25 Colorado Startups and SEO Practices Reviewed

As a top Denver SEO Company, we set out to see how these groundbreaking Colorado startups were doing in relationship to today’s SEO practices.

Colorado startups should look into effective marketing methods to launch and boost their brand in the digital space.

We looked at keywords, site speed, and general UX/UI on each of their websites.

As you grow your startup think about selective consumption. The essence of selective consumption is that consumers are turning out traditional, interruption-based marketing methods, and choosing when and where to interact with brands.

You need to maximize your SEO efforts if you want to succeed online.

Let’s face it. If you don’t, your business will be left behind. SEO is a top priority for marketers.

Over 70% of clicks go to organic searches that rank on the first page of Google.

Ranking on the first page of Google can be the deciding factor in making your business thrive online. You probably already know that, right?

Here’s an example for a new launch in 2021, this is over a 700% increase in website traffic.

Search Engine Marketing: Getting Found for Colorado Startups

Search engine marketing refers to the paid & organic activities, including SEO, and SEM, to help you boost your website’s search engine ranking, diving website visitors, and generating leads.

It helps your Colorado startup get found online when people are searching for related services and information related to your industry, target market, personas, and company.

Why are Keywords Important for Colorado Startups?

Keywords are important because they are the linchpin between what people are searching for and the content you are providing to fill that need.

Your goal in ranking on search engines is to drive organic traffic to your site. This is done from the search engine result pages (SERPs), and the keywords you choose to target will determine what kind of traffic you get.

If you own a golf shop, for example, you might want to rank for “new clubs” — but if you’re not careful, you might end up attracting traffic that’s interested in finding a new place to dance after dark.

To build a Colorado startup’s online presence you can either do it yourself or hire a Denver SEO firm or Denver SEO consultant.

Content Marketing for Colorado Startups:  Fresh, Relevant, and Link Worthy

Almost every client has one person that just doesn’t understand why they need a content strategy. So I have to have a discussion about content marketing. Hey, that’s alright, I’m used to it I’m a college prof. I get it. It’s a fair question.

You have understood the SEO basics. This includes the SEO hygiene tactics, like H1, H2, H3 tags, meta tags, meta descriptions, SEO title tags, and keywords for Google index and search bots.

These items should be automatic for any marketing department.  It’s really not that hard to learn. But implementing the SEO strategy does take resources and time.

But if you want to rank for SEO, you got to have a content marketing plan beyond just keywords. You got to think like an editorial team and give your readers high-quality content that they can use, learn from, and share with their peers. Now, won’t that be great?

Here’s where a Denver SEO agency like Matrix Marketing Group offers marketing services and internet marketing.

Here is a recent Colorado example.

You have to start off by doing some market research like finding out where your audience is keywords that they searched on both head tail and long-tail words,  and really really great content you can produce.

What types of format are they consuming their information from? For example, is it a blog post, is it a guest post, is it infographics, is it a visual presentation, a white paper, or maybe in an ebook.

Go to your website right now and check to see how many interactive pieces of content you have? If you don’t have any and you want more leads to convert you better, start looking at interactive content.

Ask yourself. Who are my buyer personas? What are their needs, requirements, and pain points? What value can my Colorado startup bring to the community? What problems can we solve? What can I publish that is relevant and link-worthy?

Content marketing is one element of an integrated digital marketing strategy. It’s driven by the strength of your brand, website, search engine marketing, and social media strategies. Y

our success depends on the strength of your content team. You need business-savvy writers and an editor the guy planning in production and keep the team on track.

Here are some quick tips:

• Maintain an editorial calendar
• Do your keyword research
• Keep the team on track
• Profile content prior to publishing
• Ensure consistency of style, format, tone, and messaging
• Building links plan
• And be sure that it’s tuned for SEO

What is Page Speed and How Are the Colorado Startups Doing?

Page speed is often confused with “site speed,” which is actually the page speed for a sample of page views on a site.

Page speed can be described as either “page load time” (the time it takes to fully display the content on a specific page). Or “time to first byte” (how long it takes for your browser to receive the first byte of information from the webserver).

Have you been to a website that loads and you watch like paint drying? It remains me of d=ial-up, yeah remember that? I know some don’t you are lucky. Where 5G? 10G?

You can evaluate your page speed with Google’s PageSpeed Insights. PageSpeed Insights Speed Score incorporates data from CrUX (Chrome User Experience Report) and reports on two important speed metrics: First Contentful Paint (FCP) and DOMContentLoaded (DCL). I use Pingdom a lot as well.

What is the average load time?

