In the modern age of marketing, sometimes an old-school approach can take our digital products to the next level.

If you’re fumbling for conversions, consider how you can leverage the sales tactics of classic print ads to give your sales funnel a fresh face and convert more traffic.

When it comes to modern marketing, old-school is still cool.

Think about it.

The Richest Man in Babylon, Think and Grow Rich, How to Win Friends and Influence People…

What do these books have in common beyond being considered three of the most important business and marketing books of all time?

They’re each over 75 years old yet sell thousands of hundreds of thousands of copies per year.

Why?

Because the methods detailed in these books work.

They’ve worked for decades, and they’ll continue to work for marketers hungry for advice years from now.

What does this have to do with your sales funnel today?

Although we live in an age where technology is constantly changing, and algorithms are always evolving, sometimes taking an “old school” approach to marketing is the best route for cracking the code of what makes our users tick.

For example, conversions may very well be the most frustrating aspect of any given sales funnel.

We think that we have the perfect design, killer copy and a deal that slays the competition; however, what are we to do when our traffic seems to bounce in droves?

Back to the drawing board, right?

You’re not alone if you’re facing conversion woes, especially considering how fickle buyers can potentially be.

For example, think about the following conversion optimization stats for a moment:

• You have less than eight seconds to grab your visitors’ attention via your landing page before they’re more than likely going to bounce.
• Depending on your traffic, up to 96% of your users aren’t ready to buy upon landing on your page; therefore, you need to warm your leads as much as possible at first glance.
• A/B testing is arguably the most important component of conversion optimization: using multiple landing pages and approaches to sealing the deal may represent a recipe for success.

If you’re struggling with conversions, perhaps it’s time to take an old school approach and learn a thing or two from the world of print advertising.

Now, you’re probably thinking something along the lines of “Print is dead!

What could I possibly learn from a dying medium?”

Everything.

If you want to understand where the world of advertising is going, you also need to understand where it’s been.

It’s time to step back from the keyboard and consider how beautifully print ads can sum up what piques a person’s interest, drives them emotionally and eventually influences them to buy.

These tactics could become integral to your next funnel. No joke.

So kick back, pretend you’re sitting in an episode of Mad Men and pay close attention.

Personalization and Storytelling

Personalization and storytelling are perhaps the easiest aspects of conversion optimization to overlook, but perhaps arguably represent the most powerful means of marketing your product.

This ad for Scrabble tells a story, an unlikely tactic for advertising a board game; however, this approach is more emotional and memorable versus a typical ad showing a family sitting around a table.

The subtext of the ad is that Scrabble is more than just a game: it’s an opportunity for people to connect and let their personalities shine.

Likewise, you should advertise the products for your funnel in a similar manner.

That is, ask yourself: what’s the story behind your product?

How could it impact or transform someone’s life on an emotional level?

Let’s say you’re selling SEO software.

Sure, the software could result in more leads and save you time, but isn’t that what every other software claims?

What if I told you to have that same software transformed my business and my life?

What if I detailed how that software kept me from losing sleep at night, worrying about whether or not I could pay my bills?

What if I painted the picture of how I spend my summers on the beach in Cozumel instead of slaving away in an office, miserable and exhausted, all because of this killer software?

If you’re still not sold on the business of emotion, consider how emotion impacts buyer behavior: emotional response for a product’s advertising has a greater influence on a consumer versus the content of the ad itself.

Your products and funnels alike should strive to make an emotional impact on your users.

Sure, we’re proud of what we’re selling; however, what matters is the what the products means for your audience on an emotional level.

In short, don’t just be a salesman: tell a story, too.

You don’t have to be a pro writer or a copywriter to create winning copy for your marketing. Check out Funnel Scripts if you’re looking to create effective ad copy for your funnels.

Urgency and Scarcity 

Urgency has long been documented as the psychological “push” which drives users to buy.

By establishing the notion that they’re going to miss potentially out if they don’t act now, users will naturally come through your funnel rather than bounce.

Creating a sense of urgency is easier said than done; however, funnel-hackers have a myriad of options at their fingertips (especially if they’re using ClickFunnels).

On a similar note, scarcity also represents the notion of potential loss on behalf of that user: that is, their precious offer may slip away from them if they don’t buy sooner rather than later.

Scarcity represents the ultimate way to appeal to pensive or fickle buyers and is often coupled with scarcity to seal the deal.

Print ads have taken advantage of both for decades, and why not?

This old-school Wal-Mart ad ticks the traditional boxes of urgency and scarcity to encourage attendance, and then some:

• The “Grand Opening” headline signals that this is a one-time event: this is a one-time-only event, but thankfully you have six days to attend (urgency).
• Wal-Mart presents the opening as an event to behold, including free prizes and access to brand-spanking news products and name brands that you can’t get anywhere else (scarcity).
• The ad also builds trust by offering a money-saving guarantee and presenting itself as an invitation.

Urgency and scarcity can be likewise we applied to just about any funnel, regardless of your product or niche.

Through features such as progress bars and countdown timers, you can easily establish a notion that time is running out.

In short, hammer the point that if your visitors aren’t on board with their product, they’re going to be missing out on something big.

Which the perfect segue for our final and last conversion tactic..

Exclusivity

The beauty of using exclusivity to drive conversions is the fact that you can get incredibly creative.

Case in point, perhaps one of the most infamous advertising campaigns of all-time for Lucky Strike cigarettes in 1917.

The “It’s toasted” tag-line launched the brand into superstar status over the course of a decade, eventually leading the brand to sell 30 billion cigarettes in 1930.

How?

Exclusivity.

Lucky Strike managed to differentiate their cigarettes from the competition by noting that the tobacco for their product was toasted rather than sun-dried, therefore signaling themselves as distinct versus their competitors.

The notion of a “toasted” cigarette was seen as an indicator of high-quality.

With two simple words, Lucky Strike was able to transform their sales and leave a lasting impression on millions of buyers.

Now do you understand why we constantly stress the need for a killer copy for your sales funnels?

The principles of exclusivity can be applied to any product with a bit of creativity.

For example, you could employ the following tactics on your next funnel:

• Market your product as a “members only” club, open only to insiders who know what they’re doing
• Note what sets you apart from the competition, such as price point or features
• Explain how your product represents something fresh and cutting edge versus the boring, old-hat products of the past.

Exclusivity is the ultimate way to set your product apart from your neighbors and can easily be combined with each of the conversion above tactics to take your funnel to the next level.

Which Conversion Tactics do You Find Most Effective?

To recap, the best possibly funnel combines the following four conversion tactics which can easily be stacked on top of each other:

• Personalization and storytelling to strike an emotional chord with visitors and to see your funnel as something more than a sales pitch (think: video sales letters are perfect for this).
• Urgency to light a fire under your visitors and scarcity to push them to act in a time-sensitive manner (using features in ClickFunnels, for example).
• Exclusivity to highlight the positive qualities of your product and how it ultimately stands tall above the competition (which can be outlined in your sales copy).

When in doubt, consider an old-school approach to optimizing your next funnel.

These tactics are tried and tested, representing cornerstones of marketing that still incentivize today’s digital natives.

Which conversion tactics do you find most effective for today’s users?

Any examples from old-school ads that ring a bell?

ClickFunnels Action Steps

Earlier, I discussed how adding a sense of urgency and scarcity is a top conversion tactic. Here’s how you can do it with ClickFunnels.

Add a Timer

Step 1: Log in to ClickFunnels

Step 2: Head on to the funnel where the landing page is

Step 3: Open the editor by clicking the Edit Page

Step 4: Hover over to any area you want to place the timer in until you see a “+” button

Step 5: Select the number of rows. Afterwards, click Add New Element.

Step 6: Scroll down the menu to choose the Timer Evergreen element. Now, you’re ready to edit the timer.

Step 7: Hover over the timer area and click for the settings menu to appear. From here, you can set the details. Save when you are done

Try ClickFunnels FREE Today!

Add a Call-to-Action (CTA) Button

Emphasise your CTA further by adding a button. Here’s how:

Step 1: Log in to ClickFunnels

Step 2: Head on to the funnel where the landing page is

Step 3: Open the editor by clicking the Edit Page button

Step 4: Hover over to any area you want to place the timer in until you see a “+” button

Step 5: Select the number of rows. Afterwards, click the Add New Element button.

Step 6: Scroll down the menu to choose the Button element.

Step 7: Hover over the button area and click for the settings menu to appear. From here, you can set the details from colour, button URL, button text, etc.

Try ClickFunnels FREE Today!

Thanks for reading Learning Sales Funnel Conversion Tactics From 3 Print Ads 2024 which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Many of us crowd around the television during the Olympics, in awe as we think “Man, I wish I could be that good at, well, just about anything!”

Why not take the motivation and drive of elite athletes and apply that passion to your marketing strategy?

With enough focus and intensity, you can make your next sales funnel worthy of a gold medal.

The Olympics represent the pinnacle of spectacle and athletic performance, with millions around the world tuning in to see the best of the best compete for the glory and the gold.

The blood, sweat, and tears that go into the training regimen of the most Olympic athletes is difficult for the average person to wrap their head around.

From training for six hours a day, six days a week year-round to insanely strict diets that we could never stomach ourselves, the dedication and intensity of those competing in the Olympics are absolutely staggering.

Okay, so what the heck does this have to do with building a sales funnel?

More than you might think.

While comparing your sales funnel to pole-vaulting or the 200-meter dash may seem like apples and oranges, consider the struggles that marketers face:

• Some days it just feels like we’re going nowhere, essentially spinning our wheels trying to support an underperforming sales funnel.
• Throwing in the towel can be incredibly tempting when we’re not seeing an ROI for our hard work and research.
• Overcoming that final financial hurdle into profitability can be like staring up at a giant, seemingly impossible to overcome.

Likewise, athletes face similar challenges in the midst physical and mental roadblocks as they spend four years preparing for events that could last mere seconds.

But do they give up?

No.

And neither should you.

It’s time to take your funnel out of the kiddie pool and get on Michael Phelps’ level.

How?

Practice Makes Perfect

Olympic athletes aren’t simply born: they’re made as a result of their years of fierce training and focus.

Likewise, killer sales funnels don’t fall from the sky: they’re created as a result of intense research and a fool-proof sales strategy.

If your first funnel falls flat, does that mean you should give up altogether?

