It’s free, so please try it out and let us know if it helps you as well.

https://hiliter.co

The Problem We Needed to Fix

We were always coming across mentions of our products in articles that we knew nothing about. It got us wondering how many other mentions we were missing and knew nothing about. We were spending a lot of time reading through articles and social media and forums because we didn’t want to “miss” someone commenting about our products.

We also wanted an easier way to track our product mentions in news sites and forums. We spend so much time sifting through posts that we needed a better way. We were probably missing someone writing about our business or bypassing links that someone has pointed to you.

Scrolling through endless social media posts is exhausting and impossible to digest everything.  I just want to find the posts that mention my product and company name.  This results in a lot of wasted time, which is why we developed Hiliter Chrome extension. This chrome extension will immediately highlight your keywords and links whenever they exist on any website you visit.

The Solution

With HiLiter Chrome extension, you’ll be able to save time by never having to search for your links or keywords again. You’ll be able to scroll quickly and only stop on those areas that contain your keywords and links.

Potential Users

• Marketing Agencies – It’s an easy way for you to keep tabs on customer mentions in articles/forums
• PR Firms
• OEMs
• Brand Managers
• SEO Specialists
  • Where are you mentioned?  Where are your links on a page?  Are they NOFOLLOW links?
• Venture Capital Firms
  • Keep track of your investment mentions.

It’s free, so please try it out and let us know if you find it useful.

https://hiLiter.co

Thanks!

You Might Also Like

• Follow These 48 best startup blogs to quickly grow your SaaS Business

To help the new startup founder out, we’ve put together a list of some of the best startup blogs that you should be following if you’re looking to grow your SaaS startup. Some are blogs of software and internet companies, but many are independent media sites. All are centered on helping tech companies succeed in the business world and their respective startup industry.

If you’re looking for tech news about other tech startups, there is plenty to choose from as well. The list below is for expanding your knowledge and learning new techniques that will be useful for your business (and maybe a few tech news sites). We’ve put them into categories, but they do seem to overlap in places.

Hopefully, they will save you some time in your entrepreneurial adventure. The need to maintain relevant information is critical – particularly given that the changing world has changed dramatically.

Let us know if we missed a blog that you think should be added.

Digital Marketing Startup Blogs

Digital marketing is the process of using digital channels to promote or market products and services to target customers. Channels include social media, email, search engines, websites, and mobile apps.

The startup marketing blogs we recommend are:

1) Marketing Charts

MarketingCharts is first and foremost a hub of marketing data, graphics, and analyses. They are a leading data source cited by many of the top news agencies. Did you know that YouTube usage by adults is on the rise? I did because I read this site.

This is also a great resource if you need information for a blog post or presentation deck. The site is updated multiple times per week.

2) CMSWire

They obsess over the evolving digital customer experience, customer data, and digital experience optimization universe.

This site is updated daily.

3) Content Marketing Institute

As the name suggests, CMI is all about content marketing. They provide helpful resources, tips, and advice on how to create and market engaging content that will attract and convert leads into customers.

The site is updated daily.

4) Econsultancy

The latest articles on global digital marketing and e-commerce from Econsultancy’s award-winning analysts and experts.

This site is updated a few times per week.

5) MarTech

MarTech is on a mission to educate marketers about marketing technology and strategy through news and feature reporting, newsletters, research reports, live conferences, and digital events.

This site is updated multiple times per day.

Technology & Tech News Startup Blogs

We have to see what’s going on outside of our own business from time to time. Here are the sites we frequently read:

1) HackerNoon

How hackers start their afternoon. HackerNoon is a free platform with 25k+ contributing writers. 100M+ humans have visited HackerNoon to learn about technology.

HackerNoon is updated multiple times per day.

2) ForEntrepreneurs

Run by David Skok, a Venture Capitalist with Matrix Partners. There is a wealth of great articles here that will give you every advantage you need to succeed.

The site is well laid-out and the articles are well written.

3) TechCrunch

TechCrunch has been around for a long time and remains one of the best sources for tech news. They report on the business of technology, startups, venture capital funding, and Silicon Valley in general.

Many updates are made throughout the day on this site.

4) ReadWrite

Self-described as “The Blog of Things”. ReadWrite writes articles slanted toward the tech-savvy reader.

This site is updated daily.

5) Recode

The tech column of Vox Media. Recode explores how the digital world is changing — from keeping Big Tech accountable to explaining how decisions in Silicon Valley affect your daily life.

Recode is updated daily.

6) VentureBeat

VentureBeat covers transformative tech. They help business leaders make smarter decisions.

