There is an old sales trick (I used to sell for Acura): get them used to saying yes.  So when they are test driving a car:

• Do you like this kind of weather? "Yes"
• Are you married? (when you see the wedding ring) "Yes"
• Do you like sedans? "Yes"
• Do you like the safety features? "Yes"
• Do you like the way this drives? "Yes"
• (Notice their current car color) Do you like this color? "Yes"

And you just keep going, get them used to saying yes all the time, then when the test drive is over, it is easy to get them they to the table:

• So did you enjoy your test drive? "Yes"
• Do you like this car better than your old one? "Yes"
• Is there a price where I can sell you a car today, like what about $1? "Sure"
• Ok, I can't do that of course, but lets see how we can help you out.

And boom, you are at the table talking about price.

The funnel is this same kind of thing.  There is a point in every sales transaction when you ask the client to do something harder then what they are doing now.  For your web site, that could be getting them to call.  You need to give them a reason to call you.  You need to build a case for them to call you.  You need to make them WANT to call you, more than the other 5 web sites they just visited (and did not call), and that is where the funnel comes in.

If I tried to sell a car by saying:

• Test drive this car. "umm, ok"
• (after test drive is done)
• Ok, how much do you want to pay? "I have to think about it".

The customer would not want to talk about price because he does not yet know if he likes, wants, or needs the product yet.  The salesperson did not do their job.

When getting traffic for your product via Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising such as Google AdWords, your 'funnel' is your salesperson.  The trick to a funnel is to get them on that process of committing to the product.  Lets go over all of the steps for a fiction company that sells a "start your own business" product.

The Add

First we need a good AdWords ad:

Be Your Own Boss
Make $100,000 a year
with a $10k investment
www.WigetSeller.com

So goal of the ad is to connect with people who want that service.  In your ad, you want to make sure you do what you can to filter out 'non-customers'.  In this case, I am saying that there is a $10,000 investment so that only people who are ok with that idea will click.  Remember that each click costs money.  And for some keywords such as "Start a business" cost you $5.00 a click, and eat up to $1000 a day from your advertising budget.

The Landing Page

So, the landing page is where your AdWords ad will send the potential customer.  Anyone with a history of running a web site will know that a huge amount of visitors will look at your site and then hit the 'back' button.  This is called a 'bounce'.  Your landing page is to let users that have clicked on your ad know that this is what they are looking for.

You need this page to validate every fact the AdWords ad gave, such as make "$100,000 a year", or "$10k investment". If you don't Google might reject your ad, as the rules stat that "If your price is listed in your add then that price must be disclosed on the web site no deeper than 3 pages" for example.

Think of this page as a full page ad, here are some simple rules:

1. You want to make sure that you have your general navigate out of the way on this page; you don't want uses walking around unescorted through your web site.  You are trying to deliver a marketing message here.
2. Make sure the text (copy) starts in the upper left and goes down from there.
3. Make sure that any pictures do not take up the width of a whole column of text.  This will 'lose' some people.  Even if you are selling photos, this is still a bad idea.

Then at the bottom of that page, have a big button or link leading them into the funnel.  Something with text like "Click here for more information", "See how the process works", or "What is involved". 

The Funnel Pages

So now the potential customer hits, 'the funnel'.  These pages have two simple goals:

1. Get the customer commited to your product.
2. Letting the website owner know where his marketing message is failing.

To do this, write down a list of the top 5 reasons why someone would not buy your product, such as "It is too hard to do", "I am not sure it works", and "I don't know if I can get the investment money".

For each one of your reasons, make a web page that address the question.  So for example, "It is too hard to do", make a page that show how easy it is to use your product, maybe have some customer testimonials, or a video.

Then at the bottom of each page, in a big button or link, lead them to the next funnel page with text such as "Does it really work?" leading to the "I am not sure it works" page, or "How do I get the startup money?" leading "I don't know if I can get the investment money" page.

The Conversion Page

So, after your potential customer has gone through the Funnel Page and received some information about your product, you direct then to the conversion page.  This is the page that tells them to make the 'hard step', this would be the page where you have them fill out a contact form, make a phone call, or buy a product.

As a general note, if your product requires human involvement, make sure you give both a contact form AND a phone number.  Some people are not comfortable calling a number on a web site, but willingly full out contact forms.

How to Improve Your Funnel

Ok, so you have your ad, landing page, funnel, and conversion page up for a week (at least 7 days) and you want to get better results.  Here is where the magic really happens.

Sign up for Google Analytics and add it to your site.  Then setup your "Conversion Goals and Funnel" via Actions -> Edit.

Now, when you view your report, under Goals -> Funnel Visualization, you can see what is happening with your funnel.

Users Are Bouncing Off My Landing Page

In this case, your issue is related to your AdWords ad is misleading, or your landing page needs to be improved.  A good landing page should only be getting a 20-30% bounce rate from PPC visitors.  I have seen customers with landing pages in the low teens before too.

Make sure your landing page repeats the information in the ad, but not much more.  Make people enter the funnel to get information, this way you can see where you are losing them.  If you have all your information on the landing page, then you don't know if you are losing their interest because or price, quality, or concept.

Users Are Leaving The Funnel

The goal with the funnel is to find out where customers are losing interest.  Each funnel page should give out information about some part of your product.  So if you have the following pages with the following loss rates:

1. What is it (15%)
2. How it works (8%)
3. How much (65%)
4. Does it work (2%)

Than your issue is with the ordering.  You want your pages to be ordered (generally) from lowest loss to highest loss.  Obviously in the above example, you are losing ALOT of people at the "How much" step.  This means you did a bad job justafying your product cost, and your "Does it work" page is not really doing anything, as people who got that far are already committed.  Just by changing the order you will likely end up with:

1. What is it (15%)
2. How it works (8%)
3. Does it Work (20%)
4. How Much (25%)

Bringing you from a 35% retention rate to 47% retention rate, a 34% improvement.

If you you can't improve your numbers by reordering, changing text, or improving your marketing message, such as this:

1. What is it (15%)
2. How it works (8%)
3. Does it work (20%)
4. How Much (65%)

Then here is the sad pill to swallow...  your product costs too much for the people you are reaching.  Hopefully, you are happy with your present sales rate, because without trying to reach a better demographic or changing your product, there is not much you can do.  This applies to more then just price.  If the "How it works" loss rate is 45%, then you need to make your product easier to use or start targeting more technical or knowledgeable customers.

Users Are Leaving on the Conversion Page

This one is an easy one. 

1. Your funnel is too short (you are not getting enough commitment)
2. You are asking too much (in the effort sense)
3. Your conversion page is too complex (users can't figure out what to do)

Each of the above should have an obvious fix.

Conclusion

So what is the point?  If you have the entire process setup:

1. AdWord
2. Landing Page
3. Funnel Page #1
4. Funnel Page #2
5. Funnel Page #3
6. Funnel Page #4
7. Conversion Page

Then there is no excuse to not know why your product is not selling.  This process works and is used on almost every successful web site.  You don't need to pay money for a SEO specialist, AdWords manager, or marketing company.  Don't get lazy, don't cheat it, and don't cut corners.  Setup the funnel and make your web site the salesperson that you yourself would be.