The beauty of Internet marketing comes in the fact that you’re never tied down to a single source of revenue.

With so many potential options when it comes to putting your product out there, there’s no need to restrict yourself.

By exploring these eight traffic sources, you can expand your bottom line and make sure you’re making the most of your marketing dollars.

Businesses have options galore when it comes to building their sales funnels online.

This begs the question: why do some marketers get caught up on establishing a sole stream of revenue?

It’s definitely a thought worth pondering, especially since establishing multiple revenue streams is all the rage for modern online businesses.

But before we get into the different web traffic sources, let’s talk about traffic itself and its role in a company’s online success and how it influences how you build your funnel.

Why is Traffic So Important?

Traffic is essentially the number of visitors to your website. Simply put, the more visitors that come to your site, the more possible customers you have. It’s true that not all of them will convert, but having more visitors means having a bigger pool to draw from.

But bringing traffic to your site isn’t just about the numbers, it’s about the quality. You want valuable traffic, not just any old traffic. We’re talking the type of traffic more likely to convert.

Paid traffic is that traffic that you paid for to come to your site. This usually comes from display ads, sponsored content, social media ads, or paid search like Google AdWords. Organic traffic, on the other hand, is usually a result of unpaid search results, like someone looking for a product or solution in a search engine like Google.

Both types can be valuable forms of traffic. Funnels can benefit greatly from them. Organic traffic is often more cost-effective while the results of paid traffic are usually more immediate.

Driving Traffic to Your Sales Funnel

Once traffic is on your site, you need to know how to get them into your sales funnel. That comes down to how your landing page is designed.

Much of the success in this effort comes from managing expectations. If the ad that brings a visitor to your page promises a discount, the landing page should feature that discount.

Failing to meet the expectations you set often creates confusion and will drive visitors away from your website. If visitors know exactly what they’re getting from you before reaching your page, they’ll more likely enter you sales funnel and continue their journey.

Now that you know a bit more about traffic, it’s time to look at the many traffic sources for websites. Perhaps companies are hesitant to diversify because it just sounds too good to be true; however, the following means of building your sales funnel are tried and tested, with real potential to jive with just about any product or service online.

1. Email Lists

The mumblings of the Internet marketing rumor mill might lead you to believe email marketing is dead. False.

Internet marketing is very much alive and kicking, especially in a mobile marketplace where users are glued to smartphones.

We live in a world of notifications and alerts, in which sitting quite literally in the pockets of our users has never been easier.

Building an email list is a proven means of establishing a dedicated base of buyers.

Let’s take some modern email marketing statistics into consideration, including the fact that…

• 33% of emails are opened on iPhones; Meanwhile, 75% of Gmail accounts (totally over 900 million users) regularly access their email via mobile. The myth that “nobody uses email anymore” is absolutely absurd, especially when mobile users are so hungry for new messages.
• Over one-quarter of all Black Friday transactions in 2015 were kindled through email marketing. In other words, email appeals to a variety of buyers and users and no single, solitary demographic.
• Approximately 90% of marketers claim that email was their main means of generating leads. Who said email marketing was dead, again?

In short, the concept of email marketing representing spam is bogus, especially if you’re the one getting users into your own funnel.

Don’t stress about “spamming” your base; instead, focus on providing them with legitimate products and content that meet their particular needs.

The sales will come naturally.

2. Facebook Ads

Image Source: Aerotech Digital Marketing 

The unlikely success of Facebook has proven inspirational for Internet marketers and users alike. Mark Zuckerberg’s wildly successful social network boasts over one billion daily active users and has become a cornerstone of the modern web.

Given the site’s reputation and reach, it should come as no surprise that Facebook sports a robust advertising system for businesses.

Due to the massive nature of Facebook, their ad system has to be laser-focused and targeted for small businesses looking to convert sales from the platform’s massive user base.

Considering that Facebook ad convert approximately 25% of social media referrals versus platforms such as Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube, such ads have become to the go-to for marketers looking to break through the often tumultuous social media ad-space.

Much like brands such as Amazon or Apple, Facebook has become a trustworthy, household name.

By hosting ads on their platform, you establish yourself as a likewise trusted brand. With their flexible budget and numerous, high-performing call-to-action options, there’s no reason not to get your feet wet with Facebook’s platform.

3. Google Ads

With over $50 billion (yes, billion) in global net ad revenue last year, it’s clear to see why Google ads have been the bread and butter of marketers for quite some time.

Many businesses are wary of entering the world of paid search due to the risk-reward balancing act involved.

Considering the astronomically high click-through rates of ads in the top Google position, however, we can understand why perhaps it’s a more than worthy investment.

True, there is some risk involved due to the potentially high cost of keywords (depending on your industry).

However, consider some of the benefits of delving into Google’s ad platform, including:

Gaining a Better Understanding of Your Competitors – Targeting keywords can be a difficult, laborious process; however, it’s absolutely crucial for a successful SEO strategy. Getting your feet wet with Google Ads can help you better understand what your competitors are targeting and lead you into finding your niche, or better yet…

Understanding the Keywords You Can Dominate – “Niche” is, after all, the name of the game for many of today’s marketers and business. Which niche do you have the potential to dominate? What keywords belong to your business? Through AdWords, you can better understand not only where you stand versus your competitors, but which keywords convert and ultimately…

Test the Merits of Your Site and its Product – Are you getting clicks? Are those clicks converting into sales? The traffic obtained from Google ads is perhaps one of the best means of testing your site regarding user behavior and how your site’s content plays a role in the buying process. Google ads are a great way to find out what’s influencing your users and to A/B test means of improving sales through your site in the future.

4. Instagram Ads

Image Source: Instagram for Business

Instagram is one of the younger guns regarding social media ad space; however, it’s 400 million active users and 40 billion photos shared to date perhaps speak for themselves.

When we think of Instagram, we perhaps think of celebrity images and viral photos, ignoring the ad potential projected to grow to approximately $2.81 billion by next year.

As more and more businesses hop onto Instagram, noted to be one of the fastest growing platforms for SMBs, you might ask whether it’s not worth taking the leap as well.

With a similar CTR and CPM as Facebook (who own Instagram, by the way), coupled with the revenue above of the platform, Instagram may offer a snapshot into the future of photo marketers looking to engage users on a more visual level.

