I get a lot of questions.

Some are very specific, like – “What button should I click?”

While others are more general, such as…

• Do I need a sales funnel?
• Will a sales funnel work for my business?
• What sales funnel should I build?

This post is designed to help answer those more general questions.

First, What Is A Sales Funnel?

I'm not going to go into too much detail here because I write about this extensively on this site. However, I  wanted to lay some groundwork to ensure we're all on the same page.

Simply put, a sales funnel is the path through which you take your ideal customer:

• Introduce yourself
• Build a relationship
• Convince them to buy something from you
• Keep them happy and convince them to buy more from you

That's it.

For those who like pretty pictures, here's an illustration of what I've outlined above…

Of course, there are many strategies for doing this…

The one I use is called The Interest Driven Sales Funnel Strategy.

The Interest Driven Sales Funnel Strategy works by breaking the sales funnel into two levels:

• Macro
• Micro

At the Macro level, we're reaching out to our audience, trying to figure out what they're interested in, and once we have an idea of what they like… we try to sell them something.

For selling, we use Micro Sales Funnels. These are sales funnels designed to sell a specific product or service.

That's as deep as I'm going to go into Macro vs. Micro sales funnels in this post…

Just remember…

• Macro = bring people in and gauge interest
• Micro = sell products/services the person has shown interest in

Don't Forget The Big Picture… The Macro Level Is Important!

The rest of this post is going to be about Micro Sales Funnels.

Micro sales funnels are cool! You can make pretty diagrams of them and there are a bunch of tools for building them…

However, I brought up the Macro level because it's very important and the key to success.

How you bring people into your business, establish your relationship with them, and gauge their interests is critically important.

Please don't forget the Macro level when building your Micro Sales Funnels because if you do, your Micro sales funnels will suffer!

Capiche?

What Micro Sales Funnel Should I Build?

#1 Goal Of This Exercise

Here's the deal…

The #1 goal of this exercise is to ultimately build one successful funnel.

Do not go out and build 10 mediocre or terrible funnels simply because you have 10 products.

You build one funnel and get that thing working.

What do I mean by “working”?

It breaks even. Ie, your net profit is greater than or equal to $0. (Revenue – Ad Spend – Cost Of Goods – Fulfillment/Shipping – Time – Credit Card Fees – Every Other Expense To Get The Sale >= $0)

If you can get a new customer for $0… everything else you sell them is icing on the cake.

The easiest way to do this? Sell a product or service you already know sells well.

Unless you have a bunch of working funnels already, it's not the time to build funnels to launch random, unproven products.

So please, get that one working funnel FIRST; then, you can build another, and another, and another…

The Sales Funnel Flowchart

I love a good flowchart.

Answer a few simple questions and BOOM, you have your answer to a complex question!

Here's a flowchart to help you figure out what type of Micro Sales Funnel you should build:

This flowchart should be pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

Now, I want to quickly hit on the starting point…

Pick 1 CORE Offer

Just ONE!

What is the one thing you want to sell or have someone do? Don't sit there and envision your entire funnel already, or decided you want a “webinar” funnel…

Pick 1 offer:

• I want to sell my $197 course on underwater basket weaving
• I want to sell my $9.95 flashlight
• I want to sell this $47 affiliate product
• I want someone to buy my $3,000 web design package
• I want someone to visit my business to claim their free teeth cleaning

Got your 1 core offer?

Great!

Now, run it through the flowchart.

Show Content And Retarget

Oftentimes, people simply don't know enough about you, your offer, their pain/problem, etc.

In this case, you need to show them more content like blog posts and videos via ads, emails, social media posts, etc.

Note: The content you show them should link to your Micro Sales Funnel so the individual can easily move on to the next step.

Finally, you will want to retarget these individuals in order to bring them to your Micro Sales Funnel.

• Related Article: How To Use Retargeting To Generate Sales

2 Step / Lead Gen Funnel

There are times when you might not be trying to sell anything right away…

Like, when you're just getting started… you just want somebody to find your website/business/content.

You want people to know you exist.

A great funnel for this is a 2 Step or Lead Gen funnel.

It works by sending individuals to an opt-in or squeeze page where you capture their contact information in exchange for a Lead Magnet.

A Lead Magnet can be an ebook, checklist, trial, flowchart, mp3, video, voucher, etc… something of value that an individual will happily provide their contact information in order to receive what you're offering.