Of course not. Instead, learn from the mistakes of your first funnel and understand what not to do the next time around.

Some common pitfalls that even seasoned funnel-builders make include:

• Ignoring the elements of conversion focused design, ultimately resulting in a funnel that fails to convert.
• Relying on a cheap or inexperienced team as a means of cutting corners which therefore cuts sales.
• Focusing too much on the front-end instead of implementing a back-end that grows the profit.

Think of fine-tuning your funnel as simply part of the process, much like athletes have to train for hours on end to recreate their best performances.

The more time you spend building and launching new funnels, the more opportunities you have to grow as a successful funnel-hacker.

Split Test Strategies

Dozens of world records have already been broken at the Rio Olympics.

In fact, it seems like records are constantly being broken the Olympics, year after year.

Why?

Athletes evolve. As researchers and trainers uncover new ways to train, athletes adapt accordingly to raise their own standards to match their competition.

On a similar note, you should constantly work to evolve your marketing and funnel-building to meet the expectations and best practices of your niche.

Funnel-builders should always be split testing to optimize the potential of their marketing strategy.

From the color scheme to copywriting, there are always tweaks that can be made to make your funnel smarter and stronger.

Sure, you can let your funnel sit in autopilot mode; however, that’s no way to grow your network for future funnels and stand toe-to-toe with your competition.

If you hope for your funnel to stay competitive, you can’t afford to test.

Play the Long-Game

It can take some athletes years of rigorous training before they make it to the Olympics: earning a medal requires extreme patience and perseverance.

You can’t always expect your funnels to kill it from the word “go.”

Remember: funnel-hacking represents a marathon and not a sprint.

Think about how long-distance runners kick it into high gear at the end of the race: they fact that were ever “behind” becomes irrelevant as long as they cross the finish line first.

For example, it’s okay to sacrifice some conversions on the front-end to create life-long customers on the back-end.

Many funnel-hackers get laser-focused on their launches that they ignore essential elements of their back-end such as retargeting and segmenting their lists.

In reality, ensuring that you build a base of customers and employ a strategy to turn them into life-long advocates of your business represents the difference between a killer and average funnel.

By focusing on the back-end of your funnel, you play the long-game to ensure more revenue for your business with less legwork.

There are No Shortcuts

Building.

Writing.

Testing.

Funnels represent a lot of hard work, and there are no shortcuts.

Similarly, Olympians train their entire lives to relish a few moments of glory; however, such glory can easily be stripped away from those caught cheating or attempting to undermine the integrity of the games.

On a similar note, funnel-builders attempting to rely on black-hat techniques can lose their funnels and organic search presence at little more than a moment’s notice.

Google is more than happy to punish any business looking to game their system, whether through duplicate content or black-hat link building.

Sure, it may take a while to get caught; however, punishment is usually always swift, sudden and severe.

When it comes to funnel-building, you’re on a relatively even playing field. In other words, there’s no need to “cheat.”

Therefore, use the best tools in your toolbox to outdo your competition rather than looking for the easy way out.

The risk simply isn’t worth it: plus, the energy spent digging for a shortcut could be spent optimizing your next funnel.

Knowing the in’s and out’s of your competition can take you much further than trying to undermine them.

Remain Consistent

Many Olympians live by the mantra of “never give up.”

You should treat your funnels the same way.

If you’re persistent, your funnel has nowhere to go but “up” over time.

Perhaps the biggest mistake a funnel-builder could make is dropping what they’re doing and simply giving up when the going gets tough.

Yes, it can be frustrating to see our traffic drop.

Yes, it sucks when we don’t see the conversion we want.

But that doesn’t mean you should let your funnel fail out of frustration.

Don’t expect your sales funnel to start turning a profit overnight.

Sure, we’re always hoping to become the next big success story; however, realistic expectations will keep you grounded and focused.

Keep going and keep testing. If something’s broken, figure out why and do what you can to fix it.

There’s No Single “Key” to Success

From optimal training and immaculate diet, there are many variables to an Olympian’s success one the day of an event.

There are so many pieces to what makes a successful sales funnel. For starters, let’s think about:

1. The design of your sales funnels, professional in appearance and pleasing to the eye.
2. The copywriting and marketing message of your funnel, designed to encourage visitors to click through rather than bounce.
3. The management of your various traffic streams, from paid ads to organic search and beyond, and how you continue to bring new visitors into your funnel.
4. The performance of your affiliates and referrals optimized to help you build new leads.
5. The strength of your back-end, including your email autoresponders that will help bring back any users who may have fallen out of your funnel.

Here’s a not-so-secret secret:

The success of your funnel doesn’t lie within one single element.

It’s the elements combined that determine the potential of your funnel.

Unfortunately, one weakness can hinder your funnel’s potential.

Similarly, many Olympic athletes train their entire lives for an event just to slip in a split-second of weakness and essentially lose their shot at glory.

Fortunately, you always have the opportunity to bounce back.

Stay organized. Stay diligent. Stay hungry.

Your efforts will pay off.

What Separates a Golden Funnel from the Rest of the Pack?

While funnel-hacking isn’t exactly an Olympic sport (yet), there are some parallels between the struggles of star athletes and the challenges faced by modern marketers.

The marketing world moves fast and is difficult to maneuver in the wake of evolving technologies, new faces and the promise of “the next big thing.”

Much like Olympians, funnel-builders should consider patience, focus and consistency as key virtues to help ensure their success.

So, what do you think separates a star funnel from the rest of the pack?

Thanks for reading Launching A High Converting Sales Funnel Out Of The Box which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If there’s no demand for your product or service, you can have the best sales funnel in the world and you will still struggle to make money.

Unfortunately, we often see entrepreneurs spend months or even years working on business ideas that were doomed from the start.

That’s why today we want to share our step-by-step guide to determining whether your business idea has potential:

Step #1: Sell a Product or Service That has a Proven Demand

Entrepreneurship has come to be associated with innovation in our culture.

Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising considering that the most iconic entrepreneurs of our times are the tech billionaires of Silicon Valley.

However, if you want to start a business, you don’t need to have an innovative idea. In fact, pursuing one would decrease your likelihood of success. How so?

Well, if you go with a product or service that has proven demand, you’ll know for sure that people want it, you won’t have to waste time explaining to everyone what it is and you will be able to learn from the mistakes of your competitors.

Meanwhile, if you attempt to do something that has never been done before, you will be starting from absolute zero, without even knowing if anyone is interested in your product or service to begin with.

And sure, if you already have an innovative idea that you believe has incredible potential, then it might make sense to pursue it. Who are we to say that you shouldn’t?

However, if all you want is to create a better life for yourself and your loved ones by building a sustainable business, then going with something tried-and-true is a much better bet!

Step #2: Do Competitive Research

Competition is a good sign. Why?

Because if there already are a bunch of companies selling the same products or services that you intend to sell, it means that there’s money to be made doing that.

However, if you want to carve out a market share for yourself as a newcomer, you need to first learn everything you can about the main players in your niche:

• Purchase their products and services yourself to see what their entire buyer’s journey looks like from the customer’s perspective. Screenshot and save everything so that you can use it for reference later. We call this “funnel hacking”.
• Make sure to actually try the products and services that you bought. Do your competitors deliver what they promised or is the experience disappointing? Think about how you could do what they do but do it cheaper, faster, and better.
• Read customer reviews on your competitors’ websites, various third-party platforms, and online forums like Reddit.
• Watch YouTube reviews and read the comments. Just keep in mind that if it’s a sponsored review then it’s unlikely to be objective.
• Use text analytics software to uncover more insights. For example, you could use it to analyze all tweets that mention one of your competitors, which may not be possible to do manually.

Your aim here should be to get a good understanding of the general landscape of your niche and then look for a market gap that you can capitalize on.

Generally speaking, as businesses grow, they tend to expand the scope of their products, which typically leads to them gaining a broader appeal but becoming less suited for any particular use case.

This is something that you can exploit as a newcomer: instead of competing against the big players in your niche directly, you can steal a slice of their market share by creating a product that only has one use case but is perfect for it.

Keep in mind that there are plenty of people out there who have made their first million with a single eBook, online course, WordPress plugin, Shopify theme, e-commerce product, etc. so it is possible to become a millionaire by solving one problem exceptionally well!

Step #3: Create a Minimum Viable Version of Your Offer

The concept of the “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) was popularized by Eric Ries, the author of the classic book “The Lean Startup”.

An MVP is an early, bare-bones version of the product that only has the core functionality required to solve the main problem that it aims to address.

We recommend creating a lead magnet – a freebie that you will offer to potential customers in exchange for their email addresses – that you can use as your MVP.

As our friend Alex Hormozi puts it, a lead magnet should provide a complete solution to a narrowly defined problem:

So think about what you can give away for free that would solve a narrowly defined problem related to the problem that your core product or service addresses.

Here are some ideas:

• Thinking about writing a non-fiction book? Write the introduction and the first chapter and use them as your lead magnet.
• Thinking about writing a novel? Write a short story or a novella in the same genre, ideally one that is a prequel for the novel, and use it as your lead magnet.
• Have an idea for a computer game? Create a 30-60 minute demo and use it as your lead magnet.
• Want to sell services? Offer the setup service for free as your lead magnet.
• Want to sell an online course? Create one lesson and use it as your lead magnet.
• Want to sell software? Create a free app that only has one feature and use it as your lead magnet.

Of course, this approach only works if the product or service already has proven demand.

If you have an innovative business idea, you should only consider it validated once you get enough people to pay you.

In that case, we recommend reading “The Lean Startup” and going with that strategy instead!

Step #4: Build a Simple Squeeze Page Funnel for Your Offer

The squeeze page funnel has two pages:

1. A squeeze page where you explain what your free offer is all about and encourage the potential customer to take advantage of it.
2.  A thank you page where you thank the potential customer and tell them what they need to do to redeem the free offer.

Our software, ClickFunnels, includes a proven squeeze page funnel template that has been optimized for conversions!

Step #5: Start Driving Traffic to Your Squeeze Page Funnel With Paid Ads

It doesn’t really matter which platform you advertise on, what’s important is that you put your free offer in front of your dream customers.

If you don’t have any previous experience with paid advertising, we recommend picking up a Facebook Ads course on Udemy and going through it to learn the basics.

