As a SaaS Founder/CEO, Marketing, or Content Lead, we know that choosing the right content or SEO agency isn’t easy.
There are so many agencies, freelancer platforms, and freelancers out there . . . picking one, making the right investment in your content marketing, is difficult.
If you make the wrong choice and stick with them for 3 to 6 months, all you might get is a load of half-decent articles but no (or very little) new:
- Web traffic/visitors;
- Sales leads;
- Conversions;
- Or revenue
As with any marketing or sales activity, you need to make more money than you invested.
Founders and growth-focused leaders need a measurable ROI (return on investment) from content, and the most effective metric is: “How many sales leads did content produce this month, and how many of those converted?”
SEO content and link building that an SEO agency produces should generate traffic, sales leads, and conversions. In that order.
SEO should convert.
If SEO marketing you’re paying for (or doing in-house) doesn’t, then it’s a wasted investment.
What to Look For in an SEO Agency for SaaS?
When selecting an SEO or content marketing agency, you need one that does the following:
- An agency that’s conversion, not traffic-focused. Conversions make a direct positive impact on revenue, but web traffic doesn’t, especially if organic content isn’t delivering the traffic your SaaS needs.
- An agency that supports promised results with case studies, and data-backed examples of the results you’re looking for with similar companies, e.g. other SaaS businesses, even if they’re not in your sector.
- An agency that will take the time to understand your customers/audience, product, and how you solve your client’s pain points. With this information and the strategic use of lead-generating keywords, high-quality content can produce enormous value for SaaS businesses.
- An agency that understands the importance of distribution so that the ROI from articles stretches even further. That’s why link building and establishing a strong backlinks profile is as important as every piece of SEO content and on-page SEO.
- An agency that has a solution for content decay. Articles have a shelf-life. You need to get the most out of organic content while it’s fresh, and then you need professionals to refresh older articles so that you continue to receive a long-term ROI from content.
We know these pain points will sound familiar to SaaS founders, marketing, and content leads.With over 20 years of experience producing content for SaaS, the OutreachMama team has a deep appreciation of SaaS marketing and growth challenges.
Contact us for a done-for-you (DFY) SEO solution that will increase web traffic, search rankings, and sales leads.
We know that nothing’s more important than increasing monthly and annual recurring revenue (MRR & ARR).
So, in this article, we’re answering the following question: “How do we choose an SEO/content marketing agency that will get us more sales leads?”
Read on to find out how to choose an SEO content marketing agency that gets results for SaaS, and we’ll even recommend a few at the end of the article . . .
How to Choose an SEO SaaS Agency?
In our experience, SaaS blogs/content engines that perform well convert at 0.5 to 1.5%—depending on the topic, market, and sector.
Generally speaking, your top-performing bottom-of-funnel (BOFU) posts should convert 20 to 30 trials or qualified inbound sales leads every month.
Whereas, more top-of-funnel (TOFU) posts are just to drive traffic from those who aren’t as close to making a decision as purchase intent-focused searches, and will convert 2 to 3 trials a month.
With that in mind, every SaaS company benefits from publishing high-quality SEO-focused articles, and link building. So, to get the highest ROI possible, it makes sense to invest in:
- Having at least 4 to 10 done-for-you (DFY) SEO articles produced, published, and promoted every month.
- Having 10 or more backlinks produced and published every month in high-ranking blogs and media outlets.
As Google’s internal data, our case studies, and another study on backlinks prove, your business needs high-quality backlinks to rank higher in search engines and bring in more organic traffic, and sales leads.
Here are the 4 things to look for when choosing a SaaS SEO marketing agency . . .
1. Ensure the Agency is Conversion-focused
As you know, conversions are the only metric that makes an impact on revenue.
Conversions, whether this means inbound sales qualified leads (SQLs), free trials, downloads, or actual paying subscribers/customers, are crucial.
Potential customers are searching for a solution to their problem.
Solution-driven SEO content should show your product/services can solve customer pain points.