This site is updated many times per day.

7) GigaOm

GigaOm provides research from engineering-led practitioners to help you innovate, upskill, and be ready for what’s next.

You will spend a lot of time wading through all the information on this site.

8) Ars Technica

Serving the Technologist for more than a decade. A combination of IT news, reviews, and analysis. We love this site.

Ars Technica is updated many times per day.

SEO Startup Blogs

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of optimizing a website for Google search with the goal of earning higher web traffic levels and improving the visibility of the site. A strong SEO strategy can also help to improve conversion rates by making it easier for potential customers to find your website.

SEO strategies focus on improving both on-page and off-page ranking factors. On-page SEO tactics include optimizing title tags, meta descriptions, and header tags. Off-page SEO tactics include link-building and social media engagement.

Staying on top of Google’s constantly changing algorithm is critical. These blogs can help you with that.

1) Surfer SEO

Surfer is our go-to tool for SEO purposes. Their blog is solid information about on-page, content creation & SEO tips.

They generally provide new tips a few times a month and it will often include instructions on how their tool can make things easier (which it does).

2) The Moz

The industry’s top wizards, doctors, and other experts offer their best advice, research, how-tos, and insights—all in the name of helping you level up your SEO and online marketing skills.

This site is updated every few days.

3) Neil Patel

Neil Patel is regarded as one of the most knowledgeable SEO experts out there. He has great articles and can help analyze your website to identify SEO errors, keyword opportunities, and competition.

His site isn’t updated daily, but there are a lot of articles to go through.

4) RankMath Blog

One of the best WordPress plugins for SEO brings you one of the best blogs as well. Their SEO blog provides you with tutorials and guides on how to improve SEO and take your rankings to the next level. They have quite a few extensive tutorials.

This site is updated weekly or so.

5) CopyBlogger

Their tagline is “We Help Writers Succeed in the Creator Economy”. So few people can really write well which is why we frequent this blog. The insights you get from these articles are empowering and enlightening. Your SEO will benefit greatly from improved content, and this blog helps with that.

This site is updated a few times per week.

6) Ahrefs Blog

Ahrefs is a critical tool for SEO purposes. Their entire business helps you rank higher in Google. You’ll find a wealth of information here on how to rank higher and how their tool can help you save time.

They’ll typically use videos in order to help with their blog posts.

This site is updated a few times per week.

Email / SMS Marketing Startup Blogs

Email Marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience and build relationships with them. Email Marketing can also help you to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, and generate leads.

1) Litmus

Get email best practices, how-tos, and more in the Litmus blog. There’s a lot of them here.

There are new articles and tutorials every few days.

2) SendGrid

Read the SendGrid blog (The Full Send) to learn how to maximize your customer reach, and how to fully take advantage of the capabilities that SendGrid offers.

There are new articles every week or so.

3) Email Octopus

Email tips, inspiration, and insights from the team at EmailOctopus​. They want to make email marketing easier for you and have articles and case studies.

The blog updates have slowed down recently, and are now updated about once a month.

4) AWeber

Find a wealth of valuable advice, tips, and tricks to grow your email list, increase sales, improve your emails, and landing pages, and so much more.

New articles are added and updated every couple of days.

5) Mailchimp

From one of the biggest email software providers. This is less of a blog and more of a knowledge base. Get advice on creating and sending effective campaigns.

We’re not sure of the frequency that new articles are added, although the information seems updated.

6) The Email Marketers

Get the latest email marketing strategies and techniques in e-commerce to grow your online sales while automizing your workflows.

Updates are a bit sporadic. They seem to be about every month or so.

7) Designmodo

Mostly design-centric articles to help your email design skills. They help you get better at web design and email marketing: detailed tutorials and guides, case studies, and opinions from industry professionals.

You can see new articles roughly every week or so.

Social Media Startup Blogs

The best Social Media blogs provide readers with useful, actionable tips and advice on a wide range of topics related to social media. They offer a place for readers to connect with other like-minded individuals, share their own experiences, and learn from the successes and failures of others. And of course, they’re updated often with fresh content.

Here are some we like:

1) SocialMediaToday

The latest news, trends, and tips in social media. If it revolves around social media, it’s probably here.

They provide daily updates.

2) Social Media Examiner

Their tagline is “Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle”. They help millions of marketers discover how to best use social media marketing to connect with customers, generate awareness, and increase sales. You’re going to learn something every time you go here.

Expect new articles every day.

