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@searchclickgrow
We have a well refined and proven process that allows us to plan, build, launch, and grow any business— and with several ways to help you meet and exceed your goals using our methods and programs, as well as complete done for you services. In order to figure out what's the best for you.
Anatomy of a Blog Post: Produce & Publish Like an Expert
The anatomy of a blog post changes depending on the niche and subject.
The perfect blog post also changes for every person looking for specific information.
At the end of the day, bloggers and businesses can only anticipate their audience’s intent and provide the best answers for the reader.
That’s why expertise in niche topics is so valued because it’s rare to find original content out of the millions of web pages out there.
When you provide this substance to your visitors, they’ll consume your content faster and likely share it on social media because it was such a good find.
Even if this blog isn’t perfect, we hope that these tips provide you with the crucial elements of a top-notch blog post that will keep your readers coming back for more.
The Ultimate Blog Writing Guide: Anatomy of a Blog Post
The ingredients of a successful post pertain to your audience and what they’re searching for in Google in order to find your content. You always want your blogs to be relevant and informative at the very least.
You don’t have to get absorbed into every little detail of your blog post, though you likely will if you’re anything like our content manager.
On one hand, your writing has to be solid, as content is the basis for everything in a blog, but you also want to make your blog post exciting and fun to read.
So here are the things that readers love to see in a blog and what will make your post easy to read (as well as share):
What Makes a Great Blog Post?
Before getting into these different methods, you need to address the goal of your blog and what you want to achieve with each blog post.
Here are some different things to ask yourself:
Do you just want traffic?
Are shares on social media most important?
Are you after click-throughs to other content and posts?
Do you want an email list or lead generation with an opt-in form?
Is it important to sell products via your own site or affiliate marketing?
Depending on your goals, the main thing you want is for readers to stay on your page and click through your links, possibly sharing your content and hopefully purchasing relevant products that you link.
Google Analytics Metrics to Measure Successful Blog Posts
In addition to understanding your goals and what you want the blog post to do for you, there are specific metrics to look at in Google Analytics or another insightful analytics platform such as SEMrush.
These metrics will show you what blog posts are getting the most traffic, as well as which blog posts cause visitors to quickly abandon.
These are key performance indicators (KPIs) for your blog, and you’ll be able to tell pretty quickly what your visitors like and don’t like about your blog posts.
Since Google Analytics is free, we’ll talk about the metrics to follow on that platform.
You’ll need to set up a new Google Analytics account for your blog and install a separate code to isolate metrics just to measure your blog.
Once set up, here are the KPIs to look for:
Top pages by traffic
Bounce rate
Average time on Page
Average Pages Per Session
New Visitors vs Returning Visitors
Goal Conversion Rates (set up for lead generation or different actions you’d like, such as visiting your squeeze page or product page)
These indicators show you exactly what the traffic patterns are on your blog, letting you see which posts have the most traffic and even who stays on the page the longest.
Pro Tip: WordPress.org is free to use, but it’s best to go with the premium WordPress.com to use all the features. If you currently have a website built on another platform, you can simply download free WordPress installation files and install them in a special blog directory
Follow Our 4 P's Content Method
Now that you know what to look for and measure, there's one more thing that will help you produce and publish a winning piece of content.
These four core steps should be considered first when writing your blog post before the tips below.
Plan - The first thing you want to do is brainstorm as many content ideas around your topic and audience intent. As you think about keywords, audience search intent, and popular questions asked about this topic, list out your content ideas and think about supporting points to set up a foundation for your blog post.
Produce - Lights, camera, action! Just like in a movie, you'll want to produce your content. This step is mainly about writing the content, but you also want to think about how you'll guide the reader. What images, videos, quotes, statistics, facts, and other content will aid your reader in understanding these concepts you're introducing? Popular blogs always have a featured image, images in the post, bulleted lists, blockquotes, and other bolded text to break up the content and guide the reader down the page.
Publish - After you've thoroughly edited and formatted your post, you should preview the post and see how it looks. Can you read through it easily? Does it make sense? How does it look on mobile? We'll give you some more key tips for formatting and publishing the best blog post below.
Promote - Finally, your content is live! Now you need to get some eyes on your post. Social media is a great place to start, so share your new blog post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. You may also want to look into email marketing, paid search ads, influencer marketing, and other marketing tactics to reach more of your audience. If you use the tips below, you'll probably get even more traffic.
Download our FREE 13 Week Content Planner to help you plan a full quarter's worth of weekly blog and/or video content for your business.
For more detailed read the article please visit the website : Anatomy of a Blog Post: Produce & Publish Like an Expert
Growth Marketing | Search Click Grow
We have a well refined and proven process that allows us to plan, build, launch, and grow any business— and with several ways to help you meet and exceed your goals using our methods and programs, as well as complete done for you services. In order to figure out what's the best for you.
What is a Value Ladder & How to Build One
Most businesses have more than one product, service, or level (plan) of service they offer… but, many of those same businesses do not have a clear path of those products mapped out.
The result is often a lack of team clarity, not knowing when or how to offer one product over another, not being able to guide the customer through that journey, and ultimately, leaving lots of money on the table that could otherwise be yours.
Businesses that fail to plan are planning to fail and I want to help you with that.
In this article, I will outline exactly what a value ladder is and how to build one for your company with minimal effort.
Armed with this new knowledge, you’ll be able to craft a value ladder that is not only seamless to your customer, but that helps you increase your income and profits at every stage.
Let’s dig right in!
What is a Value Ladder?
A value ladder is a mapping of your products/services visually showing an ascension of both value and price.
Essentially, you take an X Y graph and illustrate steps in it. The Y-axis represents value white the X-axis represents the price. Here’s an example:
So, how does this work?
Let’s say your business right now has a product that sells for $197.
That’s great and anyone that has $197 and believes that your product offers $197 in value or more, may buy this product.
However, what about the person who has only $27? Or what about the person with $997?
You’re essentially ignoring all of the other price points out by only creating one product/service offering.
