Staffing Robot - Web design and marketing services for companies in the staffing industry

Staffing Robot Gets a New Look!

There's a saying you may have heard before - "the cobblers children have no shoes." This saying could definitely be applied to us. When we launched Staffing Robot as a website design and marketing services firm for staffing companies we were overwhelmed with the amount of companies seeking out our services. We love all the companies we've had the opportunity to work with and are really proud of the work we've been doing together. But we've been doing so much work we never really took the time to do any for ourselves.

Until today!

We're completely excited to now show you the new look of Staffing Robot.

Next week we'll be launching our new brand to include a new website, mobile website, blog, social pages, portfolio site and much more!

Here are the new items we're looking forward to showing off.

New Logo:

We've always had a bit of a retro look and color palette but wanted to take this even further. We've created lots of different robots but we'll let you find them all on our site next week. 

New Website:

With our website we had 3 main goals (stop me if you've heard this one before):

• Simple
• Useful
• Creative

We think we achieved these goals. Instead of having too many options and a bunch of content to navigate through we've created only two main navigation options (About and Services) that take your through a few slides each, describing the services we offer and information about our company.

From there, we made finding the services customers are interested in super simple. We consolidated this information in one location - right under the 'How can we help?' tab found along the bottom of every page.

Finally, instead of a traditional website look we went with something more unique and creative. We built the site to work more like a presentation and it's lots of fun to swipe through on your iPad. Give it a try!

Our old corporate site was located at http://www.staffingrobotonline.com. However, starting next week you'll find our corporate site at http://www.staffingrobot.com and our blog at http://www.staffingrobot.com/blog.

New Mobile Website:

One of the best services we provide to staffing companies is mobile website design and development. So,of course we couldn't forget a mobile site for ourselves!  Our mobile site is simple to get through, optimized for smart phones and provides you with all the information you need to learn more about us or contact us.

New Blog:

Staffing Robot started as a blog so we put some extra attention into our new blog design. Starting next week you'll find our blog at http://www.staffingrobot.com/blog. Our new blog will let you easily explore categories, feature our latest blog, comment on our posts and view our social streams. Also, since we had so many people interested in advertising with us we've created some ad space to help promote your services! Want to run an ad? Contact us and let us know.

Our goal is to keep bringing you relevant news and information on the staffing industry, specifically related to design, marketing and technology so be sure to subscribe to our blog via RSS or email.

Social Sites:

We are also updating the look of our social sites next week so be sure to follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook to check out the new pages!

New business cards:

Note the new phone number! 866.991.1849.

T Shirts!

Oh yes! We also have T-Shirts! Everyone loves T-shirts right? If you're a Staffing Robot customer we'll be sending you one of these. If not, but you [robot head] staffing tell us and we'll let you know how to get one!

We have much more to announce related to our new brand over the next several weeks, but we'll leave it at this for now. Let us know what you think about our new look below. And, if you're ready to be our next innovate client, be the first to use our new contact form on our new site (my personal favorite part of the site).

And don't forget - starting next week, you'll find our company site at http://www.staffingrobot.com and our blog at http://www.staffingrobot.com/blog.

Mobile: Native vs. Web

Often, staffing companies contact us wanting to get into mobile but don't fully understand the difference between a mobile website or native app or which one is right for them. 

To put it simply, a native app is something you install on your phone - for example, something through the iPhone or Android app store. A mobile website is a website that changes form, style and/or function because it's being viewed on a mobile phone.

Below is a great infographic laying out some of the pros/cons of a mobile website vs. a native app. That said, although helpful, there are a few things this infographic is missing or that we'd modify.

1. The infographic points out that users are currently spending more time on native apps than mobile websites. True, however, that statistic is largely skewed by game usage.
2. This infographic doesn't differentiating between consumer apps and business apps. Many apps are consumer focused.
3. The infographic doesn't mention that you can do almost anything with a mobile website that you can do with a native app. Further, most of the things you can't do yet with a mobile website simply are not relevant to a mobile, business site anyway.
4. Even if you have an native app, most likely, users will at some point still attempt to access your website though a mobile phone. Therefore, if you don't provide them with a good mobile web experience, you're still missing out.

Check out the infographic below if you're contemplating how to approach your mobile web strategy. If you'd like to discuss a mobile website for your staffing company let's talk! Contact us and we'll help you out.

QR Code Patient Safety Campaign

A few weeks ago we blogged about creative QR Code marketing tips your staffing company can use. Here is a great example of an innovative and creative way one group is using QR Codes to improve patient safety issues.

