Six months ago, three startups came to us with the same frustrating problem: they were really good at what they did, but nobody could find them online.
Not on Google. Not when people asked ChatGPT or Claude for recommendations. Nowhere.
Today? They're getting inbound leads from people they've never met. Showing up in AI responses. Actually ranking for searches that matter. Let me tell you how we got them there, because honestly, it wasn't rocket science, just consistent work on the right things.
Meet the Two Startups (Names Changed, Stories Real)
CloudGuard - A small cloud security consulting company. Five people, all really smart, doing great work for their clients. But their website? Man, it looked like a college project from 2019. Last blog post was from three years ago. Their homepage said they "deliver innovative cloud solutions with cutting-edge technology" which, let's be honest, means absolutely nothing.
InventoryPro - A SaaS tool for small manufacturers to manage inventory. The founder had built something his customers genuinely loved. But the website was just a landing page with bullet points about features. No stories, no examples, nothing that showed how it actually helped real businesses.
All three had paying customers. All three had good products. But all three were completely invisible online.
When someone Googled their industry + location, these guys didn't show up. When someone asked an AI "who should I work with for [their thing]," the AI had never heard of them. All their business came from word-of-mouth and personal connections.
Which is great, but there's only so far that can take you.
Why They Reached Out to SoSimple
They all came to us with variations of the same story:
"We keep losing deals to competitors who aren't even as good as us, just because they show up first on Google."
"Our CEO asked ChatGPT about companies in our space and we weren't mentioned at all."
"We can't keep relying on referrals. We need people to actually find us."
The thing is, these weren't marketing people. They were technical founders and small teams focused on building good products. Marketing felt like this big, complicated thing they didn't have time for.
That's where we came in.
What We Actually Did (No Bluff, Just the Real Work)
Month 1: Figured Out What They Actually Do
Sounds basic, right? But you'd be surprised how many companies can't clearly explain what they do and who they help.
We sat down with each team and asked simple questions:
- What specific problems do you solve?
- Who are your best customers and why?
- What makes you different from the five other companies doing similar things?
- What results have you actually delivered?
For CloudGuard, we threw out all the "innovative solutions" nonsense. Instead, we got specific:
- They help fintech companies move to AWS without screwing up security
- They do emergency security incident response when something goes wrong
- They handle compliance audits for healthcare companies
See how much clearer that is? An AI can't recommend "innovative solutions." But it CAN recommend "emergency cloud security response for fintech companies."
We did this with all three. Just got really clear and specific about what they actually did.
Month 2-3: Started Telling Real Stories
Next, we helped them document their actual work. Not fake marketing case studies with stock photos. Real stories about real projects.
CloudGuard had helped a fintech company complete a security fix when their lead engineer left unexpectedly. Great story! But it was just sitting in someone's head. We helped them write it up:
- What the problem was
- Why it mattered (contractual deadlines, compliance issues)
- What they actually did to solve it
- What the outcome was
We published that as a blog post and a case study on their website.
InventoryPro had a customer who'd reduced inventory errors by 80% and saved like $10K in the first year. Amazing result! But nobody knew about it except the customer. We helped them write that story.
Each company started publishing one real story every two weeks. Not long, fancy things. Just clear explanations of problems they'd solved.
Month 3-4: Answered the Questions People Actually Ask
Here's something we see all the time: companies build these elaborate websites about their "vision" and "values," but they don't answer the basic questions potential customers are actually asking.
So we made a list for each company:
CloudGuard:
- "How long does a cloud migration usually take?"
- "What happens if something goes wrong during migration?"
- "How much does cloud security consulting cost?"
- "Do I really need a security audit?"
InventoryPro:
- "How hard is it to switch inventory systems?"
- "What if my team isn't tech-savvy?"
- "Can this integrate with QuickBooks?"
- "What's the actual ROI on inventory software?"
Then we wrote blog posts that just... answered those questions. Clearly and honestly. No sales pitch, just helpful information.
Why? Because when someone Googles those questions or asks an AI, we wanted these companies to be the ones providing the answer.
Month 4-6: Made It Consistent and Kept Going
This is where most companies fail. They publish a few blog posts, don't see immediate results, and give up.
We kept at it. One to two quality posts per week. Real stories, real answers, real expertise.
We also got them active on LinkedIn. Not posting inspirational quotes or memes. Sharing actual insights from their work. Commenting on industry news. Being visible where their customers hung out.
For CloudGuard, their CEO started posting about specific AWS security issues he was seeing. Real technical stuff, but explained clearly.
For InventoryPro, they started sharing "manufacturing monday" tips—just quick, practical advice for small manufacturers.
None of this was groundbreaking content strategy. It was just showing up consistently with useful information.
