Before ClickFunnels came to be in 2014, it was the norm for any online business to have a website. You needed a website as a cornerstone of all your marketing efforts. It was where leads land, engage with your content and convert.
Making the decision between ClickFunnels vs website can be tough. Both have their pros and cons, and it ultimately depends on what your business needs.
In this article, we will break down the differences between these two options and help you decide which one is right for you!
Sales Funnel Vs. Website
TL;DR Summary
- Websites are sets of multiple pages with related information about a product, company, or service.
- Blogs are pages inside websites where you regularly update blog posts.
- The main idea of a website is to connect with your online audience and share your company’s vision, mission, and core values.
- A sales funnel is a prospect journey from the point where they develop an interest in your product to when they convert into sales.
- To create a profitable sales funnel, map out your buying process, determine goals for each step, create content.
- What is a website?
- What is a sales funnel?
- Do I need both a website and a funnel?
- Conversion funnel steps
- How do sales funnels work?
- How to create a profitable sales funnel
- Introduction to ClickFunnels
- How to build a website with ClickFunnels
- ClickFunnels vs. website: which is better?
- Website vs. ClickFunnels: Comparison
- 5 Best ClickFunnels Website Examples
- Topics & Questions
- ClickFunnels Vs Website: Conclusion
What is a website?
This is a set of multiple pages with related information about a product, a company, or a service such as coaching for online entrepreneurs.
Most people confuse websites and blogs. A blog is a page inside a website where you update blog posts regularly.
The main idea of a website is to connect with your online audience. It’s a platform to share your company’s vision, mission, and core values. You can blog about your services, too.
What is a sales funnel?
It’s a prospect journey from the point where they develop an interest in your product to when they convert to sales.
To do that, you need a series of web pages with each poised towards the end goal of converting traffic. The difference between a website and sales funnel is the former is mainly meant to bring in search engine traffic.
Do I need both a website and a funnel?
Well, that will all depend on what you want to achieve at the end of the day. A sales funnel can do well if you understand how to run PPC ads while a website is okay with SEO and bringing in targeted leads from search engines.
Alternatively, you can have a website funnel using tools such as ClickFunnels. It is a landing page, and sales funnel creator meant to increase leads and sales.
As a business owner, it takes away the hard work of having to purchase a unique domain name, pay for hosting, and develop a website, which may not really convert in the end.
Conversion funnel steps
There are several steps that prospects follow before converting to customers. These steps are referred to as sales funnel steps.
Let’s check out some of them:
- Awareness: this is the step when the prospect becomes aware of the product you are selling. If you are selling regular products, then it means your audience is already aware of them and hence merely needs to make a decision.
- Interest: you can spur interest by telling a story, unveiling interesting research related to your audience, or having an explainer video.
- Decision: help them decide by explaining exactly what they are getting. Don’t sell the features of a product or service; sell the emotions.
- Action: This is the final stage of the conversion funnel. It is where the prospects click the call-to-action button to make a purchase.
How do sales funnels work?
Sales funnel works the same way as a typical funnel. Many people will get interested in the product or offer you are promoting, but only a few can end up purchasing it.
A sales funnel is the steps a prospect follows before converting to a customer. It is a collection of web pages optimized for a single goal. If it is a product funnel, the end goal is to generate sales. Hence, all the steps are poised towards that goal.
How to create a profitable sales funnel
If you want to increase sales, create a profitable funnel. It may not happen in a day or two, but having one in place will ensure that any lead on your site converts to a customer.
Here are the steps to achieve that:
Map out your buying process
Before anything else, you need a mapped-out path for your prospect to follow towards being customers.
Think about it – customers follow a defined path. Apart from the steps in the sales funnel process, there are specific goals you would want to meet in the awareness, desire, and action stages.
For example, if you have a dropshipping store, there are actions and clicks that a customer follows before making a decision.
Let’s see:
- Customer clicks on your PPC ads on another website or Google Adwords results
- Lands on your website home page
- He clicks on a product page
- Click add to cart
- Clicks checkout
- Enters his billing details
- Completes the order
The steps differ based on the service you are offering and the product you are selling. However, all these steps need to be mapped out. If you map them out, optimizing each page for higher conversions would be easier.
You can even use a flowchart diagram to draw them. Employ different elements to depict various processes and events. Arrows usually show the customer path since traffic flows linearly, and circles show a process and other elements.
Don’t create one path because not all customers follow the same path. Some may opt to click on the product, read the features, check the price, and close the page.