It's called the 2012 SAFE CARE Patient Safety Education Program. It's free and for use at any hospital. It has been brought together by Safe Care Campaign, Kimberly-Clark, The Joint Commission Speak Up™ Campaign, The Patient Channel and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The program provides a free poster to any hospital or medical center and contains QR Code links to common patient safety information. The QR Codes enable patients to consume the information through any mobile device. The posters can also be customized specific to your organization for a nominal fee.

You can learn more and download the QR Code Patient Safety Poster here.

 

New Site Launched: Advantis Healthcare Solutions

We launched a new site today for Advantis Healthcare Solutions.

This site features a minimalist look with big images driving interaction and navigation. This type of navigation lends itself well to iPads, tablets and desktops.

The custom job board also allows healthcare professionals to easily find jobs and apply online.

This was a fun project to work on and we're happy to share it's release today! Check out the new Advantis Healthcare website here and other staffing websites we've done here. If you're looking for a new website for your staffing company get in touch with us and we'll get started!

 

 

QR Code Marketing Tips For Your Staffing Company

Have you seen these odd looking shapes before?

 

 

 

 

 

Most likely you've seen them on movie posters or magazine ads. Although similar, these symbols are not bar codes or UPC symbols. This funny looking square of black pixels is called a 'Quick Response Code' or 'QR Code' for short.

If you're unfamiliar, A QR Code is a simple ways for people to quickly interact with web based content through a mobile device. QR Code usage has increased greatly in recent years due to the wide-spread public acceptance of smart phones. Nielsen recently released a study revealing that 43% of all U.S. mobile phone subscribers own smart phones. For subscribers between the ages of 25 - 34, that percentage goes up to 62%. All of these phones are capable of scanning QR Codes.

The process for interacting with a QR Code is simple:
1) Download a QR Code reader app on your smart phone. You can easily find them in the appropriate app store for your iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile phone, etc. Some cost money but there's really no reason to pay for one. The free ones work just fine.

2) Now, when you see a QR Code, bring up your QR Code reader app on your phone. Next, scan the image, similar to taking a picture (many of these apps scan as soon as the QR Code is in focus), and you will be taken to web content through your mobile phone such as a web page, contact information, images, etc.

 

QR Codes are simple to make. You can have your favorite staffing website design and marketing company make them for you or you can create them yourself for free. Just google for 'QR Code generator' and you'll have plenty of good options. You can generate QR Codes in different sizes and you can also brand QR Codes with different symbols and colors. Be careful though, if you change up too many of the pixels the QR Codes won't be scannable. Also, some QR Code readers have a difficult time with QR Codes in different colors. Just be sure you test your final product with multiple devices and apps.

So, now that you know what a QR Code is and how to make one, most likely you're next question is - "What can my company actually do with QR Codes?"

Here are some ideas and creative suggestions on how your staffing company can effectively use QR Codes in your marketing efforts:

Magazine and other print ads. QR Codes are a great way to bridge your offline and online marketing efforts. Simply add a QR Code into any print material you produce and you'll be able to instantly share web content with your audience. The best part? You now have an even easier way to track the success of these print campaigns.

Company feedback cards. Looking for customer feedback? Create some feedback cards with QR Codes to hand out to your customers. You can create cards to ask for company wide feedback or employee specific feedback.

 

Business cards. Placing a QR Code on your business card is a great way to present a more interactive connection with someone you just met or a new customer.

 

Poster displays and clothing. Next time your at a trade show try placing QR Codes on all of your posters, display materials, even company clothing (shirts, hats, etc.)

Event marketing. The next time you're participating in or putting on an event, consider places you could add a QR code. Everything from leave behinds to print outs of our slides make great places for QR Codes.

Where should your QR Codes link to? Thought you'd never ask! Here are some suggestions on where you can link your QR Codes to for the best results:

• Your cmpany website
• Your company Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social pages
• Web contests, games and referral programs
• Exclusive content
• Special coupons or discounts
• Targeted landing pages - especially ones with forms to help you generate new business leads.
• Company contact information.
• Personal contact information. QR Codes can do more than simply link somewhere. They can actually store data like your personal contact information. This way, when someone scans your QR Code, all of the contained contact information is instantly pulled into the contact list on their device. 
• Downloadable content like a white paper or infographic.
• Your job board. Recruiting new candidates? Handing out cards and promo items with QR Codes linked to your job board is a great way to get the attention of new candidates on the go.

Two final tips when it comes to QR Code marketing.
1) Be sure any web page you bring someone to from a QR Code is optimized for mobile devices. Using a mobile marketing tactic like QR Codes and asking people to engage with you through their mobile device, only to bring them to a web page not optimized for mobile devices is a major fail.

2) Don't put QR Codes in your email signature or on a web page. No one is going to scan an image on a web page with their mobile device - just to go to a web page. Please just don't do it. Please.