For this, we’re going to consider the average perceived load time, more specifically the ‘speed index,’ which measures how long until most of what you can see within your browser screen is loaded. Here’s a list of website speeds loads by industry. How are you doing?

Website Design – User Experience and User Interface (UX/UI)

User experience is the extent to which a website can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use. Where the user interface (UI) is the way a user interacts with a website.

My intent is to give startups and small business marketing teams ideas of great design elements and what to watch for. These are sometimes subjective and often depending on the specific audience.

However, some elements remain constant regardless of the industry or audience. Like website load times and a clear message on what the company does. This should be clearly stated as the value proposition.

SEO Audit for Startup in Colorado

If your website is driving more traffic month/month you need to employ top-of-funnel SEO and content tactics. If you are getting grow and it’s the right target audience you have a middle-of-funnel issue.

You want lower bounce rates, leads turning into sales leads, and more sales. Start with a full-blown SEO audit. It’s the simplest way to understand what’s going on. It goes beyond simple on-page SEO errors. There is a lot to it.

Who to Watch in the Colorado Startups Scene?

Boulder, Colorado Springs, and Denver are hot start communities.

When I first landed in Boulder, Colorado in 1982 there were no social media. In fact, the internet was character-based with no browser. Try to native that startup ecosystem. I started at my first startup in Boulder with a company called BTI which created the first pulse oximeter which sold for about $15,000 a unit.

And if you believe in Moore’s Law, the pulse oximeter can be found in your local drug store for about $75. One of the first portable computers was being developed down Pearl Street call Otrona.

Otrona was Boulder’s first (and last) personal computer company. Otrona opened its doors in early 1982 and closed them in late 1984. The Otrona Attaché was twice the machine of the Apple II and cost twice as much at $3,995.

It’s another 25,000 college kids. It’s a pretty small number of people, but it’s an extremely high concentration of technology people and PhDs.

That’s important because what happens is you get a very significant concentration of smart people who use technology in their day-to-day work and combined with a very independent personality.

I’ve just finished up my visit to Boulder Startup Week and Denver Startup Week last year. It is awesome how Boulder Startup Week and Startup Weekend have grown from an experiment here in Boulder into a global set of events that are now housed under the Techstars umbrella. Thanks to my friend Andrew Hyde! Great job.

There were a few of these companies that were showcased at the event.

So let’s dive into these Colorado startups and see what’s going on.

Best Places to Start a Business in Colorado

The list below shows you the best Colorado cities to start a business. NerdWallet analyzed 85 places in Colorado with populations of at least 5,000. Cities with fewer than 500 businesses were excluded, regardless of population. We calculated the overall score for each location using the following criteria:

• Business climate, 65% of the overall score, is based on three metrics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Survey of Business Owners.
• Average revenue of businesses is 20% of the score. A higher average contributed to a higher score.
• Percentage of businesses with paid employees is 25% of the score. A higher percentage contributed to a higher score.
• Businesses per 100 people is 20% of the score. A higher number contributed to a higher score.
• Local economic health, 35% of the overall score, is based on three metrics from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey.
• Median annual income is 10% of the score. A higher median income contributed to a higher score.
• Median annual housing costs are 10% of the score. Lower median costs contributed to a higher score.
• The unemployment rate for residents over 16 years old is 15% of the score. A lower rate contributed to a higher score.

List of Colorado Startups [List]

1. Colorado Startups for Technology

CANVAS Technology

Tagline:  Adaptive Autonomy

Speed test: Mobile: NA  | Desktop: 1.2s

CANVAS Technology does a nice job with its marketing content and explaining its disruptive technology and how it fits into its target markets.

This website needs some improvement. Here are the tips to improve SEO for this website:

Since 2016, CANVAS Technology, located in Boulder, Colorado, makes autonomous vehicles for industrial warehouses.  At Canvas, we make extensive use of a simulator to simplify development, improve accuracy, and ensure good test coverage.

It also gives us the ability to develop for deployments before we attempt them – multiple autonomous carts, large warehouses, or outdoors. It’s a vision-based perception for indoor factory and warehouse environments are dynamic places, filled with an ever-shifting mix of people, carts, pallets, forklifts, and boxes.

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Misty Robotics Inc.

Tagline:  The Advanced Personal Robot that’s Easy to Program

Speed test: Mobile: 8s  | Desktop: 36s

The website is a bit slow. These suggestions to improve your speed.

I love the concept of Kickstarter Campaigns and Misty Robotics is using it to their advantage. In just at the publish date of this post they have 327 or its target of 500 backers.

