Guides on Content Marketing, SEO, & Agency Growth
SaaS Content Marketing
Driving traffic and sign-ups for SaaS companies with content and SEO.
How to Build a Growth-Focused Search Strategy for Every Stage of the Funnel
This post is about how to build a growth-focused SaaS SEO strategy. But first, a little story… Six weeks ago, I was struggling. I was trying to art direct some updates to our website. (Cue 🙄) But, I’m not a designer. So I went to Google. “How to do web design for...
SaaS Content Contenders: 16 of the Best SaaS Content Marketing Agencies in the Business
SaaS content marketing isn’t just about updating your blog once in a while. (At least, strategic content marketing isn’t.) From research, strategy, and ideation to writing, designing, and distribution, there is a ton of work that takes place behind the scenes to...
SaaS Inbound Marketing: How to Build Your Organic Growth Engine
No matter where your company exists in the SaaS space, most marketing and business leaders share a common goal: to get more people discovering and signing up for their services. Ideally, without paying an arm and a leg for traffic that may or may not even...
SaaS Content Marketing Examples: 4 Successful Stories to Learn From
Picking just a few companies to present them as good SaaS content marketing examples was not an easy task. There are so many good examples out there, that this list could go on forever, but for now, let’s focus on 4 companies that really stand out....
How We Helped HelloSign Scale Their Traffic 1,308%
Optimist is a full-service SaaS content marketing agency and this case study is based on the content marketing strategy we executed with HelloSign’s team from 2017 to 2021. It was a frigid cold day in Des Moines on January 28, 2019. Like most January days, I was...
How We Grew a SaaS Company’s Leads by 571% in 5 Months
A while back, a SaaS client approached us about their content marketing and lead generation strategy. They recently launched their blog and already written some great content, but they weren’t getting any traffic. They’d discovered that great content isn’t...
Startup Content Marketing
Building a sustainable growth engine for bootstrapped and venture-backed startups.
How Intercom Built a $50MM ARR Empire Using Strategic Content Marketing and SEO
When it comes to building a startup, growth is king. Close second? Recurring revenue. Especially in the world of SaaS companies, having a steady stream of monthly and annual revenue is the hallmark of success. So, imagine building a business and scaling it to $50MM...
Content Marketing Secrets from Buffer’s Rise to 4 Million Users (And Beyond)
If you’ve been on Twitter at all in the last half decade, then you’ve likely heard of Buffer. The social media sharing and scheduling app has been a catalyst for a new paradigm in social media marketing. It allows users to find content or schedule messages to be...
SEO for Startups: How Content Marketing Drives Organic Growth
If you’re a startup, you probably already know that one of the best marketing channels you can master is search. With the right SEO for your startup, you can bring in hundreds or even thousands of targeted visitors looking for your product or service every day and...
How We Scaled a Startup from 0 Organic Traffic to 100,000 Visitors/Mo (In About One Year)
A few years ago, I was tapped for a startup content marketing opportunity that quite literally changed my life. This is the story... My friends at College Raptor had just raised a Series A round for their incredible college matching technology. And the CEO asked me to...
B2B Content Marketing
Using content marketing and SEO to drive demand and generate leads.
How to Build a Growth-Focused Search Strategy for Every Stage of the Funnel
This post is about how to build a growth-focused SaaS SEO strategy. But first, a little story… Six weeks ago, I was struggling. I was trying to art direct some updates to our website. (Cue 🙄) But, I’m not a designer. So I went to Google. “How to do web design for...
How We Helped HelloSign Scale Their Traffic 1,308%
Optimist is a full-service SaaS content marketing agency and this case study is based on the content marketing strategy we executed with HelloSign’s team from 2017 to 2021. It was a frigid cold day in Des Moines on January 28, 2019. Like most January days, I was...
The Only B2B Lead Gen Strategy that Matters for Technology Companies Right Now
There’s a paradox of opportunity happening right now for B2B technology companies. Many teams are being forced to cut back on marketing and lead generation efforts due to uncertainty. According to a survey from the B2B Marketing Zone, more than 60% of marketers expect...
The Framework We Used to Generate $1.5MM in Sales Opportunities in Our First Year
One year ago, we launched Optimist. The vision was pretty straight-forward: A full-service content marketing agency that works with clients on a monthly retainer. Our goal is to grow it to $1.5 million annual run rate in 2018. In our first year, we made a pretty big...
