The Importance of SEO Sales Funnels
The importance of SEO Sales Funnels
Every business owner dreams of an effortless sale built off the quality of their product, yet the reality of any relationship – be it friendship, courtship or dealership – is that it takes time to develop into anything truly meaningful.
No matter how great your proposition, crafting an effective sales funnel is the only way to ensure scalable, long-term business growth – and SEO has a core role.
Awareness leads to Evaluation leads to Conversion
The sales funnel visualizes the sales cycle: from sharing your offer, to making it onto a customer’s shortlist, to eventually (hopefully!) converting into a sale.
Why a funnel? Well, no matter how hard we try, converting all prospects into paying customers just isn’t feasible – hence the shape.
Top of the funnel – TOFU
On first encounter, you will not have customers, merely prospects. Moreover, prospects who may not even know they have a problem.
Your first job is to help them understand their situation (before even thinking of introducing your solution). How? By generating content to unearth their pain.
Focusing on certain keywords – both short and long tail – answering the questions used in search queries (i.e. what snack has the most protein) and encouraging users to click through to your site will not only boost your rank on SERP’s, it will also build your TOFU.
Middle of the Funnel – MOFU
Some prospects may have made it to your site, others may be searching elsewhere for the answer to a specific problem; whichever bracket, this group sits firmly within the middle of the funnel.
They need a solution, and they are looking for the best product for the job.
Crafting easy-to-consume content is a great way to help these prospects evaluate the options. Infographics, competitor comparisons and highly-specific blog posts can be a great way to captivate.
Closely managing your keyword focus – as well as ensuring relevant meta-tags on specific pages – helps direct consumers towards the most appropriate pages that relate to their queries.
Plus, while your own site is a key resource in the evaluation stage, there is no reason not to cast your net wider. Guest posting, branded content and educational materials on major publications can be the perfect way to build credibility.
The key: leverage keyword relevance, educate and inform, and perhaps benefit from other’s domain strength and unique customer profiles.
Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU)
Once you reach the bottom of the funnel, you have almost achieved your goal. The prospect is seriously considering a purchase, they just need final confirmation they are making the right choice.
At this point, an easy to navigate site with well-structured on-site search (so relevant meta-data), as well as further detailed content answering a specific question, will support conversion.
The customer now knows enough about your offering that keywords become less relevant; the focus lies in proving your superiority.
Ensure that people reaching this content have been taken through the initial stages, that you have built internal and external links that are contextually relevant, and make life as easiest as possible for the consumer to make the transaction.
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So, while keyword strategy will play a core role in building the top of your funnel, site structure and content linking becomes increasingly relevant as you move prospects towards conversion.
With meta-data relating to precise details, you can lead prospects down the funnel, using hyper-specific content to ensure as many as possible make it through to becoming long-term, valuable customers.
