Industries
SEO for startups
Early-stage sites need a few pages a buyer or a candidate can trust. They do not need a media brand. Publish what is true this month.
Startups are tempted to look bigger than they are. A blog full of trend pieces and "we are excited to announce" posts does that, and it dates in a week. The pages that help are narrower: the problem in the customer's words, how the current product handles one job, what you do not do yet, and how to try it.
An AI writer will inflate you if you let it. It will add customers, certifications, and a platform breadth that the demo does not have. The brief has to be smaller than the pitch.
Write the product you can log into
Describe the workflow a user can complete today. If a step is manual, say so. If a feature is on the roadmap, it does not go in a post that will be indexed for a year. You can write about the problem without pretending the software already solves all of it.
Screenshots and steps should come from the build you are prepared to support. A tutorial for a flow that changed on Friday is a support ticket generator.
Customers and numbers are not decoration
Do not invent logos, quotes, or "teams at companies like." If you have three design partners, you may say that, with permission, and you should not imply a market you have not won. Revenue and growth claims are for places where you would show the spreadsheet.
Hiring posts have the same rule. Describe the work and the stage honestly. A model will add "fast-growing" and a benefits package you have not agreed.
Choose the reader who can buy or build with you
One reader is enough at the start: the person who feels the pain and can get you into a trial. Articles for "anyone interested in the industry" dilute the site and attract the wrong conversations. Founder essays are fine when they teach that reader something. They are not a substitute for a product page.
Comparison with incumbents should be narrow and dated. You do not need to win every row. You need to be accurate about the job you replace and the job you do not.
A short library beats a content engine
Five pages are a launch: the problem, the setup, the limit, the security questions you can already answer, and how pricing works. Add a page when sales repeats itself. Do not hire a cadence of three posts a week before you know which sentence makes a qualified person reply.
Translate only after the source is true. Spreading an exaggerated English draft into four languages multiplies the correction.
Use automation after the story stops changing weekly
While the product is still being renamed, keep a human in the publish step. When the core jobs are stable, a writer can draft from the site profile, and someone who shipped the feature can accept it. Indexing and images can be automatic earlier. The claim cannot.
If you pivot, archive or rewrite the posts that describe the old product. Leaving them up because they have a few visits is how a new visitor learns the company you used to be.
Topics worth writing
- The job your current product finishes, told as the steps on the screen
- What you do not do, so the wrong buyer can leave quickly
- How a trial or a pilot works, including what you need from them
- The security and data questions you can answer today
- How pricing is structured, without a number you will change next week unless you are ready to edit
- What changed in the product this month, as a note a user can trust
Before you publish
- Every feature in the draft can be demonstrated.
- No customer, logo, or metric was added by the model.
- Limits and manual steps are still in the text.
- The article matches the homepage, not an old deck.
- Someone who uses the product has read it.
Questions
Should we start an SEO program before product-market fit?
Write the pages sales already needs. A broad keyword program can wait until you know who stays.
Can we publish the vision?
Yes, if it is labeled as direction and separated from what the product does. Readers should not have to guess which sentences are real.
What about a founder blog?
Useful when a post teaches the reader. A diary of meetings is optional and usually skippable.
How do we avoid sounding like every other AI tool?
Use the customer's noun for the problem, and a specific step in your product. Category language is what the model defaults to. Replace it.
