I served in the Army for four years, and the ingredients for success were simple: be in the proper place, at the proper time, and in the proper uniform.

If I did those three things (plus my job of course) … I would stand out from my peers. Believe it or not – most people can't do those three simple things.

Anyway, to bring this around to marketing, here's a quote by Jim Yu, CEO BrightEdge:

“The key is to present the right content to the right users at the time they need it in an engaging manner.”

Same freakin' concept as my Army days: right content, right users, and at the right time.

Three simple ingredients to standing out from the crowd and being successful.

And, you guessed it – most people and businesses can't do those three simple things.

You'll be able to after reading this article!

Where Does This Email Autoresponder Sequence Go?

The overall concept for this autoresponder sequence is to send a variety of content to our list in an attempt to figure out what each individual is interested in.

Everyone on our list is different. Some are young, some are old, some are single, some are married, some are employees, some are employers, some want to learn and do, while others want you to do it for them.

If you offer a variety of products and services, your list is going to be an even larger hodgepodge; having a system, like I'm about to show you, in place is a requirement.

By gauging interests, we're able to send more relevant and engaging content that ultimately results in more sales.

The left hand side (Straight Line Sales Funnel / Main Series) of the diagram below shows you where this autoresponder series resides:

As you see, it goes in a straight line, one email after the other, while simultaneously tracking how individuals interact with particular emails.

For example, if I send an email on the topic of Facebook ads, and the individual clicks the link to the article, I can assume they're interested in Facebook ads. From there, I can pause the “Straight Line Sales Funnel” (interest gauging series), and automatically enter the subscriber into a Micro Sales Funnel (Product/Service Sales Funnel) where I go into more detail about Facebook ads and make an offer or two.

• Related Course: The ActiveCampaign & Interest Driven Sales Funnels Course

Email Autoresponder Sequence: Weekly “Pushes”

While there are many ways to structure your interest gauging autoresponder series, I'm going to give you a framework that works very well.

I call this framework “Weekly ‘Pushes'”.

Why? Because every week you're trying to sell (push) a different product or service to your list.

Instead of making random offers and sending random emails depending on your mood, you spend an entire week on the same topic. This gives people more opportunity to see what you're offering and act, while not being overbearing and “burning” them out.

The Weekly “Pushes” Framework

The goal of this framework is to get the person on the sales page. If the individual views the sales page, we know they're interested in what we have to offer.

Step 1: Pick a widget to sell.

Step 2: Follow the pattern below for that single widget.

• Pattern: 3 and 2 (M, T, W, F, S)

Send 4 to 5 emails on the same topic, for the same widget, during each “push”. In general, it's good to break up these emails to give people a little time to react, rather than bombarding them every day. For this reason, I recommend sending 3 daily emails, take a day off, send 2 more daily emails, take a day off, and then repeat with a new “push”.

• Email 1: Fun/personal story
  • Relate to widget
  • PS goes to sales page

People connect with stories. People enjoy stories. We want people to both connect with us and enjoy hearing from us, which is why we must share a story! Now, it doesn't necessarily have to be a personal story; you can share a success story from a client or customer or even a well known individual, like a celebrity, just shared in a different light.

At the end of the story, close out (soft sell) with a simple PS line that takes them to the sales page where they can learn more, if they wish.

• Email 2: Promotion of widget
  • Use a marketing formula: Problem-Agitate-Solve, Feature-Benefits-Advantages, Before-After-Bridge
  • CTA goes directly to the sales page – “Click Here To Buy”

While stories are great and help us connect, sometimes a good old fashioned sales letter converts best … especially when they have the story from the previous email rolling around in their head! In this 2nd email, pitch your widget. You can use a marketing formula to help structure your message or do whatever you think is best.

The call-to-action should be straight forward and to the point with no mystery behind it, “If you're interested in this widget, click here”. (How much more “interest gauging” can you get?! If the person clicks that link, we know they're interested in our offer and they'll enter one of our Micro Sales Funnels.)

• Emails 3-4: Content on topic of widget
  • Link to a blog post that's entertaining and/or educational
  • Include CTAs in both the PS line of the email and within the article itself which go to your widget's sales page

After sharing a story and a “hard” pitch, it's time to ease back a little bit and just share some more information with them. Send links to articles, videos, and other resources they'll find helpful, interesting, and entertaining on the same topic as the widget you're trying to sell.

Include links to your widget's sales page in your email PS line and throughout the particular article so they can easily navigate to the sales page, if they're interested in learning more.

• Email 5: Content OR Promotion (discount)

Email 5 is optional. If the individual hasn't visited your sales page after 4 emails on the same topic for the same widget … they may simply not be interested in that offer. So, use some discretion here. If you feel like this 5th email is “too much”, don't use it.

If you do use Email 5, you can send another piece of content like emails 3 & 4 OR you can make a last-ditch effort to sell your widget by sending another “hard” sales email and/or by offering a discount.

That is the Weekly “Pushes” framework! Rinse and repeat with a new product the following week!

Getting Content To Send

The Weekly “Pushes” framework requires you to send a fair amount of content, sometimes 3 pieces a week.

This can be a lot, especially for a small business or a new business that hasn't started producing copious amounts of content.

It's OK, there's a way you can share other people's content and STILL bring people back to your site.

You can do this by using a tool that adds a bar, bubble, slide-in, popup, etc. to any link you recommend.

There are a handful of tools that allow you to do this, but my favorite is snip.ly.

And, here's an example.

They teach you how to use the tool on their site. It's certainly handy and can make up those content “gaps” until you get your own stuff produced!

Conclusion

The way to stand out to your subscribers, leads, and customers is simple…

“The key is to present the right content to the right users at the time they need it in an engaging manner.” – Jim Yu, CEO BrightEdge

By using frameworks like the Weekly “Pushes” outlined above, figuring out what people are interested in becomes a piece of cake that can be automated!

Ready to take it to the next level and learn several other frameworks for gauging interest?

Click here to check out The Vault!

Most people have a love/hate relationship with opt-in forms.

As a visitor to a website, they can be incredibly annoying … especially when they keep popping over what you're trying to read.

But, as the site owner, we know those pop-up opt-in forms tend to work. So, we keep showing them.

This creates an interesting dichotomy, but that's beyond the scope of this particular article.

In this article we'll talk about opt-in form tools, triggers, and types.

Related Course: How To Build Opt-in Forms And Landing Pages That Convert

Opt-in Form Tools

You really only need one opt-in form tool and the one you use is determined by your platform.

WordPress | Thrive Leads

If your website is powered by WordPress, the best opt-in form plugin you can grab is Thrive Leads.

Why? It's incredibly powerful.

It allows you to build any type of opt-in form you can imagine, conduct split tests, page targeting, and beyond.

Click here to check out their sales page and to learn more about their features.

Any Other Platform | OptinMonster

If your website is powered by anything other than WordPress (ie. Shopify, Big Commerce, custom coded, etc.), the best opt-in form tool you can grab is OptinMonster.

It's essentially just like ThriveLeads; however, it can work anywhere … which is great for sites that aren't powered by WordPress!

Click here to check out their sales page and to learn more about their features.

Note: Since OptinMonster works anywhere, it will work on WordPress too. If you run sites on multiple platforms, it would be best to just get OptinMonster.

Display Triggers

Both, Thrive Leads and OptinMonster have very similar triggers. While the particular name of the trigger may change – SmartExit+ vs. Exit Intent Technology – the general function of the trigger remains the same (ie. display upon exit).

Below are the four triggers functions both opt-in tools offer.

Timed Triggers

From immediately to 30 seconds or more, you can choose when your opt-in form shows itself.

If you don't have a reason to have your opt-in form display immediately, a good rule of thumb is to give the visitor about 10 seconds to get into your material before greeting them with the opt-in form.

Exit Triggers

An exit trigger can only occur on desktop and it's when a visitor's cursor leaves the browser window.

Typically, the only reason the cursor would leave the browser window is because they're about to hit the “back” button or navigate off your site.

As a last-ditch effort, you can display an opt-in form to try and collect the visitor's contact information.

Click Triggers

Click triggers are really popular because they show intent, which typically leads to much higher conversion rates.

Instead of blindly displaying an opt-in form after 10 seconds, a click triggered opt-in form is displayed after an individual clicks a link, button, or image.

Scroll Triggers

Scroll triggers are used to display opt-in forms after an individual has scrolled down a percentage of a page or past a certain point.

For example, you could have an opt-in form display after the visitor has scrolled down 75% of the page. Ideally, this means they've read 75% of the page, are therefore highly interested in what you're talking about, and more apt to opt-in.

Types Of Opt-In Forms

Pop-up LightBox

The “classic” opt-in form.

Although they're kind of annoying, you see this type of opt-in form everywhere … because they work!

A few months ago, LeadPages launched their drag & drop builder.

It's a fine tool, granted they should have had a page builder eons ago instead of forcing people to cram their marketing messages into pre-built templates … but, that's a moot point.

They have a page builder now and it lacks one core feature – the ability to conduct split tests.

This post will show you how to split test the pages you build using the LeadPages' page builder.

Related article: How to build your own landing page platform

Step #1: Build Your Pages

You need at least 3 pages in order to properly conduct a split/multivariate test:

1. Version A (Original)
2. Version B (Variation 1)
3. Thank You Page

Both, versions need to “land” on the same Thank You Page upon successful opt-in.

If you don't have these pages built already, build them now.

Step #2: Add Google Analytics To Pages

If you don't have a Google Analytics account already – go get one.

Now, snag your Google Analytics tracking code. You can find it under “Property”, “Tracking Info”, and “Tracking Code”.

It looks like this:

Head over to LeadPages and open one of your three pages in the editor.

On the left hand side,  click the option for “SEO & Analytics”, then select the “Analytics” tab.

In the “Head Section Tracking Code” text box, paste in your Google Analytics tracking code:

Don't forget to save your changes and click “Update”!

Add the Google Analytics code to the rest of your pages.

Step #3: Create A Goal In Google Analytics

In order for Google Analytics to keep track of your split test, you need to tell it what your goal is.

In the case of squeeze pages, the goal is usually the Thank You Page; the only way for someone to land on a Thank You Page is by opting in.

So, you need to tell Google Analytics that a goal is reached when someone lands on your Thank You Page.

In your Google Analytics account, navigate to your “View”, select “Goals”, and “New Goal”:

Under “Goal setup”, select “Custom”, then click “Continue”:

Name your goal, leave “Goal slot ID” alone, select “Destination” for Type, then click Continue:

For “Destination” choose “Begins with” and enter the path to your Thank You Page. Leave “Value” and “Funnel” off and click “Save”:

Great! Your goal is setup.

Step #4: Start A Google Experiment

It's now time to setup an “Experiment” in Google Analytics to test which landing page results in the best conversion rate.

In Google Analytics, click the “Reporting” tab, then “Behavior”, and “Experiments”:

Click the “Create experiment” button.

Name your experiment, select the goal you just created, and select 100% of traffic to experiment.

Open the “Advanced Options” area and turn on “Distribute traffic evenly”, minimum of 2 weeks, and 95% confidence threshold.

Note: You don't have to select the settings I mentioned above if you'd prefer others. There are reasons to have different settings; however, if you're unsure why you'd want different settings … just follow what I've laid out.

Click “Next Step”:

Insert the URLs to the Original and Variant(s).

At this point, it doesn't matter which page you want to consider the “Original” – you could even rename them to Versions A & B if you want. However, on the next step, you'll have to add some extra code to whichever page you considered the “Original” – so, keep track.

Google Analytics will also pull in screenshots of your landing pages to help you verify you have entered the correct URLs.

Click “Next Step”:

Select “Manually insert the code”, copy the code, and head back over to LeadPages to edit whichever page you told Google Experiments was the “Original”:

Navigate to where you pasted the Google Analytics code (On the left hand side,  click the option for “SEO & Analytics”, then select the “Analytics” tab.)

Paste the Experiment code ABOVE the analytics code:

Don't forget to save and update!

Go back to Google Analytics and “Review and start”. You'll want to validate your experiment code and get 2 check marks:

If you don't see 2 check marks, Google Analytics will tell you why there's an issue. For example, “Can't find Experiment code” – in which case, you need to make sure the code is on your “Original” page and that you've both saved and updated the page.

Once you have 2 check marks, click “Start Experiment”:

Step #5: Send Traffic!

Now that the experiment is setup, it's time to send tons of traffic to your “Original” landing page! (the one you told Google Experiments was your “Original” and the one you added the extra experiment code to.)

Google Analytics/Experiments will automatically send half your visitors to the “Original” page and half to the variation. (unless you selected different options during the setup, in which case, it'll spread traffic how you told it to)

Now sit back and collect data to see which one is the winner!

As you can see in the example above, Variant 1 is performing 69.57% better than the original, awesome! Of course, the experiment isn't over yet because the statistical significance (probability of outperforming original) hasn't been met yet … but, it appears the new version is performing well!

Conclusion

This same split testing concept can be applied to more pages and platforms than just LeadPages!

For example, here's a video of the same concept being applied to OptimizePress.

Click here to learn how to build your own landing page platform with OptimizePress!

A sales funnel is a complex beast with lots of moving parts. Strategy, tactics, and technical expertise are required in order to “make it work” well.

1. You have to get the right people into your sales funnel, at the lowest possible cost, through advertising and copious amounts of split tests.
2. You have to convert those leads into paying customers by forming some kind of relationship or making offers in a way that really “connects” with them.
3. You then have to focus on keeping your customers coming back again, and again, and again.

Obviously, a lot goes into all three of those areas …

However, don't let the complexity scare you because there are things you can do TODAY to dramatically improve your revenue.

Imagine making a few tweaks to your checkout process that could 2X, 3X, 4X+ your customers' order size!

That would be nice, wouldn't it?

So, what are these tweaks?

Well, that's what this article is all about!

1) Pricing Tiers, Packages, & Bundles

Pricing tiers, packages, and bundles are great ways to increase a customers' order size.

By using a bit of pricing psychology, you're able to present offers in a way that appear “too good to be true” while simultaneously increasing the amount of money a customer is about to hand you.

Take a look at this example from a2Hosting:

The “Swift” package is a no-brainer … for less than a $1/mo more you get unlimited everything.

Why would anyone turn that down? No one would.

How about the “Turbo” package? It's nearly twice as much as the “Swift” package; however, it offers 20X faster speeds and the A2 Site Accelerator!