Creating a value ladder allows you to create a single customer journey, based on the value you offer to them, in multiple price points.
In this example, we’d have 3 products/services to offer value to the customers.
The keyword here being VALUE. Don’t focus on price first. Build based on value, then input prices that make sense after.
Don’t worry… I have examples coming below to break that down.
Price vs Value
A common misconception among some business owners is that value and price are somehow the same things, but they actually are quite different.
Price is easy. Price is a monetary amount that you charge someone for a product or service.
Value, however, is really all about the perception of the product’s worth… or “perceived value”.
We can’t get into this too much here, but this is a huge part of crafting your core offers, creating funnels, copywriting, and more.
Understanding and articulating the true value of your product/service is a core requirement to be successful in pretty much any business.
Value Ladder Vs. Web Funnel
Another common misconception is that value ladders and web funnels are the same thing. They most definitely are not… however, they are closely related.
Here’s an example of a funnel and a value ladder:
Web funnels (or marketing funnels) are essentially a step-by-step mapping of all of the digital elements used to help you go from a traffic source to a customer.
A website funnel WILL naturally include your value ladder stages, but it does so in a much more detailed method designed to map out everything that is happening in your funnel while the value ladder is only a mapping of your products and not the pages, emails, ads, etc.
Examples of Value Ladders in Multiple Niches
Okay, so before I tell you how to build your own, let’s share a couple of common examples in various niches. You can pull from these example value ladders when referencing your own.
Generic Value Ladder Template
Free Content
Lead Magnet
Intro Product
Core Product
Premium Product
As a baseline, this is always what I start with as it works for most businesses. Now, you can freely add steps, drop steps, and skip steps, but do so at your own peril. These steps are proven to work and most high-level businesses do at least steps 3-5 if they are using paid traffic and add in steps 1-2 if organic traffic is your thing.
E-commerce Value Ladder Example
So, most e-commerce websites out there don’t have any concept of a value ladder, unfortunately.
Instead, they focus on adding tons of products to their stores at various prices.
The problem is, this doesn’t focus on adding value and doesn’t focus on the persona’s core problem. I’ve said this a million times, but you can’t sell anything without a problem.
No problem, no sale.
So, how do we craft a value ladder for e-commerce then? Well, here’s one simple way.
For this example, let’s say you are currently selling a foot massager for $67.
Product 1: Low Value/Price < $29 - This is a new product to help someone with the same core problem but at a lower value and price point. You can’t sell your foot massager for less, but you can offer something else here to help with foot pain. Maybe there’s a foot scrub or cream you can offer for $9-29? Maybe there’s a manual foot massager you can sell for $17?
Product 2: Mid Value/Price = $67 - This is your original product, the electronic foot massager for $67.
Product 3: High Value/Price > $197 - So, once again, how can you create more value around the same problem so you can charge more? A complete home spa package including the electronic foot massager, an assortment of foot scrubs, maybe even some closely related products like face masks, lotions, bath bombs, etc.
Medical Clinic Value Ladder Example
For this example, let’s use a dentist’s office. This one is super easy and you’ve probably done or at least seen this one.
Product 1: Low Value/Price - $97 New Patient Exam & Cleaning - This is a common way to get new clients in many service-based businesses, by offering some initial product that covers what most need.
Product 2: Mid Value/Price - $200-5,000 a la carte Dental Services - The next step up the value ladder here is a la carte services, typically offered if anything is found during the exam that may be needed. Filling a cavity, offering teeth whitening or braces, etc. are some examples here.
Product 3: High Value/Price - $197/year Membership + 10% discount - Most dentist offices to the first 2, but completely miss out on the opportunity for this step 3. This is about creating customer loyalty through a membership. It’s far cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one. So, offer them an annual membership that comes with yearly exams and cleanings, but also comes with a percentage discount off the extras they may need. Then, they get the annuals they need, you get predictable revenue, and they get a discount on things if they need more!
Note: you could easily modify this for any service-based business. My A/C contractor does the same… they offer an annual fee that includes checkups, plus a discount on coolant and parts, should I need them. I use it because I know I need my A/C maintained (I live in Florida… it’s always hot here) and I can get a discount at the same time!
Online Education/Course Value Ladder Example
If you have an online business that focuses on education, you can take the same approach to build a value ladder!
Let’s say you are a fitness coach for this example.
Product 1: Low Value/Price - $0 (free)
So, the great part about any value ladder that we didn’t touch on in the above examples… is you do not need to charge any money to get started. In fact, this blog you are reading now is part of our 1st value ladder step.
It’s a concept called “value ahead”, which means to offer free value ahead of any engagement when you might ask for money.
After all, if your fitness business is putting out free tips… imagine what the paid course would be right? That’s exactly what your visitors and followers will think.
Additionally, there’s no better what to add value while also driving up your traffic and building trust and authority than content.
Check out our Content Marketing Guide to help you start getting customers on near autopilot! (Link to full content guide)
Product 2: Mid Value/Price - $97 one-time
This could be any training, most commonly a course, and probably with some nutrition advice and a workout schedule.
In other niches, you can easily do a virtual live event, sell an app or cheat sheet, package up some SOPs, or anything of the like.
Basically, give them the tools they need to solve their problem with your guidance.
Product 3: High Value/Price - $97/mo
Next up is a coaching program, membership group, or some way that there is an added value of doing it with them.
By adding some interactive components, you are adding value.
Easy examples include private Facebook groups with unique content and peer to peer community, private live sessions like group coaching calls, or even 1-on-1 coaching calls
How to Build a Value Ladder
With all of that we just covered, let’s talk about the three steps to get your product ladder made.
Step 1 - Understand Your Customer
So, if you’ve been reading along, you should understand that the core element here is creating a map of products that all align to help solve your ideal customer’s pain point or problem.
You can’t do that if you do not understand your customer. Check out this article on how to build an ideal customer persona worksheet.
Once you have that, you should have absolute clarity on exactly what your ideal customer's problem is… in their own words (not yours).