- How will you bring them back to complete the purchase?
- How can you engage a prospect to a buyer after they land on your site?
All these paths can be defined and mapped out. It helps to ensure you maximize the visitors who land on your website.
Determine your goals for each step
Now that you have a mapped-out customer path, the next step is to determine the end goal for each step. Rather than having one main goal, which can be sales, have specific goals for each step.
If you are an online coach, there could be several steps to employ when marketing online. Prospects find your Facebook ads, click through to your landing page or opt-in page, enter their email for a freebie, engage with your emails, get compelled to book a session with you and finally convert to a customer.
If that’s the case, set goals for the Facebook ads campaign, landing page, and opt-in page. You should also have metrics for each step. Facebook ads could have metrics such as the number of clicks and landing page views.
Your landing page end goal should be to convert as many page visitors as possible. Therefore, it should be optimized toward that primary goal. The emails are meant to warm up your cold leads into hot buyers.
All these goals are easy to set up and track if you know how to use Google Analytics. ClickFunnels lets you connect your funnel with it to track every customer event.
Create content
A web visitor reads your content before making a decision. Suppose it’s a video, the need to watch it and get compelled to take action.
Essentially, the only thing that can allow you to interact with your prospects is via written or video content.
Your content will help them learn about your product’s features, price, and how they will make a smart purchase decision.
Employ different types of content in different funnel stages to maximize conversion and sales. You can opt for a how-to video in the awareness stage, a demo or case study in the middle of the funnel, and a free trial option at the bottom.
You can use a blog post to convert someone into a buyer right away, can you? Well, even if they convert, it could be someone who understands the product and may have used it in the past. The ideal content for higher conversion rate optimization is a landing page.
Optimize for more conversions
With a tool like Google Analytics, it’s easy to track the effectiveness of each piece of content in different lead generation stages. And as such, it would be easier to optimize for the target audience.
As for a landing page, the structure may not be compelling enough. It could be the headline, color, or the call-to-action button that needs optimization.
Look at these two landing pages
One meant for Sendgrid
And another meant for Traffic Secrets
Which of these landing pages is more optimized for conversions? Well, from my look, it is the latter. It has a compelling headline, sub-heading, a video, and compelling color and font size variations.
If you notice that prospects are not clicking on your call-to-action button but stay for some time on the page, it could be that the button is not compelling enough.
Note that some people like writing simple button texts such as ‘learn more’ or ‘book a call’ without giving the web visitor some form of direction, such as ‘click here to learn more’ or ‘Book a 30-minites FREE session.’
See?
These are things that need to be poised towards converting web visitors. Work on these before going to the next step.
Understand where your leads are coming from
After working on ensuring most of the web visitors convert into subscribers and sales once they enter your funnel, it is time to determine where your leads will come from.
I know you may opt to employ multi-channel marketing at first. However, spreading too thin will only reduce your chances of acquiring qualified leads.
The more specific you are with your marketing, the easier it is to generate unlimited qualified leads who will convert to sales.
For a start, you may opt to launch Facebook and Google ads to acquire the first few customers. But you will need to scale down to one specific channel after some time.
That also goes with the kind of products you are promoting. You can’t promote luxurious products on Google PPC ads because that’s not where that audience hangs out. Launching Instagram ads could be the best solution.
Alternatively, you can’t market woodworking training courses on social media. Most people interested in woodworking will mostly consult Google or other search engines.
So, knowing where your leads are coming from will help you optimize your sales funnel for better conversions.
Automate to save time and marketing resources
You don’t have to be there to help in the conversion process. The thing is, you can actually automate all the sales funnel processes, from lead acquisition to fulfillment.
With automation, you can save time and maximize sales. Automation eliminates human error, which emanates when creating emails and content anytime you acquire a new lead.
It should be easier to automate if you have the complete customer journey since you just need to introduce a tool to connect two processes. You can create an autoresponder to welcome new leads and inform them of your services.
A drip e-mail marketing campaign will often convert subscribers into a customer through value addition. Since they are in a sequence, they are meant to educate, inform, and increase conversion rates.
Introduction to ClickFunnels
If you are a marketer, you must have heard of ClickFunnels. If you haven’t, it is revolutionary funnel builder for anyone who wants to sell online without creating a website that may not be optimized for conversions.
To use the tool, you have to select a pricing package, sign up for a 14-day free trial, and begin creating a funnel using a template or beginning from scratch. It’s among the best in the market right now.