We all know speed is important and it's still less than $10/mo … so, I might as well swing it, right?

Here's an example of a bundle of physical products:

If you're doing laundry, you typically need detergent, dryer sheets, and maybe a little fabric softener every now and then!

Plus, if you purchased these items individually, it would cost roughly 30% more which makes the bundle a no-brainer!

2) 1-Click Up-Sells

A 1-click up-sell is an offer presented immediately AFTER the customer has purchased something.

This makes the 1-click up-sell incredibly powerful because the individual has already inserted their payment information and all it takes is “1 click” to add another product/service to their order.

Here's an example:

This is the page and offer an individual is presented with immediately after purchasing a survival folding knife.

The individual is already in the mindset of “I need survival gear” and has already purchased one item, so when they're presented with another item that's discounted no-less, it's a no-brainer!

• Related Course: The Ultimate ClickFunnels Course

3) Order Bump

The infamous “order bump” has risen in popularity over the last year or so due to the fact it works!

It's so simple too, which makes it a no-brainer to implement.

Here's an example of an order bump:

It's simply an additional, complementary offer made at checkout.

That's it!

The customer only has to tick a little box to add the product or service to their order.

It's actually quite similar to the 1-click up-sell; however, it's made right before the purchase as opposed to immediately after … but, they're both 1-click!

The Order Bump is typically easier to implement than the 1-click up-sell. If you're having a hard time figuring out a way to do the 1-click up-sell, try searching for a way to add an order bump to your checkout process!

4) Subscriptions

If you offer a product or service that needs to be replenished – offering a subscription can be a great way to increase order size because it will automatically keep the customer coming back for more!

Here's an example of a subscription from the Youpreneur membership site:

In order to stay a member of the community, you're charged $59/mo or $599/yr (a bundle!).

Also note that the yearly subscription is incentivized by offering the equivalent of 3 months free, a free t-shirt, and discounted rates to live events!

Here's another subscription example:

Each container of the supplement contains 30 servings, which makes the “Repeat Delivery Every 30 Days” option incredibly tempting because I won't have to remember to go order more and by offering an extra 5% off, it becomes a no-brainer.

5) Order Bonuses & Rewards

Ever been shopping online and seen a message like this:

“Spend just $5.91 more and get free shipping!”

Or …

These are order bonuses/rewards used to entice customers to increase their order size in order to receive the incentive!

These are typically super simple to implement and freakin' work!

How To Implement

Implementing these various tweaks is not as hard as you might think.

For example, offering a package/bundle is as simple as bundling products/services you already offer.

Other options, like the 1-click up-sell, will depend on your platform. A quick Google search will likely yield some answers.

Conduct searches like

Being able to develop beautiful, mobile responsive, high converting landing pages on the fly is a necessary part of online marketing.

There are a bunch of tools to help you do this; however, they tend to be overpriced, limited, overrated, and unnecessary.

In this step-by-step tutorial, I show you how to setup your own, self-hosted, landing page platform that you 100% own and control!

>> Click here to download this post in PDF format

BONUS!

I just turned this blog post into a free video course on YouTube and I also put together a part 2 that can be found here!

Comparison Chart

As previously stated, there are tons of landing page builders on the market and each one has its own list of benefits and features that make it “unique”; however, at the end of they day they all solve the same problem – help you easily create great looking pages.

Below you'll find a breakdown of the setup I'm about to show you compared to its closest competition.

* Probably Less – 9 times out of 10, you likely have a host already and won't require a new one; if so,  you can subtract $164.58 from the price mentioned above, bringing the new annual price to $117.

** ALSO! – The renewal fee for OptimizePress drops from $97/yr to $39/yr after the first year – so, you can likely run this for less than $100/year!

Step #1: Domain, Hosting, and SSL

Domain

You'll want your self-hosted landing page platform on its own domain because you're going to streamline it for one thing and one thing only – building landing pages.

This way you don't accidentally bloat it with a bunch of unnecessary files and plugins that will slow down your site.

You want this baby fast!

When it comes to choosing a domain, I recommend something generic – especially if you'll have landing pages for different businesses, niches, or industries.

For example, I wouldn't want NathansGardening.com and then to create a landing page for fitness because this will cause inconsistencies; people will get confused.

I also recommend avoiding the words  “marketing” or “sales” (or anything similar) in the domain as it may “scare” some people off.

My top trick for picking a generic domain is to pick a word or name and attach “media” at the end.

For example:

• crazyeyemedia.com
• williamsmedia.com
• framedmedia.com

Those could mean anything and aren't niche specific.

When it comes to registering your domain, I recommend NameCheap.

They offer a very clean domain registration process unlike GoDaddy that tries to up-sell you on a bunch of “protection” you don't need.

If you use NameCheap, I recommend checking out http://www.namecheapcoupons.com/ before you buy; they usually have a coupon that'll save ya a buck!

Anyway, the domain registration process is pretty straightforward and I think you can handle it without a bunch of pretty pictures. But, my one piece of advice is to NOT add anything to your domain (ie. protection, hosting, email, social boost, etc. [these are all crappy up-sells used to take advantage of people that don't know any better]). other than WhoisGuard.

I recommend WhoisGuard if you don't want people to know the physical address you used when you registered your domain. For example, your personal residence.

Hosting

You do not want to skimp on hosting. Having a slow website will hurt your conversions.

Being that the sole purpose of your landing page platform is to get conversions … we can't allow it to be slow!

If you're going to send between 0 and 2,500 people a day, the below setup will be great for you.

If you'll be sending more than that, you'll likely want to upgrade to a VPS or dedicated solution.

I recommend the Turbo package by a2Hosting.

Be sure to take note of the code at the bottom (ie. FLEET51). There's always a code for 51% off; however, it changes from time-to-time and they won't automatically apply it to your order … so, make sure you remember to add it!

When it asks you to “Choose a Domain…” select the option “I will use my existing domain and update my nameservers”

• Choose your Billing Cycle – I recommend at least 12 months.
• Tick the box for a Dedicated IP.
• Server Location – pick where most of your customers reside.
• Priority Support – No.
• Offsite Backups – No.
• Performance Plus – Yes.
• Barracuda Spam Firewall – No.
• SSL Certificate – None.
• Auto-Install Application – None.
• CloudFlare Plan Plus Monthly – No (unchecked).

Review your order – make sure the coupon's been applied!!! (again, they don't always add it automatically!!!)

Also, double check the Dedicated IP and Performance Plus.

Complete your order and be on the lookout for an email that looks like this:

The info you're looking for is the DNS Nameserver Information.

You're going to take this information and plug it into NameCheap (or whatever domain registrar you use).

Head back over to NameCheap with your nameserver information in hand, find the domain for your self-hosted landing page platform and select “Manage”.

Now, in the “NAMESERVERS” area, select Custom DNS and paste in the nameserver information from the email … and don't forget to hit the little check mark!

Now, you'll have to wait until you start seeing an error message when you go to your domain.

Something like this:

Sometimes this happens instantly, other times you have to wait a couple days.

But, once you see some form of error message as opposed to a “pretty” NameCheap page – you're ready to move on!

SSL

Once your hosting and domain are finally connected, it's time to secure your site.

Why do you want to secure your site with SSL?

A few reasons:

1. People look for it and it makes your site more trustworthy
2. Google likes it. Not that you're necessarily trying to get Google love for these pages, but if Google likes it, other places generally do too.
3. So you can accept payments via Stripe (if you intend to do that) .

You can buy your SSL Certificate from NameCheap. You can pick any; however, I use and recommend RapidSSL.

Go through the checkout process (it's self-explanatory) and click “Activate”.

Now it's time to generate your CSR (Certificate Signing Request).

Start by logging into your cPanel and navigating to SSL/TSL Manager.

(The cPanel is part of your hosting service and is generally found at http://your-landing-page-domain.com:2082. If you're having trouble finding it, check the email your host sent you when you registered with them.)

Click “Generate, view, or delete SSL certificate signing requests.”

Fill in the info it requests and click “Generate”.

Copy the “Encoded Certificate Signing Request”.

Go back to NameCheap and paste the code into the box that says “Enter CSR” and select your Server Type (probably Apache, Nginx, cPanel or other).

It'll ask you to verify the information, make sure it's correct and hit “Next”.

Now, we need to go back to cPanel and setup an email forwarder.

Make one forward from admin@your-landing-page-domain.com to youremail@yoursite.com.

Once the forwarder is setup, be sure to test it by sending an email to admin@your-landing-page-domain.com and ensure it's actually delivered. Sometimes it takes a few minutes for the forwarding to kick-in; you want to make sure it's working before moving to the next step.

Go back to NameCheap and select “Email” for DVC Method and admin@your-landing-page-domain.com for Approver Email.

It will request more information, fill it out. It's self-explanatory.

It will then ask you to confirm your information, click “Confirm”.

Wait for an email that looks like this and click the link the arrow is pointing to:

On the page it takes you to, click “I Approve”.

You will see a message about it being approved.

You will then receive another email that looks something like this:

NOTE: If you don't receive this email within an hour, contact support at https://www.rapidssl.com/. There's the option to “Chat” at the top – start a chat. There have been instances where they've needed to verify my ID on the phone before they could issue the certificate.  You may need to do that too, if you don't receive the email within the hour.

Assuming you receive the email, look for “—–BEGIN CERTIFICATE—-” and copy through it to the end “—–END CERTIFICATE—–”

Go back to your cPanel, back to “SSL, TSL Manager” and this time click on “Manage SSL sites.”

Browse for the Domain you're installing the SSL Cert on.

Paste in the code you just copied from your email.

A button that says “Autofill by Certificate” will magically appear. Click it and it will auto-populate everything else.

Tick “Enable SNI for Mail Services”

And finally, “Install Certificate”

You should see this …

YAY – your site is now secure!

>> Click here to download this post in PDF format

Step #2: WordPress and OptimizePress

Install WordPress

Go to your cPanel and locate the option for WordPress.

For Protocol, choose https://

Choose your Domain

In Directory, make it blank. (it's important that this be blank! You want your self-hosted landing page platform on the Root Domain.)

The rest of the info is pretty self explanatory; however, I recommend NOT activating any “special” plugins, themes, or options they offer as they tend to be sloppy and unnecessary. Go as bare bones as possible unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise.

After clicking “Install,” you'll have a beautiful, securely hosted, WordPress Website!

Get and Install OptimizePress

The first thing you need to do is purchase OptimizePress. It offers an outstanding page builder with a TON of features; it's the tool you'll be using.

Select your package. More than likely, you only need the Core Package.  You will only be running OptimizePress (OP) on this site that is dedicated to landing pages.

After purchase, you'll be able to enter the members' area where you can download the OptimizePress Theme. (Make sure you download the THEME, not just the plugin.)

Go back to your WordPress website and into the Admin Dashboard.

Navigate to Appearance, Themes, and Add New.

Click “Upload Theme”, browse to the OP Theme you just downloaded and select “Install Now”.

After install, click “Activate”.

You'll now have to input your API Key. Go back to the OP Members' Area and select “Licensing” in the navigation menu at the top.

Scroll down until you see “Registered API Keys” and copy one of them to your clipboard.

Go back to your site, paste your API key in the box, and click “Save settings”.

 

You'll land on something that looks like this:

Click “Blog Setup”.

This part doesn't matter too much because you won't be using this site as a blog. Remember, this is your landing page platform … it isn't your “site”.

So, you can select whatever makes you the happiest! (I typically select “Theme 1” and then just click “Continue to Step X” without changing any options … but, feel free to customize it the way you want.)

>> Click here to download this post in PDF format

Step #3: Speed Boost!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, speed is important!

Don't think speed is that important? Check out this infographic by Kissmetrics to see what only a 1 second delay does to your conversion rates!

Install Autoptimize

Autoptimize is a WordPress plugin that “squishes” your site, making it smaller, and thus – faster.

Login to your WordPress admin panel, navigate to Plugins, Add New, and search for “autoptimize”.

It should be the first result, if not scroll until you find it and click “Install Now”.

Make sure you click “Activate Plugin” after it's been installed.

Now, open up the Autoptimize Settings and turn on:

• Optimize HTML Code
• Optimize JavaScript Code
• Optimize CSS Code

Then, click Save Changes and Empty Cache.

Check out the before and after!

The Load Time difference is negligible at .08s – I don't think the human eye could actually detect that; however, checkout “Page Size” and “Requests” – those numbers have nearly halved!

These size and request differences will make a massive impact on load time once you have a fair amount of traffic hitting the server.

So, while there's no real difference in speed right now, if a few hundred people are on the site at once … the Autoptimized site will outperform every time!

Install WP Smush – Image Optimization

Your source code, CSS, and JS have been “squished” … it's now time to “smush” your images!

Enter into your WordPress admin panel, navigate to Plugins, Add New, search for “wp smush”.  Then, Install and Activate it.

The nice part about this plugin … it basically comes out of the box ready to run!

More than likely you will want to “smush” the images you currently have.

Unless you upgraded to the paid version, you'll only be allowed to “smush” 50 images at a time.  If you're working with a new website, you won't likely have that many images to worry about; it should be a relatively painless process!

Woo! Saved 6.4%!

SUPER Boost With A CDN

Ok, this part is optional.  It will likely result in a few additional bucks per month; however, if you feel the need for speed, it's worth doing!

CDN stands for Content Delivery Network which is essentially a network of computers that delivers static files (images, scripts, css, etc.) very, very fast.

They're very fast because they perform based on geographic location and don't have to process (think) anything like your website server does … all they have to do is deliver what's already there. Hopefully that makes sense.

Anyway, we'll use Amazon's CloudFront CDN because it's fast and cheap.

The first thing you need to do is sign up for or into the Amazon Web Services Management Console.

Once you're in, you will come to a crazy screen like this:

Find CloudFront and select it.

Click “Create Distribution” and it will ask “Web” or “RTMP” – you want “Web”.

In the “Origin Domain Name” text box, enter your full URL (ie. https://your-landing-page-domain.com).

Press “tab”.

Everything will auto-populate.

The only change you need to make is with “Origin Protocol Policy” – change it to “Match Viewer”.

Scroll all the way to the bottom and click “Create Distribution”.

You'll see a little spinny thing and it will take roughly 30 minutes to finish what it's doing.

