As a business owner there’s always something to do and never enough hours in the day to get everything done.
Working long days, staying up till the early hours of the morning to finish projects or reply to emails, constantly trying to do something else, all leads to burnout. And even when you have learned to take a step back and use your time wisely you could always use an extra few hours to get more done.
Automation is the sharpest tool in your toolbox and it’s how you’re going to get more done in less time. Automating your sales funnel lets you move people smoothly through your sales process and it’s how you’re going to start waking up with new email subscribers, new leads, and new bookings or sales.
That’s how the big internet marketers do it. It’s how small internet marketers and smart tech-savvy business owners do it too. But for many small business owners and professionals, the one area that’s often neglected is your website.
“Our businesses have to generate sales and revenue. It’s becoming harder and harder to break through the noise and speak to customers. Email marketing can save us time, money and energy by automating the process which we talk to customers.” – Mike Killen from Sell Your Service.
Everything from emails to calls, webinars, blog posts and social media posts can be automated. But, don’t overdo it! And definitely don’t forget the social part of social media.
It’s ok to automate the odd social media post but don’t forget the social part. Make sure you’re spending time on your social media interacting with others too.
Build Your Email List With Your Blog
If you’ve already got a website and a blog you’ve probably already got opt-in forms on your website. Maybe you’re asking visitors to join your newsletter or to give you their email address in return for a free download.
This could be a form embedded on your website, at the end of your blog posts, or as a popup to grab the attention of your visitors.
But, do you make the next step clear and easy to take at the end of each blog post? When you’ve got eyes on your article that person is ready to learn more. Offer them that opportunity by giving a clear call to action. Have an opt-in at the end of every post.
For the best results, make that next step even more tempting by creating a lead magnet related to that post. This lead magnet could be a simple content upgrade, like a checklist, a worksheet, or even just a PDF of the article or an extension of the article with deeper insights.
Your visitor is already interested in whatever they’re reading about, so use this to get their attention and give them something useful.
Don’t be put off by the thought of having to create something new for every piece of content you write either. To get started you can create one core giveaway that you think your website visitors will find useful.
Once you’ve done that you can work on outlining 4 or 5 key categories for all of your blog posts and create one lead magnet for each category.
As an example, for Huxo Creative, we could create something for the following categories based on what we think you’re interested in:
- Email Marketing
- Email Automation
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Social Media Marketing
- Website Security
- Website Tips and Tricks
If we created one lead magnet for each of those six categories we could offer one at the end of each article related to that category.
One thing I would always do is to make sure you’re sending any kind of download by email rather than giving a direct download after submitting your form. That way, if someone does enter a fake email address they won’t get what you’re giving them. Plus, it makes them open your email.
Use Related Links To Keep Them Reading
One way to keep the attention of your visitors is to add links to your other content. If you’re just starting out or you’ve not got any articles, don’t worry about trying to pump out a load of posts right now.
Instead, make time to go through your old blog posts to add links to newer content. You don’t have to spend too long doing this and it obviously depends on the amount of content you have but get into the habit of putting this into your diary and linking related posts together regularly. This will give your visitors more valuable information on something they’re already interested in.
As well as keeping visitors on your site you’ll also score more points with Google and in turn, get more visitors to your site through search engines. Posts that link to each other encourage search engines to perform a more in-depth crawl of your site and help to boost the rankings of your most relevant articles.
Tip: If you’re stuck for time and have the funds to outsource then this is a good job for your Virtual Assistant to be doing. If you’re not in a position to have a VA right now you can save even more time by documenting your exact process as you go along. You can do this in a Google Doc, with Evernote, or with a purpose built tool like Process Street. You can use screen recording software like Loom to add videos showing your exact process.
Use Thank You Pages To Make More Sales
Whether you’re giving away a free report or paid product, send your visitor to a thank you page after they’ve submitted their details.
This is your opportunity to give your visitor another easy next step. For free downloads, offer a low-cost product related to the download. They’ve read your article and they’ve given you their email address so we know they’re interested in what you have to say. A low-cost, or tripwire product, gives your reader the chance to learn more about without parting with a large amount of money.
And if they’ve already paid for your products, think about using your thank you page to offer a complementary product instead. This could be a slightly higher priced product, a call with you, or a one-time discounted offer to join your membership area.
And if you’re using a double opt-in for your mailing list, don’t forget about the confirmation page either. That’s the perfect place for an invitation to join your free Facebook group or to offer another upsell.
A good rule to remember on your website is to always make that next step easy to take. Always have a clear call to action in mind when putting out any content.
If you ask visitors to do more than one thing they probably won’t do any. Give them one clear call to action and your funnel will practically fill itself.