5. Solo Ads

Image Source: Precise Strategy 

Although perhaps not as “sexy” as your Facebook or Instagram ads, solo ads represent a numbers game which can provide big returns if executed properly.

In the same wheelhouse as email lists, solo ads allow you to blast a single offer to an opted-in email list.

Since the list is opt-in only, there’s less concern for being perceived as spam (assuming that the company providing the list is reputable).

When it comes to solo ads, we’re primarily playing with click-through rates and conversions.

For this reason, before considering a solo ad one should ensure that…

• The company selling the ad has a track record regarding their list and click-through rates (check ratings, reviews, and testimonials)
• The product of service being offered through the solo ad stresses urgency (one-time deal, strong call to action, time-sensitive offers)
• Strong marketing copy, both regarding subject line and the email copy itself (keep it short and sweet, include a compelling call to action alongside a trackable email link)

Perhaps the road less traveled these days, solo ads can be powerful tools for generating new leads.

Much of your success, however, depends on your own research, effort, and execution.

6. Podcasts

While radio advertising is dead in the water for most modern industries, podcasts remain a viable advertising option for those looking to build their sales funnel.

With 20% of Americans listening to at least one podcast per month and 63% of those users purchasing something a host promoted on the show, podcast advertising provides a truly unique opportunity for brands looking to break through to more buyers.

The key for successful podcast advertising is, yet again, understanding your product, its niche and the buyers within that niche.

For example, it wouldn’t make much sense for a website selling organic cloth diapers to advertise on a podcast for motorcycle enthusiasts (nor would it make sure to sell Harley Davidsons on a parenting podcast).

If you can find the right fit within your industry, advertising on a podcast can not only drive sales but also build your brand in the eyes (or ears, rather) of curious new buyers.

7. Blogs

Advertising on a blog may seem like a no-brainer; however, some marketers may cling to one method rather than explore what blogging has to offer.

For many marketers, seeing the ROI of blogging and subsequent content creation is often the hang-up.

How do I know this is going to work? How do I know it’s going to result in sales?

Guest blogging (along with other means advertising of blogs, including paid ads) is not just a way to get your product in front of more eyes.

It’s a means of building your brand, appearing like an authority and, this is perhaps the hidden gem, building backlinks to drive future traffic to your site.

Seeking out blogs which operate within your niche might very well be the secret weapon of the modern marketer.

Is a blog creating content surrounding your niche or product? Are their users hungry for more?

Blogger outreach is more than likely worth your time and attention.

8. Banner Ads

Image Source: Pinterest

Last but not least, let’s talk about banner ads.

We could discuss ad-nauseum the phenomenon of ad blindness and question whether or not such advertising is worth it; however, let’s consider instead the reasons why people don’t click on banner ads.

Such reasons include the ad representing a distraction (annoying pop-ups), providing irrelevant content or appearing just plain spammy.

The solution, then, is to provide creative ads which provide legitimate value to users.

Perhaps what’s more important than the ads themselves is the format.

That is, where they are placed, how they appear and whether or not they are targeting the right users.

Are your ads professionally designed?

Are you offering a legitimate product or deal that can help your users? Are your ads in the right place?

Banner ads do have a place in the modern marketing world, granted they are utilized correctly. Build banners that spark interest and drive users to buy rather than spam that scares buyers away. If you follow such principles, clicks will come your way.

The Bottom Line

The possibilities are seemingly endless when it comes to bringing streams into your sales funnel.

By breaking the dam and establishing new streams for users, you increase your chances of sales while also establishing your brand online.

Which of the above website traffic sources do you think has the most potential for the modern business?

Continued Reading

• Sales Funnels: The Ultimate Guide
• Using Sales Funnels
• Mapping Out Your Sales Funnel Online
  

Thanks for reading 8 Proven Traffic Sources for Your Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

As the saying goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Not all sales funnels are created equally; likewise, you may want to rebuild the success of an existing funnel but have no idea how to emulate it.

Chances are you can find out how using just three steps.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of competition.

In fact, it’s fair to say that competition is the catalyst of modern Internet marketing, as businesses constantly strive to test, tinker and try out new strategies as a means to dominating their respective niches.

A successful sales funnel is a prime example of trying something new to drive new sales and figure out what speaks most to our base of hungry users looking for real solutions in a marketing world often full of white noise.

Now, let’s say that you find a killer sales funnel that hits all the right buttons regarding design, content, and reach.

The design is crisp, the call-to-action is clear, and the offer is dynamite.

Let’s say you want to try and recreate the same marketing principles and points for your own funnel.

Well, what happens when that perfect funnel is in your niche?

What if the funnel belongs to a direct competitor?

That’s a problem, right?

Not necessarily.

The beauty of sales funnels comes in the fact that they are flexible regarding customization.

You can easily adjust your marketing language and offers.

For example, a site selling home dumbbell routines for men and a site selling yoga accessories to expectant mothers have two completely different audiences; however, the tone of their frontend pitches and execution of their backend funnel strategies may be identical.

We’re not suggesting that you undercut your competition, not by a long shot.

Any successful means of marketing, a sales funnel or otherwise, depends on a trustworthy brand with a sound product.

If you’re unable to provide such value to your users, you may find your efforts dead before they hit the ground.

If you are instead looking to see how competing funnels are performing and whether or not you can crack the code to their success, keep reading.

Truly understanding the in’s and out’s of your competition is perhaps one of the best weapons in your marketing arsenal.

It’s not always about you; instead, it’s about your customer and what products and services are currently being marketed to them.

Where does your funnel stack up?

What does your funnel do for them and how can you improve it?

How can you figure out what really works?

To rebuild a top performing sales funnel, you must first research and understand exactly how the funnel works.

Easier said than done, right?

Enter Their Funnel

Understanding the success of a competing funnel is akin to performing some in-depth detective work.

Perhaps the most effective way of gathering information is by going through the buying process yourself (sometimes known as “the buyer’s journey”), serving almost as an undercover agent for the product in the question.

Exploring this process is advantageous for multiple reasons, including:

You get to put yourself in the customer’s shoes – It’s not difficult for businesses to lose touch with their base from time to time.

Often, sales teams fail to map out what makes a successful sale.

This includes metrics such as click-through rates, drop off points and other milestones which measure customer engagement.

