How to Funnel Customers to Your Website Again and Again (Infographic)
You've got your business up and running. Your brand is awesome. Your website looks great. And now your customers are going to start pouring in! Right?
Not quite.
Unfortunately the old "build it and they will come" adage doesn't apply to online businesses, no matter how amazing your offerings are.
Not only do you need to keep your business up and running, you need to actively market to your customers as well! You likely already have your social media accounts set up (if not, make sure to check out our get-started guides). Maybe you've got a great newsletter off the ground too.
But how do you turn those updates into cold, hard sales?
Well! You're about to find out.
Ready? Let's go!
Alright, let's break this down.
Generating web traffic and converting sales isn't a complex process. But it DOES take time and consistent effort. Once you've got your website up and running with your services or products up for sale, it's time to get started on the real work: Marketing the heck out of yourself!
We can break the process down into a three-step game plan:
1. Create lots of content.
Content. On your site. Specifically, badass blog content. Why?
Well, in order to gain traffic, you must must must must must have something that can act as a point of entry into your website for your customers.
What, you think someone's going to enthusiastically click or share a link to your About page? (Imagine sharing "Hey guys, just thought you might want to check out my about page again! " for the tenth time in a row.) Nobody does that!
You need content that compels your customers to pay you a visit. And that means blogging: Creating quality posts that are relevant and appealing – not just to anyone, but to your brand advocate.
The blogging sweet spot hits smack-dab at the intersection of stuff you know about and stuff your customers want to read.
You're an expert in your field. And your dream customer values that expertise!
Need some great blogging topics? Try giving your readers some behind-the-scenes action, a step-by-step guide they'll value, a helpful resource roundup, thoughts on what you value in your field, or even outlining some common misconceptions your customers might hold about your industry.
And stuck on how to actually get that blog post off the ground? Check out our 10-step guide to creating awesome blog content!
2. Push that content across all networks.
Just creating content isn't enough – you've got to reach out across all networks available to you to get that content in front of people. That means you need to share links to your badass blog content DIRECTLY through your social media updates!
Push those links across Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and even include links to your recent content in your newsletter.
[Related: Why Email Newsletters are Perfect for Growing Your Business and How to Get People to Actually Sign Up for Your Newsletter]
Now, I know you're about to ask...
But why do these content pushes have to be BLOG POSTS?! Can't I just send photo or text statuses with my business updates on social media? The message still gets to my audience.
Um, NO!
Sure, your message might get to your audience, but that's not the point of social media networking.
Reality check: The goal of your social media presence is MAKING SALES.
And that means getting traffic DIRECTLY TO your site, not just reaching eyes on the web. If you share social media posts WITHOUT linking back to your website, your network won't be able to click through to your site at all – because they'll stay on Facebook or Twitter!
Here's how the clickthrough funnel works in one infographic:
This online traffic funnel shows just how important blogging is for your web traffic: It should be the #1 point of contact for your customers' visits!
Let's walk through this online traffic funnel step by step:
You share your interesting and relevant blog content across your social media networks. [That's the red text in the infographic – Facebook updates, tweets and the like]
Next, your intrigued audience clicks through to your blog post. [Red arrows in the infographic]
Aha! You've successfully funneled a customer to your website! At this point they land on your blog and enjoy your content. [Blue circles]
Now, from that one blog post, your audience is easily able to reach every other section of your website: including your products and services, which you will direct them to from your blog using pointed calls to action. (Ex: "Grab one of your own here [link to the product page].) This further exploration into your site is indicated by the dark blue arrows in the infographic above.
At this point you've successfully funneled customers to your website through your great content and strategic social networking.
3. Repeat!
Don't think for one second that this process is one-and-done.
No ma'am!
You need to be creating new content regularly AND re-pushing that content to your networks every few weeks, especially on time-sensitive social media networks like Facebook and Twitter.
(Pro tip: We absolutely ADORE Edgar to put that process on auto-pilot)
You worked hard on that content and it deserves more than just a single chance to get in front of readers. Plus, as your networks grow you'll be able to reach people who weren't following you when you first pushed that post out.
Our best advice: Use a platform like Edgar to recycle your posts—and get an editorial blog post calendar set up and stick to it!
The final takeaway:
This blogging-and-social approach is how to nail your sales.
And we know from experience. Within the first six months of serious blogging and social outreach, we boosted our web traffic 10x, increased our revenue by 50%, and quadrupled our social media following. That is MAJORLY worth it in our books.
I hope this helps YOU get started funneling customers to your site and boosting your sales.
Create amazing blog content the easy way:
PS: Dreading how much time and energy creating original content takes? I hear you. Luckily, you're about to find the #1 solution: quick, painless blog post templates you can use to create kickass content again and again.
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