Easy website tweaks are a great way to leveraging your time. Doing it through automation will become the sharpest tool in your toolbox. It allows you to get more done in less time, and to smoothly move people through your funnel.
For many small business owners, though, the one area that’s often overlooked is your website. That’s where these 3 easy website tweaks shine.
Use Your Blog to Build Your Mailing List
Like any smart business owner, you likely have opt-in forms on your website. They’re in the sidebar or maybe the footer, and you might have a pop-up to capture attention as visitors are about to leave.
An even better strategy is to make it a logical next step by creating a related offer for each post. Called a content upgrade, these offers typically consist of a simple free checklist or worksheet, and capture attention by providing even more information about a topic they’re already interested in.
Don’t overthink this and make it too difficult. Lots of your readers will want a checklist to easily complete the steps listed in your post for themselves.
You can also use worksheets that go along with the blog content, a report that goes into more detail than the post did, an infographic to print out and hang on the wall. There are lots of easy ways to do content upgrades.
Keep Them Reading With Related Links
How often do you revisit old blog posts to link to newer content? This is an important maintenance job that will help provide visitors with the information they’re looking for by linking related posts together.
Not only is this strategy good for keeping visitors on your site, but Google approves as well. Posts that link to each other encourage search engine bots to crawl your site more thoroughly, and help boost the rankings of your most relevant posts. You’ll noticed I did this at relevant places in this post.
[Hint: This is a perfect job for your VA.]
Make the Best of Your Download Pages
Whether you’re giving away a free report or paid product, your download pages can pull double-duty by offering visitors a “what’s next” option. For free download pages, a related, low-cost product is best. It gives readers the chance to learn more about you with a small investment.
For paid products, consider offering a complementary product instead. If you’re protecting your download pages with a membership script such as Customer Hub, you can even offer upsells based on what they already own, making the choice even easier for them.
What is a sales funnel and why do I need one goes into more depth on the topic of free and paid products and the science behind building an effective funnel.
And if you’re using a double-opt-in mailing list, make use of that confirmation page, too! That’s the perfect place for a quick upsell or an invitation to join you in your Facebook group or weekly podcast.
Convertkit has a great article about the best practices for using opt-in forms on your website. Check it out here, at 6 Opt in Form Best Practices to Convert Readers to Your Email List. They discuss pop-up forms, exit forms, standard opt-in forms, slide ins, bar forms. Hey, they’ve got this covered in detail.
Here’s a good rule of thumb to follow on your website: Whenever a reader lands on a page, they should be offered the next logical step.
When you write your blog posts or create your download pages, keep that in mind, and your funnel will practically fill itself.
When you’ve completed these 3 easy website tweaks,check out Creating A Sales Funnel – 3 Must Have Pages, for more information on funnels.