Step 2 - Create Your Core Solution
Now, armed with that info, you need to create your core solution. What is it that you solve… what big picture do you help your client/customers solve? How do you make their lives better?
Write that down!!!
Better yet, check out this resource on how to do that in more detail.
Step 3 - Break Your Solution & Create Value Ladder
Next, it’s time to map out your core solution into different segments or blocks of value and create your value ladder.
This is something we go over extensively in our SCG Method course, but the easy takeaway is this:
Use the generic outline I created above and fill in the blanks… feel free to drop steps as needed, especially on the high end. You can always go back and add higher steps later!
Free Content - create great blogs, videos, social posts to help small micro issues around your persona’s core problem
Lead Magnet - create a guide, workbook, app, schedule, email drip course, etc. to help them solve a slightly larger portion of their core problem.
Intro Product - create your first paid product, physical or service but make it small enough to be affordable for your persona.
Core Product - create a larger product that costs more (2-10x normally) that solves most of what they need.
Premium Product - create a premium version of your product, subscription, big package, done for you, etc. that solved as much of the problem as you can… but be sure to charge top dollar for this step.
Pro Tip: You do NOT need all steps of a value ladder to start your business. In fact, I typically start most businesses I’ve done with only steps 1-3… later after I get enough action of step 3, I add step 4, and so on. There’s no point in having a premium product before you have intro-level clients.
Recap
Okay, so we covered a lot of information here about what a value is, went through a few examples of value ladders, and gave you some tips to start making your own.
If you haven’t yet, here are a few additional related resources in our blog (free value ladder step) to help you create an amazing digital marketing foundation for your business.
How to Create a Web Funnel in 6 Easy Steps
How to Write a Blog Post Fast In 4 Simple Steps (4 P's Method)
ROAS Calculation: The Ultimate Guide to ROI for Advertising
Lastly, if you want to take this up a notch, I invite you to check out our course, The SCG Method. In this course, we run you through all of our SOPs (standard operating procedures) as a digital marketing agency that’s helps businesses of all sizes and types grow online.
Content Marketing vs Traditional Marketing: Pros & Cons
Every business uses marketing strategies to gain visibility and sell, but the differences between content marketing vs traditional marketing are rarely discussed.
Most marketing departments conflate the two, which isn’t always the best practice.
Content marketing is very different from traditional marketing methods, such as pop-ups and paid online advertising.
When considering which marketing strategy is best for your business, you’ll need to take a deeper look and see which adds more value from the perspective of your prospects and customers.
We have written this article to show you the pros and cons of each strategy.
Ultimately, you’ll learn which is better:
Communicating to customers without selling OR Interrupting customers with a deal they can’t turn down.
Traditional Marketing vs Content Marketing: A Difference in Strategy
There are mainly two goals with any marketing strategy:
Gain more visibility with the right customers.
Convert like crazy. Both content marketing and traditional marketing strategies offer ways to do this.
However, content marketing is a slower, more thoughtful process, while traditional marketing is more about audience targeting and reaching a wider audience quickly even when they haven’t necessarily asked to see your marketing.
Both can work for your business depending on the strategies are used and paired with creative visuals and messaging.
However, you may just find that content marketing hits a sweet spot that keeps delivering conversions from new and returning customers.
Let's break these two marketing approaches down with pros and cons:
What Is Traditional Marketing?
Traditional marketing is described by professional marketers as any strategy that interrupts your customers to show an advertisement. This is why marketing is often just called advertising.
A brand that uses traditional marketing may create:
A TV commercial
Magazine ads
YouTube ads
Facebook feed ads
Brochures, or other ads to reach audiences
Many brands create buyer personas and use new targeting methods to deliver ads straight to their most “qualified” customers, while others use locations or markets to create demand via broader reach advertising.
For example, national commercials target designated market areas (DMAs) to generate demand.
The whole goal of this strategy is to quickly gain visibility and strategically interrupt the right customers to elicit interest, thereby gaining a conversion. This method works well when you’ve done a ton of market research and know that your audience will be so enticed by the deal that they won’t mind being interrupted.
Below, we’ll look at why this interruptive approach may work and why it can also discourage customers from buying your products.
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is often called inbound marketing whereby a brand places different pieces of content across multiple channels, then waits for customers to follow the funnel to a purchase.
Content is published in various formats, such as:
Blogs
Videos
eBooks
Social Media
Press Releases
Email Marketing
This content is published in different locations, hoping to attract audiences who relate to the content and want to learn more.
How Is Content Marketing Different from Traditional Marketing?
Instead of using promotions and advertising, content marketing typically starts with a blog post or landing page that provides helpful information to the customer.
This information builds trust with your visitors, who you hope will return to learn more or even click through to find helpful products on your website.
The typical goal for any first-time content marketing campaign is an opt-in from your customer, where you ask for your prospect’s email address. Once a brand confirms this sign-up, the prospect is now on your email marketing list. This allows you to send more direct marketing materials and promotions, as well as other educational materials.
After a customer agrees to opt-in, they’ve given you permission to send more information their way, but you’ll need to be careful as this is the first step of trust-building with your customer. If you want to nurture them, you’ll have to send personalized email content and guide them a bit more through your sales funnel.
Thus, content marketing is ultimately a long-term, SEO-driven strategy that continuously nurtures visitors and prospects into long-time customers.
Different Marketing Approaches: Permission vs. Interruption
One of the main differences between content marketing and traditional advertising is the idea of permission and interruption.
Permission in Marketing
With content marketing, the customer seeks out information and gives you permission to send more details (as well as promotions).
These relationships are predicated on trust, so you’ll have to nurture these customers if they don’t instantly convert after reading your blog or landing page that mentions a specific product or service.
In some cases, the funnel is very short, and after a brief read-through, customers actively look for offers and products to purchase from you.
This is ideal but not typical for new brands or freshly launched products that your customer is simply researching before making a purchase.
It’s also dependent on the commitment of the buyer.
Is it a higher cost?
Does it require setup?
Is it as easy to use as a competitor product?
These are all questions and objections that should be answered within your content marketing campaign to make it easier for your customer to convert quickly.