By playing the role of customer, ask yourself: how engaged are you with your competitors funnel?

What about your own  By putting ourselves in the customer’s shoes, we get to see the “gotcha” moments of a sales funnel and the calls-to-action in a real-time setting.

You see firsthand what works (and what doesn’t) – We can go on and on about market research and A/B testing; however, it’s all meaningless until it’s actually put into action.

By seeing how competing funnels operate, you provide yourself an opportunity to gather meaningful data on competitors regarding how they’re writing their content, presenting their deals and so on.

Are they using percentages or statistics?

Infographics?

Are the offers time sensitive?

How are they opting in?

The answers to these questions can help you craft your own killer funnel.

You get to see the backend firsthand – Marketers tend to obsess over the frontend and neglect arguably the most important aspect of a sales funnel: the backend.

However, the backend provides more opportunities to upsell customers and turn them into repeat buyers.

By seeing a competing funnel’s backend firsthand, you better understand what types of services you could eventually push to your own list over time.

Spy Games

Rebuilding a successful sales funnel also requires a keen understanding of competing for traffic sources.

Let’s face it: the traffic for your niche is probably spread across a network of sites.

How are you supposed to dominate a niche when there are so many moving pieces to ranking in Google or getting users into your funnel?

Many marketers have no idea where to begin with driving traffic away from competitors and back to their own sites, especially when keyword competition is so fierce.

To push the detective allegory a bit further, one of the best ways to learn from your competitors is to do a bit of spying.

It is very much possible to play some spy games with your competitors to see where their traffic comes from.

Depending on the tools you have in your marketing tool belt, this can be a relatively simple process.

Is this so-called spying underhanded or “unfair?” Absolutely not.

Such tools are completely by-the-book and can be accessed by any marketer.

Don’t think of “spying” as sneaking around; think of it as using what’s available to you to stay competitive in your industry.

There are some free tools available to help keep an eye on your competition and understand their traffic.

Such tools often have their limitations (especially when using the unpaid versions); however, there are plenty of free tools out there which work to…

Keep you updated whenever your competitor is mentioned online (via social media or otherwise)

• Monitor to the competitiveness of keywords in your niche, including keywords your competitors are targeting
• Analyze your competitor’s traffic regarding what keywords they are ranking for organically

In short, there’s plenty you can do to analyze your competitor’s traffic without spending a penny (Google’s Keyword Planner, for example, should already be a staple of your marketing efforts).

What if you’re willing to spend a bit more to learn the in’s and out’s of your competitor’s traffic?

There are plenty of paid tools out there (perhaps to the point of being overwhelming), but what’s worth its salt for marketers looking to get the best bang for their buck?

In the past, we’ve discussed the benefit of sales funnel tools such as AdBeat, which allows you to see the biggest advertisers in your space, what publishers their using and what messages they’re using to generate leads.

Of course, such tools do not come without their price tags, yet provide options for those looking for an in-depth competitive analysis.

Such analysis may be the key to rebuilding your next sales funnel.

Ask the Right Questions (to the Right People)

Conventional wisdom tells us that if you want something (or in this case, want to know something), it’s best just to ask.

When it comes to building an effective sales funnel, it’s all about understanding the niche behind that funnel alongside the most popular products and services being offered within that niche.

As niche marketing continues to thrive, affiliate managers are in a unique position when it comes to businesses trying to break through their markets.

If you’re looking to understand a competing funnel’s success better, asking an affiliate manager where they’re having the most success.

This is less “spying” and more “canvassing” when it comes to gathering intelligence on your competitors; however, sometimes the direct approach is the best approach.

Affiliate managers can provide unique insight to marketers and shouldn’t be left out as part of your strategy to rebuild a successful sales funnel.

Bringing it All Together

To put it all together, the keys to rebuilding a successful sales funnel include…

• Going through the funnel process as a buyer, understanding the allure of the competitor’s frontend and investigating the intricacies of their backend
• Spying on your competitor’s traffic sources, establishing an understanding of where their buyers come from and how you can attract the same crowd
• Asking affiliate managers to insight as to what’s working and what isn’t within your niche, further refining your approach to rebuilding your funnel

Rebuilding a successful funnel doesn’t have to be rocket science.

In fact, following through with the steps above is a great way to ensure that you’re following the best practices within your industry while also beefing up your marketing strategy.

Which of the above strategies do you feel is most beneficial to building out a successful sales funnel?

Thanks for reading How to Rebuild Top Performing Sales Funnels in Any Niche which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

SEO can be a very delicate and temperamental matter so deciding whether content or link building is the best solution is an important decision to make.

There are some things you need to consider before investing in either one.

Both content and link building have their advantages and disadvantages so it can be hard to choose which one you should invest in.

However, these 6 considerations should help you make the right choice for your business.

What Is Content Marketing

Content marketing is the act of creating valuable and helpful content to attract the right audience to your blog and website.

The main reason businesses blog is because a stagnant website is no longer attractive.

People will have more trust in company websites that blog regularly and provide plenty of useful tips.

In fact, Neil Patel, the founder of QuickSprout, has said that blogging is his primary revenue model.

Content marketing will help establish you as an expert in your field if you do it right.

There are over 152 million blog posts currently on the internet so it can be all too easy to become just another blog.

It is important to blog regularly and to write unique and valuable tips and statistics to become an expert in your field.

Another great reason for blogging it will help you stay on top of your game.

Because you will always be researching about your industry and best practices, you will inevitably inject the same new trends into your own business.

What Is Link Building

In short, link building is the act of asking websites to hyperlink to your site.

Link building has changed dramatically over the years with plenty of online businesses suffering from those changes.

Back in the day, the majority of online businesses used link building to build as many links as possible.

These are the firms that suffered a severe drop in rankings when the new algorithm came into play and penalized their websites for having a spammy backlink profile.

Nowadays, link building is still something that needs to be done however it is all about the quality and the quantity.

Having one backlink from a highly reputable and authoritative website will be much more rewarding than having 100 links from spammy link farms.

As well as link building to help your organic search rankings, businesses build links to generate referral traffic and to build their brand.

Link building can be a very tricky thing to master with plenty of obstacles along the way.

However once you find a formula that works and do it correctly, it can be very rewarding.

Content vs. Link Building

Now that you what content and link building means and some of their main benefits, it is time to look into which is the better option for you to invest in.