Then, set up an ad campaign, start running it with a small daily budget, and see what happens. Are people giving you their email addresses?

If your free offer is related to something that has a proven demand, you should be able to get leads provided that your targeting, your ads, and your squeeze page copy are all on point.

If you aren’t able to get leads no matter what you do, it’s possible that your free offer isn’t appealing enough, in which case you need to either find a way to make it more valuable or come up with something new.

Ideally, you want to optimize everything to the point where your cost-per-lead is $2 or less.

We would say that if you can build an email list of 1,000 subscribers at that cost-per-lead, your business idea is probably worth pursuing!

Okay, But What if You Can’t Afford to Spend Money on Ads?

There are other ways to drive traffic to your squeeze page funnel such as building a following on social media and promoting your free offer there.

However, getting to that 1,000 subscriber milestone will probably take you at least a year with this approach.

If you want to reach it faster, it might make sense to simply pick up a part-time job so that you would have money to spend on ads.

That would also help you learn paid advertising, which is a skill that will likely prove to be extremely valuable in your entrepreneurial career.

Finally, if you want to sell a service that has a proven demand, you can always start with cold outreach and get some money coming in that way, then build a proper sales funnel later.

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 Validate A Market For Your Next Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

It’s always a thrill when we make our first dollar from a fresh funnel; however, how do we turn that dollar into more serious cash flow?

By following this six-step scheme, you can finally take the training wheels off and supercharge your new and existing sales funnels.

Making money online is pretty easy, right?

I mean, anyone with a blog and some time on their hands can pick up a niche, slap some affiliate content on a WordPress site and play the waiting game.

But that’s dollars and cents.

Making serious money online is another story.

Serious money requires a sales funnel and a serious one at that.

Again, building a sales funnel is relatively easy (especially with the functionalities provided by ClickFunnels).

However, the legwork that goes into a truly effective funnel is nothing to scoff at. Consider, for example…

• Crafting the perfect copy, language and pitch to pique the interest of your audience (and keeping that message uniform throughout your funnel)
• The time and resources involved in competitive analysis and understanding what the neighbors are up to (including what sort of deals they’re pushing to users)
• Designing a sleek site that attracts the attention of users and drives traffic through proper SEO

And that’s just for starters.

If you’ve gotten your funnel off the ground but want to build a serious revenue stream, you’re going to need to put in the hours to make it work.

However, building a powerful funnel is about working smarter and not necessarily harder.

Take a good, long look at your funnel. Then, ask yourself the following:

• Who’s helping you push users through your funnel? Is the answer “nobody?”
• What’s incentivizing users to go through your funnel? Be honest: are you offering a sweeter deal than your competitor?
• Where are your visitors coming from? Are you reaching your targets or simply bouncing random traffic through your funnel?

Don’t shrug your shoulders and let potential business pass you by. Instead, consider it time to get down to business.

Rome wasn’t built in a day; likewise, killer funnels aren’t built overnight or by accident.

If you’re looking to build a funnel that goes beyond the ordinary and builds a truly impressive revenue stream, consider the following six steps as part of your sales strategy.

This mixture of marketing and networking represents the recipe for conversions rather than just clicks.

Network, Network and Network Some More

It’s natural for entrepreneurs to want to go the “lone-wolf” route.

However, when you consider the benefits of a joint venture, it’s hard to deny that a little bit of outreach can go a long way.

Networking is the name of the game when it comes to your funnel.

In short, the more traffic you drive, the more potential you have to drive revenue and further optimize your funnel.

That being said, what sorts of outreach can ultimately benefit your business?

Schmooze with Influencers – Today’s users want to build relationships with the brands they buy from; therefore trust and authenticity are key when it comes to sealing the deal. By associating yourself with influencers within your space (think: must-read bloggers, social media big-wigs and so on), you can get your product in front of eager buyers who are more likely to convert. Offering incentivization such as a free trial or guest post to such influencers may help deal the deal.

Partner Up with JV’s – Simply put, two heads are often better than one when it comes to your sales funnel. By having a partner in crime, you poise yourself to get more eyes on your funnel and additional resources to market it in the future. Likewise, building up a network of JV’s can open up opportunities for your business and get your product in front of some fresh faces.

Bring on Affiliates – There’s plenty of power (and billions of dollars) in affiliate marketing; likewise, there’s perhaps no better way of working smarter than by having someone else market your product for you. If you’ve tested your funnel and feel that it has potential to scale, consider affiliates as a means of doing so.

Give Them a Push

Let’s be frank: some sales funnels just plain stink.

If you aren’t incentivizing your visitors with some sort of push, you’re letting your traffic go to waste.

The question remains: what sort of incentives and bonuses are proven to drive users to convert?

What do users want?

Whether it be a software, e-book or video series, providing users with something of value for nothing is one of the oldest tricks in the marketing playbook; however, it works.

By offering free tools or education to your users, you’re perceived as a helping hand rather than a salesman.

Likewise, users in your funnel should feel as if you’re the go-to resource for whatever they’re looking for.

By building up your offers with exclusivity (first-hand, cutting-edge information or a product marketed at truly unlike any other), users go through your funnel with a sense of accomplishment.

Score with Scarcity

On a similar note, scarcity is an incredibly powerful sales tool.

However, building a sense of scarcity and the need for users to act now versus later is completely based on the set-up of your funnel. For example, scarcity can be achieved by…

• A countdown clock at the beginning of your sales funnels (implying that time is running out)
• Advertising a limited stock of your product due to demand (implying that supply is running low)
• Marketing your product as a one-time deal, establishing a sense of exclusivity (implying that it’s now or never for the product)

Regardless of your product or service, scarcity should most definitely be center stage at some point in your funnel.

Note: ClickFunnels offers multiple means of establishing a sense of scarcity within your funnel.

Congruency Matters

Often overlooked, the elements of design can make or break your sales funnel.

It’s incredibly important to maintain consistency across your funnel from beginning to end (this includes email marketing efforts and affiliate programs).

Consistent design includes…

• Marketing language, copy, headlines and deals (ex: you wouldn’t advertise a 25% discount which clicks through to a 10% off deal)
• Color scheme, design, and logo (switching between colors and branding can potentially confuse visitors and cause them to bounce)

While the design may be a rather subtle component of the sales process, it’s something that’s completely under your control and should be consistent.

Forget the Junk Traffic

Don’t kid yourself: not all traffic is created equal.

It may feel great to get tens of thousands of visitors per day; however, what does it mean if only a dozen of those users convert?

Either your funnel’s conversion potential is abysmal, or your traffic is trash.

In order to make the most of your marketing efforts, you should target quality traffic.

What qualifies as quality traffic? For starters…

• Organic traffic is driven by targeted keywords, perhaps readers of your blog who tend to spend the most time on your site
• Social traffic from highly-targeted Facebook ads, which you’ve hopefully optimized through A/B testing
• Affiliate traffic from users who are truly interested in what you have to say (and sell)

Traffic means very little for your funnel if it isn’t actually converting.

Instead of focusing on the numbers game, work to build traffic streams that will actually buy your product when push comes to shove.

The 80/20 Principle

The 80/20 principle states that for many events (including marketing), 80% of your outcomes result in 20% of your total effort.

While there are tons of moving pieces to your sales funnel, from marketing to design, consider how one or two missteps within your funnel can diminish your efforts.

So, where does the 20% come from within your funnel?

From most marketers, it comes at the beginning in the end (think: the first 10% of your funnel and the last 10%).

In other words, if there’s anywhere you need to strengthen, make sure you have a strong pitch as it represents the visitor’s first impression and arguably the most critical aspect of the funnel itself.

Likewise, you need a strong closer if you’re looking to seal the deal, especially with funnels selling higher ticket products.

Naturally, all parts of your funnel matter; however, starting and ending strongly is crucial if you’re in search of more conversions.

Putting it All Together

At the end of the day, the successful funnel is built.

Not bought. Not stolen. Not copied.

Built.

The building isn’t always easy; however, your decision to set your funnel apart from the crowd and fix its weaknesses will ultimately decide whether or not you cash in on your efforts.

Making money online isn’t rocket science.

Building a successful sales funnel doesn’t have to be, either.

If you had to name the most common mistake you see funnel builders making today, what would it be?

Thanks for reading How To Take The Training Wheels Off Your Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

In most industries, there’s always a list of resources, whether they’re books or articles, that are upheld as masterpieces.

These works have stood the test of time and have really added to the conversation.

And of course, marketing has its own canon of works, resources that are recognized as having contributed greatly to progress in the industry.

But the key takeaway is that, most importantly, they remain relevant in the age of mobile advertising and global marketing.

If we could get our hands on a list like this one, could we then skip the long process of getting a marketing degree and jump right in?

Certainly, we’d be on our way to building an unshakable marketing foundation that would keep us a step ahead of our competitors.

Well, you’re in luck. Here at ClickFunnels, we’re sharing just such a list with you.

With these books, all classics that are a must-read, you’ll find clarification on almost every aspect of marketing.

Before, you may have wondered what concepts like marketing mix or customization were really all about.

Sure, the internet is stuffed with information on the latest and greatest, but these books will let you get beyond fleeting, general ideas and give you a chance to get down to brass tacks.

In no time flat, through these, you’ll have a dependable marketing foundation for your brand.

And in most cases, the authors make the information easy to understand and deploy.

This way, we’ll gain perspective and insight, all while increasing our marketing skills.

Now, you’ll be a complete marketing titan.

Let’s dive right in and get started!

Breakthrough Advertising – Eugene Schwartz, 1966

Eugene Schwartz was a diehard aficionado of a well-crafted message in any medium.

When he died in 1995, he had made quite a name for himself.

In addition to amassing one of America’s greatest contemporary art collections, he also had two hit books on marketing to his name.

When it came to making a message that worked, he knew his stuff inside and out.

For us, his book Breakthrough Advertising is an absolutely excellent starting point.

You’ll even love the subtitle: How to Write Ads that Shatter Traditions and Sales Records.

This book is the perfect rundown for getting real clarity into the world of copywriting.

Schwartz’s many years as a copywriter and copy chief shine through to guide you through this skill in an organized, straightforward way.

It also puts a spotlight on all the strategies marketers have continued to use throughout the decades.

If you’re looking for ways to improve your copy, tested ways that didn’t just earn Schwartz countless dollars, but have built entire ad companies, this is the one for you.

