You've heard of affiliate marketing…

Maybe you've dabbled with it…

But, success has likely alluded you…

Which is why you're researching other ways to “do” affiliate marketing…

This post outlines how I do it successfully.

By the way, I have a 100% FREE Affiliate Marketing Course you can join by Clicking Here!

The Affiliate Marketing Funnel

This is it, the successful affiliate marketing strategy I follow…

Traffic

It doesn't really matter where your traffic comes from… assuming you're advertising where your audience actually hangs out.

For simplicity's sake, most people can find a portion of their audience on Facebook, so that's a good place to start.

Hook vs Offer

There are two elements to consider when creating your ads…

1. Hook: Main benefit, simplified
2. Offer: What you're actually offering (article, lead magnet, product, etc.)

Some examples:

• 4 Hour Work Week; Book
• 1,000 Songs In Your Pocket; iPod
• Big Profits From Small Stocks; Penny Stock Newsletter
• Eat More, Weigh Less; Training Program
• #MAGA; President

Ad Setup

• Text Copy: Short, uncover the hook and lead into the offer with a Call To Action (CTA)
• Image/Video: Typically reflects the Hook
• Headline Copy: Typically reflects the Offer
• Description Copy: Either hits on Hook again, or gives details about the Offer

Want more info on ads?

Click Here to join the FULL Affiliate Marketing Course for FREE!

Squeeze Page & Lead Magnet

I'm sure you already know what a Squeeze Page and Lead Magnet is, so I'm not going to waste time defining them…

Instead, we'll get straight into it.

Here are a few Lead Magnet ideas…

• Make a short PDF: Checklist, Cheat Sheet, Mind Map, Resource List, etc.

Here's how you can make a Lead Magnet in 20 minutes!

• Run a Contest/Drawing: Give away a product YOUR audience will like. It needs to be a specific product that ONLY YOUR audience will like. Don't give away an iPad or an Amazon gift card since everyone wants that and you'll attract people that don't actually care about the products/services you're going to offer them.
  • Side note: I've never had much success on turning Contest/Drawing subscribers into profitable customers. That doesn't mean you can't, just know that while they're “cheap” leads… you tend to get what you pay for.

Want more Squeeze Page & Lead Magnet ideas?

Click Here to join the FULL Affiliate Marketing Course for FREE!

Thank You Page

Most people aren't going to consume your Lead Magnet, even if it is only one page.

This kind of sucks because you want them to consume it as it establishes you and your business in their mind… so, when they see your emails and ads later on, they'll remember who you are.

So, on the Thank You page, you will want to include a video that introduces yourself,  your business, and walks the individual through the Lead Magnet they requested.

It can be a short, 3 minute video all the way to 90+ minutes. Just do what makes sense.

Finally, on this Thank You page, you will want to tell them what to do next…

• Go to this affiliate product
• Checkout this blog post
• Access more training
• etc.

Want more details on creating a successful Thank You Page?

Click Here to join the FULL Affiliate Marketing Course for FREE!

Series #

The Series represents both…

1. Emails
2. Retargeting Ads

You're going to “attack” people from multiple angles!

I recommend following the “Weekly Pushes Framework” for these series. Basically, you spend one week promoting one product, then move onto another affiliate product the next week.

• Step 1: Pick the affiliate product you want to promote for the week
• Step 2: Follow the pattern 3 and 2 for message delivery (ie. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday)
  • Bridge/Email 1: Fun/personal/customer story/testimonial/experience
  • Bridge/Email 2: Promotion of Product
  • Bridges/Emails 3-4: Content on topic of Product
  • Bridge/Email 5: Content or Promotion

Want to learn more about the “Weekly Pushes Framework” and how to incorporate Retargeting Ads?

Click Here to join the FULL Affiliate Marketing Course for FREE!

Bridges

This is how you connect YOUR audience to the affiliate offers you're promoting.

These bridges include the emails and ads you create…

But, they can be more complex than that…

They can also include standalone pages, videos, and even webinars if you REALLY want to promote the heck out of an affiliate offer!

Here's some common bridge type content:

• Reviews
• Training
• Behind the scenes/unboxing
• Stories
• Content
• Incentives

Want more Bridge ideas and to see a few examples?

Click Here to join the FULL Affiliate Marketing Course for FREE!

Affiliate Products

Finding affiliate products to promote is very easy since there are literally millions of products you can sell as an affiliate.

Two ways to find products to sell are:

1) Sell What You Already Use

• Take products you already use and believe your audience will also like.
• Head over to Google and search for that product while including the word “affiliate” in your search.
• See if they have an affiliate program.
• Register for it and begin promoting the product!

2) Browse Affiliate Network Directories

There are a bunch of affiliate networks to choose from. Here are a few of the bigger, more popular ones:

• ClickBank
• JVZoo
• CJ
• ShareASale
• Amazon Associates

Simply head over to one of those directories and browse around until you find something you believe your audience will like.

Side note: I recommend actually buying what you're promoting so you can ensure its quality is up to par… you never want to disappoint your audience!

Join The FREE Affiliate Marketing Funnel Training!

That's the strategy behind the Affiliate Marketing Funnel!

Now, if you want more details and want to learn how to actually build it…

Click Here to join the FULL Affiliate Marketing Course for FREE!

 

This Facebook Ads strategy is awesome because it can reduce customer acquisition cost by a metric ton!

Here's a campaign where we send traffic directly to a free + shipping book offer:

It costs us $16.63 to give away a free book following the direct approach. (if you're wondering, yes – we're profitable at that cost)

Now, once we employed the strategy I'm going to teach you in this post, we were able to drop our costs to…

Yup, $7.84!

That's a 52.8% decrease in customer acquisition cost!

And once we dial in ‘Days 7-9' a bit more, the cost should decrease even more!

Enough small talk, it's time to dive into how you can do this too!

Advanced Facebook Video Ads Retargeting Strategy

To execute this strategy properly, you need 2 or 3 videos.

These videos can be someone talking to a camera, B-roll with a voice-over or text, or a combination. Any video style can work, just keep your audience in mind… what type of videos do they like to watch?

These videos should be as long as is necessary and not a second longer. This could mean 30 seconds or maybe 8 minutes. This means no fancy logo intro or outro. Go straight into it. Get your message across and get out. People don't have time for fluff.

Your Videos Will Form A Funnel

Think of your Facebook Video Ads like a funnel…

People go in the top and come out the bottom as a paying customer.

• TOF = Top Of Funnel
• MOF = Middle Of Funnel
• BOF = Bottom Of Funnel

TOF: Viral Video

This video serves as the entry point to the rest of your funnel, so it has to be good.

When I say “viral”, I don't mean 1,000,000+ view viral like the Squatty Potty video… I simply mean that it connects well with your intended audience.

Here are a few goals to shoot for on this TOF video:

• Goal #1: Be entertaining/interesting AF (as fudge)
  • Top 3, 5, 7, 10 lists work well
  • Quick tips, tricks, or hacks also work well
• Goal #2: Gauge topic interest
  • You need to find out who is actually interested in your topic and willing to spend at least 30 seconds watching a video about it
• Goal #3: Ad relevance score of 9-10
  • After your ad has 500 impressions, Facebook will report a “Relevance Score” and you want yours to be a 9 or 10. By having a high relevance score, you'll be able to reach more people for less money… ie. a lower CPM (cost per thousand)
  • Note: Although Facebook reports the relevance score after 500 impressions, wait until you have 2,000+. If your relevance score isn't a 9 or 10, try different targeting options and/or create a new video
• Goal #4: Subtly introduce your brand/company
  • You can introduce your brand/company in this video, but it has to be subtle

Example Ad Copy

Key Facebook Ad Settings

• If you are including a link in your ad description or as a button, set your campaign objective to “Traffic”
• If you do not have a link, set your campaign objective to “Engagement”
• Why not “Video Views”? You can try this campaign objective; however, I haven't had good luck with it. My assumption is that these viewers aren't really paying attention to what they're watching and are un-engaged. Thus, while they're cheap views, they're also low quality

MOF: Product Intro

In this video, you will introduce your product/service to the audience that watched a percentage of your TOF video.

