Startups For the Rest of Us

Episode 725 | SEO in the Age of AI, Freemium, When Brand Becomes Important, and More Advanced Listener Questions (with Ruben Gamez)


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In episode 725, join Rob Walling and Ruben Gamez as they answer several more advanced listener questions. They discuss the challenges of pursuing freemium as a bootstrapper and make a suggestion that might surprise you. Rob and Ruben also talk about why building your business as a SaaS founder is usually the best way to build your brand indirectly.

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Topics we cover: 
  • 2:31 – Considering a freemium plan as a bootstrapper
  • 9:52 – Freemium, but without the intent to convert free users
  • 12:24 – Raising prices as an alternative to starting a freemium plan
  • 18:32 – When to start caring about your “brand”
  • 25:10 – Investing directly in branding
  • 31:00 – Revisiting your marketing funnels
  • 34:08 – AI’s impact on SEO
  • 38:20 – Google’s search results are already changing
  • Links from the Show: 
    • Get notified about The SaaS LaunchPad
    • Ask a Question on SFTROU
    • Email a Question on SFTROU
    • MicroConf
    • TinySeed
    • The SaaS Playbook
    • Ruben Gamez (@earthlingworks) | X
    • SignWell
    • Episode 724 | Managing Managers, Breaking Through Plateaus, Thoughts on EOS, and More Later-Stage Listener Questions
    • Episode 717 | Bootstrapping to $1.3M ARR and 300,000 Free Users
    • Val Sopi (@valsopi) | X
    • BlogMaker
    • State of Independent SaaS 2024 Report
    • Josh Ho (@jlogic) | X
    • Lane || Boot.dev (@wagslane) | X
    • If you have questions about starting or scaling a software business that you’d like for us to cover, please submit your question for an upcoming episode. We’d love to hear from you!

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      Startups For the Rest of UsBy Rob Walling

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