Take a break. Go grab yourself some coffee or beer; come back in a little while!

After the spinning stops, grab your CDN's link – ie. d3cc2joulgwu4z.cloudfront.net and head back over to your WordPress admin panel, go to Settings, Autoptimize, and find the CDN Base URL.

Enter your CDN's link, don't forget to add https:// and click Save Changes and Empty Cache.

Now select “Plugins”, “Add New”, and search for “wp super cache” … then install and activate it.

Ok, I'll be honest here – there are a lot of settings inside WP Super Cache that I don't quite understand … but, that's alright – because I know what works!

Find your way to the WP Super Cache Setting section and turn it on!

Under the Advanced Tab, leave everything they way it is with the exception of ticking the “Don't cache pages for known users. (Recommended)” box. Be sure to click “Update Status”.

Navigate to the CDN tab.

Enable CDN Support and paste in the URL of your CDN. Make sure you add the https:// to the beginning! (ie. https://d3cc2joulgwu4z.cloudfront.net).

Click “Save Changes”.

You're done!

If you feel brave, you can tick other boxes inside WP Super Cache; however, every time I do, things start to break.

Check out the load speeds now 😛

>> Click here to download this post in PDF format

Membership, Digital Asset Delivery, and Taking Payments

This section is also optional; it only applies if you're wanting to take payments, run a membership portal, and/or deliver digital products.

NOTE: OptimizeMember is essentially the same thing as s2Member which means it's a really good membership plugin; however, it lacks one key feature when it comes to building funnels – the 1-click up-sell.

There are ways around this. For example, if you use ClickBank for your payment processor, you can do 1-click up-sells and it also offers built-in affiliate support – so, that's certainly an option.

You can also integrate with other platforms like SamCart, which add the 1-click up-sell functionality.

Finally, you may not even care about 1-click up-sells. You will still be able to offer One-Time-Offers (OTOs) and other up-sells … they just won't be 1-click!

I'm not going to show you how to build a membership site in this post as it's a separate topic … but, I'll get you pointed in the right direction.

Head over to your OptimizePress Members' Area, navigate to your downloads, and this time download OptimizeMember:

Go back to your WordPress admin panel, navigate to Plugins, click Upload Plugin, and upload, install, and activate the OptimizeMember plugin you just downloaded.

After it's activated, you will see a warning message …

BUT before we do what it says, go to Pages, Add New, call it “Join”, and click Publish.

Now follow the directions presented in the warning message. Select the “Join” page you just created from the drop down menu.

Okie dokie!

That's all for right now!

Summary

At this time, you should have an insanely badass, self-hosted landing page platform!

One that goes above and beyond the competition.

One that is 100% under your control!

One that can integrate seamlessly with a bunch of autoresponder tools to include my favorite, ActiveCampaign.

Not to mention, it comes with a top-notch membership portal that can accept payments, deliver assets, and make you money all in one place!

You can't beat it!

>> Click here to download this post in PDF format

Moving Forward

Ok. I showed you how to setup your own landing page platform in the most efficient way I know.

Now, you need to learn how to actually use it!

The good news is it's an easy tool to learn and far easier than LeadPages (I don't understand why so many people recommend that tool, but I digress).

Of course, the folks at OptimizePress want you to be successful with their tool, so they have a bunch of tutorials.

I've also created an OptimizePess mini-course that will show you how to build an opt-in funnel with two different squeeze pages, a split test, and a Facebook pixel.

• How To Connect OptimizePress to ActiveCampaign
• How To Build A Page Using A Pre-Built Template In OptimizePress
• How To Build A Page From Scratch With OptimizePress
• How To Make A Thank You Page In OptimizePress
• How To Make A Split Test With Google Analytics And OptimizePress
• How To Add A Facebook Pixel To OptimizePress

Don't Forget Strategy!

Finally, having a badass platform and knowing how to “technically” do everything can't fix a poor strategy.

For this reason, I highly recommend you take my free sales funnel training series!

If you offer free consultations, or want to, this post is for you.

It'll give you an airtight strategy for scheduling more consultations and closing more sales.

Let's get into it – I present to you The Free Consultation / High End Sales Funnel ~

Scenarios

I'll use a few scenarios throughout this post to help better illustrate the funnel:

• Dental Surgeon (DS) – Dental implants
• Financial Advisor (FA) – Full wealth management
• Marketing Services (MS) – Sales funnel service

Traffic

While there are a million and one ways to drive traffic to your sales funnel, I'm only going to focus on three categories for this particular funnel:

“House” Traffic

People that are currently on your email/contact list. They already have a general idea of who you are and what you do.

Search PPC / Organic

People searching for the service/solution you provide and arriving on your site in the process. This includes both paid traffic and organic (“free”/SEO).

• DS – Dental implants near Richmond VA
• FA – Financial advisor near Richmond VA
• MS – Sales funnel service

Facebook Ads / Other

People that don't know you, but likely have a problem you can solve.

• DS – People with dentures
• FA – Physicians in the “fellow” stage
• MS – Ecommerce businesses

Collecting Contact Info

The particular traffic source will set the stage for “how” you'll collect an individual's contact information and/or get them to schedule a consultation.

“House” & Search Traffic

Since these people know you and/or know they have a problem, you're able to ask them to schedule a consultation right away. There's little point in waiting.

For this reason, you will direct them to a dedicated landing page where they can schedule a consultation with you; however, I recommend giving the option to request to only receive more info as they may not be ready for a consultation.

For example:

Upon entering their email, checking the “To schedule my FREE consultation” box, and clicking the submit button … two things happen:

1. They'll be greeted with a form to fill out in order to schedule their consultation (I personally use and recommend https://youcanbook.me; however, there are a ton of similar services and I'm sure you'll find one that works for you).
   1. Note: Instead of going straight into the scheduling of a consultation you could instead implement an application process where you'll ask for more pertinent information to make sure they're the right candidate before scheduling a call.
2. They'll be added to the autoresponder tool where they'll be tagged as “Wants a consultation”; however, this tag will trigger the “Don't Forget” Email Series in 24 hours, if they do not schedule their consultation. If they schedule their consultation within 24 hours, the “Wants a consultation” tag will be replaced with a “Scheduled consultation” tag, which will trigger the the “Consultation Prep” Email Series.

If the individual checks the “More information” box, they're added to the autoresponder tool with the tag ” Wants more information”. This will trigger the “Education” Email Series.

Facebook Ads / Other Traffic

You need to treat people that arrive on your site via Facebook and other traffic sources (other than your contact list and search traffic) differently for two main reasons:

1. They probably don't know you, unless you're targeting your fans and/or are “recognized”
2. They're not actively trying to solve their problem unlike when they are conducting searches on Google

Instead of hitting them with a “free consultation” offer, give them something else that re-iterates the fact they have a problem, to qualify them, and to establish yourself as an authority.

I'm talking about a Lead Magnet. Here are a few examples:

• DS – Dentures vs Dental Implants – The definitive comparison.
• FA – About to make the big bucks? Here are 5 investments you'll want in place before the cash starts rolling in!
• MS – 7 sales funnel leaks 98% of Ecommerce stores have … and how to fix them!

Lead Magnet Tactics

There are two main ways you can handle the delivery of these Lead Magnets:

1. Traditional – Make the Lead Magnet into a PDF or video, setup a squeeze page, and give it out in exchange for their email address
2. Retargeting – Make the Lead Magnet a regular blog post or page on your site and run ads to your post. Then, retarget individuals that have seen your post with an offer to register for a free consultation and/or to receive more information (like the landing page example above). This method works because now they have a better idea of who you are, what you do, and the problem(s) they have.

Schedule On The Spot

As you see in the example Landing Page above, we only ask for their email and for them to check a box.

We don't ask them to schedule their consultation until after they've taken that first step.

Why?

Asking someone to schedule a call is a bigger “ask” than simply asking for their email. The individual will need to check their calendar to see when they're available, compare it to your calendar, then fill out a more in-depth form in order to schedule the consultation.

Because of all the extra “stuff” involved with scheduling a call, a lot of people won't set up the consultation right away.

They'll think to themselves, “I'll just do it later” … but, they wont … unless you remind them!

So, if someone says they want to schedule a consultation, but doesn't – follow up with a few reminder emails (“Don't Forget” Series) that direct them straight to the scheduling form.

Remember to re-iterate the benefits of the consultation, what they'll receive from the consultation, and how they have a problem that needs to be fixed.

While many people won't schedule the consultation right away – some will. Prep them with the “Consultation Prep” Series.

“Consultation Prep” Series

The “Consultation Prep” Series is a series of emails sent to an individual after they register for their consultation that “preps” them for the call.

You can give them something to read, ask them to fill out a survey that requests more information than what they gave when they scheduled the call, a read-ahead of questions you'll ask so they can have answers prepared, etc. Basically, whatever you need to send in order to make the consultation run smoothly.

“Consultation” List

The “Consultation” List is the list of individuals that have had a consultation with you. Ideally, the majority of these individuals will also be “buyers” and you'll have an established relationship with them. In this case, you'll have a normal client relationship that you'll need to maintain.

For the individuals that don't become “buyers” – treat them a little differently than the general public. They certainly know they want help in an area, but maybe they just weren't ready or maybe they didn't feel like YOU were the right person for them. Whatever the reason – they didn't commit.

And, while not everyone will be a perfect fit for YOU, they're serious enough to schedule a consultation and you can still help them get pointed in the right direction. Who knows, maybe that particular service wasn't a good fit for them; it doesn't mean the next problem they face wont require your services. Or, they may refer someone else to you if you help them the best you can.

“Education” Series / Article

The Education Series is a series of emails for the individuals that don't know you, what you offer, or their problems as well – the intent of the series is to educate them on those points.

This is accomplished by sending content that makes them aware of the problem(s) they're facing, the result of fixing those problems, handling objections like time and money, case studies, and other educational material that's helpful, informative, and motivates them to think the same way you do.

The point is to show the person they have a problem and you're the solution.

The call-to-action (CTA) is then to schedule a free consultation with you where you'll close the deal.

“House” List

No matter how hard you try, even with all the fancy email series and autoresponders, most people will not schedule a consultation with you. (If you happen to prove this wrong, let me know!)

It's OK, don't take it personally.

It doesn't mean they never want your help.

People are busy. People forget. People get distracted.

The ultimate point here is they've at least shown some interest in you, your business, the service(s) you offer, the problem they have … something … and you don't want to just let them wander off into the sunset.

For this reason, add them to your “House” List where you send more generalized content, recommend other products/services you offer, and continue building and maintaining a relationship with them.

Who knows, maybe six months down the road they will finally decide to fix the problem and schedule that free consultation!

Want More?

Do you want more awesome sales funnels like this one? Check out the Sales Funnel Training Vault!

If you're a coach, consultant, and/or service-based business – this post is for you!

Likewise, speakers, authors, teachers, and entrepreneurs in the business of selling themselves can also glean insights from this post!

Finally, if you sell digital or info products and professional services – this post will show you how to make the most of what you offer!

It's the most comprehensive marketing strategy post you'll find on the Internet, I guarantee it.

Whether you're trying to develop your marketing strategy or you feel like you've got things figured out, I recommend giving this post a gander. I'm sure I'll shed some light on areas you haven't even considered.

To help assist you, I've put together a fill-in-the-blank document that can be downloaded by clicking the link below:

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Let's get started.

The Master Plan

This is the master blueprint we'll be following to build your marketing strategy.

I urge you not to skip ahead to the “cool” stuff that involves automation, tracking, and other nifty tools. Yes, that stuff is fun; however, if you don’t build a solid foundation, you’ll wind up spinning in circles and produce minimal results.

So, please, take the 60 minutes to define your customer and your business before moving forward!

Scenarios

I'll be using a couple model businesses in order to provide examples:

• Business #1 – Offers digital products, coaching, consulting, and services – ie. Crazy Eye Marketing
• Business #2 – Offers digital products and services – ie. a financial advisor
• Business #3 – Only offers services – ie. a dentist

As we get into the “Business” section, I'll discuss the particular offerings of each model business.

Customers

If you've read anything on marketing strategy in the past, you've likely come across articles about your customer and the importance of “defining” your customer.

This makes sense. If you're not sure who your business is for … then, what are you doing?

More than likely, you already know who your ideal customer is; however, you probably haven't truly defined them.

I understand, it can take a lot of time to develop a full fledged customer avatar or marketing persona … and, quite frankly, it sounds kinda boring, especially when there are a bunch of tools and fancy automations to get to!

But, here's the deal – having a more defined ideal customer does two things:

1. Helps you find them
2. Helps you connect with them

Two really important factors that help alleviate potentially HUGE problems!

If you can't find your ideal customer, you won't be able to attract them.

If you can't connect with your ideal customer, you won't be able to do business with them. People they know, like, and trust. If you can't get people to know, like, and trust you – your business will struggle.

To save you the time of going and filling out a customer avatar worksheet, simply answer these 5 questions:

• What’s your ideal customer’s name? You need to give them a name!
  • Dave
  • Marshall
  • Jenna
• Where do they hangout? / How can you get in front of them? Online, offline, particular websites, forums, Facebook groups, etc.
  • Facebook groups, forums, marketing/small business websites
  • Newspaper, home, travel websites
  • 15 mile radius, schools, libraries, grocery stores
• Where are they in the journey of life? Baseline demographics, thoughts, desires, fears, etc.
  • 30ish years old, young family, starting a small service-based business, trying to make things work, wants to support their family.
  • Retirement age, ready to stop working, wants to travel the world, wants to maximize time with family and friends.
  • Stay at home mom with young children, wants to take care of her kid's health.
• How do they see themselves? / How do they present themselves?
  • I'm relatively smart and hardworking – more so than the average Joe. Can do anything I put my mind to, sky's the limit!
  • I've done my time, I'm now a world renowned adventurer ready to conquer anything!
  • A good mother, first and foremost. I'm the caretaker of my family.
• How well do they know your products and industry? Do they “live” it, are they “new” to this world, etc.?
  • Semi-new to the business of digital marketing (~ 6 months). Has some basic concepts down, but hasn't quite pieced it all together yet.
  • Understands the very basics of wealth management. Put money into their 401k their whole life, has invested some on their own.
  • They know about teeth cleaning and basic dentistry work as they've been going to the dentist their whole life.

See, it doesn't have to be too difficult! Your answers should simply be a stream of thought.