For the percentages, I typically choose 50%, unless it's really short (~30 sec) or really long (6+ min), then I'll do 75% and 25% respectively.

A couple video types that work well here are:

• Product demonstrations
• Customer testimonials

In this video, I recommend soft-selling the product/service… basically, tell them where to go if they want to learn more.

Example Ad Copy

Key Facebook Ad Settings

• Set this campaign objective for conversions and focus on purchases.

BOF: Pitch

This video is optional.

If your TOF video does its job and only attracts people interested in your topic and if your MOF video does it's job of introducing and soft-selling your product/service – you might not need a BOF video.

You will show this video to the audience that watched a percentage of your MOF video. (same percentages as outlined above)

So, the people watching your BOF video have seen your TOF video AND your MOF video…  they know who you are and what you're offering. It's time to be direct.

In this video, you will tell them your offer, why they should act now (scarcity), and where to go to get it.

Example Ad Copy

Key Facebook Ad Settings

• Set this campaign objective for conversions and focus on purchases.

How To Set It Up In Facebook Ads Manager

I'll be the first to tell you that I am not a “professional” Amazon seller…

I have never really used Seller Central, nor do I know much about Amazon PPC or how to best optimize a listing…

But, I am partners with a few people that sell products on Amazon and occasionally we run campaigns, like what I'm about to show you in order to boost search rank and organic sales.

This strategy can work incredibly well for boosting your sales rank. You then show up near the top of the search results, which should lead to more organic sales, which leads to better rank, and the cycle continues.

The Strategy Behind This Tactic

The strategy behind this tactic is quite simple…

1. Offer a massive discount
2. Have the person search for a specific keyword in order to find and buy your product

That's it!

Enlightening, right?! ha.

A Few Key Notes

• Your discount will have to be significant. You're asking the customer to jump through hoops… go to Amazon, search for your product, scroll through a few pages of similar products, find your product, buy your product, etc. You need to make it worth their time.
• You will likely need to go after long tail keywords, where your product shows up on page 2 or 3 max. Don't make someone scroll through 10 pages trying to find your product… they're not going to do it and it will be a waste of both yours and their time.
  • What's a “long tail keyword”? Typically, a 2-4 word phrase that is specific to what you're selling. For example, “bike” would be considered short and “blue children's bike” would be long.

The Funnel

The funnel is a simple 2-step funnel where you capture the individual's contact information so you can send them your coupon code.

I recommend sending an email or two as well with the coupon code and instructions.

Click Here to get this funnel for FREE!

Step 1: Squeeze Page

Click Here to view a live version of this page

The copy should be pretty self-explanatory; however, here's a brief breakdown:

• Headline and Sub-Headline that contains the name of the product and the offer
• Image of the product (should match your Facebook ad image for congruency)
• A few feature/benefit bullets (the bullets in the example are a bit long, try and keep them under 10 words each)
• Explain why you're giving such a massive discount
• Tell them what to expect and how to get their coupon (use screenshots)
  • Include several CTA (calls to action/buttons) so they can request the coupon
• Close out with a simple scarcity timer

Click Here to get this funnel for FREE!

Step 2: Thank You Page

Click Here To View A Live Version Of This Page

On the Thank You page, simply give them their coupon code, reiterate the instructions, and link to Amazon.com.

Click Here to get this funnel for FREE!

The Email

It's a simple little email, so feel free to spruce it up with your logo, an image of the product, etc.

The point of the email is to “double-tap” the leads to ensure they get a chance to use the coupon code they requested.

Click Here to get this funnel for FREE!

The Ads

As often as is possible, I split test 2 ads and 2 tactics – so, 4 tests running at once.

I let the ad reach get to 2,000 prior to making any decisions. (spend $5-$10 per day, per ad when testing. If it works, spend more)

If the ad hasn't made any sales, kill it.

For the ads that have made sales, I let them run until there is statistical significance between which ad is best.

Image vs. Video

Sometimes, images outperform videos and vice-versa… so, I try both when possible.

If I don't have a video, I do two images – one of just the product on a white background, the other with the product in use.

Funnel vs. Direct

I also split test sending people to the funnel we built vs. directly to Amazon.

I optimize my funnel ads for Leads and my direct ads for Clicks.

This first one is what my typical “funnel” ads looks like. Note: I will have two of them… same copy, different image/video.

This second one is what my typical “direct” ads look like. And, like the funnel ads, I'll split test a different image/video too.

* Note: That Amazon link is an affiliate link with the appropriate tag and it links to Amazon.com's homepage. This way, people have to search for your product. 

Targeting

I target broad – basically, anyone that might have some kind of interest in my product, but…

I layer interests to include Amazon.com:

Simply click the “Narrow Further” option and add “Amazon.com”.

Tracking

Unfortunately, Amazon likes their data and tends not to share it… so, we have to work within some constraints, but this is how I track my results.

Track Sales Via Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates is Amazon's affiliate program and it allows you to create unique tags to apply to your affiliate links.

You're then able to run reports for individual tags to see which tags are performing best.

So, for each ad you will want to apply a different tag to your affiliate link. (make sure you write down what tag goes with what ad)

Example:

• Ad 1 = tag1-20
• Ad 2 = tag2-20
• Ad 3 = tag3-20
• Ad 4 = tag4-20

Now, when you login to your Amazon Associates account and run your reports, you'll be able to see which tags have made sales – and, as such, which ads have made sales.

Track Sales Rank With DataHawk (or any other ASIN/keyword tracker)

The next metric you should track is your sales rank… this way you can judge if your efforts are working.

There are a million tools on the market that can do this; however, the one I use is DataHawk. They have a free tier and their paid plans are very reasonable.

Give It 3-5 Days

I'll close out with this… give this strategy 3-5 days to take hold.

The tracking tools only update once or twice a day, so your data will almost always be delayed.

Plus, it can take a little bit of time for Amazon's algorithm to “see” the movement on your listing.

So, I urge you to just set it up and then don't look at anything for the first 3 days!

I failed you.

Somewhere along the way, I led you astray.

Unintentionally, I made it sound like all you had to do was build a random sales funnel, throw $10 at it, and you would become rich.

Allow me to clarify, THIS ISN'T GOING TO HAPPEN!!

You will NOT get rich sending some traffic to a sales funnel you put together in an hour.

IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN!

Even if you spend 10 hours of your life building sales funnels and spend some money on traffic… you STILL WON'T get rich!

While technically, this sales funnel “stuff” is as easy as its ever been…

It's still, strategically and executionally, VERY DIFFICULT!

By building random sales funnels with very little rhyme or reason other than thinking the product will sell…

YOU WILL FAIL 99% OF THE TIME!

YOU WILL FAIL 99% OF THE TIME!

Yes, I typed it twice because you need to see that stat.

That's what you have to look forward to when you spray and pray funnels across the web.

Scary, right?

If a 99% failure rate doesn't scare the crap out of you, then I think you should leave my site because you're not going to “get” what I'm about to share with you.

What I'm about to unveil is how you can decrease your chance of failure from 99% to say 20%… and, that's only if you stop trying.

If you do not give up, success in some form or another is imminent.

To quote the great Albert Einstein…

Mindset: I'm Building A Business, Not Funnels

Some people get this, some don't… and it's OK if you don't.

You hear sales funnels are freakin' awesome, which is totally true… so, you hop in without much clue. (hey, that rhymes!)

As addressed in the intro, building random sales funnels rarely ever works.

You need a plan. You need to be methodical. You need to see the bigger picture.

The bigger picture? You are going to build a business.

A business, for all intents and purposes, consists of two things:

• Products and/or services to sell
• Someone to buy those products/services, ie. customers

That's it.

Sales funnels then, are simply a means to connect your customers with your products/services.

Sales funnels are just a tool. If you don't have something to sell and someone to buy what you're selling, things aren't going to work out very well.

The question you should always be trying to answer is: “How can I best serve my customers?” (ie. what can I sell to my customers that will help them)

Once you have that answer, and only once you have that answer, can you ask yourself, “What funnel should I build?”

I'm Prepared To Invest Money & Time

Since you're building a business, you can expect to invest money and time.

It's not much money. You don't have to purchase a building. You don't have to hire employees. You don't have to buy inventory.

All you need are a few tools and money for ads. You're looking at about $500/mo to start.

Regarding time, it's going to take, at minimum, an hour or two a day, 6-7 days a week.

You will need to spend time learning the tools of the trade. You will need to spend time building funnels, running ads, and developing advanced automations. You will need to test and tweak, and test and tweak, and test and tweak… forever.

This is a commitment.

As I said in the intro, you're not going to be able to spend an hour building a funnel, and get rich. It doesn't happen that way.

With all that being said, are you prepared to invest the money ($500+/mo) and time (1-2 hours/day) required to find success?

• No? – You can stop reading this post and don't fret, there are a million business models out there and I'm confident one will be a good fit for you.
• Yes! – Read on…

Step 1: Pick Your Audience/Niche

I see most failure occur right here at Step 1.

And, if you fail this step, you're pretty much guaranteed to fail all subsequent steps too.

Obviously, this makes this step incredibly important.

#1 Reason For Failure?

Why are so many people failing this step?

Because, they're not doing it!

It's as simple as that.

Instead of picking an audience/niche first, they're picking products/services first… which is the wrong order! (you need to be able to build your lists (see next section))

Please take this step seriously!

What Makes This Step Important?

One word, lists.

You've heard having an email list is important because you “own” that list and you can reach out to your leads and customers whenever you want.

But, there are other lists besides email lists…

There are audience or retargeting lists, phone lists, Facebook Messenger lists, and direct mail lists that you can take advantage of as well.

By having a defined audience/niche, you can grow these lists and make different offers to them time and again.

Whereas, if you don't have a defined audience/niche, your lists won't have any pattern or consistency which makes it incredibly hard to follow up with other offers.

How To Pick Your Audience/Niche

There are a bunch of ways to do this and I don't care how you do it, just so long as you pick one.

This is how I do it… I pick a topic/niche I am personally interested in and that I've purchased products for. That's it.

I figure, if it's something I care about and buy stuff for, there's gotta be at least 1,000 other people in this country/world that also care and buy stuff. And, you can make good money off of only 1,000 people.

Step 2: Build A Break Even Funnel

This is the hardest part.

You need to get ONE funnel that allows you to acquire new customers for free, ie. you put $1 in and get $1+ back out.

There are many methods and funnel models you can use to accomplish this. This post goes into detail on how to select the right funnel: What Kind Of Sales Funnel Should I Build?

If you don't want to read that post right now, the bottom line is this – you can build a break even funnel with a Front-End or Trip Wire Funnel, Webinar Funnel, Product Launch Funnel, Application Funnel, etc… any funnel model can be used to create a break even funnel. It all comes down to what you're offering and who you're offering it to.

For example, you could have a front-end/tripwire funnel where you give away your book for free and the customer pays for shipping. You then “beef up” the offer with an order bump and One-Time-Offers (OTO) for an audio version and complementary training. This way, you can cover the costs to print the book and acquire the customer (ad spend). Russell Brunson is a master of the book funnel.

Or, you can have a webinar that converts cold traffic into buyers of your $500+ offer. Dan Henry started with a webinar funnel which turned into a million dollar business in less than 5 months.

Or, you can drive massive amounts of people to your physical location with a simple 2-Step funnel.

The point is, all the funnel models can work as your initial break even funnel. You simply have to figure out which model works for your audience and offer and make it happen.

Really Freakin' Close…

Depending on your audience/niche/offerings, it can be really hard to build a break even funnel.

Maybe you're able to build one where every dollar you put in, you get $0.90 back.

This might be OK.

You're still acquiring customers. You're still building your lists. You're still growing your business.

You simply have to make up the difference on the backend – ie. you have to sell to them again, and again, and again.

A Funnel A Day For 2 Weeks

To give you an idea of the intensity it can take to build a break even funnel…

While building AliExpress sales funnels…

I once spent 2 weeks straight, 14 days, launching a funnel a day… I did not sleep until I launched my funnel for the day…

• 7 of them completely failed, 0 sales.
• 6 of them made some sales, nothing significant.
• 1 hit. That's a 7% success rate.

To clarify, this wasn't a “million dollar funnel” hit… it was a “just above break even” hit ($1 in, $1.20ish out).

During this testing phase, I spent about $1,200 on ad spend and made about $550 back… I “lost” $650 doing this, but gained a break even funnel, found 6 funnels that kinda worked, and grew my audience and email lists in the process. (why it's important to decide on one audience/niche)

I took the 6 funnels that made some sales, tweaked them a little bit, and put them into the back-end of my break even funnel, ie. I retargeted my audience and pushed people to those funnels via email automation.

I've since launched other funnels/offers to this audience. Some have done well, others have failed entirely – but, it's been much cheaper to test these new funnels because I have my own audiences now!

By showing you this example, I'm hoping you can see that this is going to take time, money, methodical testing and tweaking, and that it's not as simple as launching a few random funnels in random niches and throwing $20 at some ads… it can take a lot of work… but, once you have it… man, it is worth it!

Step 3: Scale

Once you have your first break even funnel, it's time to scale!

There are several ways to scale and I'll outline a few here.

Scale Wide

I alluded to this scaling strategy in the “A Funnel A Day For 2 Weeks” section above.

It works by making more similar offers with similar funnels. Basically, you clone the funnel, swap out the products, and hit publish.

You typically scale wide with front-end/tripwire funnels that sell cheaper products, but you can also scale wide with lead gen funnels where you have multiple services you want people to see.

Scale Deep

To scale deep, you need different products and services at differing price points and value.

Scaling deep will also require multiple funnel models. For example:

• You may have a front-end/tripwire funnel that sells a book for $7.95 and a few digital resources for between $10-$300. Let's say this is your break even funnel.
• Then, you may have a webinar funnel that sells a $2,500 master class.
• Finally, you may have an application funnel that sells access to a $10,000 mastermind.

This is what's called a Value Ladder and I highly recommend you read this post about them: How To Create A value Ladder For Your Business

Scale Wide & Deep

Scaling both wide (multiple products on the same tier/same funnel model) and deep (multiple tiers of products/different funnel models) is the optimal scenario; however, you're not going to get there in one day…

It will take months, if not years to truly build out your business.

However, ultimately – this is what you're going for.

Retargeting & Automations

I want to quickly point out that no matter how you scale, you need to connect ALL your funnels together via retargeting and automations.

You should be building a HUGE “macro” sales funnel that brings people in, builds a relationship, and makes multiple, different offers to them… mostly on autopilot.

I call my “macro” sales funnel strategy – The Interest Driven Sales Funnel. (<< blog post series I highly recommend reading)

Step 4: Build A Brand-Brand

This is optional.

If you have several sales funnels that are all sustaining themselves and turning a profit… congrats! You've done it!

However, if you want to turn your sales funnels into something more, then you may want to build a brand-brand around them.

What do I mean by brand-brand?

Well, you should have a “brand” when you start… logo, color scheme, personality, etc. This way, everything is uniform. However, I don't consider that a brand-brand.

A true brand is known.

Think about Nike, everyone knows what they represent – sports.

Conversely, think about the last blanket you purchased. Unless you know things about blanket brands… you probably have no idea who made it even though they have a logo and color scheme.

How To Build A Brand-Brand

This is a massive topic that I can't possibly cover here or we'd be here for years.

However, for the 30,000 ft view of how to build a brand-brand, you need to gain authority.

How do you gain authority?

Amazing “content”.

This “content” can be in the form of blog posts or videos or podcasts or even the products/services themselves.

You have to become the G.O.A.T. in your niche. (Greatest Of All Time)

It can take years to become the G.O.A.T., but if you're able to get there, your organic sales, reach, growth, and value will increase exponentially!

Summary

• You will not get rich by building one random funnel and sending traffic to it
• You will likely fail if you only build random funnels without having a plan
• You need to be prepared to spend both time and money to have success
• The first thing you must do is pick your audience/niche
• The second, and hardest thing you must do is build a break even funnel ($1 out, $1+ in)
• The third thing you need to do is scale by going wide, deep, or both
• Finally, if you want to build a business that will be around for many years to come, you need to build a brand-brand

It happens a few times a week…

Some poor guy or gal sends me an email because they've heard of the magical power of Sales Funnels and they want to start building them, but…

They don't have anything to sell.

I then spend about 10 minutes writing them a reply on the various ways they could start selling products and services TODAY.

And, well – I'm tired of spending 10 minutes, 3-5 times a week, writing essentially the same thing…

Plus, I know if I'm getting that many emails with the `same question, there are probably 10X that number of people who aren't emailing me.

This post is to serve you.

5 Ways To Start Making Money Online TODAY Even If You Have Nothing To Sell

First things first, this is not an “end all, be all list” – there are more than these 5 ways to start selling something today.

So, if you don't like what I'm about to show you – that's fine. Try something else, it won't hurt my feelings.

However, I've used these 5 methods MANY times and know from personal experience they work and can prove to be incredibly lucrative.

1) Start Drop Shipping

Drop shipping is a model where you don't have to hold any inventory, yet you're able to offer hundreds to thousands of products.

How? Here's an example:

• You go to a site like AliExpress or work directly with a manufacturer
• You find a product you think people will like
• You list that product on an ecommerce store, or within a sales funnel 😉 and markup the price
• When someone buys the product, you take that money, buy it from the manufacturer, and ship it directly to your customer – pocketing the difference

Pros Of Drop Shipping

• Low startup costs – You can literally list products for free
• Low risk – Since there aren't many costs associated with it, you don't have much to lose
• You keep the customers – When someone buys a product, they buy it from you/your business. You get their information and can form a rapport with them

Cons Of Drop Shipping

• Highly competitive – Since there aren't any real costs associated with it, anyone can do it. But, don't let this discourage you, simply do it better!
• Low margins – Comes back to competition. You're not offering anything unique, anyone can offer the same product you are. It can wind up as a race to the bottom unless you're careful, strategic, and make yourself the best option
• Inventory syncing & management – It can be a massive headache to keep track of what is/isn't in stock and when prices change

The Drop Shipping Sales Funnel Model

The sales funnel model you will likely use to offer drop shipping products is what I call the “Front End” or “Classic” sales funnel model, and it looks like this:

Finally, I've written an extensive post on how to start drop shipping with AliExpress that can be found by clicking here.

2) Design Clothes And Other Items

In this day and age, you can print anything you want onto shirts, jackets, hats, socks, pillows, phone cases, shoes, dresses, towels, mouse pads, purses, backpacks, and more!

You also don't need to keep any inventory on hand. Simply upload your graphic to a print-on-demand website like Printful or Pillow Profits and violà, you have yourself a product to sell!

Pros Of Print-On-Demand

• Reasonably low startup costs – All you really need are designs and a website to sell them through
• Low risk – Since there aren't many costs associated with it, you don't have much to lose
• Upsells are pretty easy – Place the graphic on different items. For example, if they buy a shirt, they may also want a hat with that same design

Cons Of Print-On-Demand

• Coming up with a winning design can be difficult, especially when you don't have an audience/list available to poll
• Unless you're a designer, expect to spend a few hundred to a few thousand dollars to get high quality designs
• It's very easy for people to rip off your designs and then undercut you

The Print-On-Demand Sales Funnel Model

You'll likely use the same sales funnel model that's outlined in the drop shipping section above.

3) Take Advantage Of PLR And MRR

PLR stands for Private Label Rights and MRR stands for Master Resell Rights.

These are white label digital products like eBooks, guides, video training, and even software that you're able to slap your name on and sell as your own.

That's right! One minute you don't have anything to sell and the next, you've “published” an eBook!

Pros & Cons Of PLR And MRR

The pros and cons list for PLR and MRR are pretty much the same as drop shipping with a couple exceptions… incredibly high margins and no inventory management.

Since PLR/MRR are digital products, there's no cost of goods, which means it's pretty much 100% pure profit! Then, of course, since it's digital, you don't have to worry about inventory, selling out, or anything like that… there's an “infinite” amount.

Beyond that, selling PLR/MRR is incredibly competitive because it's easy, quick, and very low cost to get started. It's OK tho, that just means you need to find a way to stand out – and here are a few ways to do so:

• Changing the cover and title of the PLR/MRR product. This way, at least it looks different than what's out there
• Rewrite the PLR/MRR product and place your own spin on it. This can be a lot of work; however, it can pay off tremendously in the end
• Include other, complementary products and resources with the PLR/MRR you're selling

The PLR/MRR Sales Funnel Model

To sell your PLR/MRR products, you will likely use the same Front End sales funnel model that's outlined in the drop shipping section above.

Simply put, it's the best sales funnel model for selling “cheaper” products (<$50).

Find PLR/MRR To Sell

There are a TON of sites that sell PLR/MRR, but my favorite is MasterResellRights.com.

It offers a massive selection of PLR/MRR for only $19.97/month (hint: join for 1 month, download what you need, then cancel)

4) Offer Productized Services

A productized service is a set service that's sold for a set amount.

There's very little interaction and negotiation.

For example, I'll cut your grass for $40. You spend $40 and are left with a nice, freshly cut yard.

Need some productized service ideas? Checkout fiverr.com, there are hundreds of thousands of them! By browsing through fiverr, I'm confident you'll find a handful of productized services that you can also offer.

Pros Of Productized Services

• You can start offering a productized service this very second, there is nothing holding you back
• Repeat customers are quite easy, unless you mess up the first time
• It's easy to upsell. You can offer more of what they purchased, faster delivery speeds, enhancements, complementary productized services, etc. The possibilities are endless.

Cons Of Productized Services

• You're exchanging time for dollars… unless, you outsource the workload!
• It can be very competitive for simple tasks, so you need to have a unique value proposition (UVP). One of the simplest UVPs is to be the fastest. Most people who purchase productized services want that service accomplished yesterday. By being the fastest (while still providing quality, of course), you will stand out!

Tip To Getting Started

Most people will not purchase a productized service from you unless you have proof you can deliver what you promise.

When you're first getting started, you probably won't have much proof. To change this, offer your service for free in exchange for a review/testimonial and as work you can include in your portfolio.

Once you have proof, the sales will come much more easily!

The Productized Service Sales Funnel

The Front End sales funnel outlined in the drop shipping section above is the perfect funnel model for offering productized services because there are so many upsell opportunities.

However, if you don't want to get that complex, sticking with a simple sales page funnel can still yield amazing results:

5) Sell Other People's Products

If you don't have your own products to sell and you don't want to find one (drop shipping, PLR) or make one (productized service, clothing), you can always sell someone else's and earn a commission for making the sale.

Think about a car salesman for a second. He doesn't own the car he's trying to sell you, and he definitely didn't make the car. Yet, he's still trying to sell you the car and when he does, the car manufacturer “thanks” him by giving him a commission.

Why can't you do the same thing the car salesman is doing? Probably not with cars, but can't you help some other business try and sell their products?

Sure ya can! In Internet speak, it's called affiliate marketing.

Affiliate Marketing's Bad Rap

I want to address this real quick because I've seen people turn up their nose the second I mention “Affiliate Marketing”…

Affiliate marketing gets a bad rap because individuals blindly spam promotions for affiliate products without knowing a thing about the product or the customer they're trying to reach. They're selfish and chasing commissions which leads them to do sketchy things.

If you think about it, in any industry you'll find sleazy salesmen. It's just with affiliate marketing, it's so cheap to promote affiliate offers that sleazy salesman can spread the sleaze on a grand scale with ease…

But, you don't have to be a sleazy affiliate marketer.

You can be a good salesman that cares about the products you're offering and the customers you're offering them to.

It's your decision.

Pros Of Affiliate Marketing

• It's easy and costs nothing to start
• All you have to do is make the sale. You don't have to run customer support, deliver the product, or anything like that

Cons Of Affiliate Marketing

• While you may be the one to get the customer to purchase the product, they're not your customer… unless, you make them so! (read the sales funnel section below)
• You don't control the offer, commission, etc. If the seller decides to stop selling the product, or stops offering affiliate commissions, or changes your commission… there's nothing you can do about it. You're at the mercy of someone else. The key here is to promote multiple affiliate offers so you're diversified and not dependent upon one offer for your livelihood

The Affiliate Marketing Sales Funnel

When it comes to promoting affiliate offers, you probably don't want to send individuals directly to the sales page… instead you will want to use a Bridge Funnel:

A Bridge Funnel allows you to re-frame the affiliate offer and incentivize it with bonuses.

For example, let's say I want to promote ClickFunnels as an affiliate. It's a product I use, believe in, and feel good about recommending.

I could simply send you a link to register for ClickFunnels… and, maybe that works OK.

But, if I used a Bridge Funnel and incentivized you registering for ClickFunnels by offering you over $1,000 in free training and resources, you'd probably be more apt to sign up for a ClickFunnels account. Right?

Then, to claim your free training and resources,  you'll have to forward me your receipt and I can enter you into my database as one of MY customers. So, not only am I going to increase sales by offering bonuses, I'm able to turn people into MY customers too!

A Few Popular Affiliate Networks

Many companies offer an affiliate program, so if you have a product you want to be an affiliate for, simply Google: [product name] affiliate program. If that doesn't work, message the company to see if they offer one.

Here are a few of the most popular affiliate networks:

• Amazon Associates – sell any product on Amazon and earn a commission
• Clickbank & JVZoo – really big affiliate networks with mostly digital products and huge commissions. Some of the offers on these networks are spammy/scammy seeming, so use good judgement
• CJ & ShareASale – I find both of these platforms kind of hard to use; however, they offer a wide selection of products that you can promote

In Closing

There you have it…

1. Drop Shipping
2. Print-On-Demand
3. PLR & MRR
4. Productized Services
5. Affiliate Products

… 5 ways you can start making money online TODAY even if you have nothing to sell!

There's no reason why you can't get started!

I get a lot of questions.

Some are very specific, like – “What button should I click?”

While others are more general, such as…

• Do I need a sales funnel?
• Will a sales funnel work for my business?
• What sales funnel should I build?

This post is designed to help answer those more general questions.

First, What Is A Sales Funnel?

I'm not going to go into too much detail here because I write about this extensively on this site. However, I  wanted to lay some groundwork to ensure we're all on the same page.

Simply put, a sales funnel is the path through which you take your ideal customer:

• Introduce yourself
• Build a relationship
• Convince them to buy something from you
• Keep them happy and convince them to buy more from you

That's it.

For those who like pretty pictures, here's an illustration of what I've outlined above…

Of course, there are many strategies for doing this…

The one I use is called The Interest Driven Sales Funnel Strategy.

The Interest Driven Sales Funnel Strategy works by breaking the sales funnel into two levels:

• Macro
• Micro

At the Macro level, we're reaching out to our audience, trying to figure out what they're interested in, and once we have an idea of what they like… we try to sell them something.

For selling, we use Micro Sales Funnels. These are sales funnels designed to sell a specific product or service.

That's as deep as I'm going to go into Macro vs. Micro sales funnels in this post…

Just remember…

• Macro = bring people in and gauge interest
• Micro = sell products/services the person has shown interest in

Don't Forget The Big Picture… The Macro Level Is Important!

The rest of this post is going to be about Micro Sales Funnels.

Micro sales funnels are cool! You can make pretty diagrams of them and there are a bunch of tools for building them…

However, I brought up the Macro level because it's very important and the key to success.

How you bring people into your business, establish your relationship with them, and gauge their interests is critically important.

Please don't forget the Macro level when building your Micro Sales Funnels because if you do, your Micro sales funnels will suffer!

Capiche?

What Micro Sales Funnel Should I Build?

#1 Goal Of This Exercise

Here's the deal…

The #1 goal of this exercise is to ultimately build one successful funnel.

Do not go out and build 10 mediocre or terrible funnels simply because you have 10 products.

You build one funnel and get that thing working.

What do I mean by “working”?

It breaks even. Ie, your net profit is greater than or equal to $0. (Revenue – Ad Spend – Cost Of Goods – Fulfillment/Shipping – Time – Credit Card Fees – Every Other Expense To Get The Sale >= $0)

If you can get a new customer for $0… everything else you sell them is icing on the cake.

The easiest way to do this? Sell a product or service you already know sells well.

Unless you have a bunch of working funnels already, it's not the time to build funnels to launch random, unproven products.

So please, get that one working funnel FIRST; then, you can build another, and another, and another…

The Sales Funnel Flowchart

I love a good flowchart.

Answer a few simple questions and BOOM, you have your answer to a complex question!

Here's a flowchart to help you figure out what type of Micro Sales Funnel you should build:

This flowchart should be pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

Now, I want to quickly hit on the starting point…

Pick 1 CORE Offer

Just ONE!

What is the one thing you want to sell or have someone do? Don't sit there and envision your entire funnel already, or decided you want a “webinar” funnel…

Pick 1 offer:

• I want to sell my $197 course on underwater basket weaving
• I want to sell my $9.95 flashlight
• I want to sell this $47 affiliate product
• I want someone to buy my $3,000 web design package
• I want someone to visit my business to claim their free teeth cleaning

Got your 1 core offer?

Great!

Now, run it through the flowchart.

Show Content And Retarget

Oftentimes, people simply don't know enough about you, your offer, their pain/problem, etc.

In this case, you need to show them more content like blog posts and videos via ads, emails, social media posts, etc.

Note: The content you show them should link to your Micro Sales Funnel so the individual can easily move on to the next step.

Finally, you will want to retarget these individuals in order to bring them to your Micro Sales Funnel.

• Related Article: How To Use Retargeting To Generate Sales

2 Step / Lead Gen Funnel

There are times when you might not be trying to sell anything right away…

Like, when you're just getting started… you just want somebody to find your website/business/content.

You want people to know you exist.

A great funnel for this is a 2 Step or Lead Gen funnel.

It works by sending individuals to an opt-in or squeeze page where you capture their contact information in exchange for a Lead Magnet.

A Lead Magnet can be an ebook, checklist, trial, flowchart, mp3, video, voucher, etc… something of value that an individual will happily provide their contact information in order to receive what you're offering.

The “Welcome” page is a page that usually contains a video or brief message that welcomes the individual to your business, tells them to check their email for the Lead Magnet they just requested, and explains how to use the Lead Magnet and/or what the next steps are.

Of course, after the individual gives you their contact information, you will follow up with them through various types of engagements like email, text messages, phone calls, direct mail, Facebook Messenger, and retargeting.

These 2 Step funnels are also great for brick & mortar businesses. You have the individual opt-in for a voucher or discount and then follow up with them to get them into your business to use the voucher/discount they received at opt-in.

• Related Article: What Is A Lead Mangnet & 10 Examples
• Related Article: The 2-Step Lead Gen Funnel For Local Businesses

Sales Page

97% of online transactions look just like the diagram above…

An individual lands on a sales page and they either buy the product or they don't.

Take a look at Amazon… you find the product you want (sales page), add it to your cart, checkout, and receive your order confirmation. That's it.

There are no fancy OTOs, One-Click-Upsells, Downsells, Order Bumps, etc.

This is perfectly fine!

You don't “need” all that fancy stuff.

Setup a sales page, present your offer, and move on to sending traffic to it!

Merge 2 Step/Lead Gen Funnel With Sales Page

One very popular approach is to merge the 2 Step/Lead Gen Funnel with a Sales Page.

In doing this, you're collecting their contact information prior to trying to sell them a product/service. This allows you to better follow up with them, build rapport, and subsequently increase the conversion rate on the sales page.

If possible, employ this tactic and watch your conversion rates skyrocket!

Front End Funnel

The Front End Funnel goes by many names: Classic Sales Funnel, Trip Wire Funnel, Self Liquidating Funnel, etc. and it's probably the most popular Micro Sales Funnel model.

It can look different from what's illustrated above, depending on what you have/need/etc. For example, maybe you only have one OTO (One-Time-Offer), or maybe you don't want to offer a Downsell, or you don't want to have an Opt-in and Welcome page… that's fine.

The main concept behind this funnel is that you offer something at a very low price (< $10) in order to get the individual to open their wallet. Then, when “the buyer is in heat”, they'll buy until you anger them or stop offering things to buy. (that's the theory, anyway)

So, let's break down the pages:

• Sales Page: Where you offer the very low priced product (< $10)
• OTO 1: This is where you present your Core Offer (the product you really want to sell and why you built the funnel in the first place).
  • Downsell: The page an individual views when they turn down OTO 1. Usually, you try to sell your Core Offer again; however, this time incentivize it by including some bonuses, a discount, or a payment plan.
• OTO 2: Whether the individual purchases OTO 1 (your Core Offer) or not, you can show them another offer they might be interested. Often, this is a more expensive product commonly referred to as a “Profit Maximizer”. However, it doesn't have to be more expensive. Use whatever makes sense for your business, customer, and funnel.

Then, throughout the entire funnel, you will continue to “pull” people through by following up via engagements like emails, text messages, phone calls, direct mail, Facebook Messenger, and retargeting.

• Related Article: The AliExpress Sales Funnel
• Related Article: The Amazon Seller's Sales Funnel
• Related Article: The Coaching/Consulting “Book” Sales Funnel
• Related Article: [Case Study] Our Free + Shipping Book Sales Funnel Launch
• Related Article: A Sales Funnel For Selling Digital Products

Webinar Funnel

Webinar funnels are quite popular these days because they are often very effective for selling products and services in the $300-$2,500 range.

The particular diagram above illustrates a webinar funnel that has a webinar a few days after someone registers…

How it works – an individual registers for the webinar and then they're dripped a few key pieces of content to get them excited about what's to come. We call this the “Pre-Webinar Training”.

Then, there's the webinar where you teach and then sell…

Then, a replay room for those that miss the webinar or only watch a piece of it…

Then, the Sales Page where you make your last ditch effort to sell your product/service.

Of course, you're following up with emails and retargeting ads (at the very least), and possibly including some text messages, phone calls, direct mail, and/or Facebook Messages (depending on your plan).

One of the best webinar scripts comes from Russell Brunson and his “Perfect Webinar” which can be found here.

Evergreen Webinar Funnel

Another way to execute a webinar is via an Evergreen Webinar Funnel.

Ideally, you'll do your webinar live a bunch of times and really nail it down… record it, then turn it evergreen… but, you don't necessarily have to.

The evergreen webinar funnel doesn't usually include the pre-webinar “stuff” and instead goes straight into the presentation.

If you have a webinar already, maybe it's time to turn it evergreen!

• Note: I give you my Evergreen Webinar funnel when you attend my Evergreen Webinar here.

Product Launch Funnel

The Product Launch Funnel or “Horizontal Sales Page” has been made popular by Jeff Walker and his “Product Launch Formula.”

It works by having an individual opt-in for training in the form of videos, blog posts, PDFs, etc.

The training is broken down into 4 parts and dripped via email, retargeting, text, etc. to the student over the course of a few days.

In the last training, an offer is pitched to the student for a product/service to take what they learned to the next level.

If you're selling a more expensive product/service, you should pick up the “Launch” book by Jeff Walker because he does a great job outlining the whole concept.

Consultation / Application Funnel

If you're selling a product/service over $2,500, it's typically a good idea to chat with your customer beforehand to ensure they're a good fit.

To do this, you can either offer a “Free Consultation” or make them “Apply” for your offer.

Typically, people you send to this funnel will know who you are and already be intertwined with your business. You probably won't need to have an initial opt-in page for these folks; however, I included it in the illustration above because you may want one in order to capture interest.

On your Welcome & Pre-sell page you will want to include a wall of text and/or video testimonials of individuals that have had success with your offering. Interspersed throughout that page, include links and CTAs to your application form and/or call schedule form.

Finally, on the Success Page, let them know you'll be in touch soon.

The rest of the funnel is “off line” in that you contact them, chat with them, etc. You probably don't need/want to automate this part.

• Related Article: The “Get Clients NOW!” Funnel

Bridge Funnel

Bridge funnels are used to introduce YOUR audience to someone else's offer.

Often, you can't control the other offer's sales page. It says whatever it says and you can't change it.

Now, in order to keep the message congruent so YOUR audience understands what's happening, you will want to use a bridge funnel to “bridge” the gap by connecting YOU to that other offer.

You can also use a bridge funnel to “spruce up” the other offer by incentivizing it with bonuses and other benefits.

Bridge funnels are often used to sell affiliate products or MLM opportunities.

Affiliate Products Funnel

There are times when you might not have your own product or service.

Or, maybe you just want to offer someone else's product for sale because you know it will help your customers.

Whatever the reasoning, there's a funnel for it!

It starts similarly to the other funnels and the Opt-in page isn't “mandatory”, you can direct people straight to the Sales Page w/ Special Offer if you want.

The Sales Page w/ Special Offer promotes the affiliate product you're trying to sell and then offers a bunch of bonuses if they purchase via your link. These bonuses are delivered via a Membership Portal you give the person access to after they purchase the affiliate product.

In the Membership Portal, provide a collection of helpful content like videos, PDFs, etc.

• Related Article: The Affiliate Marketing Funnel

MLM Funnel

Most MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) networks are BIG on digital “stuff”.

When you join, they'll hook you up with squeeze pages, landing pages, full websites, etc. and tell you to post messages on Facebook to get everyone you know to those pages they setup for you.

Sending people to the MLM's squeeze pages can work fine; however, you can take it one step further by creating a special Bridge Funnel to “bridge” the gap between you, your audience, and the MLM network. You can use a Bridge Funnel to share your story, share your downlines' and/or upline's stories.

This will allow you to better connect and sell the MLM opportunity.

The actual design of a MLM Funnel can look like the diagram above where you have people opt-in to see your Welcome & Pre-sell page, or you can remove the opt-in page and just send people straight to the Welcome & Pre-sell page.

You could even make a funnel similar to the Affiliate Product Funnel and incentivize the joining of the MLM network.

There are many ways you can do it. Just remember, the point is to bridge the gap between YOUR audience and the MLM network!

Merging Sales Funnels

All of the funnel illustrations above are just examples…

Depending on your needs, wants, and desires… your funnel make look different…

And, that's A OK!

My point in this post is to get you started in the right direction.

With that said, you can certainly “merge” funnels together much like the 2 Step/Lead Gen Funnel being merged with the Sales Page up above…

And, if you didn't notice… the “Sales Page” is the start of the Front End funnel too… it's just the next page is different.

So, you may combine a Webinar or Product Launch funnel with a Front End/Classic sales funnel:

Sure, in the above example, the Initial Offer isn't some cheap product; however, you could still offer an OTO or two like advanced training, coaching, and/or consulting.

Your “funnel” doesn't have to be “literal”. (hopefully that make some sense! All I'm saying is, do what makes sense! This stuff is flexible!!!)

Stacking Funnels

If you followed the flowchart at the very top, I mentioned “Funnel Stacking”.

Basically, that is simply…

Taking people through a natural progression… ie. your Value Ladder.

Who buys your ultra-premium product/service?

Brand new people who just came in off the street? Or, people that purchased a few lower to mid-range products/services first?

My guess is, it's usually people that have purchased some of your other offerings first.

People need to get a “feel” for who you are and what you offer before they whip out their credit card to buy your $10,000 package.

Makes sense, right?

It's a natural progression.

One of my clients is an anti-aging specialist…

I built a “Front End Funnel” for him that sells his book and some of his digital training resources…

We break even on the front end. (his ad spend is covered)

On the back end, his schedule is booked solid the next 3 months for EXPENSIVE services.

So, he's getting people to know who he is for “free” and then, once they're “in”, he sells them on his other services…

That's how it's done!

Remember the Macro Sales Funnel I spoke about at the very beginning? “Bring people in and see what they're interested in” … that's the strategy!

Launch your Lead Gen funnel or Front End Funnel, then guide people to your Webinar or Product Launch funnel, and then guide them up to your Consultation or Application Funnel!

Note: These funnels aren't back-to-back-to-back like when you merge funnels. There may be months or even years in-between purchases.

Will A Sales Funnel Work For My Business?

If you made it this far, you can probably answer this question already.

Basically, if you have something to offer to an individual, whether it's a product, service, or opportunity…

Whether it's digital, physical, or something in-between…

Having a funnel in place will help your business.

After all, it's just a few pages and some engagements… it's nothing super special, mysterious, or magical.

It's you, engaging with your prospective customer and trying to get them to like you and/or your offer enough to buy it.

That's it.

So, hopefully that answers that question!

Final Thoughts

This post primarily covered Micro Sales Funnels, but I don't want you to forget the big picture and the Macro level sales funnel that contains these Micro sales funnels.

Without understanding the big, Macro picture… your Micro sales funnels will suffer.

I also want to point out that Micro sales funnels are just a couple of pages and engagements (emails, retargeting ads, text messages, etc.)… that's it. It's not some crazy hack or tactic. It's like any other website on the Internet, it's just done with strategy, purpose, and intent with the goal to sell your offer.

Finally, if you want to learn more, I recommend you check out the Sales Funnel Training Vault!

I have a problem…

Maybe you have it too…

I don't like Actionetics.

Trust me, I want to like it… I love ClickFunnels, I like Russell Brunson, and I'm paying for Actionetics; however, it just doesn't “work” for me…

I mean, it technically functions; however, it doesn't “work” the same way my mind and strategy work…

Fortunately, ActiveCampaign does!

However, there's another problem…

ClickFunnels doesn't really want you to use a 3rd party tool…

So, they make 3rd party integrations “suck”…

Yeah, the ClickFunnels to ActiveCampaign integration sucks.

All you can do is add a person to a list, that's it.

So, how do we get around it?

This post explains how I do it!

UPDATE!!! Here's How To Connect ClickFunnels To ActiveCampaign…

I'm not exactly sure when ClickFunnels began to allow us to pass tags from ClickFunnels into ActiveCampaign; however, it's now possible which makes making the connection super simple!

This new video pretty much replaces the other 3 videos, so you don't have to watch them unless you want to see the “old” way to make the connection.

Otherwise, enjoy this new, simple method!

Just A Squeeze Page / Lead Gen

If all you want to do is capture leads, then the process of connecting ClickFunnels to ActiveCampaign is pretty simple:

• Create a form in ActiveCampaign
  • Make sure the “On Submit” option links to your “Thank You” page
  • Turn off double opt-in (if you want)
• Take the full embed code from your form and copy & paste it into a text document
• Copy from the open <form> tag through the closing </form> tag
• Edit your squeeze page in ClickFunnels and go to Settings -> Integrations
  • Select an HTML integration
    • If you don't have that option, watch this video
    • If you have multiples, just select one, it doesn't matter which one you select
  • Paste in your code and hit the “Parse & Save Web Form” button
  • Sync your fields
• Save everything and test it before you set it live!

Video Walkthrough

ClickFunnels 2-Step Order Form To ActiveCampaign

The ClickFunnels 2-step order form is awesome because even if the individual doesn't go through with the purchase, you can still capture their contact information!

This information can then be used for cart abandonment and other follow-ups you may have.

Note, you will need a 3rd party tool called Zapier to make this connection happen. It's free up to a certain level, and then it starts at $20/mo.

Here's how to connect the 2-step order form to ActiveCampaign:

• Submit a test order, Zapier needs it
• Go to Zapier and “Make A Zap”
  • Select ClickFunnels as the “Trigger” app and watch for “New Contact Activity”
    • Select the correct funnel and funnel step with the 2-step order form
  • Select ActiveCampaign as the “Action” app and select “Create/Update Contact”
    • Map the ClickFunnels data to the fields you want updated in ActiveCampaign
    • You probably want to assign a tag
  • Turn on your Zap
• Test everything before going live!

Video Walkthrough

Send ClickFunnels Customer Purchase Information To ActiveCampaign

It's imperative that you track what your customers have purchased from you…

Unfortunately, ClickFunnels doesn't naturally send this information to 3rd party platforms like ActiveCampaign…

So, you need to have a workaround…

This is that workaround!

Note, you will need Zapier to make this happen.

• Submit a test order, Zapier needs it
• Go to Zapier and “Make A Zap”
  • Select ClickFunnels as the “Trigger” app and watch for “New Purchase”
    • Select the correct funnel to watch for purchases
    • Select “All Funnel Steps”
  • Select ActiveCampaign as the “Action” app and select “Create/Update Contact”
    • Map the ClickFunnels fields to the ActiveCampaign fields
      • I always select the fields that start with “Contact Contact” (yes, contact twice). I don't know what the differences are in the fields; however, I know “Contact Contact” fields work, so why try something else?!
    • You will use Tags to track what people purchase, so you need to assign a dynamic tag (one that changes) based on what the individual purchases
      • There are a few ways to do this; however, the way I do it is via the “Products Statement Descriptor” field. This value is assigned when you create a product in ClickFunnels.
  • Turn on your Zap
• Test everything before going live!

Video Walkthrough

Questions?

Hopefully these video tutorials are helpful!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below and I'll get to you ASAP!

The general rule for where to add new subscribers to your Interest Driven Sales Funnel:

• If you don’t know the new subscriber’s interest(s) – start them with the Main Series
• If you do know their interest(s) – start them in a Micro Sales Funnel

(wondering what an Interest Driven Sales Funnel, Main Series, and Micro Sales Funnel is? Read WTF #1, WTF #2, WTF #3, and WTF #4 first!)

Why wouldn’t you know someone’s interest upon sign-up? If your Lead Magnet is general. For example, a 15% off coupon to your entire store would be very general because you cannot easily tell what they’re looking to buy.

However, a 15% off coupon for a cordless drill would be specific enough to know the person is looking at purchasing a cordless drill. They would then enter into a Micro Sales Funnel geared toward selling cordless drills.

Which brings me to my point, there are two types of Lead Magnets: General and Specific.

General Lead Magnets are great for capturing organic traffic (search, social, “free”, etc.) because you may not really know what these people are interested in other than they landed on your website.

You typically offer these General Lead Magnets via an opt-in form like a lightbox, landing mat, side bar, ribbon, etc. across all pages on your site.

A Specific Lead Magnet, on the other hand, solves a specific problem, shows interest, qualifies the lead, and ultimately results in the sale of a product. They’re very intentional.

You typically offer these Specific Lead Magnets via a landing page or squeeze page. A page with the sole purpose of capturing that individual’s contact information in exchange for the Lead Magnet.

Because these Specific Lead Magnets are very intentional, they can serve as a great start to a Micro Sales Funnel and are perfect for paid traffic.

Using Paid Traffic

Using paid traffic is one of the best ways to fill your sales funnel. The goal, after all, is for you to be able to put $1 in and get $1+ back out. If you can consistently do that, why wouldn’t you run copious amounts of paid traffic through your sales funnel?

But, here’s the deal with paid traffic …

NEVER DO THIS… Run ads to your homepage or any other random page with the hopes someone will randomly opt-in or buy something! Every dollar you spend on paid traffic needs to be methodical and calculated! It needs to have a specific goal and metric to measure by. And, finally, unless you’re doing some advanced retargeting techniques – it must be supported by a Micro Sales Funnel!

Have you ever tried paid advertising and been shocked by how “expensive” it is? Sometimes you can spend upwards of $10 per click! This may be fine if you’re offering a $3,000 service. However, if you’re trying to sell something for only $100, you’re not going to make it, unless you have a Micro Sales Funnel in place that will increase the customer’s value.

The Paid Traffic Oath

To affirm your commitment to always having a Micro Sales Funnel in place when running paid traffic, please raise your right hand and repeat:

“I solemnly swear that I will always have a Micro Sales Funnel in place when running paid traffic.”

Good!

Now I can get off my soap box – I’ve worked with too many small businesses and entrepreneurs who are blowing money on ads with no objectives. I don’t want it to happen to you.

To Squeeze Page

Here’s the blueprint for running paid advertising campaigns:

I want you to pay particularly close attention to the segment in gray because it’s the start of any paid traffic campaign.

The portion not in gray is simply a Micro Sales Funnel and can look radically different depending on which one you’re using. Just for reference, the one in this example is a modified version of the “Classic” Sales Funnel.

• Traffic Source: Where your traffic is coming from whether it’s Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, Bing, or any other direct source like a banner ad.
• Squeeze Page: This is where you present your Specific Lead Magnet the ad was advertising and have an opt-in form so visitors can enter their contact information to receive the Lead Magnet.
• Thank You Page & Initial Offer: Immediately after entering their contact information, the lead should be thanked and told how to receive the Lead Magnet they just requested. Also, this is where you’ll make the Initial Offer (ie. the thank you page is also a sales page).
• Core Offer, Profit Maximizer, Action Series: These three parts are simply the Micro Sales Funnel I’m using in this example. Yours may look radically different.
• Start Main Series: Since these fresh leads are new to your list – after they go through this initial Micro Sales Funnel, they join your Main Series where you begin gauging other interests and triggering other Micro Sales Funnels.

So, that covers if everything goes perfectly – the individual clicks your ad, opts-in for your Specific Lead Magnet (becomes a lead), and enters your Micro Sales Funnel where they’ll hopefully become a customer.

But, what if they click your ad, land on your squeeze page, and don’t opt-in?

• Exit Intent w/ Redirect To Other Offer: If someone lands on your squeeze page and doesn’t opt-in, when they go to exit you’ll have an exit-intent opt-in form appear that presents a different offer than what the squeeze page presents.
  • For example: Let’s say the squeeze page presents a Specific Lead Magnet for Facebook Ads. Unfortunately, the visitor realizes they don’t want it so they decide to leave the page. As soon as their cursor leaves the browser window, we can trigger an opt-in for a different Specific Lead Magnet, one on Google Adwords. Maybe they’re interested in that topic and will opt-in. If they opt-in they will …
• Enter A Different Funnel: Since they opted-in for the other Specific Lead Magnet, they’ve shown interest, and they are sent through that particular Micro Sales Funnel (ie. the sales funnel that sells our Google Adwords training).
• Retargeting: Sadly, sometimes people still don’t opt-in to the exit-intent opt-in form. If they’re on a mobile device, they won’t see the opt-in form because exit-intent technology doesn’t exist for mobile devices (at least not at the time of this writing). No matter the reason, the person didn’t opt-in.
  • But, we’re not done with them yet; we still have other offers to make! These individuals are also warmer now; they’ve seen our brand, have an idea of what we do, and we know they’re at least semi-interested in what we offer. We don’t want to let them get away!
  • We can run retargeting ads to the warmer leads presenting more offers until they enter one of our Micro Sales Funnels and their journey with us begins!

Just to clarify, retargeting, sometimes called remarketing, occurs when you target people with your ads based on their previous actions – ie. if they land on your squeeze page and don’t opt-in vs. if they land on your squeeze page and do opt-in.

To Sales Page

Another strategy for filling your sales funnel is to remove the squeeze page and take individuals straight to your Initial Offer.

This strategy works especially well with Free + Shipping offers – you give away something for free, like a book or a cheap product, and the customer just pays for shipping.

Other than omitting the squeeze page, the flow is the same as the previous example. I definitely recommend split-testing these two models. The results may really surprise you!

That's It!

I really hope you enjoyed this blog series!

If you haven't already, I highly recommend going back and checking out the previous WTFs:

• WTF #1: WTF Is A Sales Funnel & The Interest Driven Strategy
• WTF #2: The “Main Series” Segmentation Strategy
• WTF #3: Micro Sales Funnels That Make You Rich!
• WTF #4: How To Get Content For Your Sales Funnels

Finally, if you want more, I highly recommend you check out The Sales Funnel Training Vault!