From Problem Discovery to MVP: How I Built BoostMyRank as a Micro-SaaS for Backlinks

Executive summary

This post walks through how I built BoostMyRank into a platform that automates editorial backlink outreach for around two dozen SMB’s that currently use our product. Our value proposition centers around offering 3+ high-authority backlinks per month at a $249/mo price point with a money-back guarantee, well below productized competitors ($300+) and agencies ($1,000+/mo).

Key topics covered:

Market sizing and signal gathering in SEO
10 customer interviews to validate the problem and price
A differentiated solution (personalization, better quotes, free trial, affiliate growth)
A one-week MVP via Lovable (React) + Supabase + Stripe
Alpha → early paid users → first GTM loops
Full PRD and implementation plan

Problem & market insight

Backlinks remain one of the hardest levers in SEO: they’re scarce, time-consuming to acquire, and quality varies. Small teams (SaaS, e-commerce, services) lack the time and network to secure editorial links from reputable domains. Many resort to paid schemes or expensive agencies.

Signals I gathered:

Keyword difficulty up across most B2B categories
Founders and marketers consistently complain about how to get legitimate links, not just more content
Existing “productized” backlink vendors are pricey and rigid; personalization and reporting are weak

Hypothesis: there’s room for a hands-off, affordable, and credible service that automates outreach and quote drafting, while letting customers specify anchors, pages, and boundaries.

Customer discovery (10 interviews)

I interviewed 10 operators (marketing agencies + SMBs relying on organic):

8/10 said the hardest part is finding credible sites willing to link - especially high authority.
7/10 said they would pay **$249/mo** for a guaranteed **3 backlinks** automated (with editorial standards and refunds if missed). When asked, two of the remainder said they would probably pay <$100/mo.
Top asks: more personalization, control over anchors/targets, and proof (live links + DA and traffic context).

Conclusion: the need is real, price is viable, and the MVP can be scoped around consistency, personalization, and proof.

Competitive analysis & differentiation

What I found:

Two notable competitors existed, both >$300/mo and light on personalization.
Most lacked trial mechanisms, and none offered an effective affiliate engine.

How I differentiated:

Personalization depth: richer onboarding brief (brand, topics, boundaries, target pages/anchors), tighter quote generation.
Free trial: 1 free backlink to de-risk adoption and demonstrate quality.
Price: $249/mo standard plan for 3 links.
Affiliate program: 30% lifetime via Rewardful to incent creators and SEO influencers.
Reporting: live links verified, DA scores, and impact snapshots.

Pricing & basic unit economics

Plan: $249/mo for 3 editorial backlinks (DA > 30), fully managed.
Affiliate: 30% lifetime share; modeled after successful bootstrap patterns.
LTV estimate: $1,000–$2,000 (≈4–8 months at $249/mo). This creates enough headroom to fund affiliates and modest paid acquisition while remaining profitable on fulfillment.

MVP scope & tech stack

Goal: get a credible, usable MVP in front of interviewees fast, while validating activation, quality, and retention signals.

Stack

Frontend: React (generated with Lovable) + Tailwind
Backend: Supabase (auth, DB, storage)
Payments: Stripe Checkout
Affiliates: Rewardful (30% lifetime)
Hosting: Vercel
Scheduling: Calendly for “Book a demo”
Demo: Loom embed on landing + dashboard

Why Lovable: accelerate scaffolding (landing, pricing, auth, dashboard) to spend time on value props, onboarding, and reporting.

PRD (v1)

Product name: BoostMyRank
Vision: help growth teams earn editorial backlinks consistently, transparently, and affordably.

Goals

Deliver 3+ DA30+ backlinks/month per customer
Automate 80–90% of outreach and drafting with AI + human QA
Provide proof (live links), reporting, and refunds if missed

Non-Goals (v1)

Full-funnel SEO suite
Large-scale content production
Guaranteed DA/traffic beyond thresholds

Personas

B2B SaaS heads of growth/SEO
E-commerce owners
Agencies with overflow link-building needs

Core user stories

As a customer, I can onboard with brand, topics, target URLs, anchors, and boundaries.
I can see status of pitches and live links, with DA and basic traffic context.
I can start with a free trial (1 backlink), then upgrade.
I can refer others and earn 30% lifetime.

