Optimizing a content funnel is very different from optimizing a sales funnel
At a certain level, optimizing a content funnel and optimizing a sales funnel are quite similar. Both use text to filter out people who are interested in a product or service from mere curiosity seekers or tire kickers. Both can use multi-page approaches to get their message across. Both might even use a mailing list as a valuable persuasive add-on. Obviously, both resort to multimedia elements like diagrams, pictures, photos, videos, infographics, and others to gain the viewer’s confidence and trust.
Still, despite their seemingly long list of similarities, they are not one and the same.
Marketers who confuse the two end up losing money. At the very least, even in the best scenarios, they end up settling for cents on the dollar.
You have to be aware of the key difference between these two funnels so you can use the right funnel to achieve the outcome you are gunning for. Otherwise, you will constantly find yourself barking up the wrong tree.
The problem is a content funnel has a different form of success than a sales funnel.
A sales funnel’s success is very easy to determine and measure. It boils down to sales. Did you get the sale or not? If not, why not? There’s a black and white quality to slicing and dicing the effectiveness of a sales funnel. It’s all about conversions.
Optimizing a content funnel on the other hand is a little bit trickier because remember that the content funnel is what happens before the sales funnel or conversion process. That’s how it’s supposed to work. You have to look at content funnels on their own terms. Here is the process that I use to optimize the success of my content funnel.
Pay close attention to your statistics
Pay close attention to your website statistics, you will see which pages are the number one entry pages. These are pages that people use the most to access your website. These pages have a certain topic. Obviously, most of your traffic thinks these topics are interesting enough to want to seek and click through pages that focus on those topics.
Figure out what’s working and build more of such pages. But before you do, please read the section below.
Pay attention to where those top pages lead to. You’ll notice that there is a path that most of your visitors use. Your job is to replicate that path.
When you do this, you amplify the authority that you’re creating in the mind of the reader. If you notice that some go halfway but later bounce out, try to figure out what they were doing in those pages and replicate it with other paths.
This process also requires critical and analytical thinking. Don’t assume anything. Look to connect the dots. Look for consistent patterns over an extended period of time.
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