leads

Traffic Funnels – the right way!

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At the end of the day, it always comes back to sales!

Today I want to share with you the top 5 ways you can get more clients fast!

1. Get more leads.

It should go without saying, that if you don’t have any leads at the top of your funnel, your business is or is about to die.

So how do we do that? How can we easily generate more leads quickly?

Lead generation depends on 2 factors.

  1. The Traffic, and
  2. The Offer

leads

Traffic can be generated in many different ways such as:

  • Paid Traffic
  • FB Ads
  • Google Ads
  • SEO
  • Joint Venture Partnerships
  • Email Marketing
  • Paid ads on sites
  • Radio Ads
  • TV ads
  • Much, much more.

web-traffic

I am going to talk about how to get traffic to your website in the next few blog posts, so for now let’s talk about the offer.

The offer is what you are offering in exchange for their contact information.  The offer can be in many different forms but some of the most popular are:

  • Report or White Paper
  • Audio
  • Workshop
  • Webinar
  • CD, DVD
  • Book or eBook
  • Much, much more!

In order to capture their information, you will need to setup a landing page.  The landing page is where you send the traffic to so that your prospects can claim The Offer!

offer

After the prospect visits the landing  page, they claim the offer by putting in their name and email address.

And BAM! You have a lead!

 

2.  Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up!

One of the BIGGEST challenges as a solo-preneur is finding the TIME to follow up with leads!  Not all leads are created equal.  Not everyone is a good fit for your company.  There are many ways for you to follow up with your new leads.  Some are:

  • Phone call by a sales rep
  • Email follow-up
  • Mailing out a brochure or information packet
  • Sending text messages
  • Connecting on social media and engaging with them there

follow-up

All of the methods work, but only a few can be done on auto-pilot!  Autoresponders are emails that get sent out automatically using a marketing automation tool such as Infusionsoft.

When someone accepts one of your offers, you can have a series of emails go out to them automatically.  The emails should provide value and also have an opportunity to work with you.

Pro Tip: If you really want your business to explode, set-up different email sequences based on the actions of your prospects… something easily done with Infusionsoft!

 

3. Build Your Referral Network.

Having worked with hundreds of business owners over the last few years, I can say with certainty, that those that do the best, have a very strong referral network.

They say: Your net worth equals your network.

In many ways, this is true.

Just like clients, your referral network needs to be nurtured and taken care of.  It is one thing to go out and attend local meetups, live events, and more.  It is another thing to build relationships with the people that you meet.

referral-network

If you don’t have the benefit of having a first class assistant helping you to stay on top of your meetings and appointments, one alternative is Infusionsoft. Imagine heading to New York and within a few moments be able to send out an email invite to everyone in the local area that it is in your network letting them know you will be in the area and asking them if they want to meet for coffee.

Imagine never missing a birthday or anniversary again.

Imagine being able to send out postcard and letters automatically to everyone in your network every single month.  You can.

Building a strong referral network does not happen by chance.  You must have a plan to not only get out there and meet people, but to develop your relationship with them!

It all comes down to this.

You have to have a strategic plan to capture and follow up with prospects in order to get more sales.

In other words, you need a traffic funnel.  A way to funnel the traffic to go in the direction YOU want them to go.

strategic-plan

 

Tell me how many traffic funnels your business has set-up and I will tell you how successful your business is. 

 

What are you waiting for? Are you ready to get your first traffic funnel setup?

 

 

Generate Qualified Leads From Your Website

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What would you do if you had a sales rep that month after month took a salary from your company yet week after week after week… they did not generate one single sale?  What if this had been going on for years?  What if not only were they not generating any sales, they were not even generating any leads?  What would you do?

Of course you would fire them!  Without a doubt!

The primary purpose of a sales rep is to generate sales and at the very least to generate some leads!

Yet every month, we pay hosting fees, website maintenance fees, software fees, and much more, to maintain a website whose sole job is to generate sales… yet we do nothing when the website fails to perform.

Is it time to fire your website?  When was the last time your website generated a sale?  A lead?get-more-leads

Sales is all about numbers.  If we know that our closing rate or conversion rate is 5% then we can know that we need a specific number of leads to generate a target revenue.

