Business owners nowadays have realized that they cannot do good business without owning a website. Their online presence helps in marketing their products to the majority of people who access the Internet every day. Coming up with your own business website does not have to cost you that much. You simply need to have a well designed sales funnel template to convert your lead to sales.

Sales Funnel for your Internet Marketing Strategy

If you are familiar with Internet marketing, you are probably aware how difficult it can be to get traffic to your website. Aside from getting traffic, you aim to have a higher conversion rate from your website visitors. You can increase your conversion rate with the use of a sales funnel. This gives website owners the chance to communicate with website visitors who are in one way or another interested with the product they are offering, by sending them regular emails. The emails that your potential clients must receive are some helpful advice, tips that they can use, as well as irresistible offers.

When deciding what product to offer, remember that have to make a careful selection. Choose only products that comes from a known and reliable source. Also, the product has to be one that your website visitor could most likely be looking for. Before you go into selecting your product, it is important that you are able to gain their confidence and you are able to gather their name and email address, and you can do this with the help of a good sales funnel template.

How to Carefully Structure Your Sales Funnel Template

1. Capture Page – Otherwise known as the squeeze page, this page is where website owners need to get a vote of confidence from their website traffic. When they do, they can easily persuade them to have their names and email address listed as part of the mailing list. This page does not necessarily have to be very fancy. All it needs are the necessary elements like the heading, subheading and the email form. The heading must simply have an irresistible offer. The subheading is also something optional to have. Then of course, comes the email form.

Remember that this capture page is not a sales page, so you will not be doing any sales pitch here. It can drive traffic away from your website if you are too eager to make your sales pitch on this page.

2. Purchase Page – This page is where you start doing your sales pitch. After gaining the trust and confidence of your website visitors comes the next important thing, which is the part where you have a one time offer for a product that has to be sold for a reasonable price. It has to be something very affordable, more or less priced at 25 dollars. Putting an affordable product gives you more chances of getting a sale, which will then cover your cost for advertising, shipping and give aways.

3. Downsell – A downsell is your alternative if you cannot get your website visitor to purchase your one time offer. This gives them the option to still avail of your product, but at a lower price. The catch here is that you sell them something that has lesser value, where you remove some product features that you offer to full paying clients.

4. Upsell – An upsell is where you take advantage of the interest of your web visitors who are willing to purchase that one time offer. You can offer the product at a higher value, but it has to have some add ons or would have to be a higher and upgraded version as compared to those who are paying at a regular price.

Website owners need to utilize and upsell or downsell to increase their chances of getting an income. However, they have to do it subtly so as not to annoy their prospective clients.

5. Exit Pop-up Page – If all else fails, you can use an exit pop-up page program. If you are not able to convince your website visitors to opt-in to your mailing list, this pop-up page will redirect them to another website which offers a lower valued product.

6. Thank You Page – Aside from showing how grateful you are to your clients, you can use this page to put up some advertising banners. You may also put some links to affiliate products that are somehow related the product you are selling.

Putting up an Internet marketing campaign can sometimes be frustrating if you are not getting results. Nevertheless, laying out a sales funnel template can increase your chances of not only grabbing traffic, but as well as obtaining more sales for your product.

A lead does not necessarily mean an automatic conversion to sale. This is what most businesses must always keep in mind. A sales funnel can greatly help in skillfully eliminating unqualified leads from your initial list. With the help of a sales funnel software, this process can be done with ease. Although you may opt to do it the traditional way, you will soon realize that you will save a lot of time and money if you take advantage of what a software can do.

Why Must We Use a Sales Funnel

The main purpose of having a sales funnel for your business is to help you in carefully planning the steps that you will need to undertake as you try to capture the attention of a potential customer and eventually convince them to finalize a purchase. Before you purchase your very own sales funnel software, try to evaluate it if it can really help you as you try to sort out qualified leads from your big pool of interested customers.

The sales funnel helps marketers to be more aware of the needs of the potential clients. As they become more aware of their needs, they are able to clearly identify who will qualify for a sale. This means a higher conversion rate.

Some Benefits

Having an Organized Sales Process

The most important thing for most business investors is knowing whether or not they will have a quick return of investment. The sales funnel can help them evaluate how soon they will be able to get an ROI. Several interested customers may look at your very interesting product. However, not all of them are interested to make a purchase. Ideally, you would want to know who among them are inclined to purchase the product. You then need to make use of your software to help you out. Once you have that master list, you only pursue those who will most likely help you increase your sales.