Misty Robotics launched a one-time-only crowdfunding campaign offering a chance to obtain the Misty II robot at a 50% discount off MSRP for the price of $1599. The offer is only available for a limited time. This is a good way to create demand through scarcity. A limited-time offer.

Misty Robotics, Inc., based in Boulder, CO,  is building the robot for everyone. Misty Robotics’ vision is to put a personal robot in every home and office.

These robots will be seen and treated as our friends, our teammates, and a part of our families — performing helpful tasks, providing safety, and interacting with humans in entertaining and friendly ways.

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Liqid

Tagline:  Making Sophisticated Networks Dead Simple to Manage

Speed test: Desktop: 3.19s

If you are in marketing then you know video is a medium that works. With so much content on the web sometimes it nice to watch the product in action or listen to a pitch via video. I like the fact that Liqid has leveraged this medium for its marketing efforts.

A leader in composable infrastructure, Liqid enables users to configure and manage physical, bare-metal server systems in seconds.

Storage, compute, networking and graphics processing devices are interconnected over PCI-Express fabric to deliver dynamically configurable bare-metal servers perfectly sized with the exact physical resources required by the application being deployed.

Liqid Grid and Command Center allow users to optimize system resources to meet the evolving requirements for next-generation, high-value applications.

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Stateless

Tagline: Unleash the Power of Your Network

Speed test: Desktop: 6.93s

This startup website should look closer to its SEO. Here are some recommendations.

Founded in 2016, Stateless, a Boulder, Colorado-based startup building a game-changing product in the containerized Network Function Virtualization (NFV) space.

While everyone else is creating a virtual version of a physical appliance counterpart, with Stateless, we are fundamentally re-thinking the architecture of network devices.

Stateless leverages this trend of software-based network devices with a novel design and implementation. In doing so, the network devices can naturally scale, be resilient to failure, support non-disruptive continuous updates to the software and deployment.

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Informu

Tagline: The world’s smallest predictive loss prevention device

Speed test: Desktop: 9.09s

Go to the website and the HERO image shows you the product right away. Maybe not enough to get you to explore more by scroll down the page and you will see the video. It’s a little hard to notice that it’s a video so I added it below. Watch it and see what you think.

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/4FS0yh4RfUc” frameborder=”0″ allow=”autoplay; encrypted-media” allowfullscreen></iframe>

Since 2016, Informu, based in Boulder, Colorado, informu eliminates the stress, expense, and wasted time associated with losing your valuables. We have created the world’s smallest predictive loss prevention device integrated with an AI app to keep your belongings safe.

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2. Cyber Security Colorado Startups

ProtectWise (Acquired by Verizon)

Tagline: Use the time to your advantage

Speed test: Desktop: 8.39s

This website has a video all over it and the call-to-actions are populated around the site nicely. After looking around more I found that I could try it. If I register I could take a 24-hour test drive of The ProtectWise Grid to see how the Cloud-Powered Network Detection & Response (NDR) allows me to see incident responses and threat hunting.

They could boost their speed with two simple fixes:

The PowerWise Grid, delivers security directly from the cloud. Unified technology foundation. Better than disparate point solutions. Delivers enterprise security on demand. A presentation layer that shows threats. Committed to changing how humans interact with security. Cloud-power Network Detection and Response.

Founded in 2014, ProtectWise, located in Denver, Colorado, provides cloud-powered Network Detection and Response (NDR). Delivering security entirely from the cloud, The ProtectWise Grid™ captures full-fidelity network traffic from enterprise, cloud and hybrid environments, to create a lasting network memory.

TruU

Tagline: Converged Security Powered by Real-time AI

Speed test: Desktop: 3.17s

The website’s homepage tells you what they do right off. Super simple without all the clutter. They could improve the SEO with these two things: (1) Create more content-rich pages, as it will help their rank for more long-tail keywords and (2) Title tags are an important on-page factor for SEO. Aim to make your title tag more descriptive but containing fewer than 70 characters. This is the limit Google displays in search results.

TruU, Inc., located in Boulder, Colorado, is a new cybersecurity startup company creating products and services that establish and verify identity, moving beyond password-based authentication.  Using biometrics and the power of artificial intelligence to identify people in both the physical and digital worlds, our platform enables companies to move from authentication to identification.

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CyberGRX

Tagline: Transforming Third-Party Cyber Risk Management

Speed test: Desktop: 3.58s

I loved the action on the homepage, but when tested for website speed on Google’s PageSpeed Insights it broke down. Google ranks speed high. So how fast is fast enough? The average page speed varies by location and industry, but it’s floating around nine seconds right now.

However, that doesn’t mean that nine seconds is fast enough. Actually, Google considers that to be poor.

