Introducing Jet Venue, The Business Aviation Community

Well, I finally did it–I launched a new website.

Since I rolled out my very first website in 2002, I have typically created at least one, sometimes two or three new sites annually. But last year was different–I pulled everything back and maintained what I had. Yes, the sour economy meant that I needed to take a pause and pause I did.

Scaling Mountains

So why create a new website? Metaphorically speaking, I enjoy climbing mountains and conquering new lands. Through the development of new websites I gain the inspiration to do what I love to do which is to write.

My new website is called Jet Venue, but the domain isn’t new. I created it in September 2006 and operated it as a job board for business aviation professionals for a few months until I decided to go with a competing site. For the past three years the domain sat dormant as I pursued other interests, but my interest in aviation never died.

Perfect Timing?

The timing for starting this site probably couldn’t be any worse–business aviation is struggling mightily, the jobs just aren’t there and a lot of people are pursuing other lines of work. Then again, Jet Venue’s timing may be perfect: things cannot get worse, therefore this budding community may be on the leading edge of a widespread recovery.

I sure hope so–a lot of people have had a terrible time of it these past few years.

Jet Venue is of significance in that I have used WordPress as the content management system for the site. WordPress as you probably know is customizable and this site also includes a forum thanks to a nifty plug-in which enables that feature.  My previous shot at running a similar community was much more complicated than this arrangement so I’m relieved with its ease of use.

Jet Venue is a business aviation community and has been designed to appeal to corporate flight attendants, cockpit crew and maintenance crewmembers.  I may eventually expand the site to encompass other areas of interest, but for now I’m planning to maintain the site with this core group of people.

One thing I’ve already learned in the two short days since it was launched is that I know who my friends are. Several people have been spreading the word with no encouragement from me.  That makes my job so much easier and also helps me to focus on other things, namely building a better community.

Feel free to stop by and check Jet Venue out!

Job Boards And Why Most Of Them Should Be Free

I know a thing or two about managing an online job board.

Back in 2002, I launched the Corporate Flight Attendant Community, a career resource site where business flight attendants could stop by, read articles, post to the forum and find work. At its peak it was the leading site of its kind, basically owning its niche year in and year out. In 2007 I sold the site to concentrate on other work including launching several new job sites.

Auto Trends Job Board Has Been Activated

Just this past week I revamped the jobs section on one of my automotive sites, by launching the Auto Trends Job Board. I’m only listing a few jobs from the start, but each position is available and companies are hiring, some for other jobs too.

But, just like every other job board I’ve managed I don’t charge visitors a fee. Not so much that I want to give everything away for free, but for the simple reason that most any job you come across online is posted somewhere else and usually at no charge.

The Origin Of My Job Boards

In 2004, I launched the Aviation Employment Board, a site that I initially had running on EZBoard, hence its name. EZBoard, if you recall the system, was faulty, quirky and prone to crash. In fact, one weekend several years ago the system was hacked, taking months for it to be brought back up online. You got it – the owners of what was once one of the most popular online communities didn’t regularly back everything up, exposing their business model and everyone’s communities to hackers.

The interesting thing about what I affectionately called the AEB is that it went up against several larger paid employment sites. Business aviation is notorious for charging fees for every service – heck, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) which represents people who own or manage private jets, hits members each year with a whopping $415 dues charge. This cost has to be borne by the lowliest worker including the struggling per diem flight attendant.

So, to do my part to level the playing field I decided to run the site and open it up to everyone – man ‘o man, were some people in business aviation angry with me!

May I Share A Secret With You?

Here is my little secret: every job site manager sourced most of the same information. When the occasional job didn’t find its way to my inbox, I was able to glean jobs by simply cutting and pasting a line or two from the free access preview page of the paid job sites into Google and finding where the full job summary was posted elsewhere for free. To get new members (I’ll call them victims) the paid sites would post just enough information about the opportunity to nonmembers, a move that they hoped would entice people to join.

That hook often worked, but it was a morsel that didn’t need to be taken. At least from the paid sites. Oh, by the way, I never joined those sites to copy and paste their information. That would have been illegal as well as unethical – entirely unnecessary too!

Of course, I managed my sites without the benefit of membership fees. Instead, I relied on Google advertising in the form of AdWords ad placement. As an AdSense publisher I was able to strategically place ads around my site, which encouraged people to click on them, resulting in a fee deposited into my AdSense account.

Google Paid Me Regularly, Sometimes Well

Each month I would receive a check from Google for all of those collective clicks which paid for my expenses and gave me something to live on. Not enough money to completely sustain me, but usually enough to cover several bills. While managing my job boards, I always kept my freelance work going (resume writing, website building, articles, etc.) and, when things got tight, I sold off the site.

Don’t think for a moment that I think everything in life should be free nor am I knocking anyone’s right to charge people for a service. However, in the case of aviation job sites – most jobs sites at that – the same information you are seeking can be found elsewhere and usually at no cost to you.

Of course, I want you to visit my automotive job board to see what I’m featuring there. Whether you visit an ad or not is up to you, but job information is posted for free. It isn’t a perfect business model, but it is something that works well for me.