Building a Business on Dot US

As a former corporate and agency recruiter, Jill Walser brings an insider’s perspective when assisting candidates to find work. Jill has interviewed several thousand candidates and reviewed tens of thousands of resumes over the years. She leveraged her experience as a recruiter to build her own company, I got the job! where she provides resume, interview and job search strategy assistance. She has written more than 4,000 resumes and has developed a reputation for creating achievements-based and aesthetically pleasing documents that help clients land interviews. With an 86% referral rate and dozens of testimonials, it is evident that her clients love her work.

A sought-after guest speaker, Jill has conducted talks and workshops for organizations such as the Washington State CPA Association, Bellevue College and Washington State’s Employment Security. As a guest interviewer for Bellevue College’s Prepare for Work program, Jill has assisted hundreds of ESL students to translate their skills and experience into successful employment in the US. Constantly seeking to perfect her craft and committed to networking, Jill is a member of several professional organizations including the National Resume Writers Association, the Puget Sound Career Developers Association and the Northwest Recruiters Association.

Mike: Tell me how you came to choose the .US TLD over any of the others for your domain igotthejob.us.  I assume you didn’t choose .com or .net because they weren’t available, is that correct?

Jill:  At the time, there weren’t as many domain alternatives to .com as there are now. Even though the .com owner has never developed the site, they want an amount of money for the URL that has never seemed like a good ROI for me. Since my services are largely utilized by those seeking work in the US, .us seemed a logical choice for domain when .com wasn’t available.

Mike: Has owning the .US domain caused any confusion for customers?  Do they sometimes try the .com version and are unable to get to your site?

Jill:  Yes, I’m certain they do, but it’s not something I hear about often. Those that type in the name of my business or my name don’t seem to have trouble finding me. Since the bulk of my business is referral-based, new clients are likely to have my URL or phone number already.

Mike: I notice that you rank in the #1 spot on Google for “I got the job” and the #3 spot for for “got the job” (each without quotes).  Is that due to a lot of back end SEO coding effort or do you attribute it to the domain name?  Do you rank well for any other terms?

Jill:  It’s likely due to a combination of both. Seattle Interview Coach and Seattle Resume Writer both have first page results as well.

Mike: How do most of your clients find you?  Is it through web searches, referrals, some other means?  Is your domain name important to your business?

Jill:  Most of my clients are referrals from other clients. I also give talks on interview coaching, resume writing, and job search strategy, generating a substantial amount of business. Others find my listing on the National Resume Writers Association website, Biznik.com, LinkedIn.com or via blogs or articles where I’m mentioned.  Yes, the domain name is important, but not more important than the name of my company, which is memorable. It’s what I want to be known by, and what I want my clients to think about even before they make contact. That they have to struggle a tiny bit to find me seems OK for me in the big picture. My business is not very hard to find.

Mike:  As a resume writer and job search strategist, I’m curious if you recommend that your clients secure their names as domain names if available (ie. JohnSmith.com) to use for personal profiles?

Jill:  Yes, definitely. One never knows what they might want a URL for. URLs are inexpensive and once they’re gone, they’re gone. Since many recruiters search for talent via web searches, posting a profile is one way to help them find it. I do caution job searchers not to post material they wouldn’t want employers to see on self-named URLs.

Mike:  What advice would you give to others looking for domain names for their business?

Jill:  Pick the business name first, then the URL, if at all possible. My name picked itself. I was providing resume and coaching services on the side while working as a recruiter. It wasn’t until I saw (what became) the name of my business in the subject lines of happy customers that I chose the phrase to name my company. Looking back, at the time I was building my business, it would have been easier to go with a .com URL.
Image credits: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yanec/2658752002/in/photostream/