3) The Social Media Hat

Founded by Mike Allton in 2011, The Social Media Hat is an award-winning resource for businesses around the world. Here you’ll find guides to plan successful virtual events, reviews of the best tools, and in-depth articles on social media strategies and tactics.

It is updated approximately every month or so.

4) Jeff Bullas

Helping business and personal brands with digital marketing including social media with Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Search Engine Optimization. Their goal is “To optimize your brand in a digital world”.

He seems to update the site every week or so.

5) AdEspresso

Owned by HootSuite. They claim that their blog is the best resource to stay up to date with Facebook & Google Ads news and tactics for successful campaigns that convert!

They seem to update the site with a new article every week or so.

Finance / Legal / Venture Capital Startup Blogs

Financing your startup can be complicated and tiresome. If you are in this phase, you probably have plenty of questions. Be sure to view our list of best venture capital firms. The top Venture Capitalists provide funding for early-stage startups and help them to grow and scale their businesses.

Some of the best blogs for more information can be found below.

1) SecureDocs

Stay on top of the latest tips, trends, and best practices for M&A, fundraising, and other business events.

2) Red Rocket VC

Red Rocket can help your business “blast off”!! Our Partners are proven CEOs and CMOs, that have already mastered the same growth challenges you are experiencing. They can help you with your growth strategy, execution, or financing needs such as venture capital. Check out their free e-books such as “101 Startup Lessons”.

Updates occur every month or so on this site.

3) Andreessen Horowitz

Commonly referred to as “a16z”, this is the blog/site of one of the biggest Venture Capital firms in Silicon Valley. There’s a lot of wealth in these articles, and they are updated daily. Check out their podcast as well. Good stuff.

They have updates daily on this site.

4) First Round Review

This is a startup blog from First Round Capital and is made up of mostly guest posts from experts in their field.

There’s a wealth of great information here, and the articles are well-written.

5) Tomasz Tunguz

Tomasz Tunguz is a VC at Redpoint and writes a blog post or two each week. Topics include how to raise funds, KPIs that matter, and other questions that startup founders might need answering.

The articles are to the point and without the fluff. Just the way we like it.

6) OnStartups

Dharmesh Shah maintains this site. He’s an Angel Investor, and co-founder of HubSpot. He knows what he’s doing.

This one has waned a bit with the updates, with only three new blog posts in 2022. It still has a wealth of information that is still very relevant.

Startup News Sources

While it’s important to see what the rest of the world is doing, we typically hit these once a day or so.

1) TechCrunch

TechCrunch has been around for a long time and remains one of the best sources for tech news. They report on the business of technology, startups, venture capital funding, and Silicon Valley in general.

If you want to know the details of what’s happening in the world of tech the minute it happens, this site is for you.

2) Young Upstarts

Young Upstarts is an online business resource for startup entrepreneurs, small business owners, idea people, and intrapreneurs seeking change within their organizations.

They have daily updates on this site.

3) Microsoft for Startups Blog

Learn from founders who’ve been there before. Accelerate your startup with Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub.

There are many good articles here that often help you use Microsoft products. Surprise! Many of the guest authors have partnered with Microsoft.

4) StartupNation

Want to learn how to start a business? StartupNation has the resources you need to ensure your success.

This is a great resource that is updated daily.

5) Tech Stars

Techstars is a global platform for investment and innovation. They connect entrepreneurs, investors, and corporations. This blog contains ideas & insights from the Techstars network.

There are many sections to this blog, and most seem to be updated every week or so.

6) The Startup Magazine

The Startup Magazine aspires to educate and inspire startups. They provide advice, access to business tools, and tell great entrepreneur stories.

It’s not our favorite layout, but the site is updated pretty much daily.

7) Killer Startups

Great place to showcase your app and read articles from other founders.

Update daily with shorter, to-the-point articles.

International Startup News Sources

1) StartUs Magazine

Europe’s leading source on daily happenings in the startup community, reaching over 400.000 people monthly.

This blog/site has a section for pretty much every area a startup founder may need, and it’s updated daily.

2) YourStory

This is India’s biggest platform dedicated to fostering the startup ecosystem via entrepreneurship-related stories, resources, products, research reports, and more.

It’s updated daily.

3) Startups.

Starting a business? Startups is the UK’s leading independent, online resource for anyone starting and growing a business. Find independent advice, tools, events, and information for new businesses, start-ups, small businesses, and ambitious entrepreneurs.

It’s updated daily for the most part.

4) e27

Get access to insights, updates, and resources that let you learn more and connect with investors and startups in Southeast Asia.

The site is well laid out, and updated daily.