Content has the power to show potential customers that you can deliver the solutions they need. Especially when you apply the Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework to your top and bottom-funnel articles and use keywords that align with what buyers are searching for.
Naturally, this means traffic is an important metric.
More traffic means there are potentially more customers entering the sales funnel. Also why link building is so important: it drives new traffic and increases how many people find you in search engines for keywords that will drive sales.
A conversion-focused SaaS SEO content marketing agency is the solution you need to the pain points we’ve outlined above.
Contact us for a done-for-you (DFY) SEO solution that will increase web traffic, search rankings, and sales leads.
2. Review Case Studies & Testimonials
As a founder, marketing, or content lead, you need to ask a few questions when choosing a content marketing agency:
- What other businesses have they worked for?
- Do I recognize any of their clients: Have they worked with any in our sector/niche?
- What kind of results have they achieved for SaaS clients?
- More importantly, are those businesses similar to yours?
SEO for a SaaS requires different strategies than SEO for a service or B2C businesses.
When reviewing case studies and testimonials, watch out for the following:
- Do they sound credible? If they sounds too good to be true, it probably is;
- Have they explained something about the strategy they used? When there’s more detail, you can be more confident of the credibility of the results achieved based on where they started with that client.
- Have they said how long they’ve been working with the client to achieve the results that have been claimed?
- Do they provide examples of work/articles they’ve produced for that client? Always a good sign if they do!
When there’s no timescale given when results don’t sound credible, and when there are no examples, it’s not a great sign.
Sometimes, agencies can’t disclose who they’re working for because Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs) are required by clients.
In those circumstances, an agency can usually provide an anonymized summary of the results achieved, and a testimonial.
3. Check Out Their Content—Client And Agency Content
When reviewing an SEO agencies work, ask yourself:
- Do I like their writing style?
- Would it fit well with our audience/customers?
- Have they produced articles in different styles, with an appropriate Tone of Voice (ToV) for a range of clients?
Style is subjective.
People prefer different writers and authors.
Some people aren’t big readers. Others are.
From a client’s perspective, style matters because an SEO content marketing agency for SaaS companies should have the skills to create articles in the right style for their client’s customers.
See if you like the writing style of articles on the agency’s website and their client’s content.
However, remember that any SEO agency worthy of the name should be able to adapt their writing style and skills to any and every company and sector.
4. Ask Smart, Growth-focused Questions
It’s a smart move to have a call with any SEO agency founder, Head of Content, or account manager before starting to work together.
At this point, you’ll have checked them out enough to be fairly sure they’re right for your SaaS.
When you get on that discovery call, ask the following questions:
- What is this agency’s strategy: How will they replicate—for your SaaS business—the results they’ve achieved for other clients?
- How will they distribute and promote this content? Publishing content on a website that has no traffic will take months to get any traction.
- What’s their approach for getting traction, traffic, and sales leads quickly? Our approach is link building; although we can work with partner agencies to implement social or search-based advertising as a distribution method.
- How do they handle content decay? Do they just publish and forget, or will they constantly update content that’s not performing and/or dropping in rankings?
- What are their processes: What will they need from you in the beginning to get the sort of results they’re promising? The best agencies have a process and will usually ask you to fill out a questionnaire.
If you’re happy with an SEO agency’s strategy, case studies, examples, testimonials, pricing, processes, and the outcome of the call, then it’s time to get to work.
Best SEO Content Marketing Agencies for SaaS That Tick High-Quality ROI Standards
Here are three of the best SEO content marketing agencies for SaaS that hit the standards founders need to achieve a measurable ROI from investing in content.
1. OutreachMama
Growth and Conversion-focused SEO services
OutreachMama is a full-service SEO and Content Marketing agency that helps our clients turn your customer pain points into conversion-focused search-optimized content.
Our human-crafted SEO framework and packages ⏤ especially when combined with Digital PR & Linkbuilding ⏤ will increase web traffic, search ranking positions, sale leads, demos, and conversions.