The “Welcome” page is a page that usually contains a video or brief message that welcomes the individual to your business, tells them to check their email for the Lead Magnet they just requested, and explains how to use the Lead Magnet and/or what the next steps are.

Of course, after the individual gives you their contact information, you will follow up with them through various types of engagements like email, text messages, phone calls, direct mail, Facebook Messenger, and retargeting.

These 2 Step funnels are also great for brick & mortar businesses. You have the individual opt-in for a voucher or discount and then follow up with them to get them into your business to use the voucher/discount they received at opt-in.

• Related Article: What Is A Lead Mangnet & 10 Examples
• Related Article: The 2-Step Lead Gen Funnel For Local Businesses

Sales Page

97% of online transactions look just like the diagram above…

An individual lands on a sales page and they either buy the product or they don't.

Take a look at Amazon… you find the product you want (sales page), add it to your cart, checkout, and receive your order confirmation. That's it.

There are no fancy OTOs, One-Click-Upsells, Downsells, Order Bumps, etc.

This is perfectly fine!

You don't “need” all that fancy stuff.

Setup a sales page, present your offer, and move on to sending traffic to it!

Merge 2 Step/Lead Gen Funnel With Sales Page

One very popular approach is to merge the 2 Step/Lead Gen Funnel with a Sales Page.

In doing this, you're collecting their contact information prior to trying to sell them a product/service. This allows you to better follow up with them, build rapport, and subsequently increase the conversion rate on the sales page.

If possible, employ this tactic and watch your conversion rates skyrocket!

Front End Funnel

The Front End Funnel goes by many names: Classic Sales Funnel, Trip Wire Funnel, Self Liquidating Funnel, etc. and it's probably the most popular Micro Sales Funnel model.

It can look different from what's illustrated above, depending on what you have/need/etc. For example, maybe you only have one OTO (One-Time-Offer), or maybe you don't want to offer a Downsell, or you don't want to have an Opt-in and Welcome page… that's fine.

The main concept behind this funnel is that you offer something at a very low price (< $10) in order to get the individual to open their wallet. Then, when “the buyer is in heat”, they'll buy until you anger them or stop offering things to buy. (that's the theory, anyway)

So, let's break down the pages:

• Sales Page: Where you offer the very low priced product (< $10)
• OTO 1: This is where you present your Core Offer (the product you really want to sell and why you built the funnel in the first place).
  • Downsell: The page an individual views when they turn down OTO 1. Usually, you try to sell your Core Offer again; however, this time incentivize it by including some bonuses, a discount, or a payment plan.
• OTO 2: Whether the individual purchases OTO 1 (your Core Offer) or not, you can show them another offer they might be interested. Often, this is a more expensive product commonly referred to as a “Profit Maximizer”. However, it doesn't have to be more expensive. Use whatever makes sense for your business, customer, and funnel.

Then, throughout the entire funnel, you will continue to “pull” people through by following up via engagements like emails, text messages, phone calls, direct mail, Facebook Messenger, and retargeting.

• Related Article: The AliExpress Sales Funnel
• Related Article: The Amazon Seller's Sales Funnel
• Related Article: The Coaching/Consulting “Book” Sales Funnel
• Related Article: [Case Study] Our Free + Shipping Book Sales Funnel Launch
• Related Article: A Sales Funnel For Selling Digital Products

Webinar Funnel

Webinar funnels are quite popular these days because they are often very effective for selling products and services in the $300-$2,500 range.

The particular diagram above illustrates a webinar funnel that has a webinar a few days after someone registers…

How it works – an individual registers for the webinar and then they're dripped a few key pieces of content to get them excited about what's to come. We call this the “Pre-Webinar Training”.

Then, there's the webinar where you teach and then sell…

Then, a replay room for those that miss the webinar or only watch a piece of it…

Then, the Sales Page where you make your last ditch effort to sell your product/service.

Of course, you're following up with emails and retargeting ads (at the very least), and possibly including some text messages, phone calls, direct mail, and/or Facebook Messages (depending on your plan).

One of the best webinar scripts comes from Russell Brunson and his “Perfect Webinar” which can be found here.

Evergreen Webinar Funnel

Another way to execute a webinar is via an Evergreen Webinar Funnel.

