I recently discussed follow-up strategies to keep your pipeline full. Another way to look at this is how to keep leads flowing into your funnel. The first part of my funnel is often here with my SEO blogging.
Yes, this article can be the first part of one of my prospective clients’ funnels. While you read it, I hope you enjoy it enough to also look around at the rest of my website. I hope you take a moment to read another article, view some of the ways that I can help you with your business, or even download one of my free offers.
I love writing articles. I try to put together articles that have been researched, combined with the 17 years of business experience I have, and create a helpful article for small business owners. Giving you tips to take your business to the next level. Yet, I also know that many will go no further than reading; it is always my hope that they look deeper.
The Top Of My Funnel
Before I define a funnel, keep in mind that these terms are simply an overview. It also comes from seventeen years of experience with writing and taking classes on SEO. I quickly admit, however, that I am no expert on SEO. I do, however, know that most of my traffic comes from Google Search because of my SEO Blogging.
What is a Funnel?
What is a marketing funnel in simple terms?
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A marketing funnel is a series of stages that guide prospective customers along the journey toward engagement and conversion.
SEO Blogging
SEO blogging in the simplest form means to write articles that contain seo (search engine optimization) friendly words or longtail keywords that your page can rank for on Google or other search engines.
YoastSEO Defines Keywords As:
“A keyword, or a focus keyword as some call it, is a word that describes the content on your page or post best. It’s the search term you want to rank for with a certain page. So when people search for that keyword or phrase in Google or other search engines, they should find that page on your website.”
Sales Funnel Examples
The funnel is the first part of making a sale. By offering a free offer (article, checklist, appointment, or other) you have introduced a person to the first part of your sales funnel.
Know Where It Begins
Knowing where your funnels begin can be helpful, as it will help you promote those links that are working and ranking best for you. You must also keep an eye on your analytics for your website. The analysis of your website will help you know what pages are working best for you.
Multiple Funnel Offers
I’m also including multiple funnel examples for you to see.
You can have multiple offers, but if they do not feed properly into your funnel, they will not work.
There are many ways to set them up to feed into the next funnel. The best way to do that is to make sure you have a good CTA (call to action).
Another Way To View Your Customer Journey
Another way to view this is through the lens of a customer journey (or client journey). As you can see below and follow it through, the journey begins with a free offer (download), then to reading the blog articles, which brings them to sign up to receive the LinkedIn Newsletters, and finally, before becoming a client, they sign up for a Free Mini Coaching Session.
After which, they sign on and become a client. Then, receive the onboarding documents. These funnels and customer journeys can take many forms. See below.
Attracting People To Your Funnels
We all want to attract people to our funnels. There are so many ways to do this. I’m only discussing organic options here, but you could easily put in ads as well and see which part your ideal clients would enter if they find you through an ad. I would start with one ad at a time and comparative analysis as you try different possibilities.
By showing a variety of funnels, you can see how your free offers may work for you. Along with items like writing blogs. I also add my blogs to a platform called Medium.
If you have not yet tried creating a Newsletter on your LinkedIn profile, it is a great time to try it. It will help you attract more followers who are interested in the topics you write about.
4 Part Funnel
I also included this four-part funnel (above diagram), starting with a Free Offer (right) as the top of the funnel. Each one of these items can also be the top (or start) of a funnel.
As you can see, it really depends on where your prospects enter your funnel. For those who enter the 4 Part Funnel, they would first download this free checklist (on right), which then enters them into the email marketing funnel (2nd part of the funnel), and then they choose to have a mini-coaching session, before becoming a new client who onboards.
As this last example shows, If someone starts with my free checklist and downloads it, they are entering the top of the funnel IF and only if this is their first touchpoint with me. Then the funnel begins. If, however, they have interacted with me on social media (Facebook, IG, LinkedIn, or others) then social media would be the top of their funnel.
Tammy S. Durden is an award-winning business coach who specializes in helping women online service providers grow a business to fit their lifestyle rather than squeeze a life around their business.
She is also a thought leader, course creator, and speaker in the online service industry.
Tammy has established herself as an authority figure over the last 17 years while creating and growing several online service businesses.