Conclusion

There you have it! These are some of the best startup blogs that you should be reading if you’re looking to grow your SaaS startup.

Please let us know your thoughts and if we missed any!

You Might Also Like

• The 21 Best Social Proof Tools to Improve Your Business

A Little History

In the late 1990s, the major search engines would spend all their time aimlessly spidering the web and filling up their databases with what they found.  Search results wouldn’t necessarily  contain the the best sites, just the ones that they currently had in the system.   They eventually began allowing you to submit your URL to them, which quickly created a queue of up to six months long to get your site indexed.  It was incredibly slow and inadequate for the rapid growth of the internet.

Now, the major search engines want you to do do a bit more work to categorize and actually tell them what pages are important.  they are requiring website owners to create an index of all the relevant pages within their site, and submit that to them.  This is where XML sitemaps came in – they provide a way for website owners to submit a list of their pages to the search engine, telling them which ones are most important so that they can be indexed more thoroughly.

What is a sitemap?

A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the URLs for a website. It also includes information about each URL, such as when it was last updated and how important it is relative to other URLs on the site.  This information helps search engines index your website more thoroughly and accurately.  It might look like this:

What are the benefits of Creating a sitemap for your website?

Well, it’s important to note that Google and Bing probably won’t include your site into their database unless you start creating a sitemap.  There are a few exceptions to this but for the most part, this rule is the law.

It is also an important way to inform search engines of all the pages on your site, so they can be included in search results. Search engines use a variety of factors to determine how important each page is, but they don’t index every page on your website automatically. Creating a sitemap helps ensure that more pages from your site will be included in search results.

So let’s create a sitemap!

How can you start creating a sitemap?

There are many ways to begin creating a sitemap.  You could hand code them, use an online generator, or look for plugins that will help you automatically generate one in your CMS of choice.

Check to see if a sitemap already exists

If you are using a CMS like WordPress or Joomla, they might have already create a sitemap for you.

Try to access https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml or https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap

If you see an XML page already created, that’s awesome!  The hard work is already done.  If not, a plugin probably exists that will do this for you.  Search for one within your CMS to get this created.

Creating a Sitemap Manually

If you’re not too familiar with XML, hand coding a sitemap can be tricky.  There are online tools that will create one for you such as:

https://www.xml-sitemaps.com

https://www.sureoak.com/seo-tools/google-xml-sitemap-generator

All you need to do is enter in the URL of your website and it will generate an XML file for you.

Having your sitemap update auto-magically

Now that finished creating your sitemap, it’s important to keep it updated.  If you make changes to your website and don’t update your sitemap, the search engine might not be aware of the new pages.

This one requires a bit of programming knowledge, but is great at getting new site updates into Google and Bing within days.  If you have a blog, or have consistent updates to your site, update your sitemap to let Google know about them.  It is best practice to update your sitemap at least once a week.

For this blog, we have each blog post added immediately to our sitemap with name, url, and updated date.  This way, as the search engines hit our sitemap daily, they see that the new blog posts and immediately add them to their database.  We have seen a tremendous spike in traffic since implementing this method.

Facebook does this with your profile pages.  The search engines know about them quickly, which is why your Facebook profile is a link directly from within Google.

Updating your website with your sitemap

Ok, so you have a sitemap created.

1. Make sure it’s named “sitemap.xml” (Search engines actually search for it with this name)
2. Put it in the root folder of your website.
3. Verify that you can access it at – https://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

Submitting your sitemap to Google and Bing

Now that you finished creating a sitemap and placed it on your website, it’s time to update Google and Bing.  To do this, log into their respective webmaster tools:

Google Webmaster Tools: https://search.google.com/u/1/search-console

Bing Webmaster Tools: https://www.bing.com/webmasters/home

Once logged in, find the Sitemaps area (currently on the left navigation).

Google – 

Bing – 

Within this area, submit the sitemap URL.  You should be able to quickly see if the format is acceptable as Google and Bing hit your sitemap.

While you’re in there, be sure to check out all the other tools you can use to utilize the search engines to their fullest.

Congratulations!

You did it! You have successfully created a sitemap and submitted it to Google and Bing. Now it’s time to wait for them to index your website. In the meantime, continue optimizing your website content and adding new pages/posts. The more quality content you have, the better chance you’ll have of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs).

Don’t forget your can use our free SEO Ranking tool to make sure your pages are optimized for Google and Bing.

If you have any questions or need help, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re more than happy to assist!

You Might Also Like

• The 21 Best Social Proof Tools To Improve Your Business