The Results (Real Numbers, Real Impact)
Okay, so after six months, here's where each company landed:
CloudGuard
Before:
- Organic website traffic: ~200 visits/month (mostly direct)
- Google rankings: Not in top 50 for any relevant searches
- Inbound leads: Maybe 0-2/month, all from referrals
- When mentioned in AI responses: Never
After 6 months:
- Organic traffic: ~2,400 visits/month
- Ranking #3-7 for "security consultant [city]" and variations
- Inbound leads: 5-10/month from website
- ChatGPT now mentions them when asked about cloud security firms in their region
- Three enterprise deals closed directly from inbound leads (total value: ~$180K)
ROI: They spent about $5,00/month with us. Generated $180K in new business directly attributable to improved visibility. That's a pretty solid return.
InventoryPro (SaaS for Manufacturers)
Before:
- Website traffic: ~150 visits/month
- Trial signups: 0-2/month
- Content: Basically just the landing page
- SEO rankings: Nowhere
After 6 months:
- Website traffic: ~1,800 visits/month
- Trial signups: 10-20/month
- Ranking on page 1 for "inventory management small manufacturers" and similar
- Converting ~15% of trials to paying customers
- Monthly recurring revenue up $12K from new customers who found them online
ROI: Investment was about $600/month. New MRR of $12K/month (which compounds). After 6 months, way ahead.
What Actually Made the Difference
Looking back, a few things really moved the needle:
1. Being Specific Instead of Generic
This was huge. Instead of "we provide innovative solutions," we got clear about exactly who they helped and how.
AI agents LOVE specificity. They can't recommend vague promises, but they can recommend specific solutions to specific problems.
2. Real Stories Over Marketing Fluff
Every single case study and blog post was about something that actually happened. Real customer, real problem, real solution, real results.
This did two things: made the content way more interesting to read, and gave AI agents concrete examples to reference.
3. Answering Questions Instead of Just Talking About Yourself
Most company websites are just "we're great, hire us." We flipped that. Made the content about helping people understand their problems and options, not just pitching services.
When someone asks an AI "what should I know about cloud security audits," and your blog post actually explains that clearly, you become the authority.
4. Consistency Over Perfection
None of these posts were perfect. Some were literally just 600 words answering one question. But we published consistently, week after week.
That steady drumbeat of useful content is what built their visibility over time.
5. Optimizing for Both Humans AND AI
We wrote for humans first, clear, helpful, conversational. But we also made sure the content was structured so AI agents could easily understand and reference it.
That meant:
- Clear headings
- Specific examples with real numbers
- Direct answers to common questions
- Regular updates showing they were active
The Unexpected Benefits
Beyond just more leads, there were some cool side effects:
Sales got easier. When prospects Googled the company before calls, they found real content and credibility. Sales conversations started from a different place.
Better quality leads. People who found them through content were often better-informed and more serious buyers.
Recruiting improved. Good candidates could actually see what the company did and how they worked. Made hiring easier.
Internal clarity. The exercise of getting clear on messaging helped the teams themselves understand their value better.
Credibility in conversations. When you're mentioned in AI responses alongside bigger competitors, it puts you in a different category.
What We Learned (And What You Should Know)
If you're thinking about doing something similar for your startup, here's what we'd tell you:
Start before you think you're ready. All three of these companies wished they'd started sooner. You don't need a perfect brand or website. You just need to start documenting what you know.
You probably can't DIY this while building your product. These founders tried. They didn't have time. Getting external help let them focus on what they were good at while we handled the marketing.
It takes 3-4 months to see real traction. Don't expect results in week 2. But if you're consistent, month 4-6 is when things start really moving.
Quality over quantity, but quantity matters too. One amazing post per month won't cut it. You need regular, consistent, quality content. We aimed for 4-8 pieces per month.
AI visibility is getting more important, not less. More people are using ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity instead of Google. If you're not optimizing for that, you're missing opportunities.
Real stories beat perfect polish. Your audience wants to know you're real and you've actually done this before. Perfect marketing speak is less convincing than "here's a problem we solved last month."
Want to Do Something Similar?
Look, I'm not going to pretend this is easy. It takes work, consistency, and honestly, it helps to have someone who's done it before.
But it's also not some mysterious black magic. It's just:
- Being clear about what you do
- Telling real stories
- Answering real questions
- Doing it consistently
- Making sure both humans and AI can find and understand you
If you're a startup (or really any business) that's good at what you do but invisible online, we can help. That's literally what SoSimple exists for.
We've done this with cloud companies, SaaS startups, consulting firms, fintech companies pretty much any B2B service business that has real expertise but doesn't know how to show it.
Reach out to us at sales@bithost.in
We'll look at where you are, show you what's possible, and build a plan that actually fits your business and budget.
And if you just want to start learning on your own, check out our other articles on the Marketing blog. We share pretty much everything we know because, honestly, the more businesses understand this stuff, the better the internet gets for everyone.
SoSimple is the marketing unit of Bithost (Zhost Consulting Private Limited), helping tech companies and startups build real visibility through practical marketing strategies that actually work.