1. Measuring The Value

When it comes to investing into something, I completely understand how important it is to measure the value of that something to see if you have made a good investment.

Content

Content marketing is a fairly simple factor to measure the value of as you can easily determine how many backlinks were naturally generated from each blog post, how many social shares each blog post acquired, how much traffic the blog post generated and even how much revenue was generated from each blog post.

You can find all of this information in your Google Analytics if you have set up goal tracking or e-commerce tracking.

Link Building

Link building can be a difficult thing to quantify.

Yes, it might help to increase traffic and to increase rankings, however, there are a lot of expenses involved in link building such as when bloggers ask for payment, offering free trials for your product, sending products to bloggers to review and more.

All of these things cost money on top of the money you are paying to outsource your link building if you are doing so.

With so many factors coming into play, it can be hard to measure the value of link building.

2. Embrace The Natural

If there is one thing that Google constantly goes on about is for everything to be natural.

They frown upon backlinks that have been paid for.

To avoid being penalized, it is always best to be as natural as possible when it comes to backlinks.

Content

Content is the best form of generating backlinks naturally but will only be achievable if your blogging is of quality.

Blogging any old thing such as saying Happy Birthday to a team member is not going to generate backlinks.

Offering unique statistics and valuable guidance and tips is what will generate natural backlinks.

You will also achieve a greater outreach with content as your readers will share it on social media for their colleagues, associates, friends and family can see it too.

Then they might share it on their social media and so on.

This will create a buzz surrounding your website which will be picked up on by Google and will result in higher rankings and greater organic traffic.

Link Building

On the other hand, link building is in no way natural.

I remember back in the day (not to make myself sound old) when I would contact a blogger or website and ask if they would link to me if I linked to them (reciprocal links).

They would be happy with this as we would both benefit from it.

Now, however, bloggers ask for some crazy prices for a simple backlink.

Link building is something that is forced; you are asking for bloggers and websites to link to you whereas content will naturally generate backlinks.

3. The Cost Of Outsourcing

If you are planning to outsource the content or link building then another consideration you need to think about is what the costs of outsourcing will be.

Content

You may be surprised at this, but the cost of outsourcing content is cheaper than the cost of outsourcing link building.

Not only that but finding a good copywriter is easy.

There are plenty of great freelance copywriters out there that are more than affordable.

Once you have narrowed down a list of candidates to two, ask them to both submit a trial blog post that you will pay for.

This way, you can determine which is the more creative and will portray your brand the best way possible.

Link Building

On the other hand, finding a link building expert can be a tricky thing and can be costly.

There are plenty of link builders out there who will offer to build 100 top quality links for $5.

Do not be duped by this, even if they have good reviews.

The likelihood is that the people leaving the good reviews have done so straight after when the results of the link building have not yet been seen or that they aren’t too clued about SEO.

4. Scalability

Once you see a good thing then what will you want to do?

You’ll want to scale it to make it even better and continue benefiting from it.

Content

It is easy to scale content.

Like I said before, there are so many good copywriters out there who will be eager to work with you on creating great content and coming up with shareable ideas.

You may start blogging on your own and realize that is gaining some great results.

You will want to of course scale this and blog more to gain even better results and so on.

You can read our blog post on how to manage a remote team to make sure processes are streamlined.

Link Building

You can pretty much do the same to scale your link building as you do with content however it can be more challenging.

The reason is that it can be a lot harder to find quality link builders who will not damage your domain authority.

5. Search Algorithm Friendliness

One of the most important things you will need to consider when investing in either content or link building is how algorithm friendly they are as you don’t want to damage your domain authority.

Content

If there is one thing Google loves, it is content.

They favor businesses who build their brand which can be done with content as it builds authority and generates brand awareness.

It has been recommended by so many, and by me, that content needs to be the focus of your SEO strategy.

Link Building

Gone are the days of quick fixes, buying backlinks to increase rankings.

This is not only gone, but it will possibly penalize your website if it falls into the wrong hands and is done correctly.

I don’t want to put you off link building altogether as it can still be very rewarding.

I just want to make you aware of how much it can damage your rankings if done incorrectly.

6. Time Constraints

If you’re not planning on outsourcing and would like to do it yourself, then you will need to consider seriously the time it will take to do each.

Content

Content can take some time to do as you will need to do the following:

• Create a content calendar which is at least 3 months in advance
• Decide which topics for blog posts you want to add to the content calendar
• Choose which target keywords you want to include in each blog post (if you have already done your keyword research)
• Create a compelling headline for each blog post
• Thoroughly research the blog topic
• Create the outline of the blog post
• Write the blog post
• Review and edit the blog post
• Publish the blog post
• Notify any influencers that are mentioned in the blog post
• Share the blog post on social media
• Send it to your email contacts
• Respond to all comments

Many people underestimate how long it can take to do properly content.

However an expert copywriter takes a shorter length of time to do it as it is their expertise, and they will already have a process in place and know how to do each of the tasks above.

Link Building

Link building can take just as long as content with the only difference being that you may not have anything to show for it after spending the time doing it.

Hiring a freelance link building expert may get better results from their efforts.

However, it is not something that is guaranteed.

Conclusion

While both content and link building have their advantages and disadvantages, I would always invest in content marketing.

The value of it can be easily measured; it is a natural way to build authority, it costs less to outsource, it can be easily scaled, and it is full to search engine friendly.

What experiences have you had with content and link building?

It would be great to hear them so share your comments below.

Thanks for reading 6 Considerations Investing In Content vs. Link Building which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

You have probably heard about the importance of building an email list. But how can you grow one from scratch?

That’s exactly what we are going to discuss today!

Should You Wait Until You Have Something to Sell to Start Building Your Email List?

No!

You should start building your email list ASAP, even if you don’t have a product or service to sell yet. Why?

Because growing an email list doesn’t take that much time in terms of the work that you need to put in every week.

But it will probably take you several years to reach “escape velocity” where your newsletter starts gaining momentum and your subscriber growth begins accelerating.

The sooner you start building your email list, the sooner you’ll get to that point. And once you do have something to sell, you’ll have an audience to sell it to!

Case Study: Ryan Holiday’s “Reading List Email” Newsletter (250k+ Subscribers)

When bestselling author Ryan Holiday was in his early 20s, people who were aware of the fact that he was a bookworm kept asking him for book recommendations.

