogs and Web sites with the job boards, employers and recruiters that are eager to reach them”:
Job-a-matic offers popular Web properties opportunities to monetize traffic that are both lucrative for them and valuable to their readers. Members of the Job-a-matic publisher network can easily add Simply Hired’s paid job listings to their sites, tapping a database of more than five million listings to present their visitors with compelling job options.
Sound familiar? AdSense for job listings perhaps?
I asked Gautam Godhwani, CEO of Simply Hired, if he is going head-to-head against Google’s contextual advertising publisher network. Godhwani replied with a Google like notion that Simply Hired Job-a-matic is not competing with Google Ad Sense, it is complementary.
Godhwani told me bloggers and Web publishers seek to incorporate multiple revenue streams to maximize monetization of their properties. He also is confident Job-a-matic offers a “brand new advertising audience,” employment related advertisers.
Godhwani notes that while publishers may start with ads from media buyers via Google AdSense, they will want to enhance their reach and monetization by also featuring ads from recruiting buyers via Simply Hired Job-a-matic.
Moreover, Job-a-matic is more than AdSense for jobs; Publishers can also sell paid listings directly to companies that want to offer jobs to their audiences.
Sell your own job listings, you set the price.
Job-a-Matic is available to individual bloggers and publishers for self-serve implementation.
For mass distribution, Simply Hired is partnering with Six Apart to offer Job-a-matic via a TypePad Widget in the hosted blogging service. FeedBurner is also a Simply Hired partner; Job-a-matic publishers will be able to promote the paid job listings they add via the FeedFlare service, which will include a call to action within content feeds to drive readers to explore job listings.
Simply Hired was conceptualized in 2003, released as a beta service in March of 2005 and launched in Fall of 2005. Simply Hired has secured three rounds of venture financing for a total funding of $17.7 million to date.
News Corp. is an investor in Simply Hired and a distribution partner via MySpace jobs powered by Simply Hired.
Godhwani told me Simply Hired aggregates about 5 million job listings and approximately 20% of those on a Pay-Per-Click model.
Godhwani is an experienced Internet entrepreneur; He founded three ventures in the last eight years. He was CEO and co-founder of AtWeb, “an Internet 1.0 company” funded by Sequoia and acquired by Netscape/AOL in 1998.
I asked Godhwani if he is looking to sell Simply Hired.
Godhwani: “As long as we continue to build the business, we will have the maximum options before us.”