Interruption in Marketing
Traditional advertising is meant to disrupt the customer.
However, before the age of internet ads, many brands used TV commercials, print, or direct mail to offer irresistible deals that customers could consider.
Due to the cost and ad requirements, start-ups and small businesses weren’t always able to compete beyond a local audience.
That isn’t the case anymore.
Thanks to social media advertising, Google display network, and search engine ads, traditional advertising is everywhere and can target just about anyone for any product they may be interested in.
However, customers are actively trying to block ads and see fewer ads all the time.
That’s because these ads interrupt them and don’t always feel relevant to their lifestyles and needs. This is where market research, buyer personas, and fast online checkout experiences really matter.
For traditional advertising to work, the ad must be visually stunning with on-point messaging that directly pulls the customer into the offer and shows them why it’s so great in just a few seconds.
If you target the right audiences, there’s less of a chance that your ad will be hidden or ignored.
Contrasting Pros and Cons: Content Marketing vs Traditional Marketing
So which marketing strategy should you choose? It’s not always that simple.
Most businesses use a combination of content marketing for long-term trust-building while also incorporating some traditional marketing campaigns to gain visibility and conversions at a faster rate.
We’ve broken down the highlights of each marketing strategy as well as some of the disadvantages below with pros and cons.
Pros of Content Marketing
Builds trust and long-term relationships with customers
Better for returning customers
Works for both B2B and B2C audiences
Brings in more qualified leads
Increases chances of “going viral”
Attracts customers looking for reliable information
Ongoing, long-term “free” marketing and SEO
Analytics helps you hone strategy and re-allocate budget to what’s working over a longer period of time
Cons of Content Marketing
Longer sales funnel
Not as fast as traditional advertising
Requires planning and time to execute
Needs creatives, copywriters, and SEO experts
Offers must reflect audience needs
Hard to measure effectiveness, requires Google Analytics and other data tools
Who Should Use Content Marketing?
For small businesses or marketing teams on tight budgets, content marketing offers some significant benefits. However, larger businesses can use these inbound marketing methods to their advantage as well.
Most brands using content marketing need to build more trust with customers. Either your brand is new or just getting started on social media, and you'll need great content to capture your audience's attention.
Inbound marketing pages and blogs should focus on informing customers, giving them all the information they need to learn more about the product and service without trying to sell a deal.
However, you can still put an offer out there to excite customers and get them thinking about the next steps. This is called a lead magnet, and it's typically a downloadable free gift.
To get the free gift, customers have to sign up or opt-in with an email address. Once the do so, you now have direct access to this customer.
You'll need to build upon that trust by completing the free gift offer.
Then you can start nurturing this prospect into a long-term customer.
If you don't have time to set up these offers but need more traffic and visibility right away, you'll likely be better served with a traditional marketing campaign.
However, there are some budget requirements to consider before jumping on this approach.
Pros of Traditional Marketing
Fast, measurable results
Quicker conversions typically
Best for raising awareness and visibility
Flexible and changeable, test and re-test to create new opportunities
Great for new customer acquisition or re-engaging older customers
Uses audience targeting to reach the most likely to convert
Excellent for high-value products and services for B2B
Harder to ignore
Cons of Traditional Marketing
Higher risk (but may also be higher rewards)
High costs: campaigns require significant daily/monthly budgets and creative costs
Market research and execution is essential, otherwise can lead to missed opportunities or failure, resulting in budget deficits
If not planned correctly, only leads to one-way communication that consumers did not ask for
High social exposure if mistakes are made, may lead to social media backfire
Requires ad management and bid monitoring knowledge, which can be complicated on certain advertising network
Who Should Use Traditional Marketing?
Traditional marketing is for those who have a great message, easy-to-understand products or services, and more budget for marketing costs.
This approach still requires a lot of time due to market research and audience targeting, but the conversions typically come faster because you're advertising directly to your customer's feed on multiple channels.
The beauty of using traditional advertising channels is that they can find and follow your consumers. But, if your messaging isn't right or your audience simply doesn't like your ad, there's a high risk that you'll lose budget on campaigns that won't work.
This is why research, testing, and analytics are so important to traditional advertising.
These campaigns also require detailed setup and management. If your sales are dropping and you've sent out your best deals via banner ads or search ad campaigns, you're probably losing customers at some point in your funnel.
It could be your landing page doesn't show correctly on mobile or it could be that your offer just isn't as good as a competitor's deal.
You'll need a campaign manager to monitor and measure these campaigns for higher returns and ongoing conversions.
Which Marketing Strategy Works Better for Your Business
As you can see, both methods require some commitment and budget.
If you are thinking of a new marketing strategy, there are ways to combine the best of both worlds for demand generation campaigns that lead to more thoughtful interactions with customers.
Ultimately, this approach works for a variety of businesses, but it takes research and budget consideration to truly understand what methods are best for your business.
For businesses with less budget to devote to advertising who aren’t looking for quick conversions, it may be cheaper and more effective to go with content marketing over traditional methods.
However, if you are struggling to gain visibility and traffic, traditional marketing and advertising can certainly help you get in front of the right audience.
We'd love to help you with a customized strategy that combines the best of inbound marketing and online advertising. Learn more about our marketing approach so your business can reach customers today.
How to Create a Website Funnel in 6 Easy Steps [2021]
So, you want to know how to create a website funnel?
You’ve probably read 101 examples, definitions, how-tos, and more. The reality is there’s a lot of information about funnels but a lot of it comes from people that don’t actually make them.
That’s where we differ. We’re an agency that uses websites and website funnels every day to help deliver results for our clients.
My promise to you is by the end of this article, you’re going to have a full understanding of what a website funnel actually is, see some examples that might help you in your niche, and have a complete A to Z step by step process (along with some awesome insider tips) on exactly how you can make a funnel to help you grow your business.
Sounds good?? Great… let’s jump right in!
What Is a Website Funnel?
Okay, so before I can really show you HOW to make a funnel, I need to establish a few baseline meanings and definitions.
