The Anatomy of an Effective Sales Funnel

Part 1: Traffic

If you’re doing business on the Internet, you’ve most likely run across the term, “Sales Funnel.” It sounds big and scary, but there are only a few critical components to a sales funnel that you need to focus on.

Having said that, a sales funnel CAN be as complicated as you want to make it. But, let’s start with the basics…

A sales funnel is simply a way to take prospective customers through a process of getting to know you and your business and offering them the opportunity to buy what you sell.

If you look at a picture of a funnel, it’s wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. That’s so you can pour a large volume into the opening and have it “funnel” down to a small opening at the bottom.

On the Internet, a sales funnel usually starts with a way to get traffic to a special type of page called a “squeeze” page. Some people call it an “optin” page, while others will use the term “lead capture” page.

No matter what the term, the objective is to get a person to leave their email address so you can connect with them in the future.

Before we talk about the actual optin process, let’s start with traffic.

Traffic:

There are basically two ways to get traffic to your website optin page:

1. Organic traffic: where people search for a keyword that is related to your business and find your page.
2. Paid traffic: using any number of online advertising platforms – such as Google AdWords or Facebook Ads – to direct people to your page.

Both of these methods are effective – and both have their pros and cons. Organic search takes time. Getting to page one on a search engine is difficult as there are only 10 results on the first page. You are competing with everyone in your niche over those 10 places.

Paid traffic can cost you money if you’re not constantly monitoring your ads for effectiveness. But once you’ve dialled in an advertising campaign, you have a predictable process to drive prospects to your optin page. Tracking and testing are critical to success with paid traffic.

Next time, we’ll talk about the lead capture process – the most important part of your sales funnel. After all, if you don’t have an audience, it doesn’t matter how good you are at selling!

I get this question quite often… “What is the difference between direct response copywriting and content writing?”

And my answer is this: “Several thousand dollars.”

Depending on your website, it could be several hundred thousand dollars. I don’t mean the cost of paying for direct response copywriting. I mean the returns you could reap with a carefully crafted sales page.

Think of your website like one of those nice, well-lit car dealerships. You attract people to your lot with signage, your branding, some nice newspaper ads and even television.

THAT’S your content marketing.

But once they’re on the lot, do you expect the signs to sell?

NO! You have a team of well-trained, professional sales people who are paid to close deals.

They meet your prospects where they are. They greet them… introduce themselves… find out a little about the people who came to your lot and HELP them make a decision to buy a new vehicle.

They explain all the features of a car your prospect is interested in. They turn those features into benefits. They put the person (or family) into the car and let them get the feel for ownership.

They patiently answer any and all objections.

They ask for the sale when the buyer is convinced this is the right vehicle at the right time and the right price.

If you left that to your signage, how many cars do you think you’d sell?

The same is true for direct response copywriting. Salesmanship in print. Persuasive writing. Using the power of the written word to help people buy.

So, paying a content writer a few bucks for an article is a good investment. It will help you get people to your website. But if your goal is to sell your product or service, then direct response copywriting isn’t a luxury… it’s a necessity.

Direct Response Copywriting is an Investment – Not an Expense

While many web design companies look at the cost of content creation as an expense, the goal of direct response copywriting is to create a positive return on investment. That’s why tracking results is critical to your success in hiring a copywriter.

Direct response copywriting may be the one thing that creates success for your business.

One of the best things I ever did was hire a coach to help me with my career goals and directions.

A coach will bring out your dreams and desires.

And help you create your plan to make them come true.

A coach will hold you accountable. So that when you don’t want to do the hard work it takes to build your future you still take action.

A coach will teach you the shortcuts to success in your field. Or at least help you find your way out of the mistakes you’re bound to make.

A good coach not only gives you the information but empowers you to take that information and DO SOMETHING with it!

Athletes use coaches.

Business leaders use coaches.

Copywriters can use coaches too. I have.