Protip: Don’t get sticker shock when you go to get this book.

Check your local library for a copy first.

The Robert Collier Letter Book – Robert Collier, 1931

This book is such a legend of marketing that you’ll often find it in the most unlikely of places, even at Staples or Office Depot.

To give you an idea of who Collier was, not only was he related to the man who created the once-famous magazine Collier’s Weekly, he even founded his own publishing company.

And in his time-honored book on advertising, human psychology is truly on display.

The best part is that much of the blueprint he lays out is still applicable to direct mailing, email marketing, and website content creation.

Even if you’re seasoned in writing, Collier’s book will walk you through motives and impulses in an insightful way.

Don’t be put off by the examples he gives, which come from a different era.

For the savvy pro, this book is a wealth of information from a master copywriter and salesman.

Protip: There’s a few free copies of this book floating around the Internet (and the true copyright of the book remains a little controversial), but we recommend picking up a hard copy. This way, you can take plenty of notes in the book!

The Boron Letters – Gary Halbert

If Collier was king of the market in the early 1900s, Gary Halbert is the modern day equivalent.

Once a coveted marketing secret that you could only get through an exclusive subscription, his Boron Letters are an uncontestable essential read.

The book, lauded by marketers and advertisers for immeasurable years, brings together a set of letters written by a father to his son.

But instead of sappy, silly platitudes, the book is chock-full of instruction, preparation, and counsel.

But don’t be fooled… these letters reveal a method of convincing and selling that goes beyond simple rules or gimmicks.

You’ll emerge with a stronger repartee than you could ever imagine.

It’s also worth noting that, because the book is written as a series of letters, it’s especially accessible for those of us who can only grab a short reading session here or there.

Read a letter, drink in the lesson, reflect and grab another in a day or two.

Protip: Halbert was also famous among marketers for his Gary Halbert Challenge. Give it a read, and you’ll see just what we mean about this sage of the advertising universe.

Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel – John Carlton

Do you ever feel like some resources seem to be taking you on a long detour before finally revealing a tip or two?

Well, John Carlton is not that sort of person.

With a ton of experience and a never-say-die spirit, he is the go-to name for actionable techniques that penetrate through the fluff.

From product pitches to sales secrets and personal branding to trigger words, this resource is the real deal.

At the same time, this resource is more of a class than anything else, but it is most certainly a manual on effective, money-making marketing.

Yet, there’s probably an even bigger reason for taking a look at this one.

It is the ultimate combination of actual examples taken from the real world and results.

Pair that fact with the tips and guidance it provides throughout, and you’re on your way to extending your marketing skills and your profit margin.

Protip: While we’re on the subject of profit-making, personal preferences aside, give our article Reverse Engineering a Billionaire’s Presidential Marketing Campaign a read for some current insights.

80/20 Sales and Marketing – Perry Marshall

Praised by sources like Entrepreneur Magazine, Perry Marshall is an unlikely up-and-comer in the field of marketing.

And he didn’t even get a degree in advertising!

Armed with a degree in electrical engineering and a desire to slice away the nonsense, Marshall is published a myriad of books directed at maximizing your online efforts and increasing your business’ strength.

And his book 80/20 Sales and Marketing is a force to be reckoned with.

With this resource, you’ll learn how to identify the 20% of… well, anything, really, that will most magnify your time and energy.

Once you’ve given it a read, you’ll be honestly astonished how many businesses are engaging in poor tactics that are bleeding away money.

(Just glance at how wrong-headed communication can cost companies in even the most unforeseen ways).

80/20 Sales and Marketing will revolutionize how you see your brand and your business.

Protip: For those of you on the go, there’s a good audio book available for this one. It’s not too long, and it’s great for taking stock of where your branding stands.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Robert Cialdini, 1984

For your brand, if you could ask a distinguished, well-decorated professional of Psychology and Marketing any question, what would it be?

By reading this book, you’ll basically have the next best thing to directly asking those questions.

Cialdini ranks up there on many award lists for business and marketing.

Through his book Influence, you’ll get an insider’s perspective on a very interesting experiment that Cialdini ran.

For several years, this teacher embedded himself on various sales teams, from used cars to telemarketing.

What did he learn?

Plenty.

What makes this book such necessary reading is that Cialdini’s writing goes further than some arm-chair commentary from another would-be salesman.

Instead, his careful, astute reading of the situations and their context allows him to bring you some serious observations about examples that he lived.

In his approach, you’ll find clear criteria and fundamentals that are worth a fortune.

Protip: For extra credit, narrow in on his 6 principles of influence. This set of tools will offer you some crucial approaches for positioning your marketing campaigns.

Obvious Adams – Robert R. Updegraff, 1916

Despite some fantastic authors listed above, Obvious Adams probably take the cake.

Since Updegraff was such a talented person, his skills were astonishingly sought-after.

In his life, he could count many major brands among his clients, including General Foods, Kellogg, and much, much more.

In his much-praised book, he outlines why many marketers are seduced by ideas (and campaigns) that sound cunning and witty, yet at the expense of being accessible to your customers.

In essence, marketers like to impress themselves and each other… while too often leaving their customers behind.

It sounds so simple, it almost seems unbelievable.

And yet, many pros still fall into this trap. Still, the book goes on to provide pragmatic ways of identifying better ideas with more appeal and get away from this issue that plagues other brands.

And in the cutthroat world of marketing, the advice is definitely worth its weight in gold.

Protip: Fun fact… US advertisers were set to spend as much as $171 billion in marketing in recent years. You can bet that much of it was based on the resources outlined above. When you read through these books, remember to keep your own budget in mind to make the most out of each idea you discover.

If you could share just one book or website with a promising entrepreneur or marketer, which one would it be and why?

Thanks for reading 7 Classic Marketing Books You Must Read Before Funnel Hacking which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If there’s one marketing factor that’s become dominant in the age of the Internet, it could quite possibly be social proof.

And almost everywhere you turn, you’re being exposed to it through the efforts of many different companies.

In fact, customers the world over now expect to see some level of social proof for your brand.

Now, you might be asking what social proof really is.

And that’s a very good question with a pretty straightforward answer.

Social proof is the way your audience discovers your brand’s trustability.

In essence, it’s the clues that customers use to assess just how socially connected your company is to other people like them (and trust me, they are assessing your brand!).

Today, this marketing strategy can take the form of share buttons, follower counters, and a whole host of other methods.

Every time you click that Facebook Share Button… that’s social proof.

Or when you write an online review about a product… that’s social proof too.

And the numbers truly show how powerful this avenue of your marketing is.

88% of all consumers report that they trust online reviews as much as family and friends.

Also, more than 1 million websites have added some level of Facebook integration directly to their site.

See what we’re talking about here?

Proving your brand’s social worth isn’t just another chore; it’s a major component of your marketing strategy.

At the same time, we want to go beyond a simple share button or two.

In fact, we want to own this marketing strategy, creating a magnetic experience for our audience.

Just like with any of your other marketing tools, there’s fair, good, and even better.

And we want the best for our brands.

With these more sophisticated tactics, you’ll have exactly that level of influence.

Stick with Using Positive Social Proof

Have you ever noticed that positive people tend to attract other people to them?

For content creation, social proof sort of works under the same theory.

The way you frame your marketing matters, significantly.

To see negative social proof in action, look no further than the donation marketing for nonprofit, and Internet superstar Wikipedia.

Here is just part of the content for that campaign:

Dear readers,

We’ll get right to it: This week we ask you to help Wikipedia. To protect our independence, we’ll never run ads. We’re sustained by donations averaging about £10. Only a tiny portion of our readers give.

Notice anything troubling?

By adding the line about only a small number of people giving, the brand is inadvertently broadcasting negative social proof.

It might seem odd to think about, but the most popular encyclopedia in the world is basically saying no one is interested in sustaining their brand.

Seeing that fact, who would want to donate now?

Instead, with positive proof comes the desire for more people to participate and join in.

Showing that your brand is socially desired has a compounding effect, much like a snowball rolling down a hill.

And when people feel positively connected to other people, they’re more likely to stick around.

With this in mind, stay positive and highlight the ways your audience is becoming part of a community or lifestyle by opting for your brand.

Also, position your marketing to show off the positive experience involved for them.

Protip: Even juggernauts like Facebook have used the theory behind positive social proof to create sticky experiences and huge communities. For maximum effect, keep in mind the psychological factors that bind together your targeted audience.

Add Pictures to All Your Content

Whether it’s a Facebook Message, a post to our ClickFunnels Group, or your own status update, including images is a must.

Browsing the statistics shows that if you aren’t including them at least some of the time, you’re missing out on vital engagement.

Recent research has shown that images can boost engagement by 94%.

Clearly, taking the time to find an image for your posts can be a complete game changer.

If you’ve thought about adding images, but struggle to find new ones to include, here’s some awesome ideas to get you rolling:

Infographics – well-made graphics that easily explain data, processes, or other information.

These are very popular across the Internet.

If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also create your own or virtually hire someone to make one.

• Memes – This category probably doesn’t need much explanation, but it’s an often overlooked one for quick, easy
• Stock Photos – While stock photos aren’t the very best choice when it comes to boosting your social proof, it can at least add something interesting.
• Presentation Slides – A slide that pertains to your niche can be a great way to highlight your authority (and therefore, your social proof) to your audience.
• Screenshots – You can even include screenshots of your content! Doing so might help clarify something or demonstrate an idea.
• Photos You’ve Taken – This is probably one of the best forms of social proof. Branded photos that are you take are unique and that you own are an excellent form of visual social proof.

Protip: Make sure that your image is also relevant to your content. Otherwise, you may be confusing your audience.

Use Familiar Faces for a Serious Boost

Okay, this one is the real deal when it comes to seeing higher conversions.

Because social proof relies on our own innate psychology, it also means that personality is important.

There’s research that shows that customer action is reduced by nearly a quarter when an image doesn’t include a face.

And big brands are starting to take note of this fact and use it on a regular basis.

So when you’re looking to prompt an action, especially if it’s related to moving a customer to the next phase of your sales funnel, consider how this step might fit.

But don’t just post a face once and call it a day.

Continue using that face throughout your efforts and make it a familiar face to your audience.

This is a little-known trick in the marketing world that has yet to catch on, but there’re a few reasons it works so well when it comes to social proof.