Just by going through this process you'll develop a new frame to look through as you produce your content and message.

Customer FAQ:

Q: I have more than one ideal customer, how should I handle this?

A: Yes, you likely do have more than one ideal customer which is great. Ask yourself the same questions for each customer. However, I have two recommendations:

1) Make sure they’re uniquely different. Make sure where they hangout is different, where they are in the journey of life is different, and how they see themselves is different.

2) Start with your top 1 or 2 ideal customers – 80% of your business. You can always add more “ideal customers” later on, and I recommend getting the low hanging, obvious fruit first.

To Do

Answer the questions above.

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Business

There are three core aspects of your business to define before moving forward:

1. Why you do what you do
2. Who you/your business are/is
3. How you help your customers (products and/or services) / What you do

If you're well-established, you can likely easily answer these questions; however, you probably haven't really “defined” them and mapped them out. I urge you to take the time to do this as it'll make the sales funnel development much simpler.

Why You Do What You Do

Why do you do what you do?

What's your mission?

Most people don't start a coaching, consulting, or service-based business accidentally.

What makes you leap out of bed in the morning? Is it to talk to clients? Help people? Make money? Is it creating or building?

What is it?

This doesn't have to be an official statement that you're going to put on your website. No one else is ever going to see it (unless you want them to).

It simply serves as a reminder when times get tough and helps you make decisions that align with your purpose.

It makes life easier.

Who You/Your Business Are/Is

There are other people and businesses that do what you do.

This is a good thing. If other people are having success doing what you're doing – that means you can too.

It also means you have competition and need to figure out a way to stand out.

The best way to stand out? Your personality or persona.

Being generic will not work in this day and age.

“Different is BETTER than better” – Sally Hogshead

Where Will This Persona Be Used?

This persona will be used in the content you produce, the correspondence you send, and across your entire business.

If your persona is fun and outgoing – everything about your business should be fun and outgoing.

This persona will be the “face” of your business.

How To Figure Out Your Business's Persona

If you're a solopreneur, this is an easy one – you are the persona.

Being a coach, consultant, service-based business, speaker, author, etc. – people need to know, like, and trust you.

Let your freak flag fly! You'll attract those that connect with you and repel those that don't.

If you're a business with multiple employees, there are a few ways to decide on your business's persona:

1. Assume the personality of the owner/founder/CEO
2. Develop a business persona that will connect with your ideal customer
3. Have multiple personas. It's certainly acceptable to have multiple personalities, especially if you operate with a large team. The overall “feel” should be similar; however, each team could have their own persona for how they connect with customers.

Your Products And Services

The products and services you sell essentially translate to, “How you help people”.

Knowing what products and services come next in your customers' lifetime will help you deliver more value, which means increased revenue for your business.

Most of the time, coaches, consultants, and service-based businesses offer a wide array of products and services. This is great because you have a lot to choose from; however, so do your customers and if they don't have a clear path toward success – they'll get confused and choose nothing.

You need to take the time to map out your products and services to give your customers a clear path to success.

The Value Ladder (“The Map”)

The concept and implementation of a Value Ladder is what propelled my personal coaching, consulting, and service-based business from break-even to profitable.

It's simple, but powerful.

The idea is to offer products and services at varying levels of price and value while having each tier lead into the next one. Thus, over the lifetime of a customer, they're “ascending” your Value Ladder and you always have something to sell them.

The break down:

• Lead Magnets are usually freebies (coupons, videos, checklists, etc.) that attract and qualify leads
• Initial Offers are lower-end products/services that are ideally “too good to refuse” and get people in the door
• 1st Tier Offers are usually your core product or service and bring in about 80% of your sales
• 2nd Tier Offers are the “next” level up from the 1st tier
• Top Tier Offers are the best you have to offer, the full shebang!

Being that most coaches, consultants, and service-based businesses offer a wide array of products and services – the Value Ladder will be a bit more “advanced”:

Yup, Value Ladders inside of Value Ladders!

This will be explained through several examples.

Crazy Eye Marketing (digital products, coaching, consulting, services)

• Digital Products
  • Lead Magnets: Checklists, videos, trials, discounts
  • Initial Offers: “Cheaper” products and courses
  • Top Tier: The Sales Funnel Training Vault
• Coaching (Group Setting, Recurring)
  • Initial Offer: Monthly package
  • 1st Tier: 6 month package
  • Top Tier: Lifetime coaching package
• Consulting (Private)
  • Initial Offer: 1 hour
  • 1st Tier: 4 hours
  • Top Tier: Custom
• Services (Done For You)
  • Initial Offer: Small, simple, one-off jobs
  • Top Tier: Custom

Financial Advisor (digital products, services)

• Digital Products (SaaS service similar to Mint and/or Wealthfront)
  • Lead Magnets: Trial
  • Initial Offer: Self managed
  • Top Tier: Professionally managed
• Services
  • Lead Magnet: 7 Questions To Ask Before Hiring A Financial Advisor
  • Initial Offer: Free 15 minute Q&A
  • Top Tier: Investment management, retirement planning, college planning, estate planning, debt reduction strategy

Dentist (services)

• Services
  • Lead Magnet: Free teeth cleaning
  • Initial Offer: Teeth whitening
  • 1st Tier: Cavities, fillings, and other minor fixes
  • Top Tier: Braces
  • Recurring: 6 month appointments

As you can see in the examples above, some Value Ladders have several tiers while others only have a few.

The take away is you offer different products and services at different price points and value that ideally “ascend” individuals to the next thing you offer. However, there are instances where they may skip a tier or two in the process, for example with the dentist – a person doesn't need a cavity before they can get braces. Likewise, with Crazy Eye Marketing – someone doesn't need to hire me for coaching before I will do a custom job for them. That would be silly!

To Do

• Write down why you do what you do
• Write down Who you/your business are/is
• Map out your Value Ladder(s) – How you help your customers (products and/or services) / What you do

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Delivery

The “Delivery” simply represents the way in which you deliver your products and services.

This obviously depends upon what you offer. For example, the dentist will need a place to see clients – he can't offer virtual root canals.

However, in this day and age, most coaching and consulting can be achieved over the Internet from the comfort of one's home.

So, it really depends – but you're an adult and I'm sure you know what you need in order to deliver what you offer.

Make Sure You Own It

I will say this – make sure you own your method of delivery.

For example, you wouldn't want to run your entire business off Facebook. What if Facebook decides you broke their terms of service and locks your account? What would you do then?

Another example, a lot of coaches run their business on Udemy. I'll agree, Udemy is convenient and brings in new customers; however, Udemy controls pricing and how you can engage with your customers. You can't email them whatever or whenever you want. You're at the mercy of the Udemy gods … which isn't a place you want to be.

A final example, many businesses are dependent upon Google and SEO to deliver their traffic. But, what happens if Google changes their algorithm and your business falls off the front page? Could you survive? Do you have a backup plan? If you own an email list, know how to grow it, and know how to sell to it – you won't need Google.

You need to have your own website, your own email list, your own setup. Something no one can take away from you.

Of course, use the other platforms and tools available in order to build your platform, but never be dependent upon them.

My Coaching, Consulting, and Services Setup

To give you an idea of how my business is setup, I've listed the key components below so you have some direction. If you'd like more details or specifics, please let me know.

• NameCheap: Domain registrar.
• a2Hosting: Managed VPS, Prestige+ package. Hosts my website.
• WordPress: Content Management System. “Is” my website. [/fusion_builder_column]
  [course]
• Avada Theme: Page builder and general look of my site.
• MemberMouse: Membership plugin that handles digital product delivery and coaching packages.
• Gravity Forms: “One off” payments and contact forms.
• ActiveCampaign: Email automation.
• Thrive Leads: Opt-in forms and lead capture.
• Stripe: Payment processing.
• Vimeo: Private, members only video hosting.

To Do

If you do not already have a method of delivery or you're too dependent on a 3rd party, take 10 minutes to think about your business and what you need to take control over how it's handled.

Write down your thoughts.

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

The “Meat”

The “Meat” is simply a fancy name I came up with to define all the content within your sales funnel. This includes everything:

• Sales pages to landing pages
• Ads to emails
• Blog posts to YouTube videos
• Social media shares to podcast interviews
• and beyond!

It's how you communicate with your customers.

While there are a million and one ways to strategize and handle all these aspects – they all have one thing in common, they need to drive action.

What do I mean by “action”? Mainly purchases, but this also includes things that lead up to the purchases like clicks, phone calls, foot traffic, etc.

All the things you need for your business to be successful.

Now for the question, “How does one drive action through their content?”

Copywriting.

You Must Learn Copywriting

What's copywriting? Well, this is probably the “most fun” explanation; however, it's a combination of art and science paired with the written word, video, images, etc. that motivates an individual to take action.

Being that it's both an art and a science, it takes years of dedicated study to fully master.

Having said that, I know you're a business owner and entrepreneur and likely lack the time required to fully master this skill; however, you should pursue every avenue possible to become a better copywriter.

Here are 4 tips that will make your copy better, instantly:

1) Write As Your Business's Persona

We talked about your business's persona above and hopefully you took the time to define it. That exercise will come in handy here.

Use pronouns like I, me, you, we, he, she, etc.

Use slang, jargon, market specific terminology, and inside jokes that your audience will connect with.

Write like you talk. Use bold, italic, and underline.

Remember, people do business with people they know, like, and trust. If you don't write like yourself, they'll never get to know you.

2) Write To Your Customer

Inline with tip #1 above – write to your customer.

Consider your writing a private letter to your ideal customer … a dear friend.

What would you tell them? How would you explain things?

Write like that.

3) Use Bullets and “Which Means”

People don't read on the web – they skim.

Bullets are easily skimmed and are therefore consumed much more easily and readily than paragraph content.

So, how do you write great bullets?

Simple, follow these steps:

1. Write down a feature of your product or service
2. Write the phrase “which means” directly after the feature
3. Tell the reader what that feature means to them
4. Repeat steps 2-3 until you have a few alternative definitions
5. Consolidate into 1 quickly consumable bullet

Example:

• Includes 9 fill-in-the-blank email series which means your email writing is essentially done for you which means you can implement autoresponder series faster which means you can make more money which means you'll live a great life!
• You'll start living the good life faster than ever before after implementing our 9 fill-in-the-blank email series!

4) Use Copywriting Formulas And Frameworks

There are a lot of copywriting formulas and frameworks that can help you focus your efforts. Here are a few popular ones:

• PAS (Problem, Agitate, Solve): The problem defined. The feelings, emotions, pain, and agitation caused by the problem. How to solve the problem (your product/service).
• BAB (Before, After, Bridge): The individual's life before your product or service enters the picture. How great their life is after your product or service. The bridge (your product/service) that connects the before to the after.
• AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action): Grab the reader's attention, usually via the headline. Pull the reader in with an interesting story and connect with them on a deeper level, show them what's possible. Make them desire what you presented as the moral of your story by showing them they're capable of the same thing. Give them a place to take action and fulfill their desire (ie. a sales page or order form).
• Want more? Click here for 27 copywriting formulas.

The “Other” Stuff

If you learn how to write great copy, the “other” stuff (pages, forms, ads, emails, etc.) becomes technical constraints that can be easily overcome.

There are tools for everything imaginable with new ones coming all the time.

As long as you can master the creation of action driving content and develop a baseline understanding of the tools to facilitate the spread of that content – your business will thrive.

Learn everything you need to know about the “other” stuff by joining The Sales Funnel Training Vault!

To Do

Focus your efforts on developing great content that follows the art and science of copywriting.

Revisit your sales pages and offers. Are you using paragraphs in places you could be using bullets? Are you writing to your customers as yourself? Are you utilizing sound copywriting formulas and frameworks in your writing?

If not, launch a split test with your old page vs. your new one utilizing the copywriting techniques outlined above.

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

The “Simple” Sales Funnel

The “Simple” Sales Funnel, sometimes referred to as the “Straight Line Sales Funnel”, is simply a fancy way of saying email autoresponder series.

An email autoresponder series is a series of emails automatically sent to a subscriber.

While email autoresponder series and automations can be very complex, as you'll see in the “Advanced” Sales Funnel section, we're only going to talk about sending emails in a straight line, in this “Simple” section.

Here's an example:

The Purpose Of A “Simple” Sales Funnel

There are a few reasons for this “Simple” Sales Funnel's existence:

• This email series automatically builds and maintains a relationship with your leads and customers while simultaneously converting them to your way of thinking
• This serves as the backbone for more complex email automations we’ll later build on
• Your personal understanding. If you have trouble making emails trigger in a straight line, when we get into more advanced topics you’ll really struggle

How Many “Simple” Sales Funnels Should You Have?

Most of the time, you only need one. The type of content you send in this funnel is interesting to people interested in your type of business or industry.

For example:

• People who are interested digital marketing and sales funnels
• People who are interested in taking care of their personal finances
• People who are interested in maintaining their family's dental health

There are a few instances where you may need 2 or more, for example if you're a lawyer and you have two facets to your business: legal counsel for clients and consulting for other lawyers.

In this case, your customers are tremendously different. People seeking legal counsel have very different interests than other lawyers seeking advice. In this case, you would likely want 2 different “simple” sales funnels.

If you have more than one “Simple” Sales Funnel, you need to segment individuals at the very beginning by asking them “who” they are.

What Type Of Content Should You Send?

Remember, the point of this particular sales funnel is to build and maintain a relationship and convert them to your way of thinking.

To accomplish this, send 3 types of emails:

1. Educational – emails that teach people how to do something, about the market, about what’s happening, case studies, etc.
2. Entertaining – emails that are “fun” like stories, case studies, testimonials, inside jokes, critiques, events, etc.
3. Earning – emails that remind people you offer various products and services.

I’ve aptly named these emails the “3 E Emails”.

Now, this doesn’t mean an email can only be 1 of the Es at a time. Like, you can only send a boring how-to tutorial, or only send a silly cat video. That’s not what I mean. Your how-to tutorial should be entertaining and can even sell your product at the end. That’s like killing 3 birds with one stone!

However, each email should have 1 core focus.

Is the primary aim of the email to educate, entertain, or earn?

