Thread: Is it Rocket Science?

Is it Rocket Science?

I am very interested in getting Jobroller, but have a few questions.

1) Most importantly, how easy is it to install and use? I've successfully used and made minor tweaks to a few different wordpress themes, but never anything quite like this. For example, let's say I also buy the simplyhired add-on. Is it simple for a noob to get it set up and pulling a specific sub-set of job listings in from simplyhired, or will I need some technical experience or expertise with the simplyhired API to pull that off? Are all the add-ons to pull job listings from other sources equally easy? My HTML and CSS knowledge is EXTREMELY basic, and I don't want to be frustrated.

2) Once I've got job listings being pulled from several sources, are they all integrated into a single source in Jobroller? That is, if a user searches for jobs within 15 miles of a specific city, will Jobroller return a single set of results incorporating jobs from the several sources? Or does the user have to run separate searches?

3) I believe that simplyhired pays for clicks on certain jobs. Is that preserved if they click the ad on Jobroller?

4) Is it easy enough to host google ads in the sidebars?

5) How about selling tile ads?

6) Some of the pages on the current version of my site (DNPjobs.com) rank well for important search terms for me. Once I've got the new Jobroller version of the site up, I can use the same content on pages with the same URLs as currently, right? So there should be no concern about preserving those good rankings, right? (In other words, my current page http://dnpjobs.com/dnp-salary will have the same URL and same content as it currently does, though it will be visually different once I've plugged it into the new jobroller theme -- but it should retain its current ranking success, right?)

7) Just like any other wordpress theme, can I set the "home" page to be a stastic article page or the blog (rather than right to the job listings)?

I'm sure I'll have a few more, but that should be enough to start. Thanks so much -- looks like a great product.

No problem, in answer to your questions:

1) In terms of ease of use, if you're already familiar with using WordPress, and at least, installing themes, then installing JobRoller is no different in that regard. You can find some of the installation documentation here for a better idea of what is involved. From there it's just a matter of going through the configuration options and setting it to suit your requirements. The SimplyHired plugin come with its own documentation also, which lets you know how to set up job queries which are relevant to your site. Other than registering to the sources and setting up the queries themselves, all the work is already done in the plugin, so you don't need to then do any additional work to get it running. Again, reviewing the documentation will give you a better idea of what is involved.

2) The results from a search appear with job listings entered directly onto the JobRoller site first, and then the other feed listings i.e. Indeed jobs will appear as "Sponsored Search Results for xxx" underneath those listings, and the more feeds you have, they have their own header also. Listings that are collected from the feed plugins are dynamically displayed, not saved into the database as regular listings are.

3) Yes this is preserved for relevant jobs clicked through via JobRoller.

4) JobRoller by default comes with ad spaces in the header and job listing pages, however you could technically add other advertising spaces if you wish (Google or other).

5) As above, you're free to add other advertising spaces, with some options already available in the Appearance > Widgets page of the JobRoller admin.

6) The default URL structure for job listings is:

You can find specific settings for this in the JobRoller admin dashboard > Settings > "Advanced" tab as shown here in the JobRoller admin demo

Regular blog posts and pages do not include the custom post type structure so yes you could retain actual page URLs

7) JobRoller is not designed to use a static homepage by default, so whilst you can select this option from the WordPress admin dashboard, you may need to make additional modifications in order to have all the links and functions work correctly. As you can see from the AppThemes customer showcase, it can be done though. Thanks.