If you are the type of person who is always on the go, a software may also be available for mobile phones. This way you are still able to communicate and discuss with your sales and marketing team even when you are not together physically.

The Sales Process Becomes Predictable

A software can help in calculating systematically your call for actions which will greatly improve your chances of getting more sales. You are then able to eliminate some risky actions along the way, and you get a feel of what to expect in the future. You are then able to make decisions that will only benefit your business.

Getting Ahead of Your Competitors

When you work with a team, it is important that you provide them with all necessary information so they can start working on your qualified leads. At times when your marketing and sales team may have conflicting ideas, the software will be there to put their ideas together and align it to eventually help out in producing more sales. When this happens, you get more time spent productively and more chances for your entire team to obtain more qualified leads. This is something your competitors have to look out for.

Tracking Your Leads Along the Way

As your leads go through the sales funnel, you slowly evaluate their behavior and take advantage of whatever opportunity is available. Your software can help as you make modifications down the funnel to make it more suitable for your leads. Feel free to add or eliminate some stages.

Acquire More Information About Your Leads

These days, businesses utilize social media in acquiring more information about the behavior of their leads. As you have the right tools to use, you get more chances to close a deal with your leads. Just keep in mind there are several avenues online where these leads may have stumbled upon the product that you are offering.

Some Things to Consider Before You Use a Software

A sales funnel software cannot work automatically for you. If you wish you use it, you need to have a plan at hand on how you will be going through your sales funnel. The software can assist you when you need to do some tracking, calculation and making revisions on the funnel. However, it cannot provide you with all the information you may need. You will need to decide what goes into your funnel and analyze the reaction of your leads react as they go down the funnel.

While looking for a sales funnel definition, you may come across several terms. Some terms that you may encounter along the way are: marketing funnel, purchase funnel or sales pipeline. They all basically follow the same principle just like the sales funnel. The system that a sales funnel follows looks like an inverted pyramid, but without the sharp edge at the bottom. Instead, it has a narrow stem.

What the sales funnel illustrates is the journey of a customer from the moment it discovers your website to the point where it is about to make a purchase. Internet marketing experts utilize this funnel to help them convert a lead into sales.

An Explanation of the Shape of a Sales Funnel

One cannot completely comprehend a sales funnel definition without having a clear understanding why the diagram is shaped like a funnel. While marketing managers are still free to create a sales flowchart using the traditional linear chart, they will soon find the sales funnel is much more simple. With its cone shaped diagram, the process is more clear-cut and each stage has a definite flow.

In comparison, a traditional linear chart is composed of a flowchart that has several stages while in a funnel, the top part of the funnel flows to the next stage when it is done serving its purpose. The funnel also does not make use of arrows which points out the next step in the process.

Nevertheless the sales funnel design has also revolutionized in such a way that it now gives importance to social media as part of the marketing process. Social media has indeed changed the way businesses reach out to their potential customers online.

The so called “leads” are placed on the top of the funnel and it goes down to the bottom which is when the sales transaction takes place. The middle part of the funnel can have a variety of factors included, and this will all depend on the size and the strategy taken upon by the business. The idea of having this funnel is to take advantage of the opportunity of having a sale. After finding several leads, comes the part where you need to sift out those who are just looking around and retain customers who are really interested in buying. As you continue to categorize down the funnel, it becomes easier to focus on the needs of the target market.

Steps to Undertake in Creating a Sales Funnel

Thorough research and critical thinking is needed in coming up with a sales funnel for your business. As you gather some important data to help in strategizing the parts of your funnel, consider the guideline below in structuring an effective sales funnel.

• Begin at the Top – The most critical decision one needs to do is what goes on the top of the funnel. It is usually the leads or prospects that must be situated in the wider area of the funnel. These leads are sometimes called awareness. Nevertheless, the only goal here is to draw the attention of people who know nothing about your product.
• Selecting the Qualified Leads from Your Prospects – With a little research and tracking of your list of prospects, you can identify qualified leads. Sending relevant content, tracking a person’s activity, putting in changes when needed, and allowing more time for observing leads has been proven to help in selecting the most qualified prospects that will most likely convert to a closed deal.
• Marketing Strategies and Some Potential Risks – This part of the process involves evaluating the risks in obtaining leads and converting to sales. This is the point where you prepare the leads you have obtained for committing into buying your product. This must be the area in your funnel where you have sifted out those who are still indecisive about buying.
• Sealing the Deal Carefully – The moment your qualified leads show they are keen on buying your product, give them an offer to help preserve their interests. Make sure that you take out any factor that might distract them and prevent them from proceeding down the funnel.
• Structuring Improved Strategies After the Purchase – As you may know by now, a sales funnel definition does not necessarily make people aware that there is a cycle involved. One does not stop when the transaction is sealed. Once a deal is sealed, there could be more room for improvement and there could be parts of the funnel that needs to be replaced, removed or added to make it work better.