• Educational emails tend to build relationships while converting people to your way of thinking
• Entertaining emails tend to build and maintain relationships
• Earn emails tend to ring the cash register

Examples:

Crazy Eye Marketing

• Educational: Send a link to a video showing how to add an opt-in form to a website.
• Entertaining: Share a case study where we split tested several opt-in forms and were able to increase the conversion rate by 57%.
• Earn: Send a 10% off coupon for our optimization course tteaching, step-by-step, how to split test and optimize your opt-in forms.

Financial Advisor

• Educational: Explain the differences and how to get the most out of the various retirement income streams: annuities, social security, pensions, etc.
• Entertaining: Share the story of a successful client that has been with you for the last 10 years, gone through multiple trials and tribulations; however, finally retired and is now traveling the world!
• Earn: Click here to schedule a free consultation with me!

Dentist

• Educational: Share a list of 7 strategies for getting your children to brush their teeth for the appropriate amount of time.
• Entertaining: Send a cute video that shows various animals getting their teeth brushed and enjoying it (my son would love this!).
• Earn: Did you know? We offer free checkups for walk-ins? We do! Visit us today and make sure your mouth is in good shape!

Where Do You Get Content?

Being that you're a coach, consultant, or service-based business and people need to know, like, and trust you – you need to create your own content.

You can't outsource this.

Sure, there are people and businesses that can help you come up with a plan, piece it together, and write the “connecting” material (that's what I do 😉 ); however, the “real” content has to come from you and/or your business.

There's no other way around it.

Of course, this requires a blog or pages setup to present the content.

And remember, content doesn’t necessarily mean blogging. While you still want to display the content on your site to “bring people back”, it could be video, audio (podcasts), images, etc.

For example, if my brother is your target audience, blogging is a terrible idea. He doesn’t read anything and you need to draw him in with video.

HOWEVER, and it’s a pretty big one – Google can’t really “watch” videos. It won’t matter how good your video content is from a search engine perspective. Blogging is still the #1 way to rank in the search results.

The Most Epic Blogging Strategy Of All Time

Here's the best way I've found to approach your content creation strategy:

1. Write the most epic post for your ideal customer, as it relates to how they see themselves and how it relates to your business/industry. If that is too esoteric, think of it as, “How does your business help people go from point A (where they are now) to point B (where they want to be/how they see themselves).” (3,000+ words)
   • The Ultimate Guide To Marketing Strategy For Coaches, Consultants, & Service-Based Businesses
   • The Ultimate Guide To Retiring “Right” So You Can Travel The World
   • From Baby To Adult, How To Care For Your Child's Teeth
2. Write more in-depth articles for each individual section of your “epic” post. (500-1,000 words)
   • 3 Sales Page Formulas That Will Increase Your Conversion Rates
   • 5 Things To Do 3 Years Before You Retire
   • How To Get Your 2 Year Old To Brush All His Teeth (I need this one!)
3. Write case studies, testimonials, reviews, etc. and/or create videos and/or pdf checklists for each of the “more in-depth” articles. (500-1,000 words and/or 3-5 minute video and/or a 1 page checklist)
   • Share case studies of the sales page formulas
   • Go into even more depth on the 5 things you spoke about in the last article
   • 3 Toothbrushes That'll Make Your 2 Year Old Want To Brush Their Teeth!

Of course, you link your products and services as they “fit” the particular articles.

How Often Should You Email?

This answer varies from industry to industry; however, normally – two to four times a week. The first 3-5 emails are sent daily, no matter what, because this is when the lead is “hot”.

During the “Advanced” Sales Funnel portion, there will be more instances where you email daily because the lead will “tell” you they’re “hot” again.

To Do

• Write down 3 EPIC blog post ideas

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Lead Magnets

A Lead Magnet can be best thought of as a freebie that motivates individuals to give you their contact information.

Upon receiving the individual's contact information, they're transformed into a lead and begin the journey down your sales funnel.

A few example Lead Magnets formats include coupons, checklists, videos, eBooks, webinars, mini-courses, trial, and other resources.

Beyond the format of the Lead Magnet, there's also the type:

1. General
2. Specific

General Lead Magnets

A General Lead Magnet is attractive to anyone who visits your website and is usually presented as a form on most pages of your site. The form can be a lightbox, landing mat, sidebar, bar/ribbon, slide-in, etc.

For example, this General Lead Magnet can be found in the side bar of most blog posts on Crazy Eye Marketing:

It's “general” in that nearly anyone that visits Crazy Eye Marketing for any reason will be interested in email marketing.

Specific Lead Magnets

A Specific Lead Magnet is attractive to individuals interested in a certain product/service or topic and many times is presented as a Squeeze Page (although, this isn't always the case).

What's a “Squeeze Page”?

A Squeeze Page is a page dedicated to one thing and one thing only – “squeezing” the contact information out of a visitor, turning them into a lead.

Here's an example:

That's an entire page with only two options:

1. Click the yellow button to receive the nine steps
2. Leave

It's also “specific” in that only people interested in creating information products would be interested in this.

Specific Lead Magnets Should Also…

1. Pre-qualify leads (ie. individuals only interested in creating information products)
2. Setup the sale of the “next step” ie. the Initial Offer as defined in your Value Ladder

Anton of Performance Marketer does both of these wonderfully … check out the Thank You page after opting in for the “9 Steps”:

Spectacular! A course on creating info products!

I imagine, if I don't buy his course right away, his autoresponder series will work its magic and sell me on it!

The good news? You can do this type of thing, too!

To Do

Think about what the average visitor to your website would be interested in. Write down 3 ideas for your General Lead Magnet.

Think about your products and services. What could you offer individuals to pre-qualify them AND move them to purchase that particular product or service. Write down 3 ideas for each product/service you offer.

Eventually, you'll actually turn these ideas into Lead Magnets.

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

The “Advanced” Sales Funnel

The “Advanced” Sales Funnel is driven by interests, hence why I coined it the “Interest Driven Sales Funnel”.

In essence, people join your email list and based on the links they click, pages they view, and lead magnets they request – you send relevant emails in order to try and sell a product.

Here's what an Interest Driven Sales Funnel looks like:

The left hand side shows the “Simple” or “Straight Line” Sales Funnel (also called the “Main Series”).

As previously mentioned, this autoresponder series acts as the backbone for your Interest Driven Sales Funnel. As it sends emails that follow the 3 E strategy (entertain, educate, earn), it automatically pays attention to how people respond to certain emails.

If people respond a certain way (show interest), a “Micro Sales Funnel” (Product / Service Sales Funnel) will automatically trigger. The point of the Micro Sales Funnel is to sell a product or service.

You will likely have lots of Micro Sales Funnels. Ideally, one for each product and/or service you offer.

Here’s an example:

Note: A Micro Sales Funnel may differ from the above example based upon what you’re attempting to sell, your Value Ladder, and your approach.

Quick Explanation

No matter what the Micro Sales Funnel looks like, the start and end will look the same.

The Start

The Start occurs when an individual shows interest in a product/service you offer or a topic you talk about. We can gauge interest by tracking their link clicks, Specific Lead Magnet requests, page views, and via points (if you use a CRM).

The End

The End occurs when an individual has gone through the entire Micro Sales Funnel. If the individual went straight into the Micro Sales Funnel by requesting a Specific Lead Magnet and they have yet to enter the “Main Series” (Straight Line Sales Funnel) – they’ll now enter the Main Series starting at the beginning.

If the individual was in the Main Series, showed interest in a product/service by clicking a link, and entered a Micro Sales Funnel – upon entering the Micro Sales Funnel, their “trip” down the Main Series is paused, and upon exiting the Micro Sales Funnel, they resume their “trip” down the Main Series.

The Rest

Action Series

A few emails that attempt to drive action, ie. a purchase of the product or service the individual has shown interest in.

Did Action Happen?

If the desired action was taken, go to the Upsell Series.

If the desired action was not taken, go to The End.

Upsell Series

An email or two that attempt(s) to either sell more or the next product/service.

Examples

Crazy Eye Marketing

An individual joins the email list by opting in for a Specific Lead Magnet that offers a “Lead Magnet Essentials Checklist”. It's specific, I know the individual is interested in creating Lead Magnets.

We then send 3 emails about Lead Magnets and attempt to sell the corresponding Lead Magnet course.

• Email 1: Case study, show differences between good vs bad Lead Magnets. Include link to course, as the final thought of the email (PS line).
• Email 2: Explain how a good Lead Magnet lowers ad spend, increases authority, etc. While a bad Lead Magnet will cost a lot more to advertise, may attract the wrong people, may hurt your business in the long run. PS line includes a link to the course.
• Email 3: Sell course, maybe offer discount, last time you'll hear me talk about it.

Let’s pretend on Email 2 they purchase the course. We then end that series (we won’t send email 3) and launch into our Upsell Series where we send 2 emails that attempt to sell the Sales Funnel Training Vault.

• Email 1: Explain how Lead Magnets are just 1 piece of a much larger puzzle.
• Email 2: Share a “Before-After-Bridge” story of my life before I fully grasped sales funnels, my life after I understood sales funnels, and show how I got to this point; you can too with The Sales Funnel Training Vault.

After completing the Upsell Series, they enter our Main Series from the beginning where we begin to build and maintain a relationship and gauge interest(s).

Financial Advisor

An individual has been on our email list and in our Main Series for a few weeks when they receive a 3 E email about “how to make sure your money lasts while in retirement”. They click the link contained in the email.

By clicking the link, we know they’re interested in “how to make sure your money lasts while in retirement”. We pause the Main Series and trigger 3 emails (Action Series) about that topic, while promoting our products/services.

Goal of these emails: Get individual to schedule a call

• Email 1: 5 Strategies For Controlling Your Spending, So You'll Never Run Out Of Money
• Email 2: Should You Handle Your Own Money In Retirement?
• Email 3: The True Story Of Sarah And John. Tell a story of a couple that retired and traveled the world without worry because their finances were handled by a professional.

No Upsell Series here. Due to the fact financial investment is a very personal topic and event, we only need to get them to give us their money once, becoming their “financial guy/gal”.

After the Action Series, the individual resumes the Main Series exactly where they left off.

Dentist

An individual registers for their 6 month checkup. On the checkout page, we ask if they also want to get their teeth whitened at a discounted rate. If they say no, we ask again on the Thank You Page (1-click upsell). If they say no again, we send 1 email – “Last Chance: Teeth Whitening” where we offer them one last chance to get the teeth whitened at the discounted rate.

More On Interest Driven Sales Funnels

Providing tailored content to your audience increases conversions. You have to provide content people are interested in or they leave without buying. An Interest Driven Sales Funnel automatically adjusts to peoples' interests based on their actions and sends content they actually want.

It's an incredibly powerful strategy that any business can benefit from.

Click here to learn more and checkout more Product/Service Sales Funnels!

To Do

• Pick a product or service that has a Specific Lead Magnet or piece of content (blog post, video, etc.) tied to it. Write 3-5  Action Series ideas (like I did above) on how to convert those leads (individuals who showed interest in that topic or product/service) into customers.
• Write down 1-3 Upsell Series ideas if they purchase that product/service from you (if applicable).

Note: Many of these emails will likely link to blog posts and other content you’ve created, fitting nicely within the Epic Blogging Strategy I outlined above.

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Traffic

There are as many ways to drive traffic as there are people on this planet, so it's impossible to discuss them all in detail in one blog post; however, I'll share several strategies that'll frame how you should look at traffic generation.

Before I get to the rules, I want you to know that I break advertising into two categories that incorporate both online and offline methods:

1. “Free” Advertising: A form of advertising that costs time. Examples include SEO, Social Media, Podcasts, and Cold Calling.
2. Paid Advertising: A form of advertising that costs money. Examples include Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, Newspaper and Radio Ads.

#1 Advertise Where Your Audience Hangs Out

Makes sense, right?

Make sure you're abiding by this rule, otherwise all other actions are futile.

#2 Have Multiple Streams

You never, ever, want to be dependent upon one single source of traffic. Platforms change, algorithms change, new platforms emerge, people move – things change.

You never want to have your entire business dry up overnight, trust me. I was solely dependent on Google, one little algorithm change and my business had to shut its doors.

The ideal situation is to have a mixture of “free” and paid traffic coming to your business.

#3 Patience

Whether you're dealing with “free” or paid traffic, it's going to take time and/or money to get platforms figured out.

In 2016, SEO typically takes between 9-12 months before it starts to show.

Social media, unless you gain some virality, typically takes a long time to grow a following. Even if you “go viral” you still have to capture and maintain that relationship (ideally by adding them to your sales funnel) – or you're just a flash in the pan.

Paid traffic comes with a learning curve. Most of your ad campaigns will fail at first. It will take time and money to figure out what does and doesn't work with regard to your particular market and business.

Basically, you can't spend $10 and expect magical results. Expect to spend over $1,000 before you start figuring out a particular paid traffic source.

#4 Measure Everything

You have to measure your results, otherwise you'll make bad decisions.

Google Analytics is a great, free tool that can help with tracking.

Most paid advertising platforms have the advantage of built in tracking.

You have to track your numbers.

Think about Shark Tank for a second. If anyone walks into “The Tank” and doesn't know their numbers … they're eaten alive!

Don't get eaten alive!

Know your numbers.

To Do

Consider your audience. Think about where they hangout, whether online or offline. Write down a mixture of 5 “free” and paid traffic sources to reach your audience in these locations.

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Optimization

Unfortunately, you cannot optimize something you don’t have – so, you need to implement the marketing strategy you drafted with the help of this post.

However, when you begin optimizing your sales funnel, there are ways to think about it on macro and micro levels.

Macro Level

Your entire sales system is an integrated system.

Who your customers are, where they hangout, how you present your business, how you deliver your products, your product listings, your pages, your emails, your ads … it’s all integrated and how well one part performs affects the other parts.

For example, if you’re advertising to the wrong people, it doesn’t matter how good everything else is, your entire system will fail.

If you’re unable to match your products to your customers' needs, your entire system will fail.

The Golden Rule

Start at the beginning.

If you’re having trouble with your sales system, start at the beginning – with your customers. If you’re absolutely positive you’re attracting the correct customers, move on to your business – how you portray yourself, what you sell and how you sell it (Value Ladder).

Does everything make sense? Is the “flow” of the Value Ladder natural? Is your business’s persona coming across as sincere or insincere?

How are your products listed on your sales pages? Do you have high quality photos? Good copy that’s attractive to your ideal customer? Is the checkout process easy?

Work your way through the entire system, piece by piece.