How Intercom Built a $50MM ARR Empire Using Strategic Content Marketing and SEO
When it comes to building a startup, growth is king. Close second? Recurring revenue. Especially in the world of SaaS companies, having a steady stream of monthly and annual revenue is the hallmark of success. So, imagine building a business and scaling it to $50MM...
Content Marketing Secrets from Buffer’s Rise to 4 Million Users (And Beyond)
If you’ve been on Twitter at all in the last half decade, then you’ve likely heard of Buffer. The social media sharing and scheduling app has been a catalyst for a new paradigm in social media marketing. It allows users to find content or schedule messages to be...
Content & SEO
Articles, lessons, and takeaways on content marketing and SEO.
How To Develop a Content Marketing Strategy That Works in 2025
Content marketing has always been a rollercoaster ride. New tactics rise and fall, and Google’s endless updates add the twists and turns. But right now… it feels different. Something fundamental has changed. The tried-and-tested playbooks aren’t working as they used...
How to Build a Growth-Focused Search Strategy for Every Stage of the Funnel
This post is about how to build a growth-focused SaaS SEO strategy. But first, a little story… Six weeks ago, I was struggling. I was trying to art direct some updates to our website. (Cue 🙄) But, I’m not a designer. So I went to Google. “How to do web design for...
Hiring a SaaS Content Marketing Agency
Content marketing is a journey. While many startups (and even some agencies) take a "spray and pray" approach to blogging, the truth is that good content marketing requires careful planning, strategic thinking, and plenty of patience. Content isn't created overnight,...
Outsource Content Marketing vs In-House Teams: A Guide for Marketing Leaders
You’re in the hot seat. Perhaps you’re a founder who needs to impress investors with organic growth. Perhaps you’re a newly hired marketing director assigned to create organic growth. Or maybe you’re somewhere in between. The point is… You need to obtain...
SaaS Content Contenders: 16 of the Best SaaS Content Marketing Agencies in the Business
SaaS content marketing isn’t just about updating your blog once in a while. (At least, strategic content marketing isn’t.) From research, strategy, and ideation to writing, designing, and distribution, there is a ton of work that takes place behind the scenes to...
SaaS Content Marketing Examples: 4 Successful Stories to Learn From
Picking just a few companies to present them as good SaaS content marketing examples was not an easy task. There are so many good examples out there, that this list could go on forever, but for now, let’s focus on 4 companies that really stand out....
Agency Journal
Stories from our journey building a multi-million dollar content marketing agency from scratch.
Agency Journal: Dispatches from Inner-Workings of a Content Marketing Agency
Blogs Are Dead. Long Live the Blog. Published by Tyler Hakes on April 24, 2025 Content marketing is in an existential crisis. You can feel it. I can feel it. The things that worked consistently for years and decades are now less solid. The playbooks that nearly every...
How to Build a Growth-Focused Search Strategy for Every Stage of the Funnel
This post is about how to build a growth-focused SaaS SEO strategy. But first, a little story… Six weeks ago, I was struggling. I was trying to art direct some updates to our website. (Cue 🙄) But, I’m not a designer. So I went to Google. “How to do web design for...
Introducing Top of the Funnel
For a long time, the Optimist team has been looking for ways to share knowledge and help connect those in our network and our expanded universe with opportunities for growth (and money). The idea is nearly as old as our agency itself. Like most teams, we've gotten...
The Framework We Used to Generate $1.5MM in Sales Opportunities in Our First Year
One year ago, we launched Optimist. The vision was pretty straight-forward: A full-service content marketing agency that works with clients on a monthly retainer. Our goal is to grow it to $1.5 million annual run rate in 2018. In our first year, we made a pretty big...
How Intercom Built a $50MM ARR Empire Using Strategic Content Marketing and SEO
When it comes to building a startup, growth is king. Close second? Recurring revenue. Especially in the world of SaaS companies, having a steady stream of monthly and annual revenue is the hallmark of success. So, imagine building a business and scaling it to $50MM...
The No-BS Guide to Crushing it at Search
Fair warning. This post is probably going to piss some people off. Here's why: SEO can be complicated as hell. There are a billion on-page and off-page factors. The algorithm is constantly changing. And everyone is jockeying for a little leg-up over their...