A sales funnel blueprint is essential for most online businesses to get a boost in sales. If you own a business, you need to know that you cannot begin to expect to have sales if you have not done anything to get people to visit your website. Whether these visitors are just checking you out or are already interested with your products, you need to have a plan for them. This is why you need to have a carefully structured sales funnel.

Components of Your Sales Funnel Blueprint

There are some businesses who may find it difficult to acquire their very first sale. It can really be frustrating, but the truth is, they just need to start generating leads and everything will just follow. To further explain this, below are the essential components of a sales funnel:

• Compelling Capture Page – The capture page is the first page that your leads will see as they land on your website. Make sure that this will make a lasting impression on them. Never put too much on this page. If you think that you can catch the attention of people by making this page too fancy, you are wrong. As in this case, simplicity is the key. However, you must take advantage of the fact that these people are visiting your page and are interested with your product in one way or another. Have them sign up for your opt-in mailing list.

The most effective way of convincing these leads to sign up for your mailing list is by presenting with an offer that is too good to ignore. Make sure that you must not begin doing your sales pitch at this stage.

• One Time Offer – As you get the list of names and email addresses of your leads, you start doing some business by presenting a one time offer. This OTO does not have to be a very exceptional product, your main concern is to be able to provide them with an offer that would simply provide solutions to their problems.

Sometimes, business owners make a very big mistake when they present their OTOs. They tend to be too pushy that it can become irritating to their leads. If this happens, you tend to loose your possible customers.

• Registration Page – On the registration page, you can get to classify your leads. This is where you see who amongst them are just stopping by to look at your products and who are those who are ready to make a purchase. At this stage, you need to start tracking the activity of your leads and take advantage of whatever opportunity you see to offer them your products or services. This part of your sales funnel blueprint will determine how many sales you will most likely make from your leads.

• Downloads Page – The downloads page is the page where your product is available for download. This is the page that your qualified leads will be brought to after signing up for your one time offer. This may also be where they make payments and eventually have access to your product. This page can also be utilized for advertising other products that you may be offering. Just make sure these products are somehow related to the product that your leads are purchasing. Otherwise, they will not really be interested to check it out.

• Email Marketing – Your leads become a part of your emailing list once they grab your one time offer and provide you with their names and email addresses. Sending these emails are done through a system. It would be very time consuming if you manually send emails to your long list of leads. If you do not know how to put up this system, you can sign up for paid services that can setup the program for you.

• Constant Updates – As long as your leads do not unsubscribe to your mailing list, you can regularly send them emails to keep them updated with your latest products. Those leads who have remained in your mailing list, but have not actually purchased any of your products, may still be convinced to finally purchase the products you offer through these emails.

If you should find it too difficult to structure your sales funnel blueprint, you can hire someone to do it for you. However, make sure that you are willing to learn the process. This way, you save on your investment the next time you need to make another blueprint for another product that you may need to work on.

Entrepreneurs are sometimes too scared to invest in a business primarily because they feel they do not know much about marketing their product. However, there are many ways to learn stuff over the Internet, and if you are really keen on starting and succeeding in a business, you will find all possible ways to do so. As you begin your research, you will encounter stuff like the need to have your own sales funnel. Don’t fret if you do not know how to create a sales funnel, or much less know what a sales funnel is. We will actually discuss it here.

Straightforward Explanation of a Sales Funnel

Sales funnels are basically used by most entrepreneurs to help them get a boost in sales. How it basically works is quite simple. If you are familiar with a funnel, then you know pretty much why it is needed for transferring liquids. Without it, transferring from one container to another can be really messy. Add to that, the spilled liquid goes to waste.

The same principle is used in a sales funnel. You utilize the funnel to capture all the leads that visit your websites and try as much as you can to let them stay there and hope that as they stay longer in your website, you would be able to convince them to purchase your product.