There are quite a few takes, some of them okay and some just plain wrong. So let’s discuss what all this really means.
Definition of a Website Funnel
A website funnel, also called a marketing funnel, is a process you create using digital ads, webpages, and/or emails to attract buyers and guide them through a series of desired actions, typically ending with either a lead or a sale.
What this means in layman's terms is that instead of going to a home page of a business and YOU choosing which page or button to click next, there are typically only two choices… move forward through the funnel or stop, cancel, opt-out, or just leave the page.
Website vs Funnel
We’ve already established that a website funnel, or marketing funnel, is a guided experience that involves web pages (and other digital assets) in a linear progression.
How does that differ from a website?
A website funnel is a form of conversion-centric design that guides people through a series of simple choices until the end goal is met or the user opts out.
While a website is a series of web pages organized in a manner that the user can choose his path by selecting from many options and links (aka menus).
Why You Should Use Funnels
The reason why funnels are so useful boils down to how people make decisions.
Sparing you all the dull science behind this, essentially when people are faced with too many options they tend to not make ANY choice.
Note, I didn’t say “not make the right choice”... I said, “not make ANY choice”.
What does that mean?
Well, if you build a really cool fancy new website for your business and start driving ads to it say from Facebook, it’s very likely that the overwhelming amount of choices and information you have is confusing and causing people to hit the back button.
On the contrary, funnels are typically a “Yes/No” choice at any given point.
Do you want this free download?
Will you sign up for this webinar?
Will you fill out this form to talk to our team?
You’re presented with a value proposition of some kind (more on that later) and if your persona targeting (more on that later too) is right, then you’re proposing a solution to a problem to a group of people who have that exact problem.
Done correctly, they effectively sell themselves.
Oh, and did I mention that funnels work 24/7 365 days a year? So, you can replace your outbound sales efforts with a funnel and have leads and sales done for you on auto-pilot… once it’s built and all the kinks worked out of course!
Website Funnel vs Traditional Funnel
I’m pretty sure that the first time the word “funnel” was used in relation to business sales and marketing had nothing to do with websites or anything digital.
In fact, the first I heard it was doing sales training years and years ago.
It’s the same concept (minus the auto-pilot aspect) in that it was an established process or sequence of steps designed to take a person from a cold prospect to a hot lead ready to buy.
The main difference between a traditional and a website funnel is that the traditional is well… traditional. That is to say, it involves things like cold calling, mailers, billboards, call centers, door knocking, and the like to attract leads.
Then, there would typically be some form of manual presentation of the product along with big hooks to reel you in.
Not sure what I mean… think about door-to-door vacuum sales.
On the flip side, using the same psychology and understanding of how people make decisions, you can use modern technology to create automated systems to do the same thing that it used to take floors of sales reps to do.
Funnel Examples
Not sure exactly what I mean yet? No worries. We have quite a few examples for you to help SHOW you exactly what we mean.
Below are a few funnel diagrams (called funnel maps) that help illustrate the process a prospect would go through starting from various online traffic sources like Ads and Youtube, going through multiple forms of pages, and leading to some conversion event like becoming a lead or making a purchase.
Lead Generation
This example is one that is perfect for service-based businesses.
Instead of taking non-stop inbound calls from lookie-loo’s that waste your time, you can use ads to target your ideal customer, then guide them through a series of pages to help educate them and when they are ready, they can schedule a call with you that shows up on your phone automatically! Cool huh?!
eCommerce Funnel
Or, let’s say you have an e-commerce shop. Have you ever tried running ads straight to your main shop page only to see no sales? Yep… it’s not good.
Using a funnel like this, you can go from ad to sale automatically using emails and retargeting to help nurture your sales, as well as up and cross sales in your funnel to help you maximize your profit.
Okay… so hopefully by now, you know what a website funnel is and you’re ready to build one for yourself. Let’s go!
How to Create a Website Funnel Step by Step:
So now it’s time to make your funnel. Whether this is your first or your 100th, every one of these steps is critical.
When you really get down to it, there are only 3 things that create sales (or other decisions).
The Right Person
The Right Message
The Right Time
I’d say that every single funnel I’ve seen that wasn’t working well (including my own) was not because of the design or layout or what software I used. It was because the planning steps were wrong or off somehow.
Remember this: “People buy emotionally and then justify logically”
With that said, please follow these steps and don’t try to just put something up instantly because you can. The hard work in a funnel is in the first few steps… and they are the most important!
Step 1 - Who is Your Ideal Customer & What Do They Want?
So, this step is so important, that literally, we don’t touch a client project of any kind without diving in to understand and develop an avatar or ideal customer persona.
In fact, in our coaching program, it’s the first module of our training method and often the focus of most of our conversations. It’s THAT important.
A “customer persona”, sometimes called a “client avatar”, is a very clear depiction of exactly who your customer is.
I don’t just mean age and location here. I mean who are they? What do they want? What do they fear? What are their goals and dreams?
So, how do you build one?
Write Down Your Customers
First, take any customers you have and figure out the ones you like doing business with the most.
If you’re new, you may need to find friends that closely fit who you think will buy your product/service. It’s important to remember the word BEST here… not ALL of your clients. Think your favorite 5-10%.
Interview Your List
Next, you need to talk to your list of people and ask them some questions. You want to start with the basic demographic questions like age, location, and other basic demo questions.
Then, you get into the important emotional-based questions. Remember since people buy emotionally, this is where the real magic is.
The important thing here is to ask open-ended questions and truly listen and empathize. Don’t cut people off… really listen.
Example questions I ask:
What is your current #1 frustration?
What is your biggest dream or goal?
Notice I didn’t ask questions like “what is your current #1 frustration with your [insert product name]”??
That’s because I want to know what really drives people. Sometimes you sell a product and think you’re selling it because of one reason, but the reality is much different.
Just truly get to know your customer and you’ll do just fine… oh and take lots of notes… you’ll need them!
Create a Persona Sheet
Now that you’ve done your interviews and you’ve taken notes, you now need to digest all of that info and find the commonalities.