QR Codes are an excellent new marketing opportunity for your staffing company. There is also a lot of supporting data out there suggesting QR Codes are here to stay and rapidly gaining in popularity/usage. Think of QR Codes as a perfect way to bridge your offline and online marketing efforts for your staffing company.

Questions or want more information on what your staffing company can do with QR Codes? Contact Staffing Robot today.

Helpful links and Resources:

QR Code Apps:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/qr-app/id320140689?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/qr-code-reader-and-scanner/id388175979?mt=8
http://news.cnet.com/qr-code-readers-for-iphone
https://market.android.com/details?id=la.droid.qr&hl=en

QR Code Generators:
http://www.systemid.com/barcode_generator/
http://qrcode.kaywa.com/
http://goqr.me/
http://tag.microsoft.com/home.aspx

Creative examples of QR Code marketing:
http://mobilecustomersurvey.com/
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/design/inspiring-qr-codes/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GbplSdh0lGU
http://cardswapp.com/
http://www.awwwards.com/10-creative-uses-of-qr-codes.html

Hospitalists Plus Launches New Website and Mobile Job Site for Hospitalists

We recently launched a new site we're excited to share. It's a great company that let us be innovative in our approach to their site and we think the results are fantastic.

Rhino Medical is one of the leading providers of physician staffing (locum tenens) in the healthcare staffing industry. We had the pleasure of re-branding them and creating a new website for them last year. They came to us a few months back with the idea creating a subsidiary focused on placing hospitalists. With the high growth in demand for hospitalists over recent years we knew this was a winning concept.

The first part of the project was to come up with a new name and brand for this entity. We went through several options and finally settled on their new identity: Hospitalists Plus (H+).

This identity included the creation of a new logo mark, typeface, color palette and visual elements for web and print that represent the focus and solid foundation of quality Hospitalists Plus promotes. 

From there we moved on to their website. The goal with the website was to develop something simple, modern, professional and for the main purpose of driving candidate and customer conversions through quick action.

 

Another main focus was to have the site work just as well on tablet mobile platforms.

We accomplished both of these goals by creating sleek, centrally focused home page with large buttons (perfect for mobile tablets!) that also serve as specific calls to action that drive traffic. Each of the calls to action are also very engaging because of the colors, technology and functionality. We also made the hospitalists jobs very easy to locate and apply for.

Finally, we also created a mobile website for Hospitalists Plus. Check out their site from your mobile smart phone and you'll find a completely new experience. This mobile website helps Hospitalists Plus provide their clients and candidates easy access to information through their mobile devices. The mobile website looks and performs like any mobile phone app, with the key difference being that it is accessed via the web, not through any specific device or platform. That means whether you have an iPhone, Android, iPad or Blackberry - the site's features and functions are available to you.

As a website development and marketing services company for the staffing industry, Staffing Robot works with clients of all sizes and budgets. We're constantly seeking out innovative clients that are willing to try new things and be creative. Hospitalists Plus defines innovative.

The best part about a successful project like this is a happy customer!

Once again it was great working with Staffing Robot. They constantly deliver high value to us with the website design, marketing and branding services they provide. I highly recommend them. Deric Gardner, President - Hospitalists Plus.

We're excited to see where Hospitalists Plus takes their new brand. We're honored to have had the opportunity to work with them.

Check out their new site and give it a try: http://www.hospitalistsplus.com. First view it on your desktop computer, and then go to the same site on your mobile phone for a completely separate experience! Take a look and let us know what you think.

You can read our full press release here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9074616.htm.

 

We asked before and Hospitalists Plus answered. So we'll ask again - who's next? 

INNOVATIVE CLIENTS WANTED!!! Please contact us here to get started: CONTACT STAFFING ROBOT.

 

 

What's Your Staffing Company's Mobile Recruiting Strategy?

Here's a great post about mobile recruiting from the Recruiters Lounge blog. In this post, Jim Stroud chats with Michael Marlatt about mobile recruiting.

The 3 biggest take aways we got from the video:

• Be sure your recipients have opted in to your campaigns
• Have a clear Call To Action - confirm a job, download information, fill out a form, etc.
• Be sure your sending them to a page that has been optimized for mobile. This one is perhaps the most important. Texting your candidates and bringing the a page that hasn't been optimized for mobile = serious fail.

What's your mobile recruiting strategy? If you don't have one we should talk. Contact us and we can discuss your mobile recruiting strategy and optimizing your web presence for mobile.

Staffing Robot Portfolio Update

The cobbler's children are finally starting to get some shoes! In other words - we finally updated our portfolio of work!