For example, if you have a product that sells for $100 and you want to generate a monthly revenue of $10,000 then you know that you need to sell 100 units to achieve your revenue goal.  If you know that you can close 5% of the leads, then you know that you will need 2000 qualified leads to be able to close 100 new customers.  This math helps you to determine where you need to focus your efforts to reach your target sales goals.

If you know you need a minimum of 2000 qualified leads per month and your website is only generating 100, that that is the first place to focus your efforts.

So how can you improve your website to capture more leads?

When I work with my coaching clients, one of the first things we do in our coaching calls is to take a look at the website and do a series of 5 minute checks on the basics.  Here are some of the questions I usually ask:

 

Site Review

  1. Is the site visually pleasing?
  2. Is there a clear call to action?
  3. Is there a web form to capture email addresses?
  4. Are there credibility symbols above the fold?
  5. Are there testimonials?
  6. Does the site guide the user to the next step?
  7. Can you easily answer this question: What action do you want them to take?
  8. Does the site allow people to self select different areas of the site based on different market segments?
  9. Is the site converting visitors to leads and leads to sales? Is the conversion rate at least 5%?
  10. If I send more traffic to this page will I get more sales?

Review Character Shows Assess Reviewing Evaluate And Reviews

SEO Site Review

If your site passes the initial Site Review, the next step is to review your site for search engine optimization factors. If you want your site to rank high in the search engines, you will need to have an SEO friendly site.

  1. Does the site have good SEO friendly title tags?
  2. Does the site have well written description tags? (Benefits plus call to action)
  3. Is the url structure of the site static and seo friendly?
  4. Are all pages on the site easy to find and easy to navigate to?
  5. Is there a blog?
  6. Is it linked to Google+?
  7. Are there social media share buttons on the site and the blog?
  8. Is there duplicate content on the site? (Copyscape)
  9. Has the site been penalized for bad links? (Google Analytics / Penguin Analysis)
  10. Is the site using keywords correctly through the site?shutterstock_77500738

 

Blogging Review

The next step is to review your blog!  Ask yourself these questions:

  1. When was the last time the blog was updated?
  2. Are the blog posts written for the readers or are they articles posing as blog posts.
  3. Are people commenting on the blog posts.
  4. Is the blog the central hub for all content creation?
  5. Are there share buttons on each blog post?
  6. Is the time on site greater than 2 minutes?
  7. Is the bounce rate lower than 55%?
  8. Is the click through rate to other pages at least 2?
  9. Has the site been verified in Google+?blog

 

Social Media Review

Social Media is an integral part of an online marketing strategy.  To be able to promote the blog posts that are being written, you must establish an online presence with social media.  In the past, you could get top ranking in the search engines with just “link building”.  This is no longer the case.  Here are some questions to ask yourself about your social media presence:

  1. Does you have a Facebook Fan page, Twitter page, Google+ Page, and LinkedIn Page for their company?
  2. Are your social media accounts well designed with graphics?
  3. When was the last time you updated each of your social media accounts?
  4. What is your Klout score or Kred score?
  5. Are you engaging your market online or are you just talking to them?social media 3

 

Local SEO Review

Do you have a brick and mortar business? Do you have a physical location customers can make purchases at?

  1. Are you on Google Local?
  2. Are you on Yelp?
  3. Do you have a Google Map on your website Contact Us page?
  4. Are you optimizing for Google Local terms? (Geo-modified keywords)
  5. Do you have a system for getting reviews?
  6. Are your public citations SEO optimized and optimized for conversion?brickandmortarbrickandmortarbrickandmortar

 

We have actually created a guide called the 7 Step Gap Guide where not only do I map out the above questions, but also explain how you can work with my company, Start Ranking Now, Inc. to close the gaps!

Subscribe to our Newsletter and Download the 7 Step Gap Guide Now!

 

 

How to Set Up a Sales Funnel Checklist

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Creating an effective sales funnel and supporting marketing system helps you earn profits around the clock. Use this handy checklist with ten key steps to help you identify and complete the essential tasks of a profitable sales funnel.

sales-funnel

#1 Have you made a list of all the products and services you will be offering, including the price points and promotional price points? Have you created a system to organize your products/services and relevant prices. You can use the following to improve the process:

  • Spreadsheets
  • Mind map
  • Flowchart
  • Notebook 

1-mindmaps1

#2 You need to identify:

  • the problem that needs a solution
  • the target audience
  • the benefit each product or service provides. 

