START 3 OR MORE SAAS BUSINESS WITH MINIMAL OR NO TECH SKILLS

Most of you have probably heard about SAAS business in one form or another. “Software As A Service” is referred to as SAAS. In plainer terms, I’d say employing your own software to offer solutions to customers or clients in order to address a problem.

We use SAAS enterprises in our daily lives because they have merged with us. Netflix, Twilio, Amazon, Ring Central, Canva, and many other major SAAS businesses are examples where you pay monthly or yearly (subscription based) to access these services.

WHAT IS A SAAS BUSINESS?

SaaS businesses are companies that use software to offer services to clients. Most frequently, the product can be a virtual one. SaaS companies have rapid access to the global market and can expand without increasing the cost of product delivery.

Due to the fact that they have more control over their goods than traditional businesses do, they are more likely to have higher levels of security, quicker upgrades, and better customer experiences. They can also offer more transparent pricing because many of them rely on recurring monthly payments from customers.

THE SAAS BUSINESS MODEL

ESTABLISHMENT

At this stage, the founders determine their target market, as well as the necessity for the items they intend to develop. They will also plan the marketing campaign during this phase. This stage is also when a successful marketing and sales strategy should be developed, customer support choices should be thought through, and financial planning should be done.

GROWTH

The company (ideally) expands significantly after the products hit the market. SaaS organizations should expect new customers to use the goods since they can widen their target market, which will increase the demand for marketing, sales, and customer service staff.

HOW TO BUILD YOUR SAAS BUSINESS

If you don’t know how to code, you might now be questioning if this is actually doable. The good news is that you don’t need to employ a programmer or even learn how to program. Below, I’ll show you how to do this.

1. Purchase a SAAS script.
2. Choose a nice domain name and purchase a hosting service as well.
3. Upload your script.
4. Make customizations if you want.
5. Promote your service.

Some might be wondering how do they purchase SAAS scripts and can they get the one with the particular idea in their mind? Yes, you can always find SAAS scripts with the ideas you have on mind and purchasing it is easy.

WHERE TO GET SAAS SCRIPTS AND HOW TO DO SO?

You can simply buy a script for as little as $14-$50.

STEP 1: Go to codecanyon.net , click on the drop down menu and select php scripts.

STEP 2: In the search box, search for SAAS. After searching, you will see SAAS scripts in different niches (social media, accounting, email marketing and much more).

STEP 3: You can preview the selected script before adding to cart. After previewing, choose between regular and extended license.

REGULAR LICENSE

The regular license is used by you or one client, in a single end product which end users are not charged for. The total price includes the item price and a buyer fee.

EXTENDED LICENSE

The extended license is used by you or one client, in a single end product which end users can be charged for. The total price includes the item price and a buyer fee. This license usually comes with payment gateways prebuilt in them.

STEP 4: Purchasing a domain and hosting your script. You can purchase .com domain at the price range of $8 to $11 or more depending on the domain provider. There are many good domain hosting providers out there such as namecheap, godaddy, Google Domains.

As for hosting, there are several kinds of hosting and I did a brief run down of what hosting is in my previous post ” INTRODUCTION TO WEB DEVELOPMENT “. There are so many reliable hosting providers out there and a few recommended on my list and are Siteground which is expensive but has a good service, next is bluehost which is also recommended by WordPress themselves. Another good hosting service is Wpengine; they are well known for their Managed WordPress hosting.

Most script sellers usually suggest buying a Virtual Private Server hosting (VPS) as they have more bandwidth, they make your website fast and can also support a lot of traffic.

HOW TO HOST AND INSTALL ANY SAAS SCRIPT

Steps to begin;

• Choose a domain name.
• Setup SaaS script.
• Domain mapping.
• Upload SaaS script.

CHOOSE A DOMAIN NAME

Using Hostinger as an example.

1. First of all, you need to open an hostinger account. After opening an account, go to domain, click “Get Started” search for a domain name which suits you.
2. After selecting a domain, add to cart and make your payment.

SETUP SAAS SCRIPT

Using Vultr as an example.

1. Sign up for an account on vultr.com, click the plus button and deploy a new server.
2. Select cloud computing and select a region.For server type; select LAMP on Ubuntu.
3. For server type; select LAMP on Ubuntu.Select your server size depending on your budget.
4. Select server hostname and label (which is your SaaS domain name i.e. sketchvase.com) and click deploy now.