Let’s say you sell baby products to moms. Was their current struggle not having enough time? Maybe not knowing what to do? Whatever the common trend was, you now need to make a sheet and write these down.
Start with the demographic basics as well as the big motivating questions. Once you have all that on a sheet, you have all the ammo you need to make this funnel kick butt!
Step 2 - Map Out Your Funnel
Next, it’s time to map out your website funnel!
Depending on the needs of your customer and the type of product/service you have these can vary greatly.
However, there are a minimum few things that all funnels need:
A source of traffic - FB ads, Google Ads, Organic traffic, social, email, etc.
A landing page - a page that explains the core offer to the prospect
A conversion event - this could be just filling out a form on the previous page and hitting a thank you page.
However, there are a few more common items including in funnels such as upsells, emails, and sometimes even phone calls and SMS. The sky is the limit. You just have to think about your customer and what’s best/easiest for them.
If you’re not an expert here (which I assume you’re not if you’re reading this article), then it’s best to have some templates to go off of, then customize as you need.
For mapping, we typically use either Google Drawings (free) or Funnelytics (free & paid plans). All of the examples shown in this article were made with Funnelytics.
Also, a cool bonus feature in Funnelytics is it tracks the performance of your funnel (more on that below). We use this for all of our and our client funnels.
Step 3 - Write Your Copy For Each Step
Now that you have your funnel map, you have a list of all the items you need to write copy (or words) for.
Using your map as a checklist, start writing your copy in a word doc. Don’t try to design and write. You need to focus on the message, the core offer, and the root of the problem you help your persona solve!!
Copywriting is a huge thing to cover and we can’t give it justice in this article, but here’s a few pro tips:
Keep on message! It’s easy to stray and include things that aren’t part of the core picture. Focus on the persona’s problem and what you do to solve that problem, to make their life better, etc.
Use stories to relate to your audience. Don’t just tell them WHAT you do… tell them WHY you do it, WHY it matters to you. Remember people buy emotionally… and stories help convey emotion!
Be crystal clear with your message and refrain from using “fluff words”.
Write problem-focused high-impact headlines. Your headline should immediately tell you what you do and who you do it for in less than 2 seconds.
Make your offer (conversion event) easy to understand. If it’s a product, what comes with the product, is there a warranty or refund period, when will I get it, etc. If it’s a service, what should I expect next, when will the service be done, will you call me or I call you, etc.
Focus on benefits and NOT features. Don’t tell me the specs of your product, tell me how it’ll impact my life. No one cared about the bit rate of the iPod… they cared because of the slogan “1000 songs in your pocket.” That phrase empowered people, not the format or battery life or other meaningless spec or feature.
Make sure your ads are written to catch attention… tell the problem, but it must have a wow factor to stand out.
Once you have all your copy done, time to build your funnel!!
Step 4 - Design & Build Your Funnel
Similar to above, if you’re not a full-time coder and/or designer, it’s highly advisable that you use some themes here or tools meant to do the job.
Here’s a quick list of tools you could use:
SiteFunnels.com - disclaimer, this is our tool, but we love it and use it every day. It’s easy to use and handles both websites and funnels or both.
Unbounce - landing page/funnel builder software that’s easy to use and has lots of 3rd party integrations.
WordPress - for those a little more DIY, WordPress is used to power roughly 30% of the web, is open source, and only costs the price of your hosting. With the advent of drag and drop added to WordPress, non-coders can easily use this for websites and funnels. Though, there are a lot more settings and a steeper learning curve than the other options.
This isn’t a complete list of all the funnel tools, but these are our favorite. :)
When building your funnel, here are a few design and layout tips:
Ensure your main headlines are big, easy to read, and clear of distractions.
Use size, color, and spacing to draw attention to the most important parts of your copy and offer.
Use visual breakups, such as sections, boxes, images, bold, lists, colored text, headings, buttons, and more to make it appealing to read.
NOTE: If your funnel outline uses things like email, SMS, phone, chatbots, or others, then you’ll need to set up those systems as well. Just make sure the design and messaging are consistent when jumping from one channel to another like that so that the experience for the customer is seamless.
Step 5 - Test & Launch Your Funnel
Okay… so if you’re still with me, you should have a funnel ready to go out into the world. But, before we do, just a couple of other things you need to do.
Install tracking software - Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Funnelytics (from above), and some marketing automation systems have software to be able to track your results. This is a critical component of your funnel. You need to measure the results.
Test your funnel - don’t go live without testing. You, a friend, someone you work with, etc. need to go through this funnel from start to end as a customer to ensure everything they see is what it’s supposed to be.
Turn on your traffic and launch!! - You’re ready to go, just activate your links, traffic, ads, or whatever is driving people to the front of your funnel and you’re ready to go!
Monitor and update - you want to watch this and ensure that the funnel is performing. If not, make tweaks until it is. However… you need to give it time to test.
Don’t think the first 20-100 visits to your funnel should be making you rich. Take your time, but be ready to adjust when needed.
Recap
So, we covered a lot in this article from what a website funnel is to our core 5 steps to creating a funnel and lots in between.
If you’re looking to learn more, click this link to learn about our SCG Method Course where we break down our entire process of how to plan, build, launch, and grow any business online.
Search Click Grow is simple, proven, and repeatable model to rapidly build and scale an online business is accessible for the DIY business owner through our Ultimate Growth Coaching. Our program will teach you the SCG method while engaging and motivating you to execute on your learnings to achieve Ultimate Growth. We help businesses get 2-4x growth using our proven 3 phases method utilizing web, funnels, and paid and organic traffic to produce consistent leads!
Find the best mentoring software for your business. Search Click Grow is a full-featured Mentoring Program for recruiting, matching and measuring mentoring participants. Our goal of all mentoring programs is to improve business performance.
Why Is Content Marketing Important: 3 Reasons You Need It
Once upon a time, marketing and advertising professionals spent big bucks creating eye-catching magazine ads and memorable TV commercials.
Sometimes, these advertising efforts worked. Sometimes, they didn’t, and most of the time, they were really, really expensive.