• You’re Creating a Personality – when you continue to see someone over the course of time, you assume that personal has an individual personality. This implies that they have values, goals, and beliefs. And in a way, you’re then associating those with your brand.
• There’s an Ongoing Relationship – It’s equally true that through that personality, you’re showing a person that your audience can have a relationship with. This continues to build trust and rapport, even if they never talk to that particular person.
• Humans are Hardwired to Recognize Familiar People – It’s totally incredible how much we simply love familiar people. We’re so predisposed to it that within mere hours of birth, we’re making it a hallmark of our lives.

Protip: Consider how the familiar faces you post are expressing themselves to best convey the emotions and ideas you’re going for.

Tell a Really Good Story

Almost everybody loves a good story, and after all, isn’t there a great story behind almost every brand?

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why brands have relied on characters throughout the ages to tell their story.

On that note, stories are engaging, interesting, and most importantly, we truly enjoy applying them to our lives.

And you know what else?

Authentic people tell stories.

For brands, we can commandeer this fact to our social proof benefit.

Whenever we use our brand to tell a story, we’re highlighting that our company isn’t just a company.

In a way, we’re saying that our brand is a real living, breathing person with something to say.

Here’re a few tips to get you off the ground:

• Borrow from Other Storytellers – Our first stop is to look to other amazing storytellers. They can be your favorite novelist, vlogger, or even a family friend. Look for the thread that unites their stories to make the tale more intriguing. And see how you can apply them to your own storytelling.
• Think About How Your Story Evolves – Storytelling isn’t about static marketing. In reality, it’s about taking your audience on a journey from point A to point B. Use that trip to evoke a range of emotions that solidify the relationship to your brand.
• Consider Brand Characters – We saw how brand characters have played an important part in marketing history. But they aren’t played out yet. Even insurance companies are still using them successfully.

Protip: for some master storytelling insider tips, check out our Secrets to “Story Selling” podcast episode.

Retargeting with Video Testimonials

Fact: testimonials from other customers have the highest rating for effectiveness in all of the content marketing.

What if we combined them with two other award-winning strategies that we have?

Let’s say that, since we saw above how much people trust testimonials, we add in the influence that retargeting has with the engagement of testimonials.

Then we’ll have created an unquestionably strong conversion strategy that can truly make waves.

Social proof is about relating to people like ourselves. And testimonials present exactly that.

Between more companies using them, however, and some recent scandals associated with online reviews, basic written testimonials might not be enough anymore.

That’s why turning to video is a perfect idea.

This way, we’ll be able to show real-life customers with a real love for our brand.

Now that will put us a step ahead of our competitor for sure!

And through retargeting, we can guarantee that we’ve already established a friendly connection with our audience.

Win-win-win.

Protip: We’ve all seen those infomercials where people seem to have been paid to perform in them. To produce a better video, simply ask your best customers if they’d like to help. You’ll find that many of them are happy to get their 15 minutes of fame.

Why do you think social proof has become such an effective form of marketing in recent years?

Thanks for reading Marketer’s Guide to Including Social Proof in Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Google is a great place for customers to find your product or service. However, Google  Search Ads can be a bit trickier to understand than other ad platforms like social media. 

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) can be intimidating, but once you learn the basics and a few expert tips, you’ll be ready to jump in!

Here at ClickFunnels, we specialize in guiding users through the sales funnel, which includes getting traffic to your funnel. 

There are three types of traffic that are discussed in Russell Brunson’s DotCom Secrets. 

• Traffic you control: from paid ads or other sources where you control how and where the user lands.
• Traffic you don’t control: organic traffic or traffic from others’ blogs where you can’t control where the user will land.
• Traffic you own: your email lists, customers, and followers that you can send specific content or offers to.

Google Search Ads fall into traffic you control because you decide where users end up on your site.

It is crucial to leverage the traffic you control from your Google Ads campaigns by getting visitors’ email addresses through a squeeze page and turning them into traffic you own. 

In this article, we’ll give you some of our best tips to successfully advertise on Google.

But let’s start by covering some of the basics.

Google Ads Basics

There are a couple of things that are important to understand about Google Ads before you dive into the platform. 

Targeting

First of all, with SEM, you don’t pay to show ads to certain demographics or groups. You bid on keywords, meaning that when someone inputs a search query that matches your keyword your ad would show up.

When you bid on keywords, you choose which match type you want to bid on. The options are:

• Exact Match: the keyword exactly as you typed it.
• Broad Match: any search query that includes any word in your keyword in any order
• Broad-Modified Match: search queries that include each word in your keyword,  but not necessarily in the correct order and with words in between 
• Phrase Match: variations of the term with your keyword intact but with extra words before or after the keyword

We’ll help you choose which keywords to bid on later, but just keep that in mind.

Structure

The campaign structure in Google Ads can be confusing if you don’t know how they define the terms that they use.

The structure is broken up into the following parts, starting from the highest level:

• Account
• Campaign
• Ad Group
• Keywords

We already mentioned Keywords. They’re the level you bid on. So, the more keywords you bid on, the more you would need to spend to show up every time they are searched.

Ad Groups are groups of similar ads and keywords that you choose to combine and share similar targets.

When a user searches any of the keywords in the group, one of the ads in the group will show up at random.

Campaigns are groups of Ad Groups. Each Campaign will cover a broader topic, with the Ad Groups it contains covering the subtopics.

The Account level is to differentiate each business or website, so if you only have one business, you will only have one Account. All of your campaigns for the site will be in the Account.

Bidding

The bids function like an auction, so whoever has the highest bid and the best quality ad gets the top position. 

Google defines the ad quality score as a combination of these three characteristics:

• Relevance to the keyword
• Expected CTR
• Landing page experience

These three factors are combined with your bid to determine your Ad Rank. 

Click-Through-Rate (CTR) on search ads goes down almost exponentially from rank 1 to rank 2 and from 2 to 3, so it is important to rank as high as you can.

In order to ensure you have high quality scores, make sure your ads use the keyword and other words relevant to the topic. Communicate value to the user so that they will want to click on your ad, and craft a landing page that is easy for users to understand.

ClickFunnels is an easy and effective way to craft landing pages that will walk the user through the sale, creating a great user experience.

Tips for Success With Google Ads

Choosing the Right Keywords

The concept of bidding on keywords may be foreign to business owners without experience with SEM, but it is easy to catch on to with the right strategy.

The key to choosing keywords is to put yourself in the user’s shoes. What would you be typing into Google if you need the product or service that you’re selling?

Think of keywords people use to search about the problem that your product or service solves and keywords they would use to search for the solution.  

Those are the types of keywords you should be bidding on. 

If your business is new, the odds are no one will be searching for your brand name, but you should consider bidding on it if you want to increase brand awareness or if your brand is known to some people who may search for it. 

You may also have competitors who bid on your brand name. In that case, you’ll definitely want to reclaim that ad space. 

Google Ads has a Keyword Planner tool that you can use to find out how many searches per month a keyword query has and how expensive it is to compete for the terms. 

The tool can also help you find more keywords related to your product or service.

Using the Right Landing Pages

The landing page can make or break your Google Ads campaign. 

You may have great ads that entice users to click through, but if the page they land on is confusing, they will bounce off the page, go back to the search results and probably click a competitor’s ad.

With Pay-per-Click advertising like Google Ads, you pay every time someone clicks, not every time someone purchases. 

So if people are clicking on your ads but then bouncing from your confusing landing page, that would be a horrible waste of money. 

This is the exact problem that ClickFunnels solves. 

Building landing pages the traditional way requires web development and design, which takes a lot of time, effort, and money. 

That’s why a lot of small business owners without large budgets end up with landing pages that confuse users, causing them to bounce and in turn waste their marketing dollars.

ClickFunnels is a software that makes it easy for you to create your own landing pages that look great and are easy for users to understand. 

Creating a landing page with ClickFunnels doesn’t require any coding or design, so you can save time for once as a busy entrepreneur!

ClickFunnels landing pages are made to simplify the process of getting leads and making sales. 

Each landing page is crafted to ensure that users will not get confused about what to do or where to go to become a customer. 

Visitors will be guided through the sales process step-by-step so that you don’t lose customers along the way due to a confusing website.

Turning Traffic You Control into Traffic You Own

As discussed in DotCom Secrets, “Traffic you own is the BEST kind of traffic.” 

Owned traffic is your email lists, customers, followers, or anyone else who has given you their contact info so you can now send them newsletters and offers specific to them.

The only way to get owned traffic is by turning the other two types of traffic into traffic you own. 

The tips above will help you get users onto your site, but that is only the first step. 

ClickFunnels is a way to ensure that users are guided through the sales process, becoming traffic that you own.

For example, when a user clicks on your Google Ad, it can direct them to a squeeze page with a call-to-action that encourages them to enter their email address in exchange for the value you will provide them.

Then, even if they don’t make a purchase today, you can send them email newsletters and offers so that they will remember to come back and make a purchase in the future.

If you aren’t successfully turning traffic you control into traffic you own, you are losing a lot of potential sales over time. 

If you’re ready to start leveraging the traffic you control, try ClickFunnels’ 14 day trial!

Recommended Reading

• How to Market Your ClickFunnels Sales Funnel
• Dynamic Search Ads & ClickFunnels: How Dynamic Search Ads Can Generate More Qualified Traffic to Your Funnel
• Target Analysis & Customer Demographics Marketing

Thanks for reading How To Advertise on Google Search: Leveraging The Traffic You Control which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

When you’re building a sales funnel, pioneers get arrows in their backs. That’s one of the core principles behind “funnel hacking” …

Find a market that has successful products in it. Then, find your own position in that market.

How about the male grooming market? Manscaped went on a journey to figure that out.

Dollar Shave Club, Gillette, and Schick sound like big enough names to mimic? What if you found a perfect carve out in that market to coexist and disrupt the marketplace? What if you found out that there is even a “trending” term in that market? Manscaped did just that. This article will walk you through how they “cut” their teeth in this market and how you can do the same thing in yours.

Welcome to Manscaped

Men’s below-the-belt grooming is a vast and virtually untapped industry worth a near $50 billion globally. We say virtually because how many ads do we get on grooming products that help men improve the aesthetics below-the-belt, besides Viagra of course? Our guess is, not that many, which brings us to one company that has managed to carve up a marketing campaign that’s so brilliant, even Facebook couldn’t resist covering it as a success story in a blog (Facebook Manscaped Video Ad Case Study).