Eventually, he decided to start a monthly newsletter. Every month, he sends one email with a list of 5 to 10 books and a short, few-sentence review for each book. Since 2009, Holiday has recommended over 3,000 books that he has personally read.

It’s probably safe to say that having an email list played a significant role in his success as an author. When he released his first book “Trust Me, I’m Lying” back in 2012, he already had an audience that he could promote his book to.

Presumably, each subsequent book launch was easier than the previous one because his email list kept growing. Today it has over 250,000 subscribers.

It’s also worth noting that Holiday was reading around 250 books per year anyway.  So picking out the ones he liked the most every month, writing up a few-sentence review for each book and sending it out as a newsletter didn’t require a big time investment. But it did offer outsized returns!

Ask yourself: is there something that you are already doing anyway that you could leverage to build your email list?

Newsletters: The Easiest Way to Grow an Email List from Scratch

Why the Newsletter Format Works So Well

It’s important to strike the right balance between emailing your subscribers often enough to build trust and stay top of mind with them, but not so often that they get tired of your emails and stop opening them. 

Newsletters are a perfect solution because by definition a newsletter requires you to email your subscribers at regular intervals, typically, either daily, weekly, or monthly. 

Moreover, if someone subscribed to your newsletter, it means that this concept appeals to them, so they will likely continue opening your emails as long as the content quality remains high. 

How to Come Up with a Newsletter Concept

Regardless of what you are selling at the moment or intend to sell in the future, you can probably come up with a concept for a newsletter that will allow you to build an email list of potential customers.

It’s probably safe to say that link roundups can work well for most industries:

• Do you write detective novels? Start a newsletter where you share links to the latest releases and a short review of each book.
• Do you have an e-commerce store that sells women’s clothes and accessories? Start a newsletter where you share links to interesting fashion, style, and beauty content from around the web.
• Do you run a SaaS company that sells productivity software? Start a newsletter where you share links to interesting productivity content from around the web and review productivity books.

…etc.

Building an Audience of Potential Customers vs. Building an Audience of Your Peers

Something to consider here is that your newsletter should appeal to your potential customers as opposed to your peers who are doing the same thing as you.

For example, while authors who write detective novels tend to also read detective novels, the vast majority of people who read books in this genre aren’t writers.

So if your aim is to build an audience that you could then promote your detective novels to, it makes sense to focus on content that will be interesting to the readers of this genre as opposed to its writers.

Of course, if your aim is to build an info product business where you teach aspiring novelists how to write detective novels, then it makes sense to share links related to writing, publishing and book marketing in your newsletter. But that’s a completely different business.

We are emphasizing this because sometimes people start building an audience of their peers instead of an audience of potential customers and then struggle to monetize it because they didn’t think things through!

What are the Best Practices When it Comes to Email Newsletters?

Brian Dean has a proven track record of building email lists:

• With his previous business Backlinko he grew the company newsletter to over 250,000 subscribers.
• With his current business Exploding topics he grew the company newsletter to over 90,000 subscribers.

Here are some of the best practices that he recommends if you want to grow your email newsletter:

#1: Creating a Separate Brand for Your Newsletter

A branded newsletter is a newsletter that has its own unique brand that is separate from the personal or the company brand.

The example that Brian provides is Tim Ferriss’ newsletter “5-Bullet Friday” which has its own separate brand and over 1.5 million subscribers.

The reason he recommends having a branded newsletter is that they are easier to share.

If you tell a friend:

“You should sign up for Tim Ferriss’ newsletter!” 

It’s easy to forget, especially if your friend doesn’t know who Tim Ferriss is and therefore might struggle to remember his full name.

Meanwhile, if you tell that same friend:

“You should sign up for the ‘5-Bullet Friday’ newsletter!”

They will probably be more likely to remember its name and subscribe to it.

It’s also helpful if your newsletter’s name explains what the subscribers can expect from it, as is the case with “5-Bullet Friday”.

#2: Having a Unique Newsletter Template That Provides Bite-Sized Value

If you look at the most popular newsletters in the world, they tend to be focused on providing bite-sized value.

“5-Bullet Friday” is the most obvious example here: Tim Ferriss sends out a new issue every Friday where he shares five things that he found interesting.

Typically, it’s a combination of content recommendations, product recommendations, and a quote that he’s been pondering that week. Occasionally he also throws in some news about what he’s up to. 

This template means that you can open a new issue of Tim’s newsletter, quickly scan it to see what this week’s bullets are about and then read it more closely if something catches your eye.

Moreover, it also means that when you see a new “5-Bullet Friday” issue in your inbox, you know what you going to get, you just don’t know the details. 

Brian argues that this combination of the familiar and the unknown is a powerful motivator and a great way to get your subscribers to open your emails. 

He uses the same approach with his own “Exploding Topics Tuesday” newsletter – every new issue covers four trends.

These trends are all over the place, from bamboo pajamas to security posture management, but the newsletter template remains the same!

#3: Having a Dedicated Newsletter Page on Your Website

You want to create a dedicated newsletter page and add it to your website’s navigation bar.

Here’s the homepage of Brian’s software company Exploding Topics:

If you click on the “Newsletter” tab in the navigation bar, you will be taken to the “Exploding Topics Tuesdays” landing page where you can sign up for the newsletter:

According to Brian, most people who sign up for the “Exploding Topics Tuesdays” newsletter do so through this page!

#4: Sending a “Confirmation and Deliverability” Welcome Message

You should send the “confirmation and deliverability” (CD) welcome message to each new subscriber the moment they sign up for your newsletter.

As its name suggests, the purpose of this message is twofold:

Confirmation

You want to confirm that they have successfully subscribed to your newsletter and reassure them that they made the right choice by telling them what they can expect from you going forward.

Deliverability

You want to get them to take an action that would signal to email service providers like Gmail that they want to get emails from you. 

Initially, Brian would ask new subscribers to move the CD message from the “Promotions” tab to their primary inbox in Gmail.

He would also ask them to reply to the CD message and let him know what was the #1 thing that made them decide to check out this newsletter.

Now he has moved to encouraging new subscribers to click the link within the CD message and read the previous issue of the newsletter.

All three approaches can help you improve your deliverability. After all, new subscribers interacting with your welcome message in some way lets email service providers know that people are interested in hearing from you. 

