How to really make money online - 1 Simple Element you need to get right.

For the more advanced Warriors, you already know this, if you can add onto this, expand it or give some more tips, advice, strategy, PLEASE do it so we can HELP some people. Please be specific to which part of the funnel you want to give advice and I will put it in there in quotes.

There are a lot of people on here that either don't know this or only know a part of this or know all of this but the whole picture hasn't quite snapped into view yet.

I hope this post will help someone to finally get it, to see a clear picture of how this online marketing thing works and that you will implement it to start building a real business. I know for me personally, this made all the difference, when the picture finally snapped into view and I had a clear and definite path to follow.

So here goes. In the post headline I said that there is 1 simple element you need to get right. That element is an effective Sales Funnel! Bear with me here, don't click away, I know you have probably heard this before but just hear me out.

If you look at the WSO Section, there are a lot of products being sold on How to make money with Facebook, how to make money with YouTube, how to make money as an offline consultant, as an affiliate, promoting CPA offers etc etc. Now I LOVE the WSO section, I buy products in there on a weekly basis. BUT I am not under the illusion that the product in itself is going to make me any money. I know that the product can help me to increase the profit I am already making. I look at my funnel and I look at the product being offered and I decided whether or not the product can help me to get more people into my funnel or if it can improve my funnel in some way - if it can I buy it and test it - if it can't help me I don't buy it. Of course there are exceptions in the WSO section but let's stay on topic here.

There are far too many people who jump from system to system, product to product in hopes that this time the product will help them to finally start making money. Stop that right now, you will be spinning your wheels until you are burnt out and broke.

Here is what you need to do. I will give 2 break downs:

1. If you are selling your own product (which you should even if it is a PLR product) and
2. What to do if you are an affiliate.

First of all forget about traffic for a moment, I will get to that, concentrate on what I list below and get it right. Believe me, there is more than enough traffic out there but all the traffic in the world will not help you if you do not get the below right. I will even show you have to get all the free traffic you ever need if you set this up right - that is a promise.

Selling Your Own Product:

1. Setup A Squeeze Page

Note: On your squeeze page you need to make a promise that you will give them something of great value - show them the results you got after using this method, trick, system etc but don't show them how you achieved these results - for that they need to give you their email address. Not name and email or name, email, address, mother's details etc, just an email address. Preferably your squeeze page will be a video no longer than 3 minutes with box for the email below the video and a strong call to action to get the system, trick, method you used to achieve the results you showcased.

If they enter their email take them to a page where you deliver on your promise.

Note: Over deliver on this page, give them your best content, show them exactly how you achieved those results. This can be in a PDF, video, blog post or whatever, just give great content and at the bottom of the content tell them if they want more information, more tricks like that or whatever, just click on the link below. If they click on that link it will take them to your low priced entry point product page. These people are now on your prospect list and can be re-targeted by email. They will receive an automated email immediately that points to the free content page (something like, thank you for requesting the free video, here is the link again in case you missed it)

If they do not enter their email address re-target them

Note: Pixel tracking, exit pops, redirects etc. Get them to see an ad that leads to the squeeze page again and again until they give you their email address. If they do not give you their email address after you went through a re-target or re-cycle campaign DROP them, they are not interested in your offer.

2. Setup An Entry Point Product Page

Note: The people who have parted with their email address have just done their first transaction with you. Even though no money changed hands, this is an important first step in your relationship. They are now on your prospect list and you have already given them great free content and asked them if they want more, they should click on a link. That link has landed them on this Entry Point Product Page and now is the first time you are going to ask for money. The Entry Point Product Page is to get people who are willing and able to make a purchase to raise their hands and you do this by selling them a low priced product ($1 to $20).

If they purchase the Entry Point Product they are taken to your Main Product Sales Page after purchase and are moved from the prospect list to the customer level 1 list.

Note: That page is your main product, your core offer that you sell.

If they do not purchase your Entry Point Product they are re-targeted with an email follow up series promoting your Entry Point Product and remain on the prospect list.

Note: The follow up series should be in the 80/20 range where 80% of your emails provide content they can use and 20% pitch your Entry Point Product.

You can also re-target them by creating a custom audience using their email address and targeting them on Facebook with an ad for your Entry Point Product.

If they do not buy your Entry point product after they went through your email follow up series or your Facebook re-targeting campaign then you send them on the Return Path (I will get to the Return Path later in this post)

3. Setup A Main Offer Product Page

Note: The people who have bought your Entry Point Product have shown that they are willing and able to spend money with you. They are hot prospects and already in buying mode, this is where you pitch your main product. In my experience, video sales letters outperform long form sales letters in most cases, there are exceptions. If you can't write good copy, hire someone to do it for you.

If they purchase your Main Product they are taken to your Upsell Product Page and are moved from the customer level 1 list to the customer level 2 list.

Note: An upsell can be anything - webinar with live QandA, coaching etc.

If they do not purchase your Main Product they are re-targeted with an email follow up series promoting your Main Product and remain on the customer level 1 list & taken to the members download area for level 1 customers.

