Your website is the most important part of your funnel
Today I want to talk about something I have noticed in the online marketing world. When we talk about funnels and funnel design, which is a huge topic right now. Everybody's telling you that you need to have a funnel so that people can move to buy your product, and what's your funnel and your upsells and your downsells and everything. They forget about the most important piece of the funnel. Your website. Here's what I think is happening.
The standard online markting funnel
[00:00:29] When we talk about funnel design, generally, you're talking about somebody who has an online course or a membership. And so the funnel that we all imagine and envision goes something like this. You find an ad on Facebook or Instagram. You click on that ad. You get taken to a registration page for a webinar. That webinar is gonna go over some kind of [00:01:00] topic that relates to the course and really gets at a pain point or a transformation somebody is looking to achieve. They watch the webinar.
[00:01:12] Sometimes it is an hour long pitch, sometimes there's cuz some good information and there's a pitch at the end. And once that is done, then they will send you to the next step of the funnel, which is to sign up, to buy this course or to apply to this course, whatever that might be.
[00:01:35] If you don't purchase, they're gonna downsell you on something that's cheaper. If you do purchase, they might try to upsell you on a VIP service or something. If you leave the page entirely, they're gonna follow up by email to get you into purchasing so that they can convert a client.
[00:01:56] And that's fine, right? We all need to convert clients in [00:02:00] order to have a business.
Where marketing gurus get it wrong
[00:02:02] Here's what we all forget. We talk about funnel design saying, okay, well, how can we make our webinar better? How can we make our sales page better? What can we upsell? What can we downsell? But the most important piece of any funnel is your website, because most of us are not running a business that is based simply on selling courses. And even if you are selling a course, you've still got to have a website for your business.
A realistic funnel for service providers
[00:02:33] So here's what a more realistic funnel looks like. Somebody finds you on social media, maybe somebody shared your thing. Maybe it comes up on TikTok who, whatever that is.
[00:02:47] They're going to go to your profile, they might follow you for a while, they might check out your videos. And then they're going to eventually say, "oh, well, I am interested in working with this person. I love the free information they've given. So I wanna learn more."
[00:03:03] They're gonna go to your website. They're gonna see your headline. And then they're gonna make a decision as to whether or not they want to continue on their journey.
[00:03:15] From there, they might do something like sign up for your email list. They might purchase a course. They might sign up for a freebie. They might apply to work with you. They can do any of those things, but it's all gonna happen on your website.
You don't sell 6-figure services from a webinar funnel
[00:03:30] For most businesses and most people, they're not going to go straight to watching a webinar, signing up for that webinar from that page. There are people that teach that as a strategy, but that is not what most businesses are going to see. Most businesses are going to see really slow nurturing of clients, or they might run on referrals. And in either of those cases, people are always going to land on your website. So when you think about it, social media, your ads, your referrals are what get people interested in you. They go to your website to learn more. They want to make sure you're a good fit. Your values fit, the work that you do represents what they want. All of that. And then they're gonna go to the next step. Maybe that's working with you. Maybe that's signing up for your email. It is a longer process than watch a webinar sign up for my six figure program.
[00:04:41] And that's okay. But that's why we need to make sure that when we are thinking about a funnel, a marketing funnel, the website is the core piece of that.
A simple website is the best funnel
[00:04:53] And this is why I teach people to have a simple website because we don't want them to get lost in everything we have to offer. What we want to do is have them land on the site, they're gonna see the headline. They're gonna say, "okay, yes. This represents who I am, it represents the thing that I'm struggling with right now. I wanna learn more." they're gonna keep scrolling.
[00:05:16] They are going to see a little bit more about your mission statement. That's gonna say, okay, I align with this bigger vision, this bigger value, that they have in the world, I'm gonna keep scrolling.
[00:05:27] They're gonna see your bio so that they can learn about you. They're gonna see your headshot. And then they're gonna get to a place where they've got your "choose your own adventure" section, where they can choose what their next step is. Are they going to sign up for your newsletter so that they can either get some kind of a freebie or they can get your email series?
[00:05:50] Maybe they're going to sign up for a low ticket offer that you have or they're gonna go read your blog about a topic that you talk about. And then the other option is that they might go and learn about your high ticket service, your high ticket course, membership, whatever that is.
[00:06:13] Most people are not gonna go straight to that high ticket offer without doing those other steps so we always want to give them those options on your homepage.
Selling a high-ticket service on your website
[00:06:25] Once they get interested in that higher ticket offer, that's where you're gonna send them to the sales page. But I still want you to think of this as one overall piece. I know there are lots of people out there who are gonna say your sales page needs to do all of these things to convert well, and there are proven conversion tactics that you can use, but we still wanna be ethical.
[00:06:52] Your values need to be reflected on every page of your site. So I don't wanna see [00:07:00] really pushy techniques or buttons that say, "no thanks. I'm not interested, cuz I don't wanna get healthy." Something like that. It's icky people don't like it.
[00:07:11] So as they move to the sales page of your site, you are still keeping in mind that this is all one big piece and you want to make sure that on every step of the journey, they're learning more, they're getting more into your business so that they know if they're the right fit.
[00:07:34] And then once they decide to purchase, that's when you're going to send them into either a CRM, a client management system, like Dubsado to get them onboarded into your service. Or you might send them to schedule a call, or you might send them into your course platform depending on what you're doing.
[00:07:58] But all of that, that middle part all happens on your site. And that's why it's so important to have a website that represents you, that is consistent with your brand throughout their client journey. And that is designed to keep them moving in this funnel.
Think about the client journey
[00:08:22] When I think about funnels, I really prefer to call it a client journey. Because for anybody who's selling a service, your client is a person, one person, who's going through this journey to decide whether they want to work with you or not. And so your funnel and your client journey then are the same thing. But if you think of it as a client journey, instead of a funnel where you're just pushing people into it.
[00:08:51] Instead, you're like holding their hand and you're walking them along. You're letting them stop at the places they wanna stop. You're talking to them through this whole experience that is what's going to get them to convert if they are really a good fit for you, and it's gonna get them excited to work with you.
[00:09:09] So as you are designing all of this, as you're spending time on social media, as you're designing your course, as you are getting your CRM up and running, remember that your website is the piece that connects all of those things together and moves people from just exploring you or following you to actually investing with you.
[00:09:37] And so it is that hinge piece. It's that middle that gets people from the beginning to the end. And it's so important that you get that piece right. That you take the time to design a website with your dream clients in mind, that is designed to convert the right people, that's designed to move them on that client journey without getting lost in all the rabbit trails. And actually invest there before you invest your time trying to build, you know, a hundred thousand followers on Instagram. None of that is going to mean anything if your website isn't where it needs to be as far as design, conversion, and as a reflection of you and your brand.
Take action to create a funnel that really works
[00:10:33] As you are going about your day to day, I want you to remember that no matter what you're putting together for your client journey or your funnel. You've got to always come back to the website design.
[00:10:45] And if you have questions, please reach out and let me know. I have a free complimentary website review where I will look over a page of your site to help you know where you might have people dropping off and how you can make it higher converting. And I want everybody to really think of this as the most important piece of their business, when it comes to a client journey to get people to invest.