Put your SEO content marketing on autopilot. Make it easier to:
- Pull in the high-value, buyer-ready sales traffic your business needs with hyper-targeted bottom-of-the-funnel (BOFU) SEO content marketing that drives conversions;
- Increase the number of demos, marketing qualified leads (MQLs), and sales qualified leads (SQLs) your sales team engages with;
- Convert higher-value (LTV) customers that make a noticeable difference to your revenue goals (MRR & ARR).
Contact us for a done-for-you (DFY) SEO solution that will increase web traffic, search rankings, and sales leads.
Our SEO Service is the ideal solution for every stressed-out, very busy, juggling too-many-balls CEOs/Founders, CMOs, CROs, marketing leads, growth leads, and business owners.
3 Reasons to Choose OutreachMama SEO & Link building services:
1. Pain Point SEO
Pain point SEO, also known as the Jobs to be Done (JTBD) framework is the most effective approach for creating SEO content that meets the needs of your customers and ICPs while leveraging keywords that generate leads.
2. SEO That Targets Your Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)
Everything we do starts with a smart SEO strategy. That’s why we always recommend new clients sign-up to an SEO Audit and Topical Map first.
We will also arrange a client input call as part of completing the SEO strategy and content calendar. This way, you can be confident that we are focusing our efforts on keywords and content that will drive conversions and you’ve provided subject matter expert insights.
3. Sales Lead Focused Keywords = Buyer-aware Traffic
Ranking #1 for a keyword none of your potential customers are searching for is pointless. So is “blogging” that doesn’t align with buyer needs.
Everything we produce is focused on generating sales-qualified leads, demos, and conversions from buyer-aware and purchase-intent traffic.
4. Secure Backlinks from High-Quality Blogs
We’ll reach out to high-quality blogs within your industry to ensure that you receive authoritative backlinks that boost rankings.
We only focus on blogs in your sector otherwise that could result in relevancy or spam-based penalties from Google.
5. Completely Done-for-You (DFY) SEO Blogger Outreach
Blog outreach is time-consuming, tedious, and is more effective when you’ve already got the connections and relationships.
We have long-standing relationships with 700+ bloggers and influencers in dozens of sectors. We handle the entire outreach process for you, including 5 follow-up emails!
6. Build New Industry Relationships, Raise Your Profile
Similar to Digital PR, our blog outreach services will help you develop new relationships with influencers, bloggers, and brands in your industry.
We don’t just secure backlinks, these new relationships and a higher profile in your sector could bring in new sales leads and opportunities alongside the traffic and improved search engine rankings they generate.
7. Increase Traffic and Brand Authority
Our outreach efforts also open the door to guest posting opportunities that will drive targeted traffic directly and from search engines. All of this contributes to your growth, revenue, and SEO goals.
Book a call today, or check out specific deliverables and pricing for any of our services:
2. Animalz
Animalz “delivers high-quality content marketing to enterprise companies, startups, and VC firms.”
Animalz delivers a full suite of content services, from SEO strategies to content creation.
3. Brafton
Brafton is a full-service content marketing agency that mainly serves Fortune 500 companies.
Brafton provides the complete suite of content marketing and SEO services, from copywriting to articles, reports, newsletters, and much more.
Brafton has six offices worldwide, with three in the US, two in Europe, and one in Australia, with an extensive global talent pool of content writers.
Wrapping up . . .
We hope you’ve found this article on how to choose a SaaS content marketing agency helpful.
When choosing a SaaS SEO content marketing agency, you need one that will:
- Get results!
- Create high-quality content that drives traffic, sales leads, and conversions;
- Produce, publish, and promote content that aligns with buyer-intent search terms;
- Make a noticeable positive impact on sign-ups, free trials, demos, and ultimately, revenue.
Contact us for a done-for-you (DFY) SEO solution that will increase web traffic, search rankings, and sales leads.
Off the clock? You’ll find me behind the lens, capturing the world through photography, or catching NBA games (minus any recent All-Star debates) – or maybe even experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen! Let’s chat about SEO, strategy, or maybe even your favorite classic basketball moments.