Founded in 2015, and based in Denver, Colorado, CyberGRX, located in Denver, Colorado,  provides enterprises and their third parties with the most cost-effective and scalable approach to third-party cyber risk management today.

Built on the market’s first third-party cyber risk Exchange, CyberGRX arms organizations with a dynamic stream of third-party data and advanced analytics so they can efficiently manage, monitor, and mitigate risk in their partner ecosystems.

CyberGRX was designed with partners including ADP, Aetna, Blackstone, and Mass Mutual, and is backed by Allegis Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Blackstone, ClearSky, GV (formerly Google Ventures), MassMutual Ventures, Rally Ventures, and TenEleven Ventures.

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Swimlane

Tagline: Security Orchestration and Incident Response Automation

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

The homepage makes it easy to see supporting evidence that supports the firm’s position. From the Gartner research report, video, and request a demo. They give the company credibility.

Since 2014, Swimlane, located in Denver, Colorado, is a leader in security orchestration, automation, and response (SOAR).

By automating time-intensive, manual processes and operational workflows and delivering powerful, consolidated analytics, real-time dashboards, and reporting from across your security infrastructure, Swimlane maximizes the incident response capabilities of over-burdened and understaffed security operations.

Swimlane was founded to deliver scalable innovative and flexible security solutions to organizations struggling with alert fatigue, vendor proliferation, and chronic staffing shortages.

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Threat X, Inc.

Tagline: TOP 25 CYBERSECURITY COMPANY 2019 (They really don’t have a tagline)

Speed test: Mobile: 56  | Desktop: 98

Started in 2014, Threat X, located in Louisville, Colorado, is the leading provider of Intelligent Web Application Firewall (WAF) solutions for real-time threat detection.

Our proven services platform delivers rapidly deployable, kill-chain-based threat detection and neutralization in a highly adaptable, cloud-based architecture designed for modern application environments and constantly evolving threats.

Only Threat X’s dynamic, context-based “progressive behavior profiling” provides a holistic view of all threats, attack vectors, and targeted application vulnerabilities, all in an easy-to-understand, risk-based view of threat intent.

Threat X eliminates the false positives and maintenance burdens associated with 1st generation WAF’s and static, rule-based solutions by automating the correlation and analysis required to identify real and active threats in any environment.

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4. Healthcare and Colorado Startups

BurstIQ

Tagline: Bring Your Health to Life

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

Starting in 2015, BurstIQ, located in Denver, Colorado, offers a platform and ecosystem that will enable a coming transformation in the healthcare space.

Data is becoming increasingly critical to clinical, operational, and individual decision-making, and interest in products and partnerships that leverage data is exploding. However, health data is largely siloed, inaccessible, non-standardized across systems, and difficult to understand, use and share.

BurstIQ’s proprietary platform addresses all of these challenges. The platform combines blockchain technology with Big Data capabilities, advanced security protocols, and machine intelligence to allow complex data sets to be managed, parsed, shared, and mined while maintaining strict security standards and HIPAA compliance.

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NextHealth’s

Tagline: Know what works

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

Founded in 2013, NextHealth Technologies (NHT), based in Denver, empowers healthcare consumers to make the best decisions by radically reducing healthcare costs. The platform predicts risk-reduction opportunities and prescribes “nudges” through three foundational technologies – prescriptive analytics, behavioral economics, and multichannel consumer engagement.

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Healthgrades

Tagline: Find the right doctor. Get the best care

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

Healthgrades’ mission is to ensure people have access to information about medical care. The site initially focused on hospital ratings but has expanded to include patient-sourced reviews of providers and a feature allowing patients to search for providers based on factors like specialty and procedures.

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Cliexa

Tagline: Our platform enables physicians and hospitals to fully leverage patient-reported data to improve clinical care and outcomes while maximizing reimbursement.

Boy, that’s a long one. Say that 10 times fast, shorten it. Especially on the front page.

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

Founded in 2015, Cliexa, headquartered in Denver, Colorado,  transforms doctor and patient behavior by connecting patients, physicians, and insurers to better care and management of chronic conditions. This translates into significant cost savings, a better doctor and patient experience, and better outcomes, yielding a higher defined value for the customer.
Twitter

LinkedIn

DispatchHealth

Tagline:  On-Demand Urgent Care

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

Founded in 2013, DispatchHealth, located in Denver, Colorado, provides mobile urgent care. Our goal is to create an integrated, convenient, high-touch triage and care delivery solution that extends the capabilities of the patient’s care team and provides definitive, quality care in the home while decreasing costs. Our skilled providers arrive with the tools necessary to provide advanced medical care and are supported by our technological infrastructure to ensure quality and improve outcomes.