The sales funnel consists of different stages, and they are designed specifically based on how website visitors would react to the product offered as they go down the funnel. Products are offered in a subtle manner, so as not to discourage or drive potential customers away. The bottom of the sales funnel is where the actual sale takes place. Remember though, that even with a sales funnel, you will not be able to bring down all your leads to the bottom of the funnel. Nevertheless, you must not lose hope, as there are still other ways that you can use as a fallback and hopefully influence them to have a second look at your website.

You Can Learn How To Create a Sales Funnel

Now that you know why you need a sales funnel, the next step you need to undertake is to create one for your business. With this in place, your business will surely get the boost it needs. If you do not have a background with Internet marketing, you will need to start learning it, as well as learn how to create your own sales funnel too. Experts believe that if you want to have an edge over your competitors, your best bet is to have a well structured sales funnel. According to them, the products must be presented in such a way that you start with your cheapest product first, then gradually moving on to more expensive products down the funnel.

How to Gain The Trust of Your Customers

The main problem most people usually encounter online is getting ripped off. This is why people nowadays are more cautious about making online purchases. Not all businesses owners are scammers though. There are those who seriously deliver products that the customers pay for. This is why you need a sales funnel. Since your soon-to-be customers will first look around and see if you have products that they must seriously consider.

One thing that you can do is to offer a freebie. This can be one of your products or an ebook that your website visitors would find useful or interesting. Once they grab the opportunity of obtaining the freebies that you are offering, it is your green light to begin offering them with a really cheap product that they might be interested to purchase. Do not forget that you also have options to offer an upsell or downsell, depending on how they react to the products that you are offering.

There is definitely nothing wrong about aiming high and wishing to get numerous sales for your product. Just remember that you need to be sensitive about the needs of your customers. If you know what they need, then you give it to them. After all, they dropped by your website because they think that you have something that they need in the first place.

These days, we always have the option of doing things by ourselves or having it done for us. In the world of Internet marketing, there are those who invest their money in a business, yet they are not capable of structuring their own sale funnel. The good news is, there are experts on this field and you can pay them for a done for you sales funnel.

Take note, however, that as the owner of the business, it is still your responsibility to drive traffic to your website. If you do not know how to do it, try to check with the services that you are availing as it may include some lessons on getting traffic to your website. For now, we will discuss some crucial steps in the process of creating a sales funnel.

Basic Steps You May Encounter When You Get a Done for You Sales Funnel

1. Provide Them With Pertinent Data

There are many professionals who will offer this service for you. After you have made up your mind as to who to hire, you will have to work together with the sales funnel expert and discuss what your business needs. You may be required to provide some data. You will have control over how you want the project to go, and you will be discussing this with the provider you chose.

2. Deciding on a Package Suitable for Your Needs

Your needs may be different from the needs of other businesses. Hence, these providers offer different packages and it is up to you to select which one suits you best. If you still need to decide on a brand name, you can seek the help of a sales funnel expert. As for the price of these packages, it totally depends on the time that you are willing to work on your business. If you have more time to work on it, then the lesser time you will require from these experts, which means you will have to pay less. Less time for you and more time for them will mean you have to pay a higher price for their services.

3. Execution of the Plan

Once you have your plan approved, the experts will be ready to immediately execute it. A trained project manager may be assigned to you. Being the owner of the website, you have the responsibility to provide the team with any feedback that they may need during the execution phase. You can either participate while the team goes through the phases in the plan, or just sit back and wait for the results. Most business owners prefer to actively participate, that way they can immediately make revisions when they feel something is not going according to plan.

4. Putting up Other Pages

The first page that needs to be done is the squeeze page. When this is ready, the team will have to start working on the other parts of the funnel. These would include the One Time Offers, promotional videos, email setup, download page and bonuses. More pages can be added depending on how things will work out.

5. Preparing the Sales Funnel

You have the option of doing it yourself or providing the sales funnel expert you hired with access to your own website. It depends on how much trust you have for them. There is nothing to worry as you can change your login details anytime when they are done working with your website. When everything has been setup, you will have to try it for yourself and put the sales funnel to the test. This will ensure that everything is laid out smoothly.

6. After-Sales Service

In order to keep up with their competitors, most sales funnel experts offer free additional support. Check if your provider offers after-sales service. This is very crucial as you may need their help if you should encounter any problems along the way.

The basic steps we have discussed here for a done for your sales funnel may not be the same process that will be followed by the sales expert you decide to hire. These are just mere guidelines. It is then best that you discuss first with your prospect before you decide to hire them. Compare the services that they can offer with others who are offering the same services. This way you know that you are investing on something worthwhile.