Below-the-belt grooming products for men are a range of products that have been specially designed for men who have to deal with an unflattering undercarriage because let’s just face it, males really are poorly designed downstairs. There’s always something getting in the way whether you’re at the gym, jogging, cycling, or just taking a stroll down the street. Below-the-belt grooming products make the life for men easier and…more comfortable.

Yet, often, men can be the most reluctant of consumers when it comes to purchasing below-the-belt grooming products. So, what’s the deal, and how did a company like Manscape manage to achieve all that success, in a relatively short period of time. That’s what we’re here to find out. They were competing with giants of the industries. Titans of commerce and advertising. Yet they have managed to double revenue every few months.

The success and failure of a brand often rest in the not-so-subtle art of marketing. Keeping that in mind, here’s a more in-depth dive on how small business owners can create an entirely kick-butt marketing campaign that will help launch their brand into the stratosphere.

1. Start with an Idea: Find A Market Research Perspective

Every successful brand is born with the idea to plug a gap in the existing market. Breakfast cereal, floor wax, the iPhone are just a few examples. So, where are all the male below-the-belt grooming products? The answer is quite painful so look away now. Oh, okay, still there. Good. That means your serious about finding the market gap, even when it involves a few “bloody cuts.” According to a JAMA Dermatology study that was carried out recently, around 26% of men and women who groom downstairs have been injured aka nicked, cut, infected and worse. The study also spoke of the need for brands to adopt safer designs that will lead to injury prevention.

There is a need for safer designs and injury prevention in the “below the belt grooming” niche. ~ JAMA Dermatology Study

The unexpected hero in all of this is surprising, another male grooming brand, known as Manscaped. The company offers men with not just fancy electric trimmers and razors, but ones that feature nick prevention, safety guards that prevent you from getting into a hairy situation! And BOOM. That’s your plug. A men’s below-the-belt grooming brand that offers safety first!

For other similar brands, this may not be at the top of their priority list. Manscaped was genius enough to realize that the comfort and self-assurance of having a men’s grooming brand that has their customers back take away the dread of taking a sharp object to a private area that can be very uncomfortable if not well kept.

2. Create a Product: Not Just Any Product!

Before Manscaped, using men’s below-the-belt grooming products often led to a bad (and painful) grooming experience. That’s because minor injuries were the norm. As a men’s grooming brand, your job is to identify the cracks in your company in terms of the products and figure out how to fill it up with your products. But, more of that later. Creating an awesome product is more than just coming up with a sleek design that’s good to look at. After all, it’s not like you’re going to frame it or something.

The Products

First, you need to gauge the pain-points of your target audience, in this case, its men ranging from tweens to 50-year-olds who are looking to improve their image and be more comfortable below the belt, and don’t want to make the trip to the emergency room if they do. Long story short, the men’s grooming products that were available before just didn’t cut it (or rather, they did). Now that you have found the problem, it’s time to design your product around that problem.

The Actual Products

Manscaped designed the kind of men’s below-the-belt grooming products that men were proud to use because they looked good, but more importantly, they got the job done without incident. Now, was that too much to ask? We thought so.

How Can We Build Out A Subscription Model?

If you want to create a market, you will first need to create a robust subscription model that makes your customers keep coming back for more of your product. The best way of doing that is by simply providing an above-par product that’s affordable, safe and easily accessible. The good news for new men’s grooming businesses looking to make their mark in the industry is that building up subscriptions is usually an area where B2C companies frequently outperform B2B companies.

Offering a seamless sign-up process for the customer goes hand in hand with having a kick-ass product. And when you’re offering additional products that are related to your service, signing up for a subscription sweetens the deal.For instance, Manscaped offers a refill of blades for The Plow (the cool name for their safety razor) that a subscriber can get delivered to their home every month, along with their other products, and a Replenish Pack for just $29.95. For new businesses, building up a subscriptions list means delivering on your promise to provide superior products that are actually worth investing in for the customer, and of course, free shipping.

Supporting Products (Consumables) 

Once you’ve got down the men’s grooming products you need to get your target demographic – men to take notice, it’s time to focus on the accessories, add-ons, the side entrees if you will, that will go with the products you’ve designed. In the case of Manscaped, you had a brand that didn’t just provide you with the fancy single-blade razor or electric trimmer and hinted to splash bottled water on your pubic and groin area after you’ve finished. The brand offers a number of additional products that all tie into the main course, and makes grooming downstairs easier.

Some of the products worth noting here are the Crop Cleanser, which reinvigorates the skin with vitamins and minerals, along with the Crop Preserver, which is basically an anti-chafing moisturizer but is again, totally worth investing for the task ahead.

Other premium products by Manscaped include The Crop Reviver, a toner and refresher, and even blade refills for the brand’s flagship product, the Plow. They worked with a chemist to get the formulas and really dial in their perfect product mix.

This lead to a formula that sets them apart in their marketplace.

With this many additional products that make manscaping so much more comfortable, Manscaped proved to their clientele that they’ve got them covered, which is sometimes, all the customer really wants to hear. Manscaped partnered with Cratejoy and launched a subscription for their one-of-a-kind box of goodies specifically for below-the-belt grooming for men. They didn’t just do well on cratejoy, they became the front page. It leads to a huge success!

3. Creating an Infrastructure: Fulfillment Chain To Customer Satisfaction

Even the military needs roads to transport fuel and ammunition to its troops on the field. You need to create the infrastructure which will help you do the same. You can let your product reach the masses by using the following actionable strategies;

Shopify – Ecommerce Needs A Home

Shopify is one of the largest e-commerce companies that’s headquartered in Ontario. The platform allows anyone to easily sell online, or anywhere for that matter. What makes Shopify a great option for small businesses is that brands get to create enticing and engaging emails straight from their Shopify Admin once they’ve subscribed to the service.

Shopify integrates seamlessly with social media marketing such as Facebook, which is the largest social media platform in the world and can completely transform your business by increasing the traffic that reaches your Shopify Store. Shopify also offers loads of other cool features that brands can use to their advantage to attract and influence customers.

Fulfillment Process – You Have To Deliver On Your Marketing

Fulfillment basically encompasses the entire process of receiving an order and delivering the product to the customer. While this might sound easy, in reality, the process is a lot more complicated, with many moving parts that need your attention, such as warehouse organization, order management, packaging, shipping, customer communication. All of these factors come together to ensure that the fulfillment process is able to remain smooth, with no or minimal hiccups.

Using ClickFunnels to Your Advantage

If you’ve ever felt stuck as an entrepreneur, ClickFunnels is the tool for you. The company was created specifically for those entrepreneurs who aren’t programmers or designers and have been held hostage (figuratively of course) by the same computer geeks they were probably making fun of in high school.

The service allows you to build pages for each of your products and create a high converting sales funnel. To get started, all entrepreneurs have to do is pick a sales funnel type, choose the design that matches their brand most, customize their page to make it more appealing, and viola. For young businesses looking for a place, ClickFunnels offers a service that’s quick, easy to use and affordable, and more importantly, gets results. There is nothing easier to build a funnel with.

4. Create a Brand: Bigger Than A Product

Now, it’s time to make your brand. Creating a brand has more to do than just coming up with a cool logo and a tagline that goes with it. Creating a brand means using every inch of your digital space from the content of your website, to the marketing, and the colors you use to identify your brand to create a unique “voice” of your company.

In fact, having a brand that’s bigger than your product is one of the leading e-commerce trends shaping the future of online shopping.

Making your audience laugh is key to winning them over (at least, for Manscaped it is). The manscaping or below-the-belt men’s grooming product has never shied away from using some below-the-belt humor to get their message across. Once you’ve found the name, logo, tagline, and color that will represent your brand and become its voice, you will need to apply that voice consistently while using all areas for marketing your brand.

Create Great Images with Good Copy

If you have a website, and you probably do, using great images will break up the text into tiny bits that will make it more digestible for the readers. When using images, try to stay away from the free stock photos available online and go with original pictures of your product. Pair that with smart copy that’s informative and amusing at the same time. You can pique the interest of the reader by using humor. If you go down that route, better hire the right copywriters who can bring the funny without looking like they’re trying too hard.

Add Unique Humorous Videos – This Is Where Manscaped Thrives!

Manscaped has come up with some hilarious videos for their marketing campaigns. Using humor in your videos is another great way of getting your audience interested and excited about your brand. While making videos, keep it simple and be careful not to cross any lines. You don’t want to be funny at the expense of hurting someone’s feelings. YouTube and Vimeo are two of the best platforms to upload your marketing videos. Once you’ve got the video content you need, use social media to promote your new visual content.

https://youtu.be/of2yge_KZBU

5. Get Targeted Traffic

Creating a social media page for your brand is essential if you want to attract new customers. This doesn’t mean using your personal Facebook profile but creating a Facebook Business page that’s dedicated solely to your business. The neat thing about using Facebook for business is that you get to use and measure many metrics that allow you to tweak your marketing campaign. You can even create a social media outlet right on Facebook that’s similar to Manscaped where you can set up your products for display. Those who are interested then have the choice to either purchase a product straight from your Facebook page or visit your company’s website.

As a business, you’d want to give your target audience as many options as possible when it comes to purchasing your products. Don’t just use Facebook, other social media platforms can also be integrated into your website, turning your efforts into a robust marketing campaign that makes your product available to a larger audience. Some of the social platforms you can use are Twitter, Instagram etc.

Paid Traffic

Paying for traffic is powerful, yet oftentimes, an ignored tool that’s great for marketing your brand. Using paid search such as Google AdWords or Bing Ads can significantly boost your online traffic and get you more sales. Besides that, Google also allows businesses to display ads on the Google Display Network which also helps drive traffic towards your brand’s website. Retargeting can be the most important tool your sales funnel and e-commerce brand has. Retarget customers to specific sales funnel segments and watch your brand take off.

6. Set Up a Distribution Channel

And finally, having the right distribution channels in place will ensure your products are able to reach your customers.

Direct-to-Customer

Direct-to-customer is fast becoming a crucial retail channel for small businesses. That’s because customers demand a better experience, which is exactly what the Direct-to-Consumer model of distribution provides. Although there will be some complications while setting up DTC channels, creating a proper strategy will ensure that your e-commerce business is able to operate smoothly.

