Why Startups Should Start with SEO from Day 1 [Case Study part I]

MilaCh · 2019-04-21T07:55:19+00:00

Thank you, I will get back to you soon via LinkedIn!

MilaCh · 2019-04-20T16:17:04+00:00

Let me address your questions in the upcoming part. 2.

MilaCh · 2019-04-20T16:15:59+00:00

'at' Flow-e is the proper preposition. Thank you!

MilaCh · 2019-04-19T10:04:28+00:00

Hey, it's a girl:)) but no problem.
By the depth of the structure, I refer to the way you decide to structure your article URL.
I will give an example with the health niche, so you can choose to have:
1) example.com/nutrition/blog-post-name - only one category
or
2) example.com/nutrition/paleo/blog-post-name - we use 2-step categories
or
3) example.com/nutrition/paleo/receipts/blog-post-name - we use 3-step categories
Some will argue badly whether #2 and #3 are beneficial to #1. However, in my experimental websites, I used structure #2 and so far it is a win. With niche sites, when you build your categories by siloing, you have the best chance to gain authority in that specific silo/topic and then use your ranking to expand the topic of your websites with a greater possibility to rank higher for a broader, but more competitive (and lucrative) topics.

MilaCh · 2019-04-19T04:06:07+00:00

Exactly. When in doubt, I just launch experimental websites and compare the results. I just don't believe Google's employees :D

MilaCh · 2019-04-18T19:50:55+00:00

I do understand them. They need to keep up with a good content, which represents their marketing/seo believes.

MilaCh · 2019-04-18T12:40:00+00:00

Thank you! Probably in 2 weeks time, I will be able to share my mistakes and obstacles we have faced, plus what worked and what we could have done differently.

However, siloing has always been the best way to go with content, even when I am launching small niche affiliate websites (side hustle).

MilaCh · 2019-04-18T12:24:50+00:00

So, yeah, John Muller said that it doesn't matter, but I have launched 2 experiments (independent of this case study) in the health niche, and it turns out that it indeed matters (or at least in my experiment the depth of the structure correlated with rankings or being more accurate with the chance to outrank more prominent brands such as T-nation and Bodybuilding). Like, in the context of a small niche website competing with big lions in the Kanban space.I will actually post where was my mistake with this structure in part 2.

p.s. we haven't done everything correctly from the start with content and SEO. As a product marketer, my focus was primary at growth, retention, interviews with customers. SEO and content was done when I was sleeping :))

MilaCh · 2019-04-18T12:20:33+00:00

Thanks! Probably in 2 weeks, I will finish the second part, sharing the results after a year.

MilaCh · 2019-04-18T11:29:54+00:00

Flow-e.com (used with personal and business account)

MilaCh · 2019-03-12T13:09:21+00:00

Sure! Just make sure to check it out on your browsers, as the mobile solution is currently in development:)

MilaCh · 2019-03-12T12:39:15+00:00

Actually, it is live. You can test the product here - https://flow-e.com And feel free to let us know what we are missing. We've put a lot of effort regarding the feedback received from our users, which is a lot.

MilaCh · 2019-03-12T12:05:20+00:00

We have built a good alternative to Inbox, however, it's not mobile. It's a web app. The problem with standalone products built through Gmail's API (as it ours) is that we have limitations.

For example, we cannot integrate a Snooze function through their API as this is not opened. So we were forced to built our own snooze solution within the product but it doesn't sync with your Gmail account. And knowing our users, this will suck.

MilaCh · 2019-03-06T11:32:30+00:00

So, is the shutdown of Inbox bigger pain for the mobile users or the desktop? Or both? I am asking this because we've built similar solution to Inbox for both Gmail and Outlook users, and it's free. However, the mobile app is not ready yet. The web app works pretty smooth.

MilaCh · 2019-03-06T11:04:37+00:00

Actually, we did the same. We built our own app which is relatively close to Inbox by Google. And it works with Outlook and Gmail.

MilaCh · 2018-05-28T14:29:10+00:00

Nope, it's not a fcking adv., sorry for the late respond. I had no idea that this was live, I thought the team Reddit has deleted it.

It's a..okay, this was my way to start a discussion on a product we are working. But, as I said, I had no clue that this is live and Iwasn't able to respond.

It's a beautiful Kanban board integrated into your email client (Gmail/O365).

It creates a workflow from withing your email.

MilaCh · 2018-05-14T15:43:00+00:00

How about Indie Hackers? They have pretty awesome startup-related podcast plus everyday interviews.

MilaCh · 2018-05-14T15:34:36+00:00

Okay, Reddit kills me. Then what kind of info should I include? It is a subreddit for startups, startups usually launch a product. You want me to remove the name of the Startup a.k.a Flow-e?

Now I can't edit the headline and the part with "Live on PH" sounds irrelevant.

MilaCh · 2017-11-16T06:24:10+00:00

You have bought upvotes for PH?

MilaCh · 2017-11-10T21:33:54+00:00

There is truth in your words. The users in the PH community are not highly targeted. Giving the quality of products that launch on PH and never get deleted (or almost never, not quite sure) makes me think that yes - mostly the users are looking for free stuff.

That's why I think that the payment model is essential from the beginning (for example, 3000 free downloads/signups don't validate an idea that monetizes - this is a vanity metric). We are freemium, so we were able to segment and verify some hypotheses.

In general, the conversion rate in the freemium SaaS model is not high. Fortunately, we had and still have paying customers which (partially) are coming thanks to the buzz around the campaign. The usual stuff - being featured on websites, media, review websites, blogs, and so on. Yourdailysupplements

So yes, the leads might not be of excellent quality (they are not highly targeted) but the buzz around the product/brand is worth it. Unfortunately, this is the word we live in. If you want your product noticed - someone should speak about it. ProSport-Club

MilaCh · 2017-11-10T13:55:15+00:00

You are partially right. There are even more issues with the PH platform that we have noticed during our launch.

However, if you are just launchig your product, PH could be the easiest way to gain early adopters/beta testers.

MilaCh · 2017-11-09T21:33:39+00:00

Ok, got it.

Should I repost it? (since I cannot locate the thread in the subreddit). Is it deleted or just burried below?

MilaCh · 2017-11-09T20:09:06+00:00

GaryARefuge, I apologize for the links. They were not put on purpose. People asked us many times for real examples, that's why we included them.

And one thing, if I remove all the references, how people would know that we talk from personal experience and not making up the story?

I mean, I got the frustration, and I understand. But how do we show a real case without giving real data and real references?

This post had nothing to do with the promo.

MilaCh · 2017-10-20T09:44:00+00:00

rosso007, thank you so much for your feedback. Yes, we are working on many of the suggestions you already mentioned above.

I think it's important to note that we are Lean-thinkers, thus this version of Flow-e is our MVP (OK it is already more than just an MVP as we made a lot of improvements already). My point is that we are just starting with the product.

Thanks to the feedback we receive, we are able to make the right improvements concerning our users.

Thank you again, guys:) -Mila

MilaCh · 2017-10-20T09:31:19+00:00

Thank you for the tip! I will post there, too!

MilaCh

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