#3 You need to create a content plan that is used to drive traffic and enter the prospects into your sales funnel. It includes:

  • Social media posts
  • Blog posts
  • Guest blog posts
  • Free reports/case studies
  • Videos
  • Interviews 

email mkt

#4 Next, you will need to create an opt-in offer and squeeze page to build the email list. Your opt-in offer is a:

  • Report
  • Newsletter
  • Video series
  • Tutorial
  • Ebook

#5 You need to create automated email messages that follow up with new subscribers with a thank you page and follow up messages to transition them to the first product in your sales funnel.

  • Establish a timeline that takes into consideration the most effective time to deliver each message.
  • Identify the format, goal, and call to action for each message. 

#6 Create and schedule the email messages using an autoresponder technology. For example, Infusionsoft.

content funnels

#7 Look at your product/service list. Have you identified opportunities to:

  • Up-sell – When, during your sales and marketing process can you offer the next higher priced product to your customer?
  • Cross sell – When, within the body of your sales funnel can you offer complimentary or supplementary products to your customer?
  • Create special promotions – Where in your sales process and funnel can you introduce special promotions to your customers to help them move through your funnel?

target

#8 Create sales page for each offer. It should include:

  • Attention grabbing headline
  • Compelling benefit driven copy
  • Proof
  • Motivation to act now, for example a limited number, or a limited time offer
  • Call to action 

#9 Test all elements of the sales funnel process including email links, sales page links, and how each element appears on various browsers. The shopping cart system is integrated into the sales material and emails and everything is working perfectly.

analytics

#10  You should implement a system of analytics and evaluation –  create systems to collect data about:

  • Email messages click through rates
  • Links and calls to action on sales pages
  • Email open rate
  • Squeeze page conversions
  • Sales and profits for each customer and offer

and

  • Schedule a time each week/month/quarter to review the analytics and make any necessary tweaks or changes to your existing sales funnel.

How to Use LinkedIn to Increase Your Leads

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linkedin-global

If you are still on the fence about how LinkedIn can help you expand and grow your influence, it’s time to jump in. One of the strategies for generating leads online is to be everywhere your potential customers are. But even with a presence in a variety of places, sales and leads aren’t guaranteed, your company’s brand, your services and products do gain visibility. The social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus and LinkedIn are the most popular of these platforms.

LinkedIn, as the social network focused on professionals, can increase your leads if used in the right way.

10-visitor-lead-conversionAccording to an internal study of Hubspots customers, they found that LinkedIn connections generated the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate at 2.74%, higher than both Twitter and Facebook. To get those leads you have to promote your business and share links to the landing pages of your services and offers in your Status Updates, in the Answers and Groups and of course the Products and Services sections.

So how do you get lead generations? There are many ways to attract leads on LinkedIn. Here are a few you can implement right away.

  1. Ask for connections. It’s hard to believe but you can just ask for leads. When someone views your profile, you want to be able to capture them with a call to action and good content. In your summary or in a video, let the prospect know you would love to have their connection on LinkedIn. Connect with everyone who asks to connect with you as well. You never know when one of those connections can lead to a big sale.
  1. Respond to and answer questions. Give the most informative answers you can and add a lot of value by being a resource for the person asking the question. Follow up on the replies with private messages letting them know how you can be of more assistance.
  2. Showcase your credibility. Recommend others. Give others a good recommendation when you find someone with a great product or service. In turn ask others you have worked with to give you recommendations. Having good recommendations increases your credibility which leads to sales.
  3. Join 10 of LinkedIn’s Groups. Even with a free account you can join up to 50 groups. Sign up for at least 10 of them in the beginning. Just make sure they are a good fit for your goals. Research them to find the most active ones and are filled with your target customers.
  4. Get rid of the resume profile. Your profile should be more results-based and customer centered. You want your profile to represent you in the best way for those checking you out.

LinkedIn is one of the fastest and most powerful professional oriented social media platforms online. In the hands of the B2B marketer, LinkedIn, along with other social media sites, should be a part of your marketing strategy. By leveraging the many tools and built-in services LinkedIn has to offer you can generate leads and make lasting and profitable connections.