Affiliates

Affiliate marketing is a marketing strategy that’s mainly performance based. This means your business is going to reward your affiliates for each of the visitors or customers that are sent to your website via affiliate marketing. While using affiliate marketing you will need to track, test, and compare the results of various affiliates. Refersion and Clickfunnels are neat software that can help you get started with your affiliate marketing needs by helping you build up your affiliate network.

Collaboration

This can be called Influencer Marketing. You find a brand that has a similar demographic to yours. You partner and offer your products to one another’s customers. You can also collaborate and offer a single product including both brands. This has done great for manscaping brand Manscaped and Slyde boards.

https://youtu.be/n_gLqP8vvnM

Amazon

It’s no secret that Amazon is the go-to destination for buying products in the US. If you’re a men’s grooming brand that’s just starting out, you’d want to create an online presence on Amazon that will enhance your credibility as a brand. The best way of doing that is by building a permanent presence on Amazon. Besides, Amazon has a growing stronghold on the consumer market making it one of the best choices for small brands. For a brand to have a presence on Amazon is not just fashionable, it’s a necessity.

Retail & Subscriptions

Building a retail affiliation can be as simple as co-branding with popular local retailers that will help you elevate your mission, which is to reach out to the most customers as you possibly can. For true success, startup brands need to think a level deeper than ever before to not just stay above water but keep up with the big fish in their niche. A great example can be given of Manscaped, who figured that out early on and implemented some crucial changes that ended up in larger, unexpected rewards for the brand.

Trendy Words

Manscaped started because of a gap in the market. Then some market research to see how to differentiate their product set. The big success got poured on because of a trend. Manscaping is a trending topic and has a large following. It has picked up as a cultural norm for millennials. This article in the L.A. Times even talks about how manscaping has become normal. That article came out in 2014 but manscaped the brand didn’t start until 2017. There are gaps and even trendy words being thrown around all the time. It could be worth millions for you to recognize it.

How Do You Get Started Today?

Entrepreneurs are a rare breed. With the right amount of passion and skillset, it can be possible to break into an industry that’s as challenging as below-the-belt men’s grooming, and similar to Manscaped, reach the height of success. If you are looking for your perfect breakthrough moment then start by finding a gap in the market like manscaping that is safe. It could grow into something larger than you realize!

Footnotes: Pictures are screenshots from Will’s computer (April 2018); Manscaped is a client of Content How, Will’s organic marketing company

Thanks for reading Huge Funnel Hack Exposed! Manscaped 6 Step Recipe To Success {Steal This Formula!} which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

You start a company or you have a company and you find out that you need to have an online presence. People need to find you. They don’t even know that you’re out there. They don’t know that you have the information or the services, or product that is going to revolutionize their life.

So, the burden falls onto your shoulders to go out there in the wide digital world and get them.

Now, the first instinct for you to want everyone!

Go after everyone, because the fisherman with the large net catches many fish, right?

Wrong.

That fisherman catches shoes, garbage, and a bunch of nothing!

You need to know where the fish are before that net is of any value to you. This is a step that people skip all the time and the first step to traffic is knowing who your customers are.

Everything that you’re going to find here is outlined and explained in great detail in the books DotComSecrets and Expert Secrets. If you don’t have it, then you’ve got to get your hands on them. You will completely and radically change your approach with those books.

Get them!

Step 1: Who are Your Customers?

While you’re eager to get people to start buying your product, you need to actually think about who those people are.

Who are they? Where do they live? How old are they? What kind of job do they work? What’s their average income? What’s their family life like? What are their other interests? Where do they go? Where do they find what they’re interested in?

If you cannot answer these questions about your customers, you do not have a strong enough image of who these potential customers are and finding them will be impossible.

Having a clear, defined customer is just as important as having a product, because everything you do will depend upon who you are trying to get. You have to get these people in front of you before you can get them the to find anything of value in what you’re offering them.

So physically sit down and write out everything you can think about with your dream customers. Write out everything that you can think about them. Know who they are. Be able to see them in your mind’s eye.

Step 2: Find your Customers

Knowing who your customers helps you know where to find them. If we hop back to the analogy of fishing for a moment, a fisherman has to know what kind of fish they’re trying to catch. Once you know what the fish is, you can find out where it’s going to be.

So now, the hunt begins.

If you know who your customers are, you now know their interests. Find out where they will be congregating online. Besides your product, where else would they be? Who are your competitors that are already established out there where they might be gathering? What harmonizes extremely well with your product, service, or knowledge? Where do they shop? Where do they find relaxation and recreation?

Why are these places important?

Because, now you’re not going to be throwing ads blindly at a random, incredibly large demographic. It’s targeting effectively for the people that you want to purchase from you. If you have a product or service, or information that is of value to them, your dream customer will want it.

Then, your ads are going to become powerful tools for you in the development of business growth.

It will feel like magic, that you worked intelligently to accomplish…

Step 3: Get Their Attention

Once you have the location of your ideal customers and you’re inside the minds of your dream customers, you need something that will get their attention.

I’m not talking about free offers or promotions right now.

That’s a completely different topic.

No, right now, we’re talking about something a little more primal. How are you going to get them to stop and look at what it is you’re going to do to stop the endless scroll.

You need something that is going to pop. Your ads need to have something that is alluring, relevant, and creative. I’m not talking about bright colors either. You’ll need images that are worth stopping, just long enough for your dream customers to get a glimpse at your copy.

And that means having good copy. Make sure that it’s short, packs a punch, and gets the message across so that your dream customers will actually click on the ad.

It’s an art. It truly is. But, the best way to see this in action is to hop on your phone, go to Instagram or Facebook and start scroll. What sticks out to you? What is something that you’d find attractive enough to keep you interested in the material. That’ll save you time over researching articles any day. Go to what is actually being used right now!

Keep your eyes open and keep finding out what’s new and what’s working.

That is how you start effectively cultivating traffic. It’s not about just throwing ads out into oblivion. It’s about knowing your audience, where to locate them, and how to get them to stop and see what you’re offering. These are the three starting points for you.

Make sure you have all three ready!

Thanks for reading Traffic Triage: How To Save Your Ad Money! which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Email is a great way to engage your audience. You can use it to learn more about your customers and find out what they expect from you. You can also utilize it to get more clicks and sales. Whatever your purpose, you have to do emails right.

Email marketing is more than just getting your audience to open your email.That is a huge part of it though. First having signups (using a great funnel) and then getting 10k inboxed and clicked on are both huge accomplishments. The focus on this article is to get the customer to click.

It’s about getting them to click your content and take advantage of your offers. How do you make sure that you’re getting engagement and conversions from your emails? Learn these five ways to make sure your email campaigns are on the money.

Build a Solid Email Marketing Strategy

To start, you need to decide on the purpose of your email. Each email should fall under one of these five stages:

• indoctrinate, where you tell them about you

• engage, where you convince them to buy

• ascend, where you get them to buy more

• segment, where you find out what they will buy next
• reengage, where you make them come back.

These stages are co-dependent. When your email is done right, you can be sure that your customers will move from one stage to the next. You have to make each stage’s purpose apparent in every email.

At stage 1, show them what makes you stand out and what they can expect from you. Show them what to do next.

At stage 2, make an offer. Give them something valuable.

At stage 3, entice them with more offers that they won’t be able to resist. Help them make the decision to buy…

At stage 4, show them what they missed from the previous two stages. Get them to buy if they haven’t.

Finally, at stage 5, bring them back to the engagement stage. Make a time-limited offer they will be tempted to take advantage of.

Using these five types of emails in your campaign will give you a leverage over your competitors. Building a solid strategy that prioritizes each of these stages will not only give you conversions. They will also turn your audience into returning customers.

Write Emails That Lead to Conversions

After understanding the five stages of email campaigns, you have to craft messages that are in line with the purpose of each stage. Emails have three main elements: the subject line, the body copy, and the landing page. Each of them has a unique role in getting traffic and conversions for your business. Check out this awesome guide on email etiquette for some useful tips!

The subject line is what will encourage your customers to open your email to begin with. You can either use a blind subject line to pique their interest, or use a direct subject line to show them what’s in store. You can personalize these subject lines to address each customer in your database by their first name. This will allow your email to stand out and lead to a higher open rate.

The body copy is what you will use to get your consumers to click on your offers or products. To do this, you can also choose between blind or direct copy. Typically, since this is the email itself, both are used. Throw in the links that you want them to open based on your purpose.

Your reasons for writing the copy throughout the email will change, depending on what you want your customers to click. It’s good to mix these up when writing so that you’ll see which works and which earns the highest click-through rates.

Lastly, the landing page is what you will use to get your customers to sell your opt-in or your product. Technically, the landing page is no longer part of the email. It has a unique job of its own. This is where conversion happens, so the copy should flow harmoniously from your subject line and body copy to your landing page copy.

You should maintain the message that your subject line and body copy carry. If you applied a direct, benefit-driven subject line and body copy, your landing page should do the same. If you choose to use curiosity-driven content, carry it over to your landing page as well.

Employ Triggers to Persuade Customers

You need to make sure your emails get the clicks. How do you do that? You get your customers to respond by using psychological triggers. These will influence them subconsciously and will help them do what you want them to do, which is to click on your links.

You can persuade your customers by pressing their gain buttons. To use this, you have to show your customer what kind of benefit they will attain when they click on your link. You can also encourage them by using logic. Present practical information, facts, statistics, and opinions that will help them justify their purchase or subscription.

Another way to persuade your customers is to create urgency by using scarcity as a trigger. Increase your click-through rates by giving them the sense that your offer is time-limited and that they must take advantage of it as soon as possible. Fear is another trigger that you can use, but you have to be careful about crafting a good message. With the right motivations and promises, you can get clicks through this mechanism.

Make It Mobile-Optimized

Did you know that 70% of emails are opened on smartphones? You have to make sure your emails are responsive on mobile. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing customers and profit. Email marketing platforms will allow you to see how your campaigns will look like on mobile, so take advantage of it.

Consider the length of your email. Long text will definitely not translate well on mobile. You have to keep your body copy clear and concise. Focus on the benefits you offer and craft your message around it. Keeping your emails brief can be challenging, but it will keep your customers’ attention for a longer period. You can also get higher open rates in future emails.