If the early stuff isn’t right, it won’t matter how good the later stuff is, no one will ever get to it.

Micro Level

Beyond optimizing at the Macro Level, you have the Micro Level – and, to be honest, this is what most people focus on already.

These are things like email subject lines, page titles, calls-to-actions (CTA), ads, etc.

The good part is, a few % increases here and there can increase the performance of the entire system very quickly.

For example:

A few minor tweaks (all 5% increases or less) to the ad, squeeze page, thank you page, action series, and upsell series resulted in 10 more customers than before and 2 additional upsells.

Imagine if only the ad’s CTR increased … what would happen …

We’d still add 4 more customers!

It’s amazing what even a half-percent change can do!

To Do

Implement.

>> Click here to download the Marketing Strategy for Coaches, Consultants, and Service-Based Businesses Worksheet & this post in PDF format

How To Implement

This post should have your Coaching, Consulting, or Service-Based Business on a path for success; however, there’s still a lot of work and technical understanding that needs to happen.

There’s still …

• Email marketing automation configuration
• Landing page and opt-in form integration
• Advertising campaign launches and optimization
• Tracking tools and pixels to implement
• Various other areas that’ll need tweaking

Of course, you can piecemeal all this together from various sources, or you can save a bunch of time, effort, and energy by joining The Vault!

The Vault includes all the training, resources, and support you need to implement everything you planned above!

Click here to see how The Vault can help your business!

There are many sales funnel models.

Some models are fairly general while others serve specific purposes like launching a product or conducting a webinar.

The model you use will depend on the product or service you're selling and you'll likely have many different sales funnels within your business.

For example, you may have a “Classic” sales funnel for selling your day-to-day products and a “webinar” sales funnel for your high-priced services.

The particular model we're going to explain today is what I call “The Classic”.

• Related Course: The Ultimate ClickFunnels Course

The “Classic” Sales Funnel Model

The Classic sales funnel model can be applied a number of ways and its design is dependent upon how and where it's applied.

However, the general idea remains the same: after the initial offer, there's another offer, and possibly a third follow-up offer.

The Classic sales funnel can be spread out and incorporate email automation OR it can be at the point of sale and function as a “checkout flow”.

Through the post, I'll walk through several examples and provide everything you need to know about “The Classic” Sales Funnel!

The “Mega Classic” Sales Funnel

Below is what I consider the “Mega Classic” sales funnel; it incorporates all the possible bells and whistles:

Let's walk through it, shall we?

• Lead Magnet: A freebie like a coupon, checklist, cheat sheet, video, etc. that incentivizes people to enter their contact information, like an email address.
• Offer #1: Immediately after someone opts-in for the Lead Magnet, they're presented with Offer #1. Sometimes this offer is referred to as a Trip Wire, Initial Offer, Self Liquidating Offer, or One-Time-Offer. I don't personally care what you decide to call it; however, it's usually a lower priced product that's too good to refuse and gets people to whip out their credit cards and hand you money.
  • Down-Sell: If Offer #1 is refused, the individual is presented with a down-sell. This could be a completely different product, or a payment plan or discount on Offer #1.
    • Email Series: If both Offer #1 and the Down-Sell are refused, the individual enters into an email series that focuses on selling Offer #1.
• Offer #2: If the individual purchases Offer #1 at any point (initially, during the down-sell, or while in the email series), they're immediately met with Offer #2. Offer #2 is usually referred to as the “Core Offer” – it's usually your main product. It normally costs more than Offer #1; however, it doesn't necessarily have to – it could also be a complementary product.
  • Down-Sell: Just like the Down-Sell with Offer #1; however, it focuses on Offer #2.
    • Email Series: Just like the Email Series with Offer #1; only, it focuses on Offer #2.
• Offer #3: If the individual purchases Offer #2 at any point (initially, during the down-sell, or while in the email series), they're immediately met with Offer #3. Offer #3 is usually referred to as the “Profit Maximizer” – it's usually the best product/service you offer. It normally costs more than Offer #2; however, it doesn't necessarily have to – it could also be a complementary product.
  • Down-Sell: Just like the Down-Sell with Offer #2; however, it focuses on Offer #3.
    • Email Series: Just like the Email Series with Offer #2; only, it focuses on Offer #3.
• End: The funnel is complete and the individual returns to the Main Series (what's a Main Series?)

The “Core Offer Classic” Sales Funnel

As I stated above, the “Mega Classic” sales funnel I showed you is essentially everything you can do with a “Classic” sales funnel.

You won't likely need or want to do everything in the “Mega Classic”; it would be overkill.

Remember, the core concept of the “Classic” sales funnel is that after the initial offer, there's another offer, and possibly a third follow-up offer.

Here's what I call the “Core Offer Classic” sales funnel:

Ah, much cleaner!

Let's walk through an example and I'll use Crazy Eye Marketing as the scenario:

• Lead Magnet: Our Top Converting Email Series – a PDF of our top converting email series for turning leads into paying customers.
• Offer #1: The step-by-step course on how to implement the top converting email series we taught in the guide they just requested.
• Offer #2: The Sales Funnel Training Vault, which is shown whether or not they buy Offer #1.
  • Down-Sell: If Offer #2  is refused, we offer a payment plan.
    • Email Series: If the Down-Sell is refused, we send 3 emails which provide an overview of The Sales Funnel Training Vault and a few case studies.
• Offer #3: Sales funnel consulting/coaching services. This offer is shown whether or not someone purchases Offer #2 because, either way, people usually want assistance.

The “Trip Wire Classic” Sales Funnel

This next “Classic” sales funnel example is one that's really common and you've probably seen it outlined before.

I call it, the “Trip Wire Classic” sales funnel.

I believe the sales funnel model is relatively self explanatory at this point with the exception of Offer #1.

Essentially, there are two Offer #1s – A & B. Both are “cheaper” products that are hopefully too good to refuse, but may attract different types of people.

For example, someone requests the Lead Magnet and they're greeted with Offer #1A, but – they don't “need” what Offer #1A has to offer even though it looks like a really good deal, so they decline it. They're then presented with Offer #1B, which is also an amazing deal AND something they absolutely need, so they purchase it!

Whether or not they buy either Offer #1, they'll still flow to Offers #2 and #3.

• Related Course: The Ultimate ClickFunnels Course

The “POS Classic” Sales Funnel

Nope, I'm not referring to Piece Of [expletive] – I'm talking Point Of Sale, the “checkout flow”, I hinted at earlier.

It's relatively similar to the “Trip Wire Classic” sales funnel, but I want to present it another way.

Look familiar?

McDonalds and most fast food restaurants are the kings of the POS sales funnel.

You walk in and order a burger, they ask if you want fries and a drink with that. You say yes; you don't want to be thirsty and fries are delicious. They then ask if you'd like to double your order size for only 30 cents. You don't need that much food because you know it'll make you sick,; you say yes anyway because it's such a good deal. Then they offer you some cookies, how can you say no to cookies? A hint of sweet to top off your meal – why not?! Finally, just as you think you're about done they ask if you want to round up to the nearest dollar and donate the difference to charity. You're not going to be the guy that doesn't support impoverished children's education … are you?! No.

Within about 10 seconds you've made your way through an entire sales funnel, ordered way too much food, and donated to a worthy cause.

Incredible!

Conclusion

There are many sales funnel models designed for various reasons.

“The Classic” sales funnel is one of the most popular models because it can be used in many situations to sell almost anything.

Just remember, the general concept is – after the initial offer, there's another offer, and possibly a third follow-up offer.

How you “move” people through, whether via email, at the POS or a combination of the two is up to you!

Are you ready to start building sales funnels? Checkout The Sales Funnel Training Vault!

This is the most epic post I've ever written.

It's designed to hand you a full blown marketing strategy for your Ecommerce business that you can implement in less than 7 days.

It's highly actionable, which means you will have to do some work. Work yields results.

You want results.

To help assist you, I've put together a fill-in-the-blank document that can be downloaded by clicking the link below.

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

If this post fails to help you, it's because you didn't try.

The results you receive are 100% in your hands.

Let's get started.

The Master Plan

This is the master blueprint we'll be following to build your Ecommerce marketing strategy.

I urge you not to skip ahead to the “cool” stuff that involves automation, tracking, and other nifty tools. Yes, that stuff is fun; however, if you don't have the groundwork laid, you'll wind up spinning in circles and produce minimal results.

So, please, take the 60 minutes to define your customer and your business before moving forward!

Scenarios

I'll be using a couple model businesses in order to provide examples.

• Ecommerce Store #1 – sells cordless power tools like drills, circular saws, blowers, etc. [example site]
• Ecommerce Store #2 – sells women's clothing and accessories [example site]

Note: I have not worked for the example sites, they're simply to give you a visual.

Define Your Customer

There are many ways to define your customer. You can spend days developing the “perfect” customer avatar by conducting research, interviews, and brainstorm sessions, all while filling out a “map”.

Taking the time to do all this stuff is incredibly valuable; however, I know you … and you're not going to do it, so here are a few questions you NEED to answer before moving on:

• What's your ideal customer's name? You need to give them a name!
  • James
  • Meghan
• Where do they hangout? / How can you get in front of them? Online, offline, certain websites, forums, Facebook groups, etc.
  • Google, news websites (CNN, Fox News), direct mail
  • Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook
• Where are they in the journey that is life? Baseline demographics, thoughts, desires, fears, etc.
  • Middle aged, established career (mid-level), has a house to maintain, a couple of kids, spends free-time with family and playing tennis.
  • Just graduated college, attempting to land dream job, single, wants to contribute to society, loves hanging out with friends on the weekends, enjoys adventure.
• How do they see themselves? / How do they present themselves?
  • The provider and protector for his family. Dedicated family man. Knows what's going on in the world and has ideas how to fix it. Well read, smartest person in the room.
  • One cool, motivated, and forward thinking gal. Self disciplined, hardworking, and able to handle herself. Stylish and on trend. Successful.
• How well do they know your products and industry? Do they “live” it, are they “new” to this world, etc.?
  • Knows about tools and which does what; however, doesn't know what makes one model “better” than the other.
  • This is her innate style. She knows the products like the back of her hand because she's shopped here many times.

That was easy, right?

All I'm looking for is a simple stream of thought about your ideal customer, that's it!

Customer FAQ:

Q: I have more than one ideal customer, how should I handle this?

A: Yes, you likely do have more than one ideal customer which is great, you'll ask yourself the same questions. I have two recommendations:

1) Make sure they're uniquely different. Make sure where they hangout is different, where they are in the journey of life is different, and how they see themselves is different.

2) Start with your top 1 or 2 ideal customers. The ones that are 80% of your business. You can always add more “ideal customers” later on, and I recommend getting the low hanging, obvious fruit first.

To Do

Answer the questions above.

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Define Your Business

While we're about to talk extensively about the products and services your business offers, there's more to your business than what you sell.

You likely have a reason for being, a “why”, a mission, a purpose … something that made you launch your business.

Even if you originally started your business for the sole purpose of making money, after having customers and serving people, you've likely started to develop a purpose or mission – and that's OK.

Examples:

• We make tool buying simpler. Our customers don't have to worry if X battery fits with Y tool, they'll be able to easily identify what goes with what.
• We offer women unique, fashionable, and fun clothing that can't be found anywhere else.

Your Business's Personality

Unless you're a massive, global brand that's openly traded on the stock market and has hundreds of thousands of people to keep happy, you have the opportunity to stand out by injecting personality into your business.

In fact, in this day and age with competitors like Amazon, you're going to need personality to stand out from the crowd.

You can't simply be a generic Ecommerce business; you'll eventually starve.

Tips For Figuring Out Your Business's Personality

• You be the personality. This one is pretty simple and obvious, especially if you're operating as a solopreneur. Let your personality shine!

That first one was a “gimme” as it's the easiest; however, if you have multiple people creating content for your business, you really need to take the time to figure out your business's personality so it stays consistent. Here are a few ways:

• 1 or 2 steps ahead. Remember when you defined, “How your ideal customer sees themselves”? Be that person, but one or two levels ahead so you're positioned as the authority.
  • For example, I'm a dedicated family man and provider for my family, just like you; however, I'm also an independent contractor so I know these tools like the back of my hand
  • Another example, I'm a cool, motivated, and forward thinking gal that's self-disciplined, just like you; however, I've moved up the career path and am now a manager that's responsible for hiring, so I know what employers want to see.
• Be just like your ideal customer. It's a fact, people like people like themselves. Be like your ideal customer on every level, “where they are in the journey that is life” and “how they see themselves”.

Your Products And Services

This step is important.

With Ecommerce businesses, there are two ways to think about your products and services:

1. At the point of sale
2. As a whole

Every Ecommerce business NEEDS to have the point of sale “stuff” figured out because it's the fastest and easiest way to increase order size.

The “as a whole” concept may or may not apply to your business in its current form. It's the holistic, high level strategy that encompasses your entire business.

At The Point Of Sale

You're going to have to map out your products, services, and how they're interconnected sooner or later and if you don't take the time to map them out now, you'll likely do a half-assed job later while you're piecing your funnel together.

So, for your sake, take the 30 minutes to get these pieces down!

Steps:

1. Write down your top selling product across 3 different categories
   • Example, the “Journeyman Drill” in drills, the “Apprentice Saw” in circular saws, and the “Master Blower” in blowers
   • Example, the “Blue Dress” in dresses, the “Black Yoga Pants” in active wear, and the “Floral Print” in tops
2. Write down the next level product up and/or down from the top selling product (up-sells and down-sells)
   • Example, for the drills, there's also the “Apprentice Drill” (cheaper than the “Journeyman Drill”) and the “Master Drill” (more expensive than the “Journeyman Drill”)
   • Example, for the active wear, there's also “Black Yoga Pants With A Stripe Down The Leg” (more expensive than regular ol' yoga pants)

Note: Sometimes it's hard to identify a “clear” up-sell and/or down-sell for a particular product, and that's okay. Sometimes the product is what the product is – there aren't higher or lower quality versions of it, it happens. Don't fret over not having up-sells and/or down-sells, as there will still likely be cross-sells!

Idea: Sometimes, more or less of a product can be the up-sell/down-sell.

