Search This Blog

24 May 2013

Creating a Sales Funnel for Your Online Business

By James Kupe


You've probably spent hours and hundreds of dollars into creating and perfecting your sales page, and providing your website with a good traffic source. Sales are coming in and you feel satisfied, though you feel as if you might be missing a very important step. This crucial step is the ability to start a conversation with people who are interested in your products or services.

The best way to sell anything is to ask people exactly what they want, and then turn around and sell it to them. A list of prospects and customers will let you do that far more easily than if you rely purely on website traffic to get the job done.

On web pages you have visited, you've most likely seen an area on the site where you can get a free gift or tips for signing up to a mailing list. This list is the start of that website's sales funnel. You can also start to gather the contact information of those who are interested in your business onto an email list, and then convert them into buyers.

The funnel part of it comes from the fact that you'll start out with a ton of potential people visiting your site the first time, then a small part of that group will visit the site more often, a smaller part of the readers group will sign up to your mailing list, and some of the people on that mailing list will become buyers.

There are three common mistakes online business owners generally make with their mailing lists.

Mistake #1: Only messaging clients when there is a product or service to sell. Clients will immediately unsubscribe if all you are doing is trying to sell them something.

Mistake #2: Advertising another company often. You may have heard of solo ads, which is the act of having someone with a huge mailing list advertise a service. Try to avoid advertising someone else's business, as clients generally view this as a waste of an email.

Mistake 3: Not replying to comments or questions. If somebody has a question or wants more information about something, you should reply to that enquiry as soon as you can. You know yourself, if you're on somebody's list and you ask a question without getting a response back, you'll probably unsubscribe from that list and make a mental note to not purchase anything from that company.

If you want to have a successful sales funnel, you're going to have to stand out from your competitors. It's actually very simple to do, though it can require quite a bit of effort. If your business is offering a service, you could give your clients a free eBook explaining exactly how your service will help them solve the main problem they are facing.

Free trials, video courses, discounts, reports, tips, and emails that ask for a client's input are always the best content to send out. Doing this will show clients that you care about them, which will make them stay loyal to your business and buy products more often when you make an offer.




About the Author:



No comments: