Just as usual, I am going to start this section with a discouraging fact … your very first sales funnel probably won’t make you millionaire. Why? Well, first of all: most likely you already have some sort of ongoing marketing activities and as a result, your first conversion funnel will become nothing more, but a post-factum element desperately stuffed into your original long-term marketing strategy.

Understandably, these overdue afterthoughts usually won’t deliver the desired result. Secondly: understanding the concept itself is not enough to create efficient and profitable conversion funnels.

You also need to know and to understand the most important different components that go into crafting a truly successful sales funnel. And there is even more: you need to know how to effectively use landing pages and one-time offers, how to lead the prospects up through different price points, how to use upsells and downsells, how to incorporate affiliate products into your conversion funnel, etc. So yes, you should probably accept the fact, that your very first sales funnel won’t really change your life.

But here is the good news: even if your first conversion funnel is a total mess, you have made the first step which is always the hardest one! Invest some effort to learn as much as you can about each funnel element and try again! I can guarantee, your second attempt will bring you much more satisfaction and perhaps even some results. And who knows? If you are committed enough, your third funnel might be 60-70% perfect …

What about the other 30-40%? That’s the easy part: track, measure and optimize! And of course, test, test and test …

Now – if I haven’t scared you off yet -, let’s crack the “sales funnels for beginners” topic together … Let’s take a look at every important funnel element …

1. Landing page (or squeeze page, or opt-in page)

A landing page is an offer-centered highly-focused web page that usually contains an online form. It’s important to have at least one dedicated landing page for each individual funnel. Later, in the sixth chapter we are going to cover everything you need to know about landing pages.

Right now just keep in mind that is one of your most powerful conversion tools which literally squeezes the visitor until he feels that he has no choice, but to give up the contact information you are requesting. Why? Because he wants to get his hands on your valuable, irresistible bribe! This is why …

48% of marketers build a new landing page for each marketing campaign.

2. Free stuff

Everybody loves free stuff. This is why offering a freebie is one of the oldest and most common methods used by online marketers in their lead-generation, list-building, etc efforts. Deep down in our hearts we all know that an appealing freebie usually will lead us to another irresistible offer that eventually might cost us some money, but we still want that shiny “free” thing. This is how human nature works …

And this is why offering to your visitors a freebie that promises to give them useful information they desperately need, on a topic they are passionate about, will always be an efficient marketing method.

Here are the most important freebie-related golden rules:

• Always give them real, genuine value!

• Give them something that they can immediately put to use!

• Focus on unfilled gaps and actual unsolved problems or needs.

• Keep your value-packed freebie offer short and concise.

• Make sure that your freebie is a logical first step of your overall package of offerings.

• Let them know that you can help them even more and tell them how can they access further useful information.

3. Low-price offers

The low-priced initial offerings are representing a solid and proven tactic that can be efficiently leveraged especially if you are a new marketer.

Later, when you already have managed to position yourself as a trusted, well-known expert or influencer in your field, you’ll be able to start your funnel with a jaw-dropping high-end product, but while you are just another regular guy who is trying to make some decent money using the most common marketing tactics, you should definitely start your funnel with an exclusive, limited-time special offer that comes with an irresistible, mind-blowing price.

4. Cross-sell

What is cross selling? Is the practice of recommending additional products, services, resources, etc that compliment – or enhance – yours. Done right, can not only increase your profits, but also can enhance your reputation establishing you as someone who is really looking out for customers’ best interests.

Needless to say, the recommended product or service must be truly valuable and genuinely helpful for your target audience. You can use your own products, related affiliate products, joint venture deals, etc, just don’t forget: always provide value to your target audience!

5. Upsell

An upsell basically it’s an additional offer – usually at a higher price – included in the documentation for the product or service you are selling or you have just sold. It’s a very simple yet incredibly efficient method used both offline and online.

In online marketing usually is incorporated in the checkout process, on download pages, in follow-up emails, thank you pages, etc in form of an irresistible and highly-relevant complementary offer.

6. Downsell

This is a less common practice, but can be efficiently applied especially if you are selling expensive stuff and you already have some sort of authority in your field.

The basic principle is extremely simple: while your main offer is focused on an expensive high-end product or service, it’s always a good idea to simultaneously offer a cheaper version of it for people who simply cannot afford the more expensive version.

7. One-time-offer (or OTO)

Regularly these are unique, extremely attractive time-sensitive offers that can be efficiently used in highly-targeted emails campaign, on thank you pages, in personalized transactional emails or even incorporated in the check out process.

The point is to make use of the exclusivity and the scarcity factors as much as possible: “This product or service is offered at this amazing price for a very limited time exclusively to our VIP members. You’ll only see this offer once!”.