3. Write down all the products that complement the 3 product categories (cross-sells)
   • Example, drills (category) – drill bits, extra batteries, eye protection, hearing protection, stud finder
     • circular saws – saw blades, extra batteries, eye protection, level, ruler, etc.
   • Example, active wear (category) – shoes, watches, hair bands, sports bras
     • dresses – shoes, watches, purses, belts, sunglasses

WARNING: You can get too into the weeds here, especially if you offer a lot of products. I highly recommend keeping complementary products at the category level unless it makes absolute sense to go down to the product level. For example, let's say there's a magical drill bit that only works with one specific drill, and you really want to sell those drill bits, then OK. Otherwise, keep it at the category level or you'll drive yourself insane.

At this point, you should have 3 to 9 products written down from 3 different categories as well as a handful of complementary products for the 3 categories.

As A Whole

As I alluded to earlier, the Value Ladder concept I'm about to explain may not align with your business in its current form.

If your business doesn't “fit” this concept right now, it's fine. You should still take the time to develop a vague idea of what you “think” you want. You'll still have some direction this way.

Other businesses may already embody this concept, which is awesome! However, I still want you to read this section and write down what you have in place.

The concept of a Value Ladder, is simply your products and services mapped in ascending order of value and price that is normally delivered over the customer's lifetime with you.

Think of it like this:

I'll address Lead Magnets in greater detail later in this post; however, for the time being, think of them as a “freebie” (like a coupon) you give to prospective leads and customers in exchange for their contact information.

Initial Offers are lower priced products that are supposed to be irresistible and “get people in the door” and give people a “taste” of what's to come. Normally, the goal is to break even on initial offer products.

1st Tier Offers are the first set of products that will net you a profit. They're probably less than $200 and likely bring in 80% of the sales.

2nd Tier Offers are the “next” level products to the 1st Tier. They're normally “what people need” after the 1st tier has been completed.

Top Tier Offers are the “end all, be all” of what you have to offer. They're the kitchen sink and the best you've got.

Examples:

Cordless Power Tools Store

• Lead Magnet: 20% off coupon
• Initial Offer(s): House Maintenance For Dummies book, simple project kits to build with kids (like a birdhouse kit)
• 1st Tier Offer(s): Cordless power tools (drills, circular saws, blowers, etc)
• 2nd Tier Offer(s): High end toolboxes, work benches, etc.
• Top Tier Offer(s): Custom built workshop sheds

Women's Clothing And Accessories Store

• Lead Magnet: 20% off coupon
• Initial Offer(s): Sunglasses, T-Shirts
• 1st Tier Offer(s): Sun dresses, swim suits
• 2nd Tier Offer(s): Business attire (suits, dresses)
• Top Tier Offer(s): Formal wear, wedding dresses, etc

I want to clarify something, people do not have to ascend in this fashion. Some people will show up and want the Top Tier product right away – that's awesome, sell it to them! Other people will only buy 1st Tier Offers, while others will only buy the Initial Offer and then vanish. It happens.

However, in an ideal situation, you'll want to be able to provide value to your customers at every level you possibly can. If there's going to be something else they need from your type of business, you might as well be the one to give it to them, or they'll wind up going elsewhere!

To Do

• Write down your business's “why” (why do you exist?).
• Write down, “who” your business is going to be (its persona).
• Write down your Point Of Sale products (you should have 3 to 9 products [top seller + up-sell/down-sell] written down from 3 different categories as well as a handful of complementary products for the 3 categories.)
• Write down what your Value Ladder is, what you “think” it is, or where you want it to go.

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Delivery

As an Ecommerce business, your “delivery system” is already setup, ie. your store.

However, there's a couple things you should do RIGHT NOW that'll directly increase revenue:

1) Add Up-Sells, Cross-Sells, Down-Sells, And Bonuses To Orders

“People who bought this also purchased this.”

“Don’t Miss This Limited Time Offer!”

“Spend $3.37 more to qualify for free shipping.”

You’ve seen these lines used many times in many places. Why? Because they work. Are you using them?

If you mapped out your “Point Of Sale” products (the top selling products in 3 different categories and their up-sell/down-sell versions, plus the cross-sell products for the 3 categories) like you were supposed to 😉 , this part should be a piece of cake!

Depending on your business, how it’s setup, and the platforms you use – the implementation method will change; however, it’s certainly worth figuring out!

Fortunately, many shopping cart platforms have this functionality built in or have plugins that make this a piece of cake:

• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• SamCart
• MemberMouse
• ClickFunnels
• ClickBank

2) Add A Cart Abandonment Email Series

According to the Baymard Institute, 67.19% of shopping carts are abandoned.

67.19%!!!!!

While there are a hundred reasons a person doesn’t finish checking out – their credit card is upstairs and they’re downstairs, they’re at work and don’t want to enter their credit card info on a work computer, etc … one thing remains true, you’re missing out on sales.

After reading through about 15 case studies on cart abandonment recovery, it appears roughly 10% or more abandoned carts can be “won back” by simply sending a few reminder emails. A plugin can handle this automatically.

Like the up-sells, cross-sells, down-sells, and bonus options, the “how” will change depending on your system; however, being able to recover 10%+ of your lost sales makes it well worth figuring out!

• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• ClickFunnels

To Do

• Add up-sells, down-sells, cross-sells, and bonuses to your store
• Add a cart abandonment email series to your store

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

The “Meat”

The “Meat” represents all the content your sales system consists of. This includes …

• Sales Pages / Product Listings
• Squeeze Pages / Landing Pages / LeadPages (whatever you want to call them)
• Emails
• Blog Posts
• Social Media Posts
• Everything…

All content needs to have a purpose. Whether the purpose is to sell a product or service, capture contact information, position yourself and your business as the authority, make someone laugh, whatever … it needs a reason for being.

If you're doing things to “check the box” or putting out bland, generic content – STOP! You're wasting your time.

I see too many businesses start blogs and write utterly useless, uninteresting crap. Or, even worse, they pay some guy or gal in the Philippines $6 for 1,000 words of pure, unintelligible garbage to try and “please” the almighty Google.

You're not going to please Google and you're not going to please people (which are more important than Google as they have the cash).

Everything you do and create needs to have a purpose.

The best way to understand this “purpose” is by studying the art and science of copywriting.

In simple terms, copywriting is a form of written or spoken word that convinces people to take action – ie. buy stuff.

It's very intentional and purposeful.

You Need Copywriting Skills

While you will not develop great copywriting skills overnight, or possibly ever if you don't work at it, it's still a concept you need to understand.

Knowing how to spur action with written word is critical to your Ecommerce store's success.

Ok, I'll get off my soap box now and get to some actionable stuff you can apply today!

Copywriting Tip #1

Write to your ideal customer.

Always consider where they are in life, what they're going through, how they see themselves, and how well they know your products and industry.

If your ideal customer is someone that's brand new to your business and industry, you'll likely need to be more educational and descriptive in your content, as opposed to someone who “knows” your business and industry. If your ideal customer “knows” you, you can be more entertaining, share inside jokes, etc.

Copywriting Tip #2

Write from your business's persona (you should have figured this out earlier 😉 ) – write how they talk.

This means using pronouns like I, me, you, we, he, she, etc.

This means using slang, jargon, and emotion like … (ellipses), YOLO!, naw, etc. (Of course, use what makes sense for your ideal customer. If you sell life saving medical supplies, being “goofy” probably isn't the best idea)

This means asking questions of the reader like, “Do you understand this copywriting “stuff”?”

People like doing business with people, so, be a person!

Don't be a generic machine. You're not a news source, you don't need to be some “better than thou” figure that doesn't have emotion.

Copywriting Tip #3

Remember when you defined where your ideal customer is in the journey of life and how they see, or present, themselves? (I hope so!)

What you need to do is take “where they are now”, “how they see themselves”, and bridge that gap with your product or service.

This is a marketing formula, aptly called, the Before-After-Bridge.

And, just because it's called the “Before-After-Bridge” formula doesn't mean you necessarily have to structure your words in that manner. Ultimately, you want to connect your product to how people see themselves.

Examples:

• You may be tired after a long day at work; however, your kids are going to love building this birdhouse kit with you!
• We know you're one hardworking, successful gal. But, do you look it? Show up to the office in our Blue Dress and look the part!

Copywriting Tip #4

Another marketing formula that works wonders and is easy to understand is the Problem-Agitate-Solve formula.

It first defines the problem, then addresses the pain/feelings/emotions caused by that problem, and then solves the problem with your product.

Examples:

• Is your wife nagging you about hanging pictures on the wall? Grab our Journeyman Drill with a free level and ensure your pictures are straight! No more nagging!
• Tired of job interview after job interview? That can really hurt your confidence going into future interviews, but there's good news! If you look good, you feel good – our Black Pant Suit will give you the confidence you need to really nail your next interview!

Copywriting Tip #5

List the features of your product, then say “which means”, and write that answer down. Ask “which means” again. And again. Pick the best one and list it as a bullet on your sales page, product listing, etc.

Examples:

Cordless Power Drill

• “Lightweight and compact design” which means “it's easy to maneuver” which means “it easily fits into narrow spaces” which means “there's nowhere too small or narrow for you to drill a precise hole”.
• “Lithium Ion Technology & 20V MAX” which means “the battery lasts 10 hours on a single charge” which means “you don't have to worry about charging it every time you want to use it” which means “it's ready when you are”.

Yoga Pants

• “87% Nylon 13% Spandex” which means “they feel nice and stretchy” which means “you'll be comfortable when you workout” which means “you'll get in a good workout and reach your fitness goals quicker”
• “Moisture wicking” which means “you won't be basting in your own sweat” which means “you won't smell bad” which means “people will appreciate you”

Ok, sorry about that last one … I feel weird talking about women's yoga pants and should have chosen another product, alas I did not! However, I believe the concept was still clear.

The “Other” Stuff

If you understand copywriting, or at least the concept of producing content with purpose – the “other” stuff is technical.

How to create opt-in forms, pages, design emails, etc. is all technical. Sure, it takes time to learn and understand; however, it's not what's truly important because tools will come and go.

There will always be a new social media platform, or a new way to contact your customers, or a better Ecommerce platform, but copywriting and having a purpose behind your content is what truly matters. It's the meat and potatoes.

Learn everything you need to about the “other” stuff by joining The Sales Funnel Training Vault!

To Do

Armed with your newly found copywriting skills I want you to review the 3-9 products you identified earlier (the top selling products in 3 different categories and their up-sell/down-sell versions) and, if they're lacking on copy – update them!

As time permits, do the same for the complementary products you identified earlier.

Ultimately, you should review and update all product listings and sales pages.

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

The “Simple” Sales Funnel

The “Simple” Sales Funnel or “Straight Line Sales Funnel” is simply a fancy way of saying “email autoresponder series.”

An email autoresponder series is a series of emails automatically sent to a subscriber.

While email autoresponder series and automations can be very complex, as we'll discuss later with the “Advanced” Sales Funnels section, in this “Simple” section we're only going to talk about sending emails in a straight line.

Think of it like this:

What's The Point?

I'm glad you asked! We're building this email series for a few reasons:

• This email series will automatically build and maintain a relationship with your leads and customers while simultaneously converting them to your way of thinking
• This will serve as the backbone for more complex email automations we'll later build on
• Your personal understanding. If you have trouble making emails trigger in a straight line, when we get into more advanced topics you'll really struggle

How Many “Simple” Sales Funnels Should You Have?

Most of the time, you will only need one. The type of content you send in this funnel will be interesting to people interested in your type of business or industry.

For example:

• People who are interested in home repairs
• People who are interested in women's fashion

There are a few instances where you may need 2 or more, for example if you sell nutritional supplements, your customers are tremendously different. One half of your market may only be interested in losing weight while the other half is interested in gaining weight and putting on muscle (complete opposites). In this case, you would likely want 2 different “simple” sales funnels.

If you have more than one “simple” sales funnel, you'll need to segment individuals at the very beginning by asking them “who” they are.

What Type Of Content Should You Send?

Remember, the point of this particular sales funnel is to build and maintain a relationship and convert them to your way of thinking.

To accomplish this, send 3 types of emails:

1. Educational – emails that teach people how to do something, about the market, about what's happening, etc.
2. Entertaining – emails that are “fun” like inside jokes, critiques, testimonials, events, etc.
3. Earning – emails that remind people you sell stuff like deals, top selling products, etc.

I've aptly named these emails the “3 E Emails”.

Now, this doesn't mean an email can only be 1 of the Es at a time. Like, you can only send a boring how-to tutorial, or only send a silly cat video. That's not what I mean. Your how-to tutorial should be entertaining and can even sell your product at the end. That's like killing 3 birds with one stone!

However, each email should have 1 core focus.

Is the primary aim of the email to educate, entertain, or earn?

• Educational emails tend to build relationships while converting people to your way of thinking
• Entertaining emails tend to build and maintain relationships
• Earn emails tend to ring the cash register

Examples:

Cordless Power Tools Store

• Educational: Send a link to a video on how to properly find a stud in the wall. Have an entertaining host and sell a stud finder at the end of the video.
• Entertaining: Share a success story where a father and his son built a birdhouse together with one of the kits you sell; they then enjoyed watching the birds build their nest and watching the babies learn to fly.
• Earn: Here's a 10% off coupon available for the next 48 hours.

Women's Clothing And Accessories Store

• Educational: Talk about what's “in fashion” this season. Be entertaining in the process while also selling the latest fashion.
• Entertaining: Send a “who wore it better” with side by side comparisons of people wearing your clothes. Depending on your brand and personality, this could be really silly like comparing a female in a dress compared to a male in a dress.
• Earn: Here are our top selling items across 3 different categories.

Where Do You Get Content?

Ideally, your emails will bring people back to your website and your store. Of course, this requires a blog or pages setup to present the content.

If you lack your own content, I recommend you change that ASAP.

And remember, content doesn't necessarily mean blogging. While you still want to display the content on your site to “bring people back”, it can mean, video, audio (podcasts), images, etc.

For example, if my brother is your target audience, blogging is a terrible idea. He doesn't read anything and you need to draw him in with video.

HOWEVER, and it's a pretty big one – Google can't really “watch” videos. It won't matter how good your video content is from a search engine perspective. Blogging is still the #1 way to rank in the search results.