Ideally, you'll do your webinar live a bunch of times and really nail it down… record it, then turn it evergreen… but, you don't necessarily have to.

The evergreen webinar funnel doesn't usually include the pre-webinar “stuff” and instead goes straight into the presentation.

If you have a webinar already, maybe it's time to turn it evergreen!

• Note: I give you my Evergreen Webinar funnel when you attend my Evergreen Webinar here.

Product Launch Funnel

The Product Launch Funnel or “Horizontal Sales Page” has been made popular by Jeff Walker and his “Product Launch Formula.”

It works by having an individual opt-in for training in the form of videos, blog posts, PDFs, etc.

The training is broken down into 4 parts and dripped via email, retargeting, text, etc. to the student over the course of a few days.

In the last training, an offer is pitched to the student for a product/service to take what they learned to the next level.

If you're selling a more expensive product/service, you should pick up the “Launch” book by Jeff Walker because he does a great job outlining the whole concept.

Consultation / Application Funnel

If you're selling a product/service over $2,500, it's typically a good idea to chat with your customer beforehand to ensure they're a good fit.

To do this, you can either offer a “Free Consultation” or make them “Apply” for your offer.

Typically, people you send to this funnel will know who you are and already be intertwined with your business. You probably won't need to have an initial opt-in page for these folks; however, I included it in the illustration above because you may want one in order to capture interest.

On your Welcome & Pre-sell page you will want to include a wall of text and/or video testimonials of individuals that have had success with your offering. Interspersed throughout that page, include links and CTAs to your application form and/or call schedule form.

Finally, on the Success Page, let them know you'll be in touch soon.

The rest of the funnel is “off line” in that you contact them, chat with them, etc. You probably don't need/want to automate this part.

• Related Article: The “Get Clients NOW!” Funnel

Bridge Funnel

Bridge funnels are used to introduce YOUR audience to someone else's offer.

Often, you can't control the other offer's sales page. It says whatever it says and you can't change it.

Now, in order to keep the message congruent so YOUR audience understands what's happening, you will want to use a bridge funnel to “bridge” the gap by connecting YOU to that other offer.

You can also use a bridge funnel to “spruce up” the other offer by incentivizing it with bonuses and other benefits.

Bridge funnels are often used to sell affiliate products or MLM opportunities.

Affiliate Products Funnel

There are times when you might not have your own product or service.

Or, maybe you just want to offer someone else's product for sale because you know it will help your customers.

Whatever the reasoning, there's a funnel for it!

It starts similarly to the other funnels and the Opt-in page isn't “mandatory”, you can direct people straight to the Sales Page w/ Special Offer if you want.

The Sales Page w/ Special Offer promotes the affiliate product you're trying to sell and then offers a bunch of bonuses if they purchase via your link. These bonuses are delivered via a Membership Portal you give the person access to after they purchase the affiliate product.

In the Membership Portal, provide a collection of helpful content like videos, PDFs, etc.

• Related Article: The Affiliate Marketing Funnel

MLM Funnel

Most MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) networks are BIG on digital “stuff”.

When you join, they'll hook you up with squeeze pages, landing pages, full websites, etc. and tell you to post messages on Facebook to get everyone you know to those pages they setup for you.

Sending people to the MLM's squeeze pages can work fine; however, you can take it one step further by creating a special Bridge Funnel to “bridge” the gap between you, your audience, and the MLM network. You can use a Bridge Funnel to share your story, share your downlines' and/or upline's stories.

This will allow you to better connect and sell the MLM opportunity.

The actual design of a MLM Funnel can look like the diagram above where you have people opt-in to see your Welcome & Pre-sell page, or you can remove the opt-in page and just send people straight to the Welcome & Pre-sell page.

You could even make a funnel similar to the Affiliate Product Funnel and incentivize the joining of the MLM network.

There are many ways you can do it. Just remember, the point is to bridge the gap between YOUR audience and the MLM network!

Merging Sales Funnels

All of the funnel illustrations above are just examples…

Depending on your needs, wants, and desires… your funnel make look different…

And, that's A OK!

My point in this post is to get you started in the right direction.

With that said, you can certainly “merge” funnels together much like the 2 Step/Lead Gen Funnel being merged with the Sales Page up above…

And, if you didn't notice… the “Sales Page” is the start of the Front End funnel too… it's just the next page is different.