Functional requirements

Landing page with positioning, social proof, demo video
Pricing page with Stripe Checkout (desktop + mobile)
Dashboard: onboarding brief, target management, status feed, reports
Auth: email + Google on custom domain
Affiliate tracking via Rewardful
Email notifications (on link live, report ready)
Admin panel (internal): opportunity queue, quote review, submission status

Data model (Supabase)

users, companies, subscriptions, onboarding_briefs
campaigns, opportunities, pitches, backlinks
affiliate_referrals, events/audit_logs

Success metrics

Time-to-first-value (TTFV): first live link ≤ 30 days
Trial → paid conversion ≥ 25%
Monthly link delivery rate ≥ 95% of SLA
Net retention ≥ 90% at 90 days

Risks & mitigations

Quality variance in publishers → source vetting + editorial guidelines
AI quotation drift → human QA and brand boundaries in brief
Deliverability risk → money-back guarantee + buffer inventory of opportunities

Build & timeline

Pre-build

Wrote the PRD and user stories above
Finalized price ($249) and affiliate share (30% lifetime)
Defined trial: 1 free backlink

Week 1 (MVP)

Generated frontend with Lovable (landing, pricing, dashboard scaffolding)
Set up Supabase schema and auth
Integrated Stripe Checkout and subscription webhooks
Connected Rewardful for affiliates
Deployed on Vercel
Polished UI with a full-stack engineer (Ukraine) at $40/hr for ~15 hours

Functional QA desktop & mobile: navigation, CTAs, signup/login/logout, reset password, redirects
Stripe test flows (payment → confirmation → email → Stripe dashboard)
Calendly integration (“Book a demo”)
Loom demo embedded on landing and dashboard
Fixed two issues from alpha:
- Email auth edge case
- Return-to-app state where user data wasn’t displaying after callback
Offer: one-month re-trial to alpha users after fixes

Alpha → early users

Alpha (3 interviewees)

Free signups, hands-on onboarding
2 bugs surfaced (fixed), then granted 1-month re-trial

Rollout to 5

After two stable weeks, invited two more (total 5)
Offered 50% discount for early feedback
4/5 converted to paid

Early GTM

Direct outreach on LinkedIn + Reddit threads where backlink pain surfaced
Secured 2 additional paying customers
Created a short Loom for quick demo; added to landing

Marketing & growth loops

What competitors missed:

No free trial, no affiliate engine, weak personalization

What I implemented:

Free trial: one backlink delivered before paywall to remove risk
Affiliate: 30% lifetime (Rewardful) to incent influencers and SEO communities
Lower price: **$249/mo** vs. $300+ productized rivals and $1,000+ agencies
Proof & trust: live links, DA context, money-back guarantee, demo video, early testimonials

Implementation checklist (build + GTM)

Design & frontend

Create frontend designs with designer
Create frontend prototype with Lovable: landing, pricing, functional dashboard
Polish frontend with full-stack engineer hire

Backend & integrations

Connect frontend to Supabase backend
Stripe Checkout: test mobile & desktop, confirm redirection and emails
“Book a Demo” button with Calendly
Integrate Loom demo
Configure Rewardful (30% lifetime)
Fix file upload to DB (ensure reliability)
Fix Vercel deployment link launches and redirects

Brand & trust

Create LinkedIn profile
Add logo and “As Seen In / Opportunities From” logos to landing
Write testimonials and case studies
Footer links: Privacy, Terms, Pricing, Case Studies

Auth & infra

Google Auth on custom domain (e.g., auth.boostmyrank.co)
Functional QA – desktop & mobile

Product snapshot (customer-facing positioning)

What it is
BoostMyRank provides a hands-off backlink outreach service that helps companies grow SEO traffic by securing placements in reputable publications. Customers receive 3+ editorial backlinks per month (DA30+) with a money-back guarantee, for $249/mo. We source opportunities, draft expert quotes with AI + human QA, submit, and report.

Who it’s for
B2B SaaS, e-commerce, and professional services that want credible links, improved rankings, and social proof—without paid link schemes or agency retainers.

Why it works
Legitimate press mentions and thought-leadership citations increase authority, rankings, and conversion trust.

Early results & what I’m measuring next

4 of first 5 in the early cohort converted to paid
2 more via cold outreach on LinkedIn/Reddit
Time-to-first-value trending inside 15 days for initial customers
Affiliate pipeline set up; recruiting first partners in SEO communities

Next to validate:

Trial → paid conversion with 1 free backlink
Retention at 90 days
Cost to acquire an affiliate-referred customer
Delivery buffer needed to keep 95%+ on-time links

Roadmap (next 4–8 weeks)

Near-term

Opportunity quality scoring (publisher, topical fit, historical acceptance)
Self-serve anchor and target page management
Cohort and per-link impact snapshots (DA, traffic deltas)
Case study generation pipeline

Growth

Affiliate playbook (assets, tracking, payouts, spot bonuses)
Partnerships with niche communities (SaaS, e-com, professional services)
A/B tests on onboarding brief to improve personalization → acceptance rate

Trust & ops

Refund automation
More rigorous brand boundary controls in quotes generated
Publisher vetting rubric

Thanks for reading!