That can reduce the likelihood of your emails landing in the “Promotions” tab or being flagged as spam.

(Though the latter shouldn’t be happening anyway if you are using good email marketing software and aren’t doing anything shady.)

At the time of writing Brian is using this CD message for his “Exploding Topics Tuesday” newsletter:

#5: Maintaining a Consistent Publishing Schedule

It’s also important to commit to a consistent publishing schedule and then maintain it no matter what. Why?

Because you want your subscribers to develop a habit of reading your newsletter so that it would become a part of their routine.

In fact, you can’t miss a single issue, otherwise, you risk breaking this habit that you worked so hard to build.

Brian himself has sent out over 150 “Exploding Topics Tuesday” issues and hasn’t missed a single one.

This means that “Exploding Topics Tuesday” subscribers know that every Tuesday at 9 AM Eastern they are going to get an email with four trends. Reading it is a part of their weekly routine!

Marketing Strategies for Growing Your Newsletter

In order to grow your newsletter, you need to drive traffic to its landing page. But how can you do that?

Twitter Marketing

Don’t have much of a marketing budget to speak of?

In that situation, we would advise building a Twitter following first: post high-quality content, retweet other people in your niche and leave thoughtful comments under their tweets every single day.

Then, once you reach the 10,000 follower mark, launch your newsletter, add a link to its landing page to your bio and promote every new issue the day before its release with a teaser snippet.

Social Media Ads

If you do have a decent marketing budget, you can speed things up by using social media ads to drive traffic to your newsletter’s landing page.

For example, Milk Road, a newsletter that grew to 250,000+ subscribers in under a year, had several paid acquisition channels including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

Its co-founders tested a bunch of Facebook ads and found that two types of ads performed well:

1. Meme ads
2. Social proof ads

These ads helped Milk Road gain around 50,000 subscribers in its first year, accounting for around 20% of all subscribers the company gained during that time period.

Something to keep in mind here is that running social media ads is a skill so you need to be prepared for a steep learning curve if you haven’t done it before.

If you want to experiment with Facebook ads, consider buying a reputable Facebook ads course on Udemy. If you wait until one of Udemy’s regular sales, you should be able to snag a course like that for less than $20.

Also, make sure to set aside a “learning budget” of at least $1,000 that you are prepared to burn in order to learn how to run ads.

If you can’t afford that then you probably can’t afford to advertise on social media either. In that case, focus on organically growing your following on Twitter.

Newsletter Ads

Finally, if you have the money for it, you might want to consider advertising on other newsletters in your niche.

After all, if someone is already subscribed to a newsletter in your niche, that’s a reliable indication that they:

1. Like the newsletter format
2. Are interested in this niche

This means that they might be open to checking out your newsletter if you can manage to create a compelling ad that conveys its value!

You Need a Sales Funnel in Order to Monetize Your Email List!

If all you want is to have an audience that you can share your thoughts with, then you can simply focus on growing your newsletter.

However, if you want to make money from your email list, you need to figure out how to monetize that audience.

In other words: if you want to have a business – not just an email newsletter – you need to build a sales funnel!

Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT?

Our co-founder Russell Brunson used sales funnels to take ClickFunnels from zero to $100M+ in annual revenue in less than a decade.

He is now widely considered to be one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?

His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert.

This book is available on Amazon where it has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

But you can also get it directly from us for free…

All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

So what are you waiting for? 🧐

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

Thanks for reading How To Grow An Email List Starting From Scratch which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Building a sales funnel is a tremendously exciting prospect when it comes to establishing a base of new, hungry customers.

However, it’s easy to become distracted or caught up building your funnel in the midst of the buzz.

Avoid the following five mistakes to make the most of your sales funnel.

There’s no “easy way out” when it comes to Internet marketing; however, establishing a sales funnel is a prime example of how a floundering business can transform themselves.

Rather than taking shots at the dark with a flat website, an effective funnel can simplify the process of taking warm leads and transforming them into clicks and conversions.

Keep in mind, however, that a sales funnel alone isn’t the silver bullet to transforming your business.

In fact, many businesses shoot themselves in the foot when building their funnels, often for the following reasons:

• They become distracted by the buzz and allure of new acquisitions
• They sit on their funnels instead of getting started with testing
• They cut corners, mistaking a proper funnel for a “get-rich-quick” scheme

Sometimes the best way to succeed in marketing is to understand what not to do.

By familiarizing yourself with the following marketing mistakes, which even the most experienced funnel builders make, you’ll ensure that you’re on the right track.

Looks Aren’t Everything

In a world of sleek, sexy marketing characterized by cutting-edge design trends, it’s easy to get caught up in the elements of style.

If 75% of users judge a business’ credibility based on the design of its website, wouldn’t the same logic ring true for a sales funnel?

I mean, that’s the natural assumption, right?

First of all, making assumptions is a deadly game when it comes to Internet marketing; ask yourself, can you really afford to play with your bottom line?

Now, let’s concede the fact that most business owners and customers alike would agree that a pleasant website or landing page regarding design and color scheme is probably preferable to a spammy, keyword-stuffed mess.

However, this doesn’t necessarily mean a “good looking” funnel will convert better than one that’s perhaps not-so-sexy.

Why not?

Content and usability will always trump design.

This holds especially true in the world of Internet marketing.

For example, the sleekest site in the world won’t convert a single customer without the proper back-end SEO efforts or effective marketing copy, which leads to the fact that…

Marketing language is absolutely crucial, especially when it comes to building a sales funnel centered around email marketing.

For example, a strong call to action will speak volumes to your customers over something like color-scheme or the perfectly placed photo.

Offer something of value and the sales will come.

As long as your company has a sound reputation and a product that solves the problems of the customer, don’t worry so much about committing web design fashion crimes.

Barring some sort of incredulous UI error, users will happily enter a sales funnel which appeals to their needs (whether that be raising awareness of a problem, educating them or providing a solution to an existing problem).

Worry less about how your offer looks versus what impact your offer has to the customer.

Waiting, Waiting, and Waiting Some More…

In a world where business are living (and some are dying, sadly) by their marketing dollars, one of the biggest mistakes you could possibly make with your sales funnel is simply sitting on it for too long.