Note: The follow up series should be in the 80/20 range where 80% of your emails provide content they can use and 20% pitch your Main Product.

You can also re-target them by creating a custom audience using their email address and targeting them on Facebook with an ad for your Main Product.

If they do not buy your Main Product after they went through your email follow up series or your Facebook re-targeting campaign then you send them on the Return Path (I will get to the Return Path later in this post)

4. Setup An Upsell Page

Note: The people who have bought your Main Product have shown that they are willing and able to spend money with you on the subject to a great degree. They are already proven customers who have already completed 3 transactions with you (email submit, Entry Point Product, Main Product), this is where you pitch your Upsell.

Some of the biggest companies out there use this model and will break even or even lose money up until the Upsell. That is where they make their profit which enables them to spend much more on advertising to get people into the funnel. I hope that makes sense.

If they purchase your Upsell they are taken to the Members Download Are and moved from the customer level 2 list to the customer level 3 list and are sent on the Return Path.

Note: On the Download page is where you can offer "Unannounced Bonuses" that is links to partner offers (free offers) but each click to that site is recorded and banked and that partner will have to send you those clicks to your Squeeze page in return, or offer commission etc. Don't leave your Download Page UN-monitized. The best will be to have your Download Page in a members only area protected by something like Wishlist Member (this makes it easy to create download pages for different levels of customers) and you can have ads inside each level of membership to point to the next level. IE if a customer bought your Entry Level Product but nothing else, he will see ads in the members area to upgrade to the next level. If a customer bought your Entry and Main product but not the upsell he will seen an ad to upgrade to the Upsell. If a customer bought all 3 products he will see an ad for your Return Path.

If they do not purchase your Upsell they are re-targeted with an email follow up series promoting your Upsell and remain on the customer level 2 list & are taken to the members download area for level 2 customers.

Note: The follow up series should be in the 80/20 range where 80% of your emails provide content they can use and 20% pitch your Upsell Product.

You can also re-target them by creating a custom audience using their email address and targeting them on Facebook with an ad for your Upsell Product

If they do not buy your Upsell Product product after they went through your email follow up series or your Facebook re-targeting campaign then you send them on the Return Path (I will get to the Return Path later in this post).

5. Setup A Return Path

Note: The Return Path can be implemented through email, blogging, fan pages, re-targeting, custom audiences, members download areas etc.

What the Return Path does is it takes your existing traffic and starts the process from the top at the Squeeze Page again but for a different offer. You can send your prospects, level 1 customers, level 2 customers and level 3 customers on the same return path or you can have 3 different return paths, one for prospects, one for level 1 customers, one for level 2 customers and 1 for level 3 customers. It is up to you but make sure all your traffic is sent on a Return Path.

To recap

You will have 6 pages in your funnel
1. Squeeze page where you make a promise
2. Page where you deliver the promise and have a link to your Entry Point Product
3. Entry Point Product page where if they buy they are taken to your
4. Main Product page where if they buy they are taken to your
5. Upsell page where if they buy they are taken to your
6. Members download area (buyers of the Entry Point Product and Main Product will also end up here but with a different level of access)

You will have 3 follow up email series'

1. One promoting your Entry Point Product
Customers who buys your Entry Point Product will be taken off the list who receives the follow ups for the Entry Point Product and will be moved to the follow up series promoting the Main Product

2. One promoting your Main Product
Customers who buys your Main product will be taken off the list who receives the follow ups for the Main Product and will be moved to the follow up series promoting the Upsell.

3. One promoting your Upsell
Customers who buys your Upsell will be taken off the list who receives the follow ups for the Upsell and will be moved to your Return Path.

Can you start to see the advantage of setting it up like this? Once you have this funnel in place you can start driving traffic to your squeeze page and if you track everything (which is easy using this setup) you will know exactly how much money you make for every single visitor to your squeeze page, every optin you get etc SO now you know how much you can spend to get a customer into your funnel.

Now you can go and buy that WSO that shows you how to run Facebook Ads, How to get more YouTube video views, how to rank your blog, how to build a twitter following etc. You do all that and send all that traffic to your Squeeze page so they can go through your funnel.

Now you go and buy that WSO that teaches you how to write the perfect email follow up series, how to create great Squeeze pages, how to re-target visitors etc. You already have the system in place, now you are just improving it to maximum ROI.

This post turned out to be much longer than I anticipated so I will continue after taking a break. I will then lay out the funnel for Affiliates and deliver on the promise I made on how to get all the free traffic you can ever need.

I want to know if I am on the right track with this post, if I am communicating clearly enough (English is not my 1st language), so please do me a favour and let me know if you find it useful so far. If I know it is helping someone I can continue with the rest of the post.

You can let me know that I am on the right track by:

1. Clicking on the Thanks button in the right hand corner.
2. By making a post and telling me so
3. By going to my Fan Page (in my sig) and clicking on LIKE (nothing to buy whatsoever)

Freddie