So, you may combine a Webinar or Product Launch funnel with a Front End/Classic sales funnel:

Sure, in the above example, the Initial Offer isn't some cheap product; however, you could still offer an OTO or two like advanced training, coaching, and/or consulting.

Your “funnel” doesn't have to be “literal”. (hopefully that make some sense! All I'm saying is, do what makes sense! This stuff is flexible!!!)

Stacking Funnels

If you followed the flowchart at the very top, I mentioned “Funnel Stacking”.

Basically, that is simply…

Taking people through a natural progression… ie. your Value Ladder.

Who buys your ultra-premium product/service?

Brand new people who just came in off the street? Or, people that purchased a few lower to mid-range products/services first?

My guess is, it's usually people that have purchased some of your other offerings first.

People need to get a “feel” for who you are and what you offer before they whip out their credit card to buy your $10,000 package.

Makes sense, right?

It's a natural progression.

One of my clients is an anti-aging specialist…

I built a “Front End Funnel” for him that sells his book and some of his digital training resources…

We break even on the front end. (his ad spend is covered)

On the back end, his schedule is booked solid the next 3 months for EXPENSIVE services.

So, he's getting people to know who he is for “free” and then, once they're “in”, he sells them on his other services…

That's how it's done!

Remember the Macro Sales Funnel I spoke about at the very beginning? “Bring people in and see what they're interested in” … that's the strategy!

Launch your Lead Gen funnel or Front End Funnel, then guide people to your Webinar or Product Launch funnel, and then guide them up to your Consultation or Application Funnel!

Note: These funnels aren't back-to-back-to-back like when you merge funnels. There may be months or even years in-between purchases.

Will A Sales Funnel Work For My Business?

If you made it this far, you can probably answer this question already.

Basically, if you have something to offer to an individual, whether it's a product, service, or opportunity…

Whether it's digital, physical, or something in-between…

Having a funnel in place will help your business.

After all, it's just a few pages and some engagements… it's nothing super special, mysterious, or magical.

It's you, engaging with your prospective customer and trying to get them to like you and/or your offer enough to buy it.

That's it.

So, hopefully that answers that question!

Final Thoughts

This post primarily covered Micro Sales Funnels, but I don't want you to forget the big picture and the Macro level sales funnel that contains these Micro sales funnels.

Without understanding the big, Macro picture… your Micro sales funnels will suffer.

I also want to point out that Micro sales funnels are just a couple of pages and engagements (emails, retargeting ads, text messages, etc.)… that's it. It's not some crazy hack or tactic. It's like any other website on the Internet, it's just done with strategy, purpose, and intent with the goal to sell your offer.

Finally, if you want to learn more, I recommend you check out the Sales Funnel Training Vault!

This post is the third in a series of posts entitled, “Digital Marketing Strategy For Startups, Small Businesses, and Entrepreneurs“.

I love the era we live in.

The technology that's available can save us so much time by helping us automate portions of our business.

For example, you can automate emails, text messages, direct mail, and ringless voicemails.

Not to mention the fact you can automate your entire social media presence or outsource tasks to virtual assistants, freeing you to focus on “bigger” things.

There's so much opportunity to automate portions of your business, that if you're not … you're not only wasting time and money, but you're missing out on growth.

This article is all about using marketing automation to help generate sales.

Transactional Communication

Transactional communications (email/text/direct mail/ringless voicemail) are the easiest and most logical communications to implement and automate.

If someone requests a Lead Magnet (see part 2), you send them what they requested.

If someone purchases a product or service, you send them a receipt and/or more information.

If someone abandons their cart, you remind them about it.

This makes sense, right? Nothing revolutionary here.

But, you still gotta do it. The money is made by following the basics.

#1 Goal Of Transactional Communication

The #1 goal of transactional communication is to present your next offer. (now is a great time to ensure you have a Value Ladder!)

Examples:

• An individual requests a Lead Magnet, you present the product/service that complements the Lead Magnet
• An individual purchases a product or service, you present complementary products/services
• An individual abandons their cart, you remind them about the products in their cart and possibly include a discount or bonus to drive them back to complete the checkout process

Again, this is no-brainer stuff right here, but it's overlooked so often I have to bring it up.

Relationship Building

In part 2 we discussed capturing people's contact information so you can follow up with them later.

