Are you using any directories to promote / get exposure to your product?
As a newsletter creator, I think it's a common practice to upload publishing products to a number of directories to increase exposure.
Do you think if it's one of the working and best practices for launching Saas, or in my case, newsletters?
A few people in the WBE Space have used BetaList and have been very happy with it
It's been 18 days, and now my product is featured on BetaList. Thank you for your advice!
Glad I could help
Thanks for mentioning it, never heard about this one
Initially, we'll most likely need to use directory services for launching a SaaS. Links are key for SEO and early on, it really hard to get any as an unknown.
I suspect SEO is the only viable source of free sustained web traffic in the early stages.
One exception though - paid services. With my previously web app, I wondered why my domain was not ranking in Google (search results page 21 or something). I later discovered from MOZ that my app domain name had been marked as slightly "spammy". Since then I have stopped using paid directory services plus fixed other issues, eventually getting to page one for target keywords.
Do you think SEO is viable for the early stages though? Feels like ages until we can get good domain authority to rank.
Yeah, it does take a while! (6+ months??) But, before you know it, free traffic will be rolling in.
Different matter if the domain has been pre-aged and one is really good at spotting the gaps in Google searches, and posting articles.
In any case, if I'm serious about getting SEO traffic in 6-months/eventually, I'll be posting today.
Alright, if SEO is the only only viable source of free sustained web traffic in the early stages, what would be the next steps (in 6+ months)? That's where the paid promotion and better offers comes in ideally?
I think that directories are a stronger channel for SaaS vs. newsletters. For eg, you have directories like Capterra which bid on keywords like "project management tools". This is because lots of people search for a keyword like this. You don't have a lot of people searching for "project management newsletter". Unless it's a more broader category...like "marketing newsletter" (seen a lot of Twitter threads about this)
Right, this might have a point. In this case, I'd better focus on careful wording for my newsletter to make it searchable. That's a valuable advice!
Yes, we do. We have added our product to various online software directories and sometimes we are included in mailing lists. So far we are only using a free promotion, but it is yielding results.
Thank you for the insight. Is there any strong reason why you're considering free promotion over ads or any other paid promos, particularly for your product?
Yes, there is. We don't have a sales department at the moment, so we simply cannot physically handle a large number of applications.