How to Create a Website for a SaaS Product Launch

Hi there! I'm Duane, founder of Solveita. We help non-technical, early-stage SaaS founders build an MVP and transform it into a market-ready SaaS product.

In this article, I’ll go step by step on how to create a website for early-stage SaaS launches.

Having a website is crucial for marketing your SaaS product. Even before you start developing your software, you must implement website marketing and create a launch page. 

The main goal of a SaaS website is to convert visitors into signups and attract investors.

Therefore, while focusing on SEO, design, content, or any other strategy, your audience — both human users and search engine algorithms, should always be your top priority.

Step 1. Craft a Compelling MVP Launch

Before diving into website marketing, you’ll need an MVP (Minimal Viable Product) and a landing page where leads can sign up for that MVP.

If you have a SaaS idea that you would like to build, contact us to get started on your MVP.

Your SaaS MVP launch needs meticulous planning and, of course, a marketing website. There are two types of launches:

1. No Code MVP Launch: With tools like Notion or Airtable, you can quickly build a functional prototype or MVP of your product without extensive coding, and launch it fast. This will allow you to test ideas and gather early feedback.
2. Landing page: If you're not ready for a full website, start with a one-page landing site. This simple website will help you show your MVP and capture leads and will lay the foundation for a future, more comprehensive launch.

Both types are fast and cost-effective ways to validate your idea. In the launch page, you should focus on compelling content that advocates for your MVP, and call-to-action elements, such as a button to join a waiting list, notifying people when your MVP is ready for use.

Step 2. Identify the Target Audience

Before you start designing elements or crafting content, you must identify your audience and conduct an in-depth analysis. A SaaS marketing website has different audiences, such as search engine algorithms, potential investors, or your users. For this post, I’ll categorize the audiences into only two:

1. Search engine algorithm: While an algorithm is not a human being, we need to treat it with respect and consideration because it plays a crucial role in ranking your website on search engine results pages (SERPs). By understanding and aligning with the algorithm’s preferences, you can make informed decisions about your website’s SEO strategy, ultimately improving your site’s visibility and ensuring it reaches your intended human audience more effectively.
2. Human audience: Within your unique context, you might have different audience segments, such as buyers, users, investors, or partners.

Once you identify them, you conduct an analysis for each:

Search Engine Algorithm Analysis

A search engine algorithm analysis involves examining how search engine algorithms evaluate your website’s content, structure, and other elements to determine its ranking in search results. This analysis focuses on understanding the algorithm’s criteria for relevance, authority, and user experience. These algorithms change and update quite often; therefore, you must keep up with the updates.

Human Audience Analysis

For the human audience, you must conduct in-depth research, covering the following: target audience segments and their needs, and competitor research.

Competitor analysis = Identify competitors and analyze competitor websites.

During this process, it is a good opportunity to gather design and content ideas. The main purpose of this step is to distinguish yourself from the competition so that potential customers see your unique value proposition.

Throughout your web copy, you should talk directly to your audience's pain points and present solutions that your SaaS product offers.

Step 3. Build a Homepage with Good Design

A homepage is especially important because it’s often the first impression that visitors, including potential users, investors, and search engine algorithms, have of your company and product. Therefore, your homepage should have a good design, which means user-friendly and that looks good.

Contact us today for a free website audit.

User-Friendly Design

Make sure your website is easy to navigate; buttons are clickable, and your content is readable. Don’t overload some elements, such as forms.

Implement search-engine-friendly HTML components, such as headers, to ensure that Google algorithms understand the structure of your content.

Aesthetic Design

I’m more on the build-it-functional side, but there is some truth in good-looking design. Aesthetic design, such as color palette or symmetrical elements, helps build trust, capture attention, and differentiate you from competitors. According to some studies, there’s even something called ‘aesthetic-usability effect’ which leads people to perceive aesthetically pleasing designs as easier to use.

Step 4: Build Trust

After a few sign-ups, approach the customers who found your product beneficial, listen to their reasons, and incorporate those inputs into your website, letting other potential customers know about that value.

Wonder why I stress ‘trust’?

Early-stage SaaS startups are typically operating with limited resources and social proof. Hence, building credibility by utilizing those first customers is crucial in persuading potential customers to choose your solution.

Simply, many ‘trust’ issues can be solved by eliminating the unknown for the user.

Here are the essential things to do on your website to build credibility:

1. Use testimonials and case studies: Even a simple “Your product was awesome!” text via live chat from a client is a nugget of gold. Show potential customers who are still hesitant or have doubts that others have successfully used your product—don’t just state that people trust your product; instead, demonstrate it. Case studies can also be simple, like one use case of a particular customer; it doesn’t need to be complicated or fancy.
2. Highlight your security measures: If you’re in certain industries, this tip is obvious and essential. However, even if you’re not, it’s a good idea to include certain elements on your website, like a padlock icon on forms to assure visitors their data is safe. Such small elements, though seemingly minor, can have a big psychological impact on reducing potential customers’ hesitations.
3. Show your face: This can be done by including an ‘About Us’ page with team photos.

Step 5. Increase Brand Awareness

In website marketing strategy, there are two ways to increase your brand awareness and boost your SEO:

Consistent branding involves maintaining uniformity in design, messaging, and tone across all touchpoints, including your website, social media, and marketing materials.

Build Blog, Glossary, or Knowledge Base Pages

Create separate pages within your website to boost your SEO efforts by targeting less competitive keywords while simultaneously increasing your brand’s credibility. 

Step 6: Gather feedback and analyze user behavior

People tend to skip this step and simply rely on ‘guesstimating’ while creating marketing content—but you know what they say about assumptions, right?

Every step you take, base it on data.

Input from a single client, be it positive, “Hey, this product is really helpful,” or negative, “Your product could use a …”, carries more weight than anything.

In fact, before even launching your MVP, questions you think about the product or the market should be directed at potential customers.

So, let’s say you have an MVP, a landing page, and have directed a few potential customers there. Did they sign up? If yes, then ask why. If no, still, ask why. Of course, they may not tell you, but you must do your best to find out.

The feedback you gather will be the foundation to help you optimize your website, polish your USP, improve your product, and enhance your overall marketing strategy.

Step 7: Build a full website

Once you have gathered sufficient data, validation, and seed funding, it’s time to enhance your website by investing in a full marketing website.

As your business grows, your website evolves from being just a landing page into a more comprehensive platform that caters to different audiences, showcases various use cases, and taps into multiple channels.

Step 8: Optimize your website for conversions

Conversion rate optimization allows you to measure and test different versions of pieces of your website, to determine which gets the most results. You can measure how many users take a specific action, how many make a purchase, sign up, or click a button.

Ensure that your call-to-action (CTA) buttons are clear and guide users towards the next step, whether that’s signing up for a free trial, subscribing, or even contacting you.

Conclusion: Constantly Improve

Optimizing the marketing website is a long-term journey. As your product advances, your strategies should advance with it. By understanding both your algorithm and your target human audiences, focusing on early launches, and consistently tracking performance, you set the stage for both immediate and long-term success.