As the modern marketing landscape is so competitive and cutthroat, it’s understandable that we want to make the most of our offers and pages before sending them live.

Yes, we want out pages to be perfect, our marketing copy pristine and our funnel to be flawless.

However, it’s impossible to gauge the effectiveness of our funnels without the proper testing, and it’s impossible to begin testing without sending your pages to live.

Perhaps it’s more prudent to determine the cause of your hesitation.

Is your offer not up to snuff? Consider this: if you’re so hesitant to send your pages to live, imagine how hesitant your customers will be when they land on your page.

If you aren’t confident in your product or message, why should your prospective customers be?

The solution here is first to understand the many hesitations of online buyers and squash them through your funnel.

Offer up a legitimate offer with killer copy and see what happens.

You’ve come this far to build your business online, why let a moment of hesitation hold you back?

The sooner you launch your funnel, the sooner you can begin optimizing it.

Funnel Failure (or How to Avoid Poor Testing)

Speaking of optimization, let’s talk about how poor testing can be the death of even the most masterful funnels.

Testing is more than a buzzword in the marketing sphere; proper testing can lead to new insights to transform your marketing message and ultimately the way you run your business.

For example, an A/B test of an email marketing blast can help you understand whether or not your users respond to personalization, specific calls-to-action (such as urgency, fear, exclusivity), image placement and so on.

This information can lead to changes in your marketing campaign to increase conversions and lead to further testing in the future.

There are plenty of variables involved when it comes to testing your sales funnel; therefore, understanding the pitfalls of poor testing is invaluable.

Why do we mean when we say “poor testing?”

Failing to test your sales funnel on a warm list before a cold list could potentially kill your sales funnel altogether.

When it comes to email marketing, taking shots in the dark is rarely worth it. By blasting email offers and hoping for the best, you not only decrease the value of your offer or brand but also waste precious time, money and resources.

Instead, marketers should focus on A/B testing with a warm list to understand strengths and weaknesses before even touching a cold list.

Such tests could eventually make or break your funnel for the long-term, so ensure that such tests are done with extreme care.

Cutting Corners with a Cheap Team

If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Likewise, if someone is offering you to transform a $1 investment to $100 overnight, they’re selling you snake oil.

Sales funnels have the potential to transform your marketing efforts if you’re willing to put in the time and effort, meanwhile having a proven, hard-working team on your side will only expedite the process. So, how do you know whether a not a team is worth their salt?

• Take a look at their website. Do they seem legit? What are they claiming to do for you? If something seems fishy, trust your intuition. Make sure that the team has statistics, case studies and testimonials to back up their claims.
• Look for ratings, reviews, and blogs about the company. Third-party review sites exist for this very reason. In the modern marketing world, companies have little choice to be transparent. It’s relatively easy to spot scams and spam these days thanks to the vigilance of businesses and marketers putting ineffective products and services on blast.
• Compare the team against the efforts of others. Do they seem cost effective? What do they offering that the competition lacks? Does their price point jive with your business’ budget?

Don’t try to cut corners while boost your business’ marketing efforts. Instead, rely on a trustworthy team with a proven track record to help build a successful sales funnel.

Focusing Too Much on the Front-end

There’s no doubt that sales funnels are something to get excited about.

The potential seems just about unlimited, and the customization options are endless when it comes to warming leads and driving new sales.

However, one should take into consideration exactly how a sales funnel works and understand the true importance of the back end of the funnel versus the frontend.

Yes, the frontend is the sexier part of the process.

That is the marketing copy, the color scheme, the imagery and getting customers into the funnel. However, neglecting the backend deserves the bulk of your attention.

Why?

• The backend determines whether or not your one-time customers will become returning customers in the future
• The backend allows you to offer products at a higher price point (in other words, more revenue)
• The backend is where all of your hard work pays off regarding testing and building real relationships and value with your customers

Both the frontend and backend deserve your undivided attention.

While the frontend is probably more “fun” to the average marketer, neglecting the backend process is not an option for a successful sales funnel.

Are You Making These Mistakes?

There are plenty of moving pieces when it comes to building your sales funnel; therefore, it’s crucial to know what not to do so you can keep your marketing efforts in check.

Which of these mistakes do you think plagues marketers the most?

Thanks for reading 5 Mistakes Even Professional Funnel Builders Make which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

What is probably one of the most important part of your sales funnel?

If you guessed traffic, you’re exactly right.

Although there are many core elements to your funnel that we can’t live without, traffic remains high on our priority list.

In other words, we should always have a list of traffic sources at our fingertips.

Additionally, these should be trusted, reliable sources that we can turn to whenever we need.

This lets us push eyes into our funnel, spread the word of our brand, and, convert, convert, and convert.

Yet, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how important traffic is.

It also doesn’t take a long list of data or statistics either.

In reality, the bottom line stays the same: traffic is the fuel for our funnel.

So why shouldn’t we pause for a moment and ensure that we have that list laid out in front of us?

Then we can keep coming back to it again and again, ramping up our funnels to max potential.

Well, never fear, I have exactly what you’re looking for.

Let’s cut to the chase, and look at your ultimate list of traffic sources for your funnel.

Search-Based Ads

Even if you’re new to funneling, you’re probably pretty familiar with text-driven advertising.

Simply put: when a person punches in a keyword, they’re shown ads that correspond to that term.

Interest is primarily driven by their active need related to the keywords, and this remains a popular way of getting eyes to your brand.

• Google Adwords – The heavyweight in the room is, of course, owned by the largest search engine in the world. Bidding has become more competitive, but it’s still one of the best resources out there by far.
• Bing Ads – Still, Bing’s network, owned by tech giant Microsoft, shouldn’t be discounted. And because it helps serve to new, alternative search engines like DuckDuckGo, it’s worth taking a look at for certain demographics.
• Looksmart – This one is a different approach to search-based advertising. Here’s how it works: Looksmart serves search-based ads, but also accompanying ads that pertain to the users interested. This helps truly maximize the experience.
• Affinity – While Affinity isn’t confined to just search, they provide some excellent solutions in this realm. From search engine to toolbar search and even search suggestions, this one is worth looking at if you’re already using Google Adwords or Bing Ads.
• 7Search – This lesser known resource is also good for certain niches. With over 700 English-speaking search engines within their network, they have a unique research that other choices may lack.