We've been asked to share our portfolio several times but have never taken the time to actually update it. We've been so busy with client work and our own projects that getting around to updating our sites often becomes a low (read: no) priority. :-/

However, we just updated our Staffing Robot portfolio from some of the work we did in the last year. Seeing how much we've put out there will give you a good idea on what we mean when we say "we've been busy!" And just think - this is only a small sample of the work we've done.

From staffing websites, to mobile websites and job apps, to branding for staffing staffing agencies, to custom job board creation and building our own software applications for staffing - take a look around at our recently update portfolio and let us know what you think.

Check back every few weeks or so and see the new projects we've posted! Also, if we missed adding your site it's not intentional! Just let us know and we'll put it up.

Got a project you'd like us to work on? Contact Staffing Robot and we'll get going!

Smart Phones And The New Mobile Workforce Infographic

It's no secret that today's workforce is getting mobile. And the healthcare workforce is no exception. As more and more daily functions for healthcare professionals move to a mobile platform, having a mobile strategy is key. What's your healthcare staffing company's mobile strategy?

Check out the infographic below on the New Mobile Workforce.

Source: http://blog.socialcast.com/e2sday-smartphones-and-the-new-mobile-workforce/

Staffing Robot Launches First Mobile Website for Healthcare Staffing Industry with Medical Solutions

Over the last couple of months we've been working on a large project with one of the leading staffing agencies in the healthcare staffing industry. The project has been incredibly difficult to keep secret because we knew the work we were doing was going to really push things forward in the industry. And we had a blast doing it! Well finally, were able to announce the results of the project.

Staffing Robot has built and delivered the first mobile website in the healthcare staffing industry! Medical Solutions hired us a few months ago for the purposes of rebranding and improving their existing website. During that process we also worked with them to create a mobile version of their site to deliver a better and more appropriate experience to mobile based users. The site is the first of its kind for the healthcare staffing industry.

As a web development and services company for the healthcare staffing industry, Staffing Robot works with clients of all sizes and budgets. However, we're constantly seeking out innovative clients that are leaders in the space and willing to try new things. Medical Solutions fit this description perfectly. Medical Solutions recognized the opportunity presented by delivering their services in a mobile environment, and they stepped up to the challenge of delivering that solution.

The new mobile website helps Medical Solutions provide their clients and healthcare professionals easy access through their mobile devices, to the most popular and relevant services of their website medicalsolutions.com. The mobile website looks and performs like any phone app found on most smart phones, with the key difference being that it is accessed via the web, not through any specific device or platform. That means whether you have an iPhone, Android, iPad or Blackberry - the site's features and functions are available to you.

The mobile site provides quick, convenient access to key information such as a newly designed job search for travel nurses, easy nurse job application format, educational and testimonial videos for travelers, travel nursing news and announcements, and important information about Medical Solutions. 

In addition, Staffing Robot also built a new 'desktop' website for Medical Solutions. A visitor to the site is automatically given either the desktop or the mobile experience based on whether they access the site with a desktop computer or a mobile device. The new Medical Solutions website puts the healthcare travelers front and center by letting them talk about their experiences of being a travel nurse. Healthcare travelers that want to participate on the site can create an account at medicalsolutions.com or sign up with their Facebook credentials. All visitors can now simply navigate through the site to find helpful information related to their medical profession or client service needs. The newly designed healthcare job search also allows those interested in travel nursing to quickly find interesting assignments in any location and profession they choose. 

The final component to our work with Medical Solutions was in developing their new brand identity. This identity included the creation of a new logo mark, typeface, color palette and visual elements that represent the diversity and individuality Medical Solutions promotes. The new brand identity is designed to better reflect Medical Solutions customer first mentality, built on a continuing history of innovative ideas and services that meet the needs of traveling healthcare professionals as well as hospitals and other healthcare facilities. 

The most satisfaction Staffing Robot gets from a project like this is knowing our clients are satisfied.

Being able to outsource our website development to Staffing Robot has freed us to think more strategically while remaining focused on our day to day objectives," said Dale Williams, Medical Solutions co-founder. "We needed a company that understood our audience and our industry, and could assist us with the technical challenges of a project this size. I couldn't be more pleased with our choice to partner with Staffing Robot on this endeavor.

We're incredibly excited to watch Medical Solutions grow and see all the success we know they'll have with their new ability to connect with their audience via mobile devices. And, we're very excited to have had the opportunity to help bring such a solution to the healthcare staffing industry as a whole.

Check out their new site and give it a try. Our favorite thing to do is to first view it on your desktop computer, and then go to the same site on your mobile phone for a completely separate experience! Take a look and let us know what you think. You can read our full press release here: first mobile website for the healthcare staffing industy.

So that said, the only question we have now is - who's next? Innovative clients wanted. Please contact us here: CONTACT STAFFING ROBOT.