The Most Epic Blogging Strategy Of All Time

1. Write the most epic post for your ideal customer, as it relates to how they see themselves and how it relates to your business/industry. If that is too esoteric, think of it as, “How does your business help people go from point A (where they are now) to point B (where they want to be/how they see themselves).” (3,000+ words)
   • 101 Home Improvements You Can Do With Just A Few Tools
   • Your Complete Summer 2016 Fashion Guide
2. Write more in-depth articles for each individual section of your “epic” post. (500-1,000 words)
   • 9 Steps To Fixing A Leaking Faucet
   • Why Bright Colors Are “In” This Summer
3. Write case studies, testimonials, reviews, etc. and/or create videos and/or pdf checklists for each of the “more in-depth” articles. (500-1,000 words and/or 3-5 minute video and/or a 1 page checklist)
   • A video tutorial that shows how to fix a leaky faucet
   • An article and picture gallery of 10 “hot” celebrities wearing bright colors

Of course, you link your products as they “fit” the particular articles.

How Often Should You Email?

As often as is necessary.

Wow, Nathan – that's helpful.

This answer varies from industry to industry; however, normally – two to four times a week. The first 3-5 emails are sent daily, no matter what, because this is when the lead is “hot”.

During the “Advanced” Sales Funnel portion, there will be more instances where you email daily because the lead will “tell” you they're “hot” again.

To Do

• Write down 3 EPIC blog post ideas

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Lead Magnets

A Lead Magnet can best be thought of as the freebie or offer that motivates individuals to give you their contact information.

Many times, in the Ecommerce world, a coupon or discount works well as a Lead Magnet.

A few more Lead Magnet examples include videos, guides, checklists, and webinars.

There are two types of Lead Magnets:

1. General
2. Specific

General Lead Magnets

A General Lead Magnet is attractive to anyone who visits your Ecommerce store and is usually presented as a form on most pages of your site. The form can be a lightbox, bar/ribbon, landing mat, sidebar, slide-in, etc.

For example:

Anyone that visits this particular store will likely be interested in 10% off their order.

Specific Lead Magnets

A Specific Lead Magnet is attractive to individuals interested in a certain product or category of products and many times is presented as a Squeeze Page (although, this isn't always the case).

What's a “Squeeze Page”?

A Squeeze Page is a page dedicated to one thing and one thing only – “squeezing” the email address (and possibly other contact info) out of a visitor, turning them into a lead.

Here's an example:

That's an entire page. The only option is to click the “Get The Coupon” button which opens an opt-in form and requests an individual's first name and email.

Only people interested in receiving that specific flashlight would be interested in requesting the coupon.

99% of the time, paid traffic should be sent to dedicated Squeeze Pages like the example

You can follow up with emails that “push” the particular item to individuals that don't buy right away.

In addition to Squeeze Pages, you can present opt-in forms that present Specific Lead Magnets.

For example, if someone is looking at cordless drills, you can present a lightbox opt-in form with a Specific Lead Magnet for 20% off the purchase of a cordless drill.

Coupons Aren't Always The Best Option

I know I just mentioned 2 different Lead Magnets – 1 general, 1 specific that were both coupons; however, coupons may not be the best Lead Magnet.

The only time a coupon is needed is when someone is about to checkout. Not everyone wants to checkout right away. Sometimes, people just want more information. If you offered a coupon to those just looking for information, you'd miss out on collecting their contact information, building a relationship, and making a sale.

The point is, sometimes a video or checklist lead magnet will perform better in the long run than a coupon.

To Do

• Write down 3 General Lead Magnet ideas
• Write down 3 Specific Lead Magnet ideas (probably for your top selling products)

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

The “Advanced” Sales Funnel

The “Advanced” Sales Funnel is driven by interests, hence, it's other name the “Interest Driven Sales Funnel.”

Essentially, people join your email list and based upon which links they click, pages they view, and lead magnets they request – you'll send relevant emails in order to try and sell a product.

Here's what an Interest Driven Sales Funnel looks like:

As you see on the left hand side you have your “Simple” or “Straight Line” Sales Funnel (also called the “Main Series”).

As previously mentioned, this autoresponder series acts as the backbone for your Interest Driven Sales Funnel. As it sends emails that follow the 3 E strategy, it automatically pays attention to how people respond to certain emails.

If people respond a certain way (show interest), a “Micro Sales Funnel” (Product / Service Sales Funnel) will automatically trigger. The point of the Micro Sales Funnel is to sell a product or service.

You will likely have lots of Micro Sales Funnels. Ideally, one for each category of products you offer and in some instances, individual products will have their own.

Here's an example of one:

A Micro Sales Funnel may differ from the above example based upon what you're attempting to sell, your Value Ladder, and your approach.

Quick Explanation

No matter what the Micro Sales Funnel looks like, the start and end will look the same.

The Start

The Start occurs when an individual shows interest in a product you offer or a topic you talk about. We can gauge interest by tracking their link clicks, Specific Lead Magnet requests, page views, and via points (if you use a CRM).

The End

The End occurs when an individual has gone through the entire Micro Sales Funnel. If the individual went straight into the Micro Sales Funnel by requesting a Specific Lead Magnet and they have yet to enter the “Main Series” (Straight Line Sales Funnel) – they'll now enter the Main Series starting at the beginning.

If the individual was in the Main Series, showed interest in a product by clicking a link, and entered a Micro Sales Funnel – upon entering the Micro Sales Funnel, their “trip” down the Main Series would have been paused, and upon exiting the Micro Sales Funnel, they'd resume their “trip” down the Main Series.

The Rest

Action Series

A few emails that attempt to drive action, ie. a purchase of the product or category of products the individual has shown interest in.

Did Action Happen?

If the desired action was taken, go to the Upsell Series.

If the desired action was not taken, go to The End.

Upsell Series

An email or two that attempts to sell more, usually complementary, products.

Examples

Cordless Power Tools Store

An individual joins the email list by opting in for a Specific Lead Magnet that offers 10% off all cordless drills. Being that the coupon is only for cordless drills, we know they're interested in them.

We then send 3 emails that talk exclusively about cordless drills.

• Email 1: Features of a “good” cordless drill
• Email 2: The differences between our top 3 selling drills
• Email 3: Reminder that the 10% off coupon will expire in 24 hours

Let's pretend that on Email 2 they purchase one of our drills. We then end that series (we won't send email 3) and launch into our Upsell Series where we send 2 emails that attempt to sell complementary products.

• Email 1: 3 pieces of gear you need to get the most out of your drill (sell drill bits, safety goggles, and a level)
• Email 2: Offer a 10% off any complementary pieces of gear

After completing the Upsell Series, they enter our Main Series from the beginning where we begin to build and maintain a relationship and gauge more interest(s).

Women's Clothing And Accessories Store

An individual has been on our email list and in our Main Series for a few weeks when they receive a 3 E email about “how to dress for a job interview.” They click the link contained in the email.

By clicking the link, we know they're interested in “how to dress for a job interview.” We pause the Main Series and trigger 3 emails that talk about that topic, while promoting our products.

• Email 1: Dresses vs Suits – which lands you the job? (turns out, dresses land jobs more often than suits)
• Email 2: 3 Dresses that'll help you land a job
• Email 3: 10% off any of our dresses

Let's pretend our 3rd email results in the sale of a dress. The individual is then sent the Upsell Series for dresses:

• Email 1: How to decide what accessories to wear in order to make your dress “pop”
• Email 2: 3 accessories to make your dress “pop” (hand bag, earrings, belt)

To Do

• Write down 3 Action Series ideas, 1 for each category of your top 3 selling products (defined earlier in this article)
• Write down 3 Upsell Series ideas, 1 for each category of your top 3 selling products (the complementary products you defined earlier)

Note: Many of these emails will likely link to blog posts and other content you've created, fitting nicely within your Epic Blogging Strategy.

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Traffic

There are over 1,645,444 ways to drive traffic to your Ecommerce store.

Maybe there's not quite that many ways to drive traffic; however, there are still A LOT.

There are online and offline methods. “Free” and paid methods.

There are so many options and so many people “pushing” the one they think is best.

I get it – it all sounds super attractive …

HOWEVER … do you remember the second question I asked you to answer?

“Where does your ideal customer hangout?”

Wherever they hangout is where, and how, you'll advertise.

It doesn't matter if someone just made a million dollars by advertising on LinkedIn. If your customers aren't on LinkedIn, you will never find success.

So what if someone is getting leads for 2 cents from Twitter ads. If your customers aren't on Twitter, you will never find success.

All that being said, and given the fact that you're an Ecommerce business, and you need people comfortable with shopping online … there are 2 sources of traffic that at least some of your ideal customers hangout on:

• Google
• Facebook

While I can't possibly run through everything you need to know about these two platforms in this post, I'll at least point you in the right direction.

Google

No matter your niche, the almighty Google will always be a source of traffic.

While Google provides a number of ways to drive traffic, I'm going to break it down into two: “free” and paid.

“Free” Google Traffic (SEO)

While SEO (organic) traffic might not cost you money, it's going to cost you time – which is why I place “free” in quotes.

Ecommerce stores tend to have a lot of pages. Thousands in some instances, depending on the number of products you offer.

However, product listings normally contain “thin” content (a few hundred words max that aren't interesting or unique).

It is difficult for “thin” content to rank well in the search results, especially when you're up against behemoths like Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc.

Ideally, you'll go through your top listings, follow some of the copywriting tricks I outlined above and “beef” up your product listings. This will help your listings standout a little more and gain a competitive advantage over the behemoths.

The other advantage your Ecommerce store may have is its blog.

In following the Epic Blogging Strategy, you'll likely gain attention from Google in ways big stores won't.

Paid Google Traffic (Adwords)

Google has an advertising platform called Adwords that essentially allows you to pay money in order to “bump up” your listing in the search results for given keywords.

I won't go further in depth on Adwords. I'll give you some paid advertising tips after I talk about Facebook.

Facebook

Nearly everyone has a Facebook account which means at least a subset of your audience can be found on the platform.

“Free” Facebook Traffic

By creating a page for your Ecommerce store, sharing great content (like stuff from your blog), and by promoting your page, you can gain a following on Facebook that leads to “free” (organic) traffic.

Plus, there's built in social proof, sharing, and possibilities of virality by being present on Facebook.

Paid Facebook Traffic

Facebook's Ads Manager is an incredibly powerful tool.

It allows you to target your ideal customer in every way imaginable from demographic information to interests and likes.

Rules For Paid Traffic

#1: ALWAYS TRACK EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!

The most important rule – yet, every client I've ever worked with on paid advertising has failed to do this from the start.

Google, Facebook, and most reputable advertising companies allow you to track everything – cost per lead, cost per purchase, average order size, and much more.

If you're not tracking your results, you will make poor decisions and throw money away.

#2: Always Send People To A Dedicated Page

When paying for traffic, you need to send people to a dedicated landing page whether it's a Squeeze Page where you're trying to capture contact information or a Sales Page where you're trying to make a sale.

Like the content you produce, everything needs a clear purpose and objective.

#3: Have A Reasonable Budget

There will be a learning curve with paid advertising.

Expect 9 out of 10 of your ads to fail.

You'll likely spend $1k+ before you start seeing real success. Consider it an education.

Point is, if you don't have $1k+ to spend on an education in paid advertising – don't start. Do the “free” stuff first.

#4: Have Patience

When you're learning and losing money, it isn't fun.

You'll likely want to change things very quickly (pause ads, launch new ads, etc). You can't do this.

Generally, you need a few thousand people to see your ad before you can determine if it's bad and a few hundred people to land on your Squeeze Page or Sales Page to determine if it's bad.

You need to collect the data. It's part of learning what does and does not work.

Point is, if you change everything every 10 minutes, you're not going to learn anything and you'll likely fail.

To Do

You're not going to send paid traffic until you have a Straight Line Sales Funnel in place, at a minimum. Ideally, have an Interest Driven Sales Funnel setup before you spend a dime on traffic.

Having said that, only focus on “free” traffic for the time being.

• Implement the Epic Blogging Strategy.
• Start a Facebook Page and share your blog posts on it.

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

Optimization

Unfortunately, you cannot optimize something you don't have – so, you will need to implement the Ecommerce marketing strategy you drafted with the help of this post.

However, when you begin optimizing your sales funnel, there's a certain way to think about it on a macro and micro level.

Macro Level

Your entire sales system is an integrated system.

Who your customers are, where they hangout, how you present your business, how you deliver your products, your product listings, your pages, your emails, your ads … it's all integrated and how well one part performs affects the other parts.

For example, if you're advertising to the wrong people, it doesn't matter how good everything else is, your entire system will fail.

If you're unable to match your products to your customers needs, your entire system will fail.

The Golden Rule

Start at the beginning.

If you're having trouble with your sales system, start at the beginning – with your customers. If you're absolutely positive you're trying to attract the correct customers, move onto your business – how you portray yourself, what you sell and how you sell it (Value Ladder).

Does everything make sense? Is the “flow” of the Value Ladder natural? Is your business's persona coming across as sincere or as a douche-bag?

How are your products listed on your sales pages? Do you have high quality photos? Good copy that's attractive to your ideal customer? Is the checkout process easy?

Work your way through the entire system, piece by piece.

If the early stuff isn't right, it won't matter how good the later stuff is as no one will ever get to it.

Micro Level

Beyond optimizing at the Macro Level, you have the Micro Level – and, to be honest, this is what most people focus on already.

These are things like email subject lines, page titles, calls-to-actions (CTA), ads, etc.

The good part is, a few % increases here and there can increase the performance of the entire system very quickly.

For example:

A few minor tweaks (all 5% increases or less) to the ad, squeeze page, thank you page, action series, and upsell series resulted in 10 more customers than before and 2 additional upsells.

Imagine if only the ad's CTR increased … what would happen …

We'd still add 4 more customers!

It's amazing what even a half-percent change can do!

To Do

Implement.

>> Click here to download the Ecommerce Marketing Strategy Worksheet & this post in PDF format

How To Implement

This post should have your Ecommerce business on a path for success; however, there's still a lot of work and technical understanding that needs to happen.

There's still …

• Email marketing automation configuration
• Landing page and opt-in form integration
• Advertising campaign launches and optimization
• Tracking tools and pixels to implement
• Various other areas that'll need tweaking

Of course, you can piecemeal all this together from various sources, or you can save a bunch of time, effort, and energy by joining The Vault!

The Vault includes all the training, resources, and support you'll need to implement everything you planned above!

Click here to see how The Vault can help your Ecommerce Business!