Would anyone be interested in trying out my SEO tool in return for getting a lifetime subscription?
I am struggling to get feedback and paid subscribers to sustain Outrankio
I have done everything I can. Post on Reddit and IH trying to find my ideal audience. I have done SEO, content marketing, and PR on my own site and I have been reaching out to other bloggers and blogs.
I have been lurking through Reddit and IH reading on what should be done to get your product "out there" and it's not working.
Maybe with the exception of actually doing an official launch and putting my software on Product Hunt
I created a SaaS SEO tool back in my sophomore year of college. It's been almost 2 years since the creation of my tool and I have nothing to show for it. I have been using my own funds and credit card to build it and it's been quite exhausting and I am burning out.
I have accumulated lots of credit card debt and student loans which is depressing
It has keyword research, backlink tracker, and site audit.
It is as the title suggests, "Would anyone be interested in trying it out and giving detailed feedback in exchange for a lifetime subscription?"
You can be part of a growing journey in shaping the direction of how the tool develops.
You can check it out at outrankio.com and a 15-day free trial at outrankio.com/register
I will give everyone lifetime subscriptions for those who will sign up or have signed up already
Tell me what you guys think?
If all else fails, I am probably gonna give up.
Have you think about selling it on a Life-Time-Deal? I think it would boost the usage of your tool and you would get immediate feedback.
I tried doing that and the vendors said the tools were too simple even though it's an MVP
Hi Justin,
I like the design, however copy is more important than design, and your copy needs a lot of work. It doesn't adequately explain why I should use your product. I recommend looking at a guide like this one: https://www.julian.com/guide/growth/landing-pages
If copywriting is not your strength, try to find someone to help you.
Also, I'm not clear on what the strengths of the product are versus the competition. Make sure it's not just a copycat. Hope that helps :)
I think so too
After everyone's feedback, I looked at my landing page and I figured that it appealed to no one. Too generic in a sense and I need to remove the blocks with information on SEO.
Yeah, I am trying to differentiate myself from the competition and not just being a copycat
Hey Justin,
Maybe you could flip it, or possibly use it as your own tool to do SEO consulting stuff? Seems like a lot of good work has gone into the product so far. Perhaps some other business model could be considered? Free with ads? Sponsors? Something else that we’re not seeing? Perhaps a niche version could work? I don’t know if that makes sense.. 🤷♂️
I agree with Shaun. SEO consulting is a very good option. Maybe start doing a few free small gigs to build your portfolio, use the tool to build your credibility and get a few paid gigs too. Service business brings in good money and can be used to sustain the product while you search for the product-market fit.
Although SEO is very important, companies start paying attention to SEO at different stages of the company life. It's also important to target industries where SEO is a key marketing weapon for example e-commerce industry.
I used to run a design agency doing websites and some times clients would ask me for some SEO help. Maybe you could cater the tool to design and development agencies allowing them to white label the product to their customers.
Just came across this via Indie Hackers https://gaps.com/seo-industry/
I will check it out
Thanks, SEO consulting sounds great but I don't know where to start. I should target SEO marketers and some other forums that you guys have mentioned
That makes sense!
I don't have the time on the side to do SEO consulting work since I'm also working to keep myself afloat and spending time on my own website as a solo
I see where you are coming from. I thought about selling to vendors offering a lifetime deal maybe get some initial feedback but they said the tool was too simple even though it's a MVP
Should I up the pricing even though no one is subscribing to a paid plan?
You have to think about your target group. Who needs this kind of software? And who is paying for it? Companies partly go for: if it does not cost anything, it is probably worthless. So maybe upping the price might be a good thing. If you are looking for single devs or small start-ups, then it is a different story.
Also, I think "they have started out way long ago" is not an excuse for your own pricing. The question is, if you think it is worth the price tag and if you think you can make the customer believe they get their moneys worth out of it.
It's not about the price tag as of now.
It's about getting the initial feedback from my target audience
Target group such as bloggers, small startups and SEO marketers will benefit from this
Yeah it's too cheap.
You are saying this based on what? Ubersuggest offers unlimited keyword research and backlink analysis for free, plus many other feature.
Considering the fact that ubersuggest has an 8 figure company behind, feedback from thousands of people, and a team that have been working on online marketing for almost 20 years, while our friend here is a solofounder, I seriously doubt it that his product is better.
Comparing pricing, without considering features and the quality of every single one of them doesn't make any sense. You can find watches for hundreds of thousands and others for ten bucks. This doesn't mean that the first is overpriced nor that the second is underpriced.
People take feedback seriously and throwing judgement like "it's too cheap", based on nothing doesn't help them.
I totally agree with @Shaunau, here the problem is the business model. There is an insane amount of SEO tools out there. If the goal is to gain feedback and a bit of traction, I suggest the author of the post to go with a free tool that monetizes with ads.
