In episode 268 of Journey to $100 Million, Erik answers a question asked of him on Twitter by Stuart Crane, the CEO of Voice Metrics. His question was: “What makes an effective sales funnel and landing page?”

Erik stresses that you have to keep in mind that you must bring value to people, even if you’re designing an online system.

There are four steps to funnels.

1. Awareness: It takes seven to fourteen times before people even recognize that your business exists. You need to get in front of people through networking, social media, and any other way you can get individuals to know who you are.
2. Engagement: Once they know you exist, you have to engage with them. Ask questions. Have a conversation. Be interested in what they have to say.
3. Interest: With online sales, the goal is to direct people to a landing page. At this point, you’re pitching them, but what you’re selling is just to visit the landing page. The promise has to be that the landing page will provide more value in the thing they’re interested in.
4. Conversion: A conversion is when the visitor takes whatever action you’d like them to take. You want them to “buy’ whatever it is you’re pitching on the landing page regardless of whether it’s a product, service, or downloading your eBook.

On the landing page, keep it super simple. A landing page is a web page without a header, footer, or anything fancy and the sales copy needs to be focused. Focus just on the offer and have a clear call to action. There should be exactly one thing for the visitor to do on the landing page.

When they convert – when they “buy” what you’re pitching – collect their name, email address, and maybe their phone number with the promise of providing more value if they sign up for your newsletter. Once they’re in your email or text messaging marketing system, continue to provide value with white papers, stats, and other value bombs, and try to convert them into a paying customer.

Have a marketing or entrepreneurial question for Erik? Hit him up on Twitter!