After clicking deploy, everything will be set up and the server will be ready. And you can see your IP address. Your IP address is a unique identifier of your website .Some hosting providers also set up domain for you so you can just get on with uploading and installing your script.

DOMAIN MAPPING

This is linking your domain name to your server. The process works the same on all hosting providers.

1. Go to your account, click manage beside your domain.
2. Click on Advanced DNS Settings and select “Add New Record”. You will see a space with the “@” symbol, then in the IP address you can paste your domain’s IP address and finally click the save button. The “@” symbol signifies it’s pointing to your domain.

UPLOAD SAAS SCRIPT

1. Go to “WinSCP“ (winscp.net) and download the application, it is a free application used to upload PHP scripts.
2. Open the WinSCP and fill in the following; { HOST NAME – Enter your domain IP address; USERNAME – Enter “Root”; PASSWORD – Go to your domain management and copy your password, paste it in your password box and then login. }
3. Now, upload your zipped SaaS script in your server.
4. Next, extract the zipped files on the server, Go to “PUTTY” (www.putty.org ). It is a free application used to connect any server or any linux server and also manage it. After installing putty, open it, then enter the domain IP address in the hostname box and click the open button and for the Host name – Enter your domain IP address.
5. Enter “root” and password.
6. Type “clear” , then enter, after that, type “apt install unzip”, click enter , wait a few seconds to complete and click enter again, finally type “clear” once more and click enter.
7. Type “cd / var / html ”, click enter and then type “ls”, click enter again and it will display a file name then type “unzip (the file name).zip” and click enter and the file will be unzipped.

Now your script has been hosted, you can make customizations as you wish which most script providers add a section for in the script to make it easier.

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR SAAS BUSINESS

After installing, hosting and making customizations, the next point will be to set up a price for your business. Using the extended license most times gives you a SAAS option with payment gateways to make things easier and faster but you can also achieve this with a regular license.

To do this, you can set up PayPal or payooneer and any other available in your country and handle your payment procedures manually. After earning from your first set of customers, you can purchase an extended license to fully automate the payment process for your SaaS.

Marketing or promoting a product, service or business rather is usually the hardest part. After hosting and customizing your script, what next??

Lots of services out there usually offer a free plan or a 7/14 days trial, this makes easier for your new customers as they will be able to test your services with the free trial or free plan. After testing and seeing how good it is, they could go for the paid plans and also invite friends.

Another important way to promote your services is through ads (advertisements). You should usually have a budget for advertising through platforms like Facebook or Google. But it’s advisable to learn more about digital marketing so you don’t waste unnecessary money on ads. You could check out some YouTube videos and read articles on how to promote businesses using Facebook and Google Ads.

One more way to promote your SaaS service is through affiliate marketing. You can create your own affiliate programs on popular platforms like Shareasale, Cjaffiliates and many more and set up a commission that will be paid to the affiliate marketers.

Email marketing is also another popular way, it’s recommended to start building up your email list from the first day of your business or even during pre-launch.

There are so many ways to promote your businesses and these are some of the major ways to begin.

TOP TEN SAAS BUSINESS IDEAS IN 2022

1. AI writing Assistants.
2. Chatbots and Virtual Assistants.
3. Website Builders.
4. E-wallets.
5. Marketing Automation Tools.
6. Learning Management System (LMS).
7. Link Shortener.
8. Accounts Management Tools.
9. Dating Sites.
10. Social Media Management Platform.

Ideas for your next start up will always be there. What you need to do is find a problem which people have and you come up with a solution. The problem could older men finding it hard to date and you could make a dating platform for that.

MAKE HAY WHILE SUN SHINES

Starting a new business isn’t hard, all it requires is research and keeping your ears down. After getting an idea, draw a business plan which will contain your budget for setting it up and promotion. Your plans could also contain how you intend to get your first 10 customers and much more. As long as you follow these simple steps, you can begin making a good passive income which could be converted to an active income later on.

Do you require a business planning services, you want assistance in setting up your SaaS business or you want a website, you are in the right place and you can get all this for a very little or no fee. CONTACT US now to know more.