I understand why the SaaS business model is attractive (basically zero marginal cost and insane profit margins) but the fact that it is so attractive means that you will always have strong competition. And people out there have too many subscription to add another one in a supercompetitive field like SEO.
Plus, if you are worried that ads don't make money, there are tens of 7-8 figure Saas that monetize with ads (pixlr, smallpdf, pinetools and so on) and you can combine free with ads and subscription with more features, like befunky does.
Thanks for the detailed post, Luca
The problem is that even if I go free, would I have the resources to support the free version and how long? Would people convert to a free plan because free is not always better. It depends I guess
You said it yourself. Out of 100 users, none of them turned into a paying customer and the competition for paid tools is insane.
For free tools, there is only ubersuggest and people are obviously willing to accept more bugs and fewer features for something free.
The CPM for SEO are pretty good and if people are happy, they will do the promotion for you.
Is it going to magically solve every problem you have? I doubt it but after two years and no results, what do you have to lose trying something different?
If the server costs would be insane that another story, but considering the fact that ads money scale with the number of users, they shouldn't be a problem.
Got it.
Maybe I should have focused on the core feature I made in the first place, Keyword Research, instead of trying to be everywhere all at once
Thanks for the feedback, Luqa
I agree with Luqa 100% - the only other option you have now is make the entire tool free + add a consulting button on the side and sell the service to SMB's/entrepreneurs; I would pay you 200$ to analyze my website; give me concrete recommendations + setup the free tool for me to constantly improve.
Hey, Vinaiah
Can I still take you up on your offer?
I'd offer the same for an analysis, recommendation, and setup.
Shot you an email
I'd love to try this, signed up with my mail
I think the tools looks great from what I've seen so far!
What have you done so far in order to get this tool into the market? As far as I can see it has value, maybe you could add features such as automatically sending a report on a set number of keywords. So that you can easily monitor keywords and let your tool do the work for the marketing department.
I also agree that it's a bit too cheap, since it seems to be targeted at established business. I saw someone mention that maybe you could do some consulting work on SEO, that would be an option. Or better yet, you could reach out to a ton of companies and let them try your tool for free and you will even do a few first analysis just to prove how good it is.
Before contacting them figure out something about their business, and provide results for some keywords they are using (maybe try to find a better one) then an analysis of their site. Data is always more tangible and easy to absorb than a sales-pitch.
EDIT:
I found a pretty big flaw though, your crawler doesn't work well with client side rendered websites. It's not a huge dealbreaker, but maybe you should look into detecting that and provide a warning to the user. And maybe list a few points about the importance of Server side rendered websites.
It also seemed to struggle with redirects. That's a big issue since many sites use redirects to move the user to a localized version of their site.
That sounds like a good option but I don't think I will have the time for consulting work since I am working on a full-time job and also studying to get into graduate school
Yeah, I noticed that the crawler loads pretty slowly on the client-side rendered websites. I will put up a warning
I understand. I'm also struggling with time constraints.
My suggestions would be that if you want this tool to take off you'd have to spend some time on it. And you will have to spend some time reaching out to people and convincing them to use your tool. You might get lucky, but I doubt people will just flock to it without any incentive.
It's a great start for a successful tool, so I think you have the right toolset.
Yeah, I'm gonna have to put in the dirty work and do cold email
I'd love to hear how it went! :)
Got one gig and I'm working on it
Hi Justin, I would be happy to give you detailed feedback on the tool in exchange for a lifetime subscription
Sorry for the late reply
Just came back from work
That will be great, thanks!
How does your tool compare to the big guys like Ahrefs, SEMrush or Moz? How accurate is it?
In terms of accuracy, I used Google Keyword Planner API and Keywords Everywhere API.
I am planning on integrating it with Ahrefs
I am the cofounder of a small boutique PPC/SEO agency. I've been approached by software designers before and gladly tried out the tool in return for feedback.
I would love to take a look! Please shoot me an email at [email protected].
I shot an email a couple of hours back, Gil
I would check it out and give feedback if you'd like - I have an SEO background
Please do, that will be helpful
Thanks!
Who is your ideal user? Have you found product/user fit? i.e. are there any people using this app regularly that find it valuable?
I have a lot of people trying out for the free trial but no one converting
So why are those users leaving? Have you talked to any of them?
Do you have any analytics/data on app usage? How long are they spending on the app?
In :) I'll give you my 2cents and will share around me
Thanks, that will be great!
I currently use Ubersuggest and would be happy to try this out ([email protected])
Okay, got it.
As soon as I set up the system, people who signed up will get a lifetime subscription
Hey Justin, happy to help. Count me in!
Great, thanks
Promote it in SEO forum or fb group. Try target hardcore SEO marketers . If your product is good. They will subscribe. Try warriorforum and blackhatworld
Wouldn't those 'hardcore marketers' use more advanced tools? Why would they downgrade to save $20/month when they are making several thousands with their current tools?