Social Media Ads

Of course, what’s an award-winning funnel without social media ads?

In recent years, several new social media marketing opportunities have arisen.

And in reality, these networks cater more toward certain demographics and content mediums, making them perfect for certain situations.

• Facebook Ads – What I love best about advertising on Facebook is that there is such a degree of control for targeting and retargeting. It also has a huge user-base and an easy to set up conversion pixel for your site.
• Twitter for Business – Once a more niche player in the business, Twitter has been getting more and more attention. It’s ads business is also attracting more attention at the same time. On the one hand, you can go for smaller promoted posts or if you need, a more expensive trends campaign that will generate huge results.
• Reddit Advertising – Reddit is a little different regarding advertising. Because the site gives people a place to gather for just about every niche under the sun, your ads might take on a different feel than other social media networks. But at the end of the day, it’s a wonderful avenue for engagement and conversions.
• LinkedIn Ads – This choice is especially good for B2B marketing or if you have a funnel aimed at professionals. In recent years, we’ve seen the sites advertising branch mature and begin to offer some decent choices for your sales funnel.
• Pinterest Ads – And finally, Pinterest. The site skews very heavily toward certain demographics, notably female and DIYers. Yet, there’s big potential here in presenting your brand in an easily shareable way.

ClickFunnels lest you set your retargeting/tracking pixels with ease. All you need to do is to Login to your ClickFunnels account > Go to your funnel > Go to the funnel step you want to add retargeting/tracking pixels to > Open Editor > Settings > Tracking Code > Paste your retargeting/tracking pixel > Save.

Pop-Up and Pop-Under Ads

Okay, this resource is going to be a little different.

These are called PPV and CPV based ads, and they can be somewhat confusing for newcomers.

These type of ads reside on a user’s computer and are served throughout their everyday use.

These are not spyware but are installed onto a machine willingly by users, often as part of another service.

Many brands use them for great impact.

• AdOnNetwork – This choice offers a few different formats, including separate window ads, but also in-text hyperlinking. They’ve also been around for a good deal of time and offer a good value for your funnel efforts.
• LeadImpact – This marketing service also offers a few other channels, but they really excel in the pop-ups category. Plus, once you add in geo-targeting and some other features, and you’ll be able to rock your funnel’s traffic quickly and effectively.
• Clicksor – With 196 countries covered, Clicksor does not mess around. I also love that they have customer service support at every hour of every day for the entire year. That’s right! Any time you have a question or concern, you’ve got a source. They’ve also been in the business for over a decade, so they’re a good route to take as well.

Photo Credits: AdRoll

Self-Serve and Site-Driven Ads

And we can’t leave out self-serve ads that are promoted on sites across the internet.

From banner ads to display exchanges, these resources are all about skipping a sales rep and setting up your campaign easily.

As you browse this list, you’ll be looking at some of the names that display ads across many of the popular sites you visit.

• SiteScout – For our choices today, this one stands out as a leader. While they excel at display campaigns, they also have the market cornered on mobile as well. Some of the other pros include real-time bidding for a range of delivery methods, truly granular reports, and some excellent targeting for your campaigns.
• AdReady – This choice has several other formats and options; however, they’re known for their display network. The best part is that a campaign can be set up in as little as a few minutes and without a ton of tech knowledge.
• AdRoll – AdRoll loves to say that you’re getting “ads that work.” And this is surely true. Over 25,000 across the globe use their services. One area is worth mentioning, though, and that’s the company is willing to work with any sized business. For us funnelers, this is welcome news, since we may just be launching a shorter lifespan funnel today, but a longer one next month or vice versa.
• Blogads – This one is exactly what it sounds like. With it, you can get impressions on some of the biggest blogs in the entire world. While many of the choices are somewhat niche, they are the perfect buy in for the right funnel looking to capture those eyes.

Photo Credits: Digital Warrior

Served Ads

Served advertising is almost exactly like our above choices, except for one minor difference.

Instead of self-serving your campaign, you’ll work with a more dedicated representative.

They also often cover a broader range of options for bigger projects.

Although this choice won’t be right for every Clickfunneler, there’s plenty of opportunity here to push a lot of traffic into your funnel.

Just like our self-serve options, these site-driven ads are powerful and wide-reaching.

• One by AOL – You might remember AOL as that internet provided from way back in the day, but today, they serve ads to people across the world. We’re talking TV, site-based, Internet video, and the list goes on and on. Their platform aims to be a one-stop-shop of marketing traffic for everyone.
• DoubleClick by Google – You thought AdWords was Google’s only venture into marketing traffic? Not a chance. If you’re part of a larger agency, this very well could be the choice you want to go with.
• Exponential – This company’s Deep Dive dashboard is excellent. With it, you can go beyond catch phrases like “big data” to refined and insightful measurements of your campaigns. This leads to marketing that’s modeled for highly-specific consumer behaviors and actions.
• Rubicon Project – Okay, one more served a resource for you. This one boasts a 1 billion person reach worldwide. That’s right… 1 billion people with 5 million requests a second. From algos to cloud-based solutions, Rubicon Project offers some novel ideas.

Mobile and App-based Ads

We all know how powerful mobile and app advertising has become.

So I wanted to ensure that you had some specific marketing choices for this area.

It seems like this part of the marketing world is still getting its wings and that not everyone is aware of which traffic sources to turn to.

But don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.

• AdMob by Google – Another lesser-known Google offering, AdMob gives you the ability to monetize apps. Many developers are already using it, but for us funnelers, it’s a prime opportunity in the waiting too.
• Inmobi – From remarketing to micro moments, this service has several choices for getting to mobile users. They take advantage of everything from location history to user app categorization, making the company truly remarkable.
• BuzzCity – Leveraging the power of mobile and globe, BuzzCity has some robust options. Their sign up process is quick and easy, and you’ll also find that they offer some affordable plans as well.

Protip: Which traffic source is right for your funnel? It all depends on, but do yourself a favor. At the very least, check out one of the sources from each category. This way, you’ll have a broader understanding of the market. It’ll come in handy for future funnels. Plus, check out our traffic strategy articles here and here for more ideas.

This list is pretty ultimate, but I love to hear about up-and-comers for traffic as well.

Add your favorite traffic source in the comments, and let’s get this list growing, growing, growing!

Thanks for reading Ultimate Traffic Sources For Your Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.