Beyond sending transactional communications, you can send more “generalized” communications that build and maintain relationships, promote your products and services, and gauge interest (more on that later).

What does it mean to send “relationship building” communications?

It means that you're sending valuable content. For example, blog posts, videos, audios, infographics, stories, Q&A, support, etc.

Now, just because you're sending valuable content, it doesn't mean that it can't link to your products/services sales pages or that you can't use it to “mold” your leads and customers to conform to your way of thinking!

It's kind of like propaganda without the whole “misleading” part. You will never, ever mislead people on purpose. Right? But, you can teach them your ways if you believe them to be better than what's out there.

Before you know it, you'll become the authority and they'll follow you anywhere. (that's the goal at least!)

How To Build A Relationship

Too many small business owners and entrepreneurs overthink the sending of communications.

They worry about sending too many emails and annoying their leads and customers.

Or, they're not sure what to send.

I'm telling you right here, right now … it's not rocket science.

Talk to your audience like you normally would. Share what you would normally share.

You don't have to use fancy pants tactics and copywriting hacks to send an email.

Be a human being talking to other human beings. Really. That's it. That's the secret.

Now, there are some general rules of thumb if you're completely lost…

General Rules Of Thumb

1. Email 3-4 times a week. Any less and they'll forget about you. Any more and you may become a nuisance.
2. 1 promotional “sales” email every 2 weeks. ie. share more valuable content than promotional content.
   1. Remember, that's not to say your valuable content can't have links to your promotional/sales material!

A Pattern

I know some folks are like, “I really, really, really, really need a formula or pattern to follow! Just give me the freakin' formula!!!”

Ok, here's an email pattern to follow.

You Gotta Gauge Interest!

We've just talked about transactional communications, where if someone performs an action, you send them something.

And, we also talked about relationship building communications, where you're sharing valuable content in order to get people to know, like, and trust you and your business.

Now, it's time to merge the two!

Introducing the Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept!

On the left hand side we have our “Straight Line Sales Funnel” or “Main Series”.

The “Main Series” contains all of our relationship building communications or engagements, ie. emails, ads, etc.

When an individual engages with a piece of valuable content we send, they're automatically placed in a “Micro Sales Funnel” or “Product/Service Sales Funnel”.

The “Micro Sales Funnel's” purpose is to drive the individual to take action, ie. buy something, register for something, etc. This is accomplished by sending more, relevant content to the individual in an effort to persuade them to buy a particular product/service.

A quick example: Let's pretend I run an ecommerce store that sells kitchenware. I offer three categories of products: flatware, pots & pans, and cutlery. I send out a piece of communications with a link to an article called, “The Best Way To Clean A Kitchen Knife”. If an individual clicks that link, I know they're interested in kitchen knives and they're automatically entered into my Micro Sales Funnel with the sole purpose to get them to purchase my self-cleaning, state of the art, kitchen knife!

It's much easier to sell someone something when they've already shown interest in it.

Micro Sales Funnels can range in complexity from very simple, like sending a few emails on a topic the person showed interest in, to full blown funnels featuring 1-click upsells, downsells, and everything in between.

We'll be going into greater detail on Micro Sales Funnels in part 6 of this series.

That's the Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept in a nutshell … figure out what someone is interested in and then try to sell them a product/service based on that interest.

For the full Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept, please check out The Sales Funnel Book. (It's free, just pay for shipping!)

The Tools

In our opinion, the best marketing automation tool on the market today is ActiveCampaign.

It lets you send emails and text messages PLUS it connects to Zapier which connects to over 750 other apps that do anything and everything from sending direct mail, to ringless voicemails, and beyond!

ActiveCampaign allows you to create automations for transactional and relationship building communications, while helping you gauge interest(s) via tagging that can trigger Micro Sales Funnel automations.

ActiveCampaign is a very solid marketing automation tool and one we highly recommend.

Summary

You need to take advantage of marketing automation. It will save you time and money while simultaneously helping you grow your business by converting more leads into paying customers.

Marketing automation really shines when it comes to sending transactional and relationship building communications. Plus, you can merge the two concepts into an Interest Driven Sales Funnel!

Finally, there are a lot of tools on the market to help you with marketing automation; however, the best tool we've found is ActiveCampaign.

Click here to go to Part 4: How To Use Retargeting To Generate Sales

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'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!