I think it would make more sense to target those who are just getting interested in SEO or know that SEO is important but don't know where to start?
I'm going to do that soon when I get back from work. I will try to target the SEO marketers
Site definitely looks good. Overall story telling can be improved. There are some blocks that are explaining why SEO is needed. That can be removed because your audience understands it and is looking for a tool.
I'll sign up and see if I can help with it.
Thanks for the feedback
I'm gonna remove the blocks explaining why SEO is needed after coming back from work. Some of the people have mentioned to remove it since it's unneccessary
I need something like this. I can try it out and give you feedback.
Great, please do. Thanks!
You posted you got 100 users. Did you ask them why they did not sign up for a plan?
The website looks really nice. Well designed and it makes sense what you are offering. Question is if users change from the existing tools.
I have. They said the tool is too simple and not many features it has even though it's a MVP
The problem could be that there's 2 main market segments:
1, like me, who find SEO to be a content and patience game, that can be won only with great content, relevant words and consistent hard work. They probably just use the search console. I truly am too lazy to join any SEO tool other than Google.
The second, which go to an agency. Maybe you should try selling to an agency instead?
Just note that I am no authority on this, have just got a couple of websites No. 1 on google for their name search and this is just my opinion and nothing else.
On burning out: remember that this venture may not have kicked off the way you wanted it too, but that doesn't mean that the effort was a waste. You probably learnt a lot that you could use for your next project.
Also, what are the ways that you've tried selling it? Spend less time on the coding bit and more time talking to people that purchase SEO tools (like agencies).
Ahh, I see.
I will try selling to an agency through cold emailing and see how it goes
I have done content marketing, PR, and SEO on my own website. Have posted through IH, Reddit, and other forums to get initial feedback but not with great success
Posts on online forums are akin to free organic, content marketing. What you need right now, is sales.
You should go out to find adopters who NEED your product. If you feel like it's not your expertise, try to bring a sales person onboard. Much better than giving up on the work you've put into this!
I will try doing that
Yeah, I feel like it's not expertise but I don't have the money to hire a sales person onboard
Tool looks good, but I'm not sure how to differentiate between it and other similar tools (?). It's ok to give up; you've probably learned a ton and can kill it on the next one. This looks good, so I have faith that you'll pull it off eventually, even if not with this product.
Thanks for the feedback.
Let's see how this one goes.
On the verge of not giving up and giving up at the same time. The struggles
The site looks awesome. If you are feeling a little burned out, it may help to partner with someone and split the work. The MVP is just that, so I would come up with a good roadmap and start thinking about what other killer features could be added. The SEO feature may be too simple, but couple that with some other insight could give your product some unique value. Looks like you've gone too far to give up now.
I see
I think I should focus on the core feature I made in the first place, Keyword Research. I was trying to be everywhere all at once and it made lose sight of what I should do in the first place.
I feel like if I keep adding more and more features, it's gonna go nowhere.
Is your offer still valid? I meant the "trying out part" and not the "I'll give you the lifetime subscription part"
I recently posted an "I'll try your software" post, so I guess that's why it came in my recommended.
I know the pain of NOT getting someone to test the result of pure hard work! Feel free to ping me if need someone to test.
It's still valid
Just give me a PM to remind me so I can give you a lifetime subscription. I am still working on it
Hey Justin. I tried out your app and I think it’s great for my basic needs. Used it on my iPhone which was a bit difficult as the site isn’t optimised for mobile. But I found it useful indeed
Thanks, that's very helpful
Signed up. Checking it out now. I'll follow up.
That will be great!
Thanks
Hey, the first thing that stood out to me was the registration email came from "[email protected]". That seems very unprofessional.
I see.
It's from my previous developer
I will change that as well.
Thanks for pointing it out
Happy to sign up and try it out!
Yes, please do
Thank you
I'm happy to try it out!
edit: few mins in and I love it so far
Thanks
That's great to hear
I would love it! I have a great reputation on a spanish SEO/developers/designers community. If I can resell your tool accounts will be really interesting too.
I have some websites with high traffic to try it too.
I followed you on twitter to talk if you want.
The crawler works on my end and I tried it through a made-up account just in case I missed something and it works for both of them
i would like to try , looking at your landing pages , my first reaction was to check if my browser was not set to higher than 100% zoom, fonts are too big for macbook pro
I tried it from my sister's Macbook a few weeks back and everything was normal. I didn't see the issue that you have
Can you send me a screenshot of that to my email at [email protected]?
I'd be prepared to try out your app. Not really thought much about SEO yet.
P.s. your site looks really clean and professionally designed. Is it a template?
Hey, Adisa
Thanks. You can make a free trial and test it out
No, it's not a template. It's custom coded
Just count me in.
Great, thanks
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Sure, let me add you
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Both