Marketers these days are a lot smarter and a lot less poor, because their marketing dollars go further.
That’s because the savviest advertising and marketing professionals have embraced content marketing, which has an ROI that far outpaces most traditional forms of advertising.
Converts to this marketing method believe in it so much, they’re willing to devote most of their marketing time and dollars to it.
That’s money that they could be spending on big TV ads or large newspaper spreads, but they’re not. That’s how important content marketing is to them.
That fact alone probably gets your attention, and it should.
To help you make a more fully informed decision about content marketing, we’ve put together this post so that you get a more in-depth answer to the question:
Why is content marketing important?
In it, you’ll find the following information:
What Is Content Marketing?
Some Important Content Marketing Stats
Types of Content Marketing Materials
3 reasons why you need content marketing
Want to learn more? Then, let’s dive right in!
What Is Content Marketing?
Content marketing is the act of creating content, like blogs, newsletters, podcasts, and more, in order to promote a business.
It differs from other more traditional types of marketing in that it is mostly informational in nature.
Basically, what this means is that while sales may eventually take place as a result of content marketing, they take place because the customer has a relationship with the business owner.
This is true even if the relationship is “just” the relationship that the customer has with the business owner via that business’s blog, podcast, or what have you.
However, despite this slow warm-up approach to advertising and marketing, a full 58% of marketing professionals say that their original content is the most important content they create.
And another 81% of them say that it is their goal to increase the use of original content in their marketing plans.
The content marketers who are most effective create content that aligns with the buyer’s journey. This refers to the buying cycle.
It looks like this:
Awareness > Interest > Trial > Buy > Loyalty.
In this new model of marketing, it is as, if not more important, to market to your customers after they buy from you.
This is important for two reasons:
You want to develop a relationship with customers that encourages them to buy from you again.
84% of customers take action - that is they buy a new product, refer a friend, or sign up for a new course - based on the recommendation of people they know.
The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, says that 80% of your business will come from 20% of your customers.
If you create content that reinforces your customer at the loyalty stage, then it’s likely you’ll have a customer for a very long time.
Some Important Content Marketing Stats
So, just why is content marketing important? The following statistics should help you answer that question.
70% of people think that companies that provide good content for their customers care about getting to know them, and over 60% of these consumers are influenced by custom content.
Nearly 80% of consumers want to get to know a company and its products through articles, blogs, and other content rather than ads.
These three stats alone imply that consumers want to buy from companies that care about them as people. Most consumers want relationships with the companies they do business with.
It seems that marketers who use content marketing as a strategy agree with these consumers.
A full 72% of marketers who use branded content think it’s more effective than traditional marketing and advertising methods.
That being said, your content marketing efforts will only gain traction if you are consistent.
The content marketers who have the most success are the content marketers who are most consistent about putting out content.
Finally, content marketing brings a lot of bang for the buck.
It costs over 60% less than traditional marketing, and yet, it produces three times the amount of leads. Conversion rates are higher, too, by six times as much.
Types of Content Marketing Materials
Content marketing is a catch-all phrase that includes a number of different content types. Each type of content has its advantages.
Some of the most well-known types of content marketing include:
Blog posts and other written materials - These are articles that you post on your company’s blog. They should deal with topics that are relevant to your industry and your business. They should also be topics that would be of interest and helpful to your customers.
eBooks - eBooks are another popular content marketing item that you can use to attract more clients. If you don’t have time to create an eBook from scratch, you can use some of your best blog posts as a foundation for your eBooks.
Webinars - Webinars are live instructional videos that allow audiences to ask questions in real-time. Often they are informational in nature, though many marketers also monetize them, too.
Email newsletters - There is a marketing adage, which says: “The money is in the list". If you have a solid email list, then you have a solid customer base. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you should try to sell something to your customers in every email. You can update them about projects, highlight your best customers in an email, or provide some helpful information to them just because.
Podcasts - Podcasts are a great way to bring a radio-type show to your clients. These types of content are ideal for those who want to listen to helpful or uplifting information on their way to work or whenever they have some free time. What’s more, if you write a lot of helpful blog posts, you don’t even have to come up with original content for your podcast. You can repurpose your blog content and turn it into content for your podcast.
Social media posts - Your social media posts allow you to interact with your customers in real-time. They allow you to have conversations with people, provide answers to common questions, and share company news.
Video - Some people don’t like to read long blog posts, but they will watch videos that cover the same content. Savvy marketers use videos to record important industry events or to teach clients how to use their products or services. As with the podcast, video creators can use the content from popular blog posts to create relevant video content, too.
3 Reasons Why You Need Content Marketing
1. Content marketing attracts and builds trust with visitors
Business relationships are all about trust and consistency. When you create a solid content marketing schedule, you’ll not only attract visitors to your site, but you’ll also establish trust with them.
Here’s why:
If you say that you’re going to publish a blog post on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and then you do that, your customers will come to expect that.
They’ll also trust you to do what you say you’re going to do because you’ve promised them that you’d post three times a week and then you followed through on that promise.
Therefore, it isn’t too big of a stretch for them to believe that you’ll follow through on other matters as well.
You should also additionally consider the fact that if you produce quality content, your customers will start associating your quality content with your brand. That builds trust as well.
Related to this is the issue of authority. Your content gives you an opportunity to establish yourself as an authority in your industry.
If your readers rely on the information you publish, because it provides them with top-notch industry information, you won’t have to worry about them looking someplace else for the information.
They’ll come to you.
If they come to you repeatedly for quality information, it is also likely that they’ll eventually come to you for products or services when the time comes.
2. It produces more leads for your business
As has already been mentioned, most marketers find that content marketing is an effective way to develop more leads.
Leads are the lifeblood of most businesses. They can’t exist without them. Without leads, a company runs out of people to sell their goods and services.
The stats back this up, too:
81% of marketers who spend a lot of time writing content show a positive return on investment when they dedicate themselves to creating content.
Basically, if you spend more of your time creating blogs and other content, the more successful you’ll be.