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iNeuroskill

Tagline: NONE

Speed test: Mobile: 88  | Desktop: 98

iNeuroskill is a subsidiary of VeriFax Corporation.  After more than 10 years in the making and representing a technological breakthrough, Neuroskill^tm is a product that measures and records an individual’s fine motor control characteristics in real-time.

The application includes a web portal that prompts a patient to enroll in a sample of their handwriting using a signature tablet to provide several handwriting samples and record their daily medications.  In return, the user receives immediate feedback regarding their fine motor control.

Go look at this website and tell me what you think @gschidge. Okay, you might say WOW. I love the website speed but this website is not set up for inbound marketing and could be damaging the brand. However, not all company’s use their website to their advantage.

rthoFi

Tagline: Starting More Smiles

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

rthoFi helps orthodontists grow their businesses and simplify their lives. Their software and service solution works with orthodontists’ practices to pull in new patients and manages insurance, along with patient processing and collection. From the consumer side, OrthoFi helps patients find orthodontists based on skill, specialty, and experience — and it gives consumers the power to create payment plans to fit their budgets.

The website speed was all right. However, SEO needs improvement.

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Nanoly Bioscience

Tagline: Revolutionizing Protein Storage ​​and Stability

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

Starting in 2012, Nanoly Bioscience, located in Denver, Colorado, develops technology to eliminate refrigeration for vaccines and protein therapeutics. The company is based in Colorado.

They stated mission: Our mission is to develop a low-cost, biocompatible polymer network to stabilize temperature-sensitive protein molecules during storage, transport, and use.

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5. Colorado Startups for FinTech

SALT Lending

Tagline: Secured Automated Lending Technology

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

Since 2016, SALT, located in Denver, Colorado, lets you leverage your blockchain assets to secure cash loans. We make it easy to get money to spend without having to sell your favorite investment.

SALT streamlines and automates every step of your loan so you can get the most out of your investment. Membership to our platform gives you access to capital-on-demand through our extensive network of lenders.

We’ve simplified the application process by focusing on the value of your blockchain asset instead of your credit score. SALT stores your assets in a fully-audited, ultra-secure architecture during the life of your loan so you can borrow with confidence.

SALT did a pretty good job with their SEO. They could minify JavaScript and CSS. Minification is the practice of removing unnecessary characters from code to reduce its size thereby improving load times.

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Maxwell

Tagline: Mortgage Software Made for Loan Officers

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

Maxwell was founded in 2015, located in Denver, Colorado, by three friends who were fed up with the arduous process of getting a mortgage. After speaking with hundreds of loan officers, home buyers, and real estate agents, Maxwell was born as a solution to bring the best loan officers a modern platform that would revolutionize their workflow. Buying a home is one of the happiest, most fulfilling experiences of a person’s life. We help make the mortgage just as fun.

We’re on a mission to revolutionize the $8.5T residential mortgage market by reimagining how lenders work together with homebuyers and real estate agents to buy a home. We connect this network on one seamless, intuitively-designed platform, so the focus isn’t the paperwork, it’s the place to call home.

LinkedIn

Neat Capital

Tagline: Complex Just Became Simple

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

Founded in 2015, Neat Capital, headquartered in Boulder, CO, is reinventing mortgage lending: without the hassle, paperwork, and frustration. Antiquated processes and arcane underwriting standards frustrate borrowers. We deliver a modern approach to mortgage lending that’s simple, transparent, and lower cost.

Like any website, it must be maintained and can always use a few improvements. Here are some things to consider.

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AutoPay

Tagline: AUTOPAY makes your car loan fast and easy

Speed test: Mobile: 74  | Desktop: 63

The folks know how hard and frustrating it can be to find financing when purchasing a new or used car. AUTOPAY helps its customers finance a new car, or refinance their current car, by offering them the most favorable rates and car loan terms possible.

Founded in 2016, AUTOPAY, located in Denver, Colorado, is a lender marketplace specializing in auto refinance and new purchase finance.

We partner with trusted credit unions, banks, and lending institutions across the country to offer our customers the most competitive rates and terms available. Our online process and auto finance expertise make getting a loan fast, easy, and transparent.

Autopay can improve their website SEO with these tips:

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Manufacturing/Technology – Runner Ups

Technology Startups

Wrap up on Colorado Startups

It’s important for entrepreneurs, startup management teams, and small business owners to have a plan for their web pages to appear end-user web searches in search queries.

It all starts what’s a good SEO plan paired with a content marketing plan. Learn how to create a 3-month SEO plan.

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