Make sure that your links can be easily seen and clicked as well. Some emails can have very small text that readers have a hard time clicking on the call-to-action button. Allow your customers to follow through and give you higher click-through rates by making links visible and accessible.

Lastly, ensure that your images are sorted out. This can be the easiest way for your campaign to go awry. Check that your images are uploaded in the right dimensions. Make sure they load properly. Format them accordingly so that the text won’t get jumbled up or scattered around it.

Split Test Your Campaigns

There’s no better way to find out what works for your customers than split testing. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s about time to start. Split testing is when you segment your audience and send them different versions of your email campaign. This is how you find out which is the best performing email for your audience.

To do this, you should only change one element at a time. This will become the variable that will determine the cause of your campaign’s high or low performance. Choose any variable, depending on what you want to troubleshoot. Test subject lines, headlines, and even offers. Use these insights to craft the best emails for your campaigns.

Thanks for reading How to Create Successful Email Marketing Campaigns which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Extra, extra! Read all about it! A new marketing trend is starting to take shape, and Click funnels is the ground floor for it.

It might sound like one of the craziest ideas you’ve ever heard, but in the post-desktop world, it simply cannot be ignored.

Your website, that one so many marketing pros and companies say you need, is probably actually hurting your conversions.

In reality, no matter how well-designed, it is very possibly driving away a ton of your potential leads.

Now, I know you probably just spit your coffee out at the very thought.

My website is hurting my conversion rate?! This idea runs against so much of the….

Well, marketing about marketing, that you’re going to see.

Look around, and you’ll find companies pushing you to set up a website and purchase hosting.

Yet, all your brand needs is a sales funnel.

Not only that, but your brand will thrive with only a sales funnel.

And here’s why.

1. A Website isn’t Conversion Focused

Let me say this again: websites, at their very core, are not conversion focused.

And with the numbers we’re seeing, it’s not hard to identify that a shift is needed.

The process of converting leads is nowhere near as simple as it once was.

And audiences across the internet are practically screaming about how frustrating it is to connect with their favorite brands online.

But we have the power to change that.

• Instead, a Sales Funnel is a Journey about Conversion

And sometimes, it can be a complex journey. No single website is equipped to address the context-sensitive needs of your audience. In contrast, a sales funnel puts your audience through a step-by-step progression. It filters them to the location they’re searching for, guides them with their needs in mind, and unites them with real solutions.

• And There’s an End-Goal in Mind

For websites, there’s not really an end-goal in mind. Yet, especially for us Clickfunnelers, converting is the destination, every single time. And when you stop to consider it, your audience also has this in mind when they’re shopping. Just take a look at the numbers. A website is like a salesperson that’s not even trying to close the sale, while a sales funnel knows the audience craves it.

• Plus, Sales Funnels are Data-Driven

Websites are mostly made to look nice. Sure, you can hire a UX designer to jazz things up a bit more. And of course, you do want your funnel elements to look nice. But at the same time, unlike a website, every step of a sales funnel can be measured, optimized, streamlined, and so much more. This gives you an incredibly powerful method to peek into exactly where and how you can boost your conversion rates.

Protip: There’s probably one big tip here. When you’re creating and honing funnels, take time out to account for how your audience interacts with every step of your funnel.

ClickFunnels lets you create engaging and professional quality pages for your funnels. With it’s selection of various templates, drag and drop functionality and robust editing features, you’re sure to build quality pages every single time.

2. A Website Simply Has Too Many Calls-to-Action

Really, when a user lands on a website, they’re bombarded with different calls-to-action.

We’ve seen before how important it is to craft a high-converting call-to-action.

Our calls-to-action are the backbone to our conversions.

But imagine yourself coming to a site and being pulled in every direction by a bunch of them.

It’s like being shouted at by a million voices at once.

Why don’t we quell that chatter for our audience?

• A Sales Funnels Cuts the Layers of Overlapping Calls-to-Action

You’ve probably even been to websites that had so many prompts that it was like peeling back the layers of an onion. With each new call-to-action, there seems there’s another and another and another. Instead, the pieces of a sales funnel present the audience with one at a time, in an ordered way that makes sense for their experience.

• And Every Funnel Call-to-Action is Aimed at You

A sales funnel is exactly what it sounds like a funnel. It’s similar to the power of retargeting. As our audience goes through the journey, they branch out and take the path that’s designed for them exclusively. As the funnel gets more narrow, each single call-to-action is a conversion machine aimed right at them and for them specifically. This approach maximizes our conversion possibilities.

• Also, Sales Funnels aren’t Static

Websites are so… boring. Even when they have some nice pictures or some other glitz and glam, it’s not really about movement. But sales funnels are all about the moving forward, progressing, even enjoying the momentum. And it feels good! They’re fun, interesting, and an entire experience that your potential leads enter.

Protip: For our funnels, we want steps that present one message at a time with, ideally, one call-to-action. If you find yourself putting more than one at a time, think about breaking it out into its own piece in your funnel.

ClickFunnels lets you create multiple pages for your funnel with dedicated unique CTAs letting you avoid overcrowding one page with too much CTA. Simply click Add New Step on your funnel editor, determine what kind of page it will be, edit accordingly and you’re good to go!

3. The Majority of Content and Offers on a Website are Untrackable

At the same time, not only are there way too many calls-to-action on most websites, the problem goes even deeper.

In fact, you’ll find that all that content on your website isn’t even tracking anything.

This goes back to what we were saying about funnels being data-driven, but to a whole different degree.

When it comes down to it, all those images and all those little pieces of content… none of it is trackable at all. On the other hand, sales funnels have this aspect under control.

• Sales Funnels are Built on Tracking

You may have heard the age-old 80/20 rule in marketing. And marketers often joke that you’ll never know which 20% of your efforts are producing that 80% of your sales, not really anyway. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth for sales funnels. For every piece of content and every offer, we can break it into a new step, get our audience interacting with it, or tag it to make it trackable. If it’s not working, we can discard it at the drop of a hat.

• And, We Can Adapt Our Funnels Every Single Day

Unlike websites, where you have to wade into a time-consuming project, funnels are remarkably nimble. Because websites are built on more traditional tools and approaches, the content and offers are more difficult to change. And in the high-speed world of marketing, we want flexibility, not stiffness. Want to roll in a text message blast into your funnel? Sounds good. How about an Instagram offer? Let’s make it happen!

• You’re Also Able to Focus Your Audience

I like to think of a website like a poorly designed amusement park that you don’t have a real map for. People tend to feel lost, confused, and often bored. On the flipside, sales funnels are the exact opposite. With each step, we narrow their focus dead center toward our brand. And with each step, we give them an ever bigger, more customized bit of fun and games. Finally, they get to the very best ride in the entire park: purchasing our product or service.

Protip: The lesson here is that stunning simplicity creates focus and boost conversions. Don’t overwhelm your leads, impress them.

ClickFunnels lets you add tracking pixels be it for Google Analytics or Facebook. Simple click Settings > Tracking Code and paste your marketing pixel.

4. Websites are Too Hard to Change If You’re Not a Designer

Or if you’re not a developer, for that matter.

And in many cases, you’ll find that a good developer or designer can be hard to come by.

Pivoting back to our sales funnels, though: we’re the ones at the helm.

In most cases, armed with the Click funnels blog and some additional resources, you’ll also discover you can almost do whatever you like with your funnel.

No complex coding involved.

It’s a wonder that some people have clung to their websites when a better alternative is available.

• With Sales Funnels, You Can Really A/B Test

Since you don’t need a designer or developer, you can test to your heart’s content. What website owner can say that? The best part about sales funnels is that you can A/B test just about every single step too. This allows you to sharpen each piece of your funnel toward the conversion process.

• And You Don’t need to Shell Out Tons of Money

And let’s be honest for a second. Designers and developers aren’t exactly cheap. And often times, the projects aren’t quick either. Especially when you’re just launching your first sales funnels, every bit of revenue should be maximized to the full extent possible.

• You can Skip Lengthy Interviews for Your Sales Funnel

One fact remains true: talking with designers and developers to weed out unqualified candidates takes time. Lots of time. And that time could be better spent elsewhere, like tweaking your sales funnel until it’s a growth engine for you and your brand.

Protip: Now, you might still want to hire a digital assistant or two to aid you in your funneling. And if you decided to do this, these interviews are often quicker and more straightforward.

Create variations for your pages in your funnel and split test. With ClickFunnels, optimising your pages is made easy!

5. A Website Doesn’t Build A List Of Prospects

Potential leads. In marketing, we want to convert as many of them as possible.

Most people know that a website has an audience.

Maybe they even watch their live Google Analytics as people browse their site.

Doing so might be fun, especially for new marketers, but just because you’re getting visitors, doesn’t mean you’re able to use your site to compile a list of prospects.

Instead, these people come, and they go.

You can retarget them a little, but that’s about it.

Cue the defender of our lead conversion strategy: the ever-reliable sales funnel.

• Your Sale Funnel Collects Info and Builds Prospects

With every step giving us more insight into our leads, we’re going beyond traditional marketing. Websites just can compete in this realm. During the funnel process, we’re learning about our leads’ values, desires, and what triggers their actions. Meanwhile, we’re collecting all this information and plenty more.

• You Start Actually Viewing Your Leads as Prospects

An audience is nice, but prospects are better. Sure, you might have something to say, specifically for your content marketing on your blog. But having an audience isn’t the primary purpose. When you shift to using sales funnel exclusively, you start understanding that your leads don’t want to be talked at. Instead, they’re people with the desire to make purchases for their lifestyle.

• With a Funnel, You’re Also Seizing Every Opportunity

If a website has a high bounce rate, people aren’t sticking around very long. And with about 50% of website visitors only visiting a site one time, you’ll start to see just how many opportunities are being completely wasted. Yet, the exact opposite is true for sales funnels. If we recognize an underserved group of leads in our funnel… we branch out our funnel. We don’t let them just pack up and go; we adapt and convert!

Protip: If you aren’t yet centralizing your prospects, now’s the time to start. Your sales funnels will definitely benefit from doing so.

Are you starting to see what I mean? But I’d love to hear from you.

What are the greatest benefits you’re seeing from funnel building?

Thanks for reading 5 Reasons To Replace Your Stock Standard Website With A Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.