Finally, it is critical to point out that the web has changed people’s attitudes about marketing forever.
The old model of advertising relied on disrupting the customer. Television or radio commercials are good examples of this.
Nowadays, the consumer decides which products interest them. They go out and look for those products when they search the web.
This new trend has created a need for content marketing as a phase of inbound marketing.
Approaching marketing from this standpoint means that the leads you get from your content marketing efforts will most likely be more warm leads.
That is to say that you have a better chance of selling something to your customers if your content is aligned with what they’re already looking for.
3. It costs less than other types of advertising
Nearly 90% of marketers use their social media platforms to promote their content. There are a couple of reasons for that.
These sites are free. For businesses that have only small budgets to work with, social media can be the great equalizer. This is particularly true if a company also happens to produce excellent, shareable content.
Once you get these potential customers interested in you via your social media efforts, you can then entice them to join your mailing list.
Once they’re on your list, you’re in a position to reach out to them more regularly and in a more personal way via your email newsletters.
What Is Content Marketing: Final Thoughts
Content marketing allows you to connect with your current and future customers in a very real way.
Most content marketing professionals find that they are able to build solid relationships with their clientele through their content.
This, in turn, creates brand loyalty and a host of future customers, who will buy from them again and again.
What’s more, content marketing costs less than most types of advertising, and content marketing forms, like social media, are free.
This allows smaller businesses with tighter budgets to compete with other larger, more established businesses in the same industries.
If your budget is lacking, then content marketing may just be the marketing solution you need to create effective marketing campaigns for a fraction of the cost.
Finally, by adopting this type of marketing, you’ll save yourself time and effort. The best content marketers build their content around what their customers already want.
In other words, if these would-be customers find you via your content, then chances are good that they are looking for the type of products or services that you sell.
As such, selling to them will be easier than it would be if you tried to sell to someone who isn’t in the market at all for your goods and services.
How to Develop Buyer Personas: An Ultimate Guide
Whenever you consider a buyer’s profile along with insights into their purchase behavior, you gain some clear perspective on how to earn their business.
It’s the best way to kick off your content strategy, but part of your success is how you craft buyer personas. This shows a higher understanding of your target audience, allowing you to build campaigns around what attracts your audience the most.
According to a recent study by Mark W. Schaefer, only 3 to 4 buyer personas correlate to 90% of your sales.
We’ll show you how to develop these buyer personas so that you can see higher conversions and revenue from your online campaigns.
What Is a Buyer Persona?
A buyer persona is a collection of characteristics that applies to a group of people who are more likely to engage with your advertising and buy your products.
Simply put, it’s a profile of your #1 customer and who will most likely be interested in your offer.
When you create a buyer persona, you start to tailor your marketing efforts around the hundreds of thousands of people who will match your ideal customer.
While it’s not an exact science, there are millions of targeting factors, and whether you choose Facebook’s targeting platform or go through a data storage platform, you can eventually pinpoint your audience based on the characteristics underneath each buyer persona.
Complete Guide to Developing Buyer Personas
The basis of buyer personas is simple. You want to know who you are aiming your marketing dollars at and why. How else would you sell your brand without knowing who it’s for?
When you connect with your target audience, you want them to know that your brand can meet their needs and provide solutions. If your campaign illustrates this clearly, then your prospect is more likely to take action and convert.
When learning how to develop buyer personas, the first step is to always learn more about your audience.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating your own buyer personas and taking your marketing strategy up a notch.
1. Start with Market Research
A buyer persona is a short term for a buyer’s “personality”.
All of the characteristics and insights that you gather about your audience will go into creating a full profile with a name and several bullet points about their demographics, interests, purchasing behavior, favorite brands, and so on.
To learn more about your customers and what they’re looking for, there are several market research tools available online, including:
Surveys
User polls
Social media polls
Site analytics (Google Analytics)
Social media analytics (Facebook Insights, Instagram Analytics, etc)
Market research agencies
Typeform
Ubersuggest
AnswerthePublic.com
Marketer’s Tip: If you need help on how to conduct market research, we suggest working with an agency that can quickly develop these buyer personas and even create audience lists for you to upload into Facebook, Google, and other platforms that allow custom audience lists.
Research shows that personalized campaigns generate 18 times more revenue than any general broadcast campaign, so it’s worth it to spend time on market research and really nail down the characteristics of buyers who will like your products.
SurveyMonkey is probably the top market research tool at the moment because of their user base and the suggestions they offer on how to phrase questions to ensure that you get the best response.
2. Study Your Own Customer Analytics
The other top resource for information on your buyers is your own customer data if you have a CRM, but visitor analytics from your own website is also helpful.
For example, depending on your opt-in forms and how you collect customer data, you most likely can tell where your customers are from, what they purchase, when they purchase, and what products are their favorites.
If you collect information on birthdays, you may even know the age range.
You can also tell by their cart totals what their budget is typically and how they like to spend their money.
With Google Analytics installed on your site, you can also see visitor data, including site referrals, top pages, top products, page viewing time, bounce rates for different pages, devices used, browser information, and other demographics.
With Google Studio, you can also visualize the entire customer journey and isolate what pages or options give customers “friction”, leading to cart abandonment.
These are important insights that show you what your customer likes on your site, but you also start to see the metrics and key performance indicators that matter to your business.
We help businesses get 2-4x growth using our proven 3 phases method utilizing web, funnels, and paid and organic traffic to produce consistent leads! Websites, Funnels, & Marketing for Business Growth at Search Click Grow.
To read full Article you can click on the link How to Develop Buyer Personas: An Ultimate Guide
Search Click Grow is simple, proven, and repeatable model to rapidly build and scale an online business is accessible for the DIY business owner through our Ultimate Growth Coaching. Our program will teach you the SCG method while engaging and motivating you to execute on your learnings to achieve Ultimate Growth. We help businesses get 2-4x growth using our proven 3 phases method utilizing web, funnels, and paid and organic traffic to produce consistent leads! Websites, Funnels, & Marketing for Business Growth at Search Click Grow.