How to Create a Blog and Content Strategy for a SaaS Startup

Are you looking to attract more traffic to your SaaS startup’s website? Do you want to build authority and establish yourself as an expert in your industry? If yes, then blogging and content creation is a good starting point for your SaaS content marketing strategy.

Think about it this way: When people want to buy software, they’re very likely to conduct a thorough research first. And when people want to conduct research, they look online. Information is your asset and vehicle of trust for your prospective customers.

 Including a blog on your SaaS site is an affordable way to build a solid online presence, educate your audience, and improve your organic traffic. And considering the fact that only 11% of SaaS companies are focused on blog creation and content marketing, you have a chance to rank better in SERPs, become a leader in your industry, and stand out from the competition.

So, where to start?

Start by choosing beautiful and intuitive templates such as Newspaper and Newsmag, that can help you design your blog and lets you write articles and blog posts with ease.

 Choosing the right theme for your blog is an important step. When you’re just starting, your budget is usually tight so hiring a professional designer to work on a custom blog design is out of the question. Luckily, there’s a sea of great blog themes and templates you can choose from.

Create Target Personas

The target personas are your ideal customers, i.e. the people you are trying to attract to your site and who are very likely to buy your product.

When you create target personas, you’ll get an insight into the topics your prospects are most interested in and you’ll be able to compile a preliminary list of titles for your SaaS blog.

Start Keyword Research

However, knowing who you’re targeting isn’t enough. You also need to find out what your target personas are typing into the search engines. Keyword research will help you determine this.

With your target persona in mind, research long-tail and short-tail keywords. For instance, if you’re selling a team collaboration software, consider the following keywords: project management software, project collaboration, team communication, etc.

Keyword research tools can be of great help. Some of the most popular tools among marketing experts are Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Keyword Tool, and Ahrefs.

Create a Content Calendar

After you’ve determined your target personas and found out what words they’re searching for online, you’re ready to start creating a content calendar. Make a list of 10-20 titles per topic, making sure they contain the selected keywords.

To keep your content strategy organized, try using tools like Google Sheets and Trello.

Start Writing

When writing articles, don’t talk about your startup. Your customers don’t care about PR-related blogs, feature updates, monthly earnings reports, or posts promoting free trials. Stop thinking like a SaaS startup founder and start thinking like a marketer.

A research conducted by Cobloom found that 24% of SaaS companies use their blog to educate. In addition, the research showed that educational blogs receive 14% more organic traffic than PR-focused blogs.

Write about your customers’ problems and offer the best solution – your SaaS product. For instance, if you’re selling a team collaboration software, don’t post free trial blogs; instead, write articles that discuss how to manage team projects effectively, or how teams can be more productive and save time, etc.

The content you’re sharing should be relevant, i.e. it should be something that your prospects are really interested in reading. By posting such content, you’ll start building authority and establish yourself as an expert in the industry.

Producing high-quality content is crucial but it also helps if that content is optimized for the search engines so that people are able to find it. Take a look at your keywords and where they are positioned. Ensure they’re included in the image alt tags, URL, title tag, meta description, and throughout the content.

Pay attention to your blogs’ length as well. Cobloom’s research found that top-performing posts are 12% longer than average. If you want to produce educational content that will outrank your competition, you’ll need to focus on creating long-form blog posts with about 1,200 – 2,000 words.

Finally, don’t forget to end each blog with a CTA. Use an action word that is related to your blog post and that will tell the readers what you want them to do next.  

Keep your Content Varied

Don’t focus only on writing articles; there’s a great variety of premium content you can create such as:

  • Infographics – use infographic templates when you have lots of complex data and you need to turn it into easy-to-understand visuals.
  • Ebooks, high-quality resources that position you as an authority and industry leader.
  • Ultimate guides, they look like standard articles but cover one specific topic very thoroughly.
  • Long-tail specific content, shorter blogs that target very low volume keywords and are very effective for lead generation

Other mediums you should consider include webinars, podcasts, emails, and videos.

 Promote Your Blogs

When promoting your blogs, always keep in mind your target personas, the phrases and words they are searching, as well as the platforms they are using. Start by sharing your blog posts on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn. 

In addition, share it in groups like Cloud and SaaS Startups on LinkedIn which have thousands of members. Even though your prospects may not engage in these groups, sharing your blogs there might help you build credibility and expand your network. To encourage engagement, use mentions and hashtags.

Once your blogs gain traction, monitor where people are interacting and use that insight to adjust your promotion strategy. For example, if Facebook is driving most of the traffic, focus on sharing more blogs there. Or, if some of the LinkedIn groups aren’t bringing any results, search for alternative options.

Monitor and Analyze

Make sure to track and measure your blog’s performance on a regular basis. Install Google Analytics to find out which posts and pages bring the most traffic and compare metrics. This will allow you to identify the topics that resonate with your readers and give you ideas for future improvements.

Bear in mind that blogging is a process that takes time, so don’t get discouraged if your blog posts don’t get the traction your expected right away. Analyzing and testing different concepts will help you determine what works best and optimize your blog posts accordingly.

Final Thoughts

Building a successful blog for your SaaS startup starts with a carefully planned content strategy. This strategy includes identifying your target personas as well as the terms they are searching for. Knowing this will enable you to create content tailored to their needs and interests.

This strategy will help you increase exposure and attract traffic to your site. If you have a great product and you attract people to it with valuable and useful content, they might just decide to sign-up, try it, and buy. If done right, this content strategy will also help you gain credibility, build trust, and teach you how to better serve your customers.

Notice there’s no CTA on this blog post? That’s because we’re not after your money. Well, at least not yet 🙂

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