In the early days of the internet, there was a scarcity of high quality content on the web, meaning that if you wanted to rank well, you didn’t have to do any link building outreach.
You could dominate by simply creating a blog for your SaaS startup and writing content consistently.
In today’s competitive business environment, having a link building strategy is one of the most effective ways to get your content ranking for competitive search terms.
But finding ways to rank organically isn’t easy.
If you’re looking to get your content in front of the right audiences, here are some of the best SaaS link building strategies that actually work.
I’m going to teach you how to nurture relationships to build links for your SaaS startup, with real examples from my own experience getting content published in over 200 publications.
I’ve found that there’s no better way to establish yourself as an authority in your industry than to build a strong, trustworthy brand.
You can begin building that reputation by establishing yourself as a trusted voice within your industry. A blog is a great way to achieve this. Start blogging now, and you’ll quickly learn that it’s a lot of work.
But it’s a pre-requisite if you want to build backlinks.
When someone links to your content they are essentially putting their reputation on the line and sharing it with their audience.
Start by creating content (sales enablement content) around common objections you receive about your SaaS product.
This content can be repurposed for:
One of my favorite ways to earn backlinks and increase traffic is guest posting for blogs that my target audience reads.
You may not get paid, but if you write quality content you will at least build some solid backlinks. The key to guest posting is great link building outreach and writing content that is valuable.
This is done by writing according to editorial guidelines and ensuring you integrate your personal lessons learned.
With the rise of AI writing software if you can’t bring something unique to the conversations it’s best not to say it at all.
To get guest posts opportunities I follow a simple process:
This is a strategy that has compounding effects. Now that I’ve written hundreds of guest posts I have social proof for outreach.
Also, more ironic you will reach a point where you’re vetting request where writers want to submit guest posts to your website.
If you prefer speaking over writing consider doing podcast guesting. Often times the host will have a website and link to your website.
I’ve been on the podcast side of the table a few time… It took me a long time to understand the importance of having a compelling story.
I would say that if you are a great storyteller, chances are you will be a great podcaster too. But if you don’t like speaking in front of people, then podcasting may not be the best option for you.
There is a bit of a learning curve for many, but once you learn how to tell your story well and naturally plug your SaaS startup, you’ll be great at podcast guesting.
One of the biggest advantage of this method is you can quickly build personal relationships with thought leaders and develop strategic partnerships.
If this method resonates checkout Melissa Kwan podcast speaker profile template. She’s listed over 40 podcasts she’s been on which should be enough to get you started as a SaaS founder.
A number of publications use HARO (Help a Reporter Out), a service that connects journalists with people who know how to answer their questions.
To use HARO, you register for a free account. Then you enter the URL of your company website into the “About your company” field, and add a description of your business. HARO will send reporters interested in writing about you on your behalf.
Sourcee helps streamline the process of using HARO by monitoring for keywords related to your SaaS startup.
I don’t know about you but I need much help as possible to manage my email inbox.
Press coverage can skyrocket your SaaS startup.
But how do you go about getting featured? You could spend weeks sourcing journalists, drafting your pitch and sending cold emails.
OR you could instead you could find journalists who are already seeking sources for their next big story.
You’re probably familiar with HARO but what if I told you some editors also use Twitter to seek sources for articles.
Sourcee helps you cut through the noise and get journalists requests delivered where ever you need them.
If you have the ability to do so, you can use integration partners to get more traffic to your website. There are companies that offer services that complement your company’s offerings. Promoting each other to their customers can be done when they work together. This can lead to more website traffic for the company.
Just because someone mentions your brand doesn’t mean that they’re linking to you. Find the blogs that mention your business and see if they have a backlink opportunity for you.
Take time to setup alerts for your brand mentions.
The best way is to use Google Alerts to set up a rule with your email address that will notify you when you are mentioned in the news.
For example, if your company is mentioned in an article, an e-mail can be sent to you notifying you of the mention.
Roundups are an opportunity for you to provide unique insight on topics that are important to your SaaS startup.
This is one of the fastest ways to get free backlinks. There’s always a roundup going on, so if you’re consistently creating content, you should definitely participate in one.
Often times this will increase your your ranking in search engines and brand awareness because eveyone participating will share the article via social media. As well, you’re receivng a do-follow backlink to help your SEO efforts
Infographics are a great way to make information visually engaging and easy to understand. By visualizing data in ways that are intuitive, infographics can present information in an understandable and compelling manner.
While infographics are a powerful way to communicate data, they require a lot of time, effort, and resources to create. They’re also expensive.
Even if you use a free infographic creator like Canva, they tend to be limited in what they can produce.
If you’re a designer consider leveraging your skills and partnering with content writers who consistently submit guest posts to publications.
As a content writer, I’ve used this method and partnered with several graphic design software companies. Editors find this approach to be a win-win scenario because it adds value to the publication you are submitting content… so of course, they are happy to give a do-follow backlink.
When doing outreach to gain do-follow backlinks you have to provide something of value.
Time is money… simply taking the time to respond to you and create your backlink can take 15 to 30 minutes so if you want to get replies to your cold emails make sure you provide something of value.
We’ve already talked about infographics but now let’s talk about micro saas startups.
Purchasing micro saas startups is a great way to build out your value offer ladder. This method also gives you the ability to offer a freemium product and build links by going after competitor’s backlinks.
Simply use Ahrefs to find competitor’s backlinks within list posts and perform email outreach.
With this strategy provide something of value upfront by providing a free lifetime software deal in exchange for a do-follow backlink.
This will help you with building backlinks for your main product and also give you free feedback on your micro SaaS startup.
As you build up your website authority and decide to transition from doing guest posts to 3-way link exchanges you will need to own multiple websites to accept guest posts and effectively implement this method.
In an ideal world you either:
To manage communication with editors and marketers I’ve found Gmail and Google Sheets to be the two most common tools used.
However, with all the new NoCode software tools this process can be drastically improved.
BacklinkManager.io is a CRM built specifically for link building operations. It’s the fastest way to get more links, save tons of time and money and streamline your link building workflow.
It takes time to find and pitch relevant publications, and that time is money.
If you need to boost your rankings in search engines for keywords fast, consider hiring someone to do this work for you.
The options are endless… You can pick between freelancers, agencies, or full-time employees.
For example, if you need to rank higher than your competition for a specific term you could pay someone to submit a blog post to the most relevant publications for you. This is a great way to quickly jumpstart your SEO efforts and get your website noticed on the web.
You should be paying them to do outreach and write content for you, however I would warn against paying publications directly because this goes against Google policies.
In conclusion, while a good content marketing strategy is important, you also must know when to abandon a strategy that isn’t working.
With link building their many nuances I’ve learned by collaborating with editors of SaaS startups. Content strategies change based on many factors:
I’ve found that there are certain rules of thumb that I’ve learned from trial and error, but that no one talks about because everyone has a different approach. To put this into practice, I’m more than welcome to hop on a 30-minute coffee chat and develop a detail marketing strategy for free.
If you like what you see you can then determine to hire Leadhackrs vetted freelancers to implement the strategy or have your team do the work themselves.
Whether you’re looking to improve your current strategy or starting from scratch, I’m here to help you out.
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