Let’s get some things straight right away. When you start an online business,just as in any other business, there’s something you undoubtedly must have – customers.
The sales funnel is the most important thing you’ll need in building any business online. Without it, you won’t sell anything.
Which is why I created this video.
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The purpose of the sales funnel is to generate leads so that you can sell in the future, not necessarily now. Check out How to Get 1 Lead a Day for Your Business.
If we have that covered, I’ll now dive into how to build a sales funnel that’ll bring in more leads.
What’s a sales funnel anyway?
You should first understand the concept of sales funnel. In short, it’s the mechanism by which you build an online business, and arguably any business.
There are 3 components of the sales funnel:
- Capture Page
- Autoresponder
- Thank You/Sales Page
You want to get people interested in your business, right? That’s why you need the capture page.
Stop there for a moment. Most people won’t buy onthe first contact.
You’ll have to continue to follow up with them. In the offline world, you would use direct mail, birthday cards, Christmas cards, and similar types of things for that. In the online world, this is an autoresponder.
Finally, there is a Thank You/Sales Page, the place where you make your first offer to people. Don’t worry if they don’t buy now. You’ve already captured their information in the autoresponder so thatyou can follow them up later.
Let’s go over these 3 components.
The Capture Page
The most important aspect of your sales funnel is the capture page, also known as the squeeze page.
If customers bounce once they get on your website, you have nothing going into your sales funnel.
Your Capture Page must have these 3 components:
- Compelling Headline
- Call to Action
- Opt-in Form
Without a compelling headline your online business is shot to hell.
If you have troubles writing headlines, check out this 5 Winning Headline Formulas.
Once you capture people’s interest with an effective headline, you also have to compel them to want to give you their information. You’re going to need a powerful call to action for that.
Finally, you need to have the opt-in form. The whole point of the capture page is to give away something. This is called the Lead Magnet or Bribe. If you haven’t done it already, check out How to Create a Killer Lead Magnet for Your Blog.
The opt-in form puts in people’s minds the idea that you’ve given them free information before they even gave you anything. That way people will trust you and be more likely to share their contact information with you. Win-win situation.
Basically, let people get something before they give you something, and then give them more after they’ve opted-in.
The Autoresponder
Remember what I said about the importance of having the autoresponder ? Once you have it, your leads are automatically added to a list, where you’re now able to follow them up.
The Autoresponder comes in handy in building a relationship with leads who don’t buy on the first contact.
It’s also a mechanism with which you can deliver more training if you have a lead magnet that needs to be delivered by email.
Thank You/Sales Page
The Thank You/Sales Page is the place where you’re going to thank people for opting in and offer them the opportunity to buy something from you.
Assuming that you provided the valuable information before they opted in to your list, they will more likely buy from you.
But even if they don’t, you can follow them up and make a sale in the future.
Let me summarize it all quickly.
Write a compelling headline that sends people to the capture page opt-in form.
The information they put in there goes into your autoresponder, which allows you to follow up.
On the Thank You page you can introduce yourself, let them know that your video’s on the way, present your lead magnet, set expectations. The possibilities are endless.
Now you know. What more are you waiting for? Build your sales funnel today, and start generating leads tomorrow!
My Mission: To Bring as Many Moms Back Home, Earning a Living Online and Living the Freedom Lifestyle!