How to build a website with ClickFunnels
After signing up, creating a conversion-focused funnel to promote products and services is easy. You don’t have to create a traditional website, which may not be optimized for conversion.
Instead, use a tried-and-tested funnel process where you won’t have to pay for your own domain name, hosting, and web design fees.
Your job is to merely pick a highly-converting template depending on the type of product or offer you will be selling and customize it.
There are a ton of templates to choose from, such as membership funnels, product launch funnels, coaching funnels, service funnels, and others.
They contain all the sales steps contained in a traditional website but are optimized for sales.
Chances are, the products you are selling have been sold before. Why would you want to create a new website while you can pick a tried-and-tested multiple funnels template and generate sales?
This plug-and-play method will save marketing resources and generate twice as many sales.
ClickFunnels vs. website: which is better?
Before, having a website was a thing if you wanted to make sales online. You just needed a domain name, pay hosting fees, and begin developing your website.
However, that has to change. If you think about it, the web visitor follows several steps before purchasing that product on your website.
Sales funnels help you understand these steps and optimize them for conversions.
Let’s talk about traffic.
Inbound and outbound traffic
There are two types of traffic generated online; it can be inbound or outbound. Inbound traffic comes mostly from search engines.
If someone searches for something related to the content on your website, Google will show your link on search results.
Outbound traffic is mainly from paid traffic sources such as Google and Facebook ads. Paid traffic is different from inbound traffic in the sense that it is geared toward targeted leads. Most paid traffic converts to sales if well targeted.
A website is easier to rank on search engines and attracts inbound traffic. ClickFunnels is mainly coupled with paid traffic and brings in targeted leads.
And since it is a sales funnel, leads are more likely to convert than a traditional website.
So, each of them can be beneficial. A website is a long-term game since SEO can keep on generating leads without paying for it. ClickFunnels generates sales fast and with ease but with paid traffic.
Website vs. ClickFunnels: Comparison
Let’s compare the features of ClickFunnels and those of a traditional website to see which can work better for you:
Online marketing funnels
You may not have this feature on a website since it’s not geared for that. Even if you are using several plugins meant to enhance your sales, you may not still get responsive and highly compelling online marketing funnels.
With ClickFunnels, you can create marketing funnels at the touch of a button. You don’t even need a developer to do that. There are a ton of templates meant for each sales process. It’s a plug-and-play system.
Landing page
A website might not be helpful when it comes to conversions since it doesn’t allow you to create compelling landing pages.
Product pages might arouse interest and keep the visitors glued to the page. But if you create landing pages, it does the job better.
Websites are meant to arouse interest but not to convert. Someone can simply read the product description and fail to click the ‘add to cart’ button because he may not be compelled enough to do that.
ClickFunnels allows you to target almost all sales funnel stages on a landing page. A landing page can create attention, arouse interest and desire, and drives them to perform an action, such as signing up.
Domain name
With a website, you only have one domain name and different product pages if it is an e-commerce store. You can’t customize each domain name to a unique one based on the product you are promoting.
With ClickFunnels, you can create a different sub-domain from your main domain. You can even give it a name similar to the product name. This is important for SEO purposes and for protecting your primary domain.
A/B testing
This feature is essential for finding the best landing page content, squeeze page, or sales page for a specific product.
Instead of having one rigid product page, which may not convert as much, A/B testing allows you to test different versions of a sales page and go with the best. You can test the headlines, content, call-to-action buttons, and other features.
5 Best ClickFunnels Website Examples
ClickFunnels has been popular for a while now. It has helped many people make over six figures selling courses, coaching packages, and becoming an independent Clickfunnels affiliate.
So, before you proceed to create your first sales funnel, it would be worth checking out some examples of highly performing ClickFunnels websites. Most of these are for the 2 Comma Club Award members.
Let’s check out:
1. Grant Cardone
We all know Grant Cardone since he has a huge following online. His website mainly teaches entrepreneurship geared towards real estate investing.
He also owns the Grant Cardone Sales and Training University and is the author of the 10X rule.
Here is how he has used ClickFunnels to grow leads and sales online:
- Sales funnels: He has created more than one sales funnel to target different segments of followers. If you land on his website, you will notice different call-to-action buttons.
- Membership funnels: he has a membership site for people who purchase his courses. He uses a membership funnel to achieve that objective.
- Follow-up funnels: if you sign up to one of his freemiums and fail to purchase a course in that funnel, he has employed the follow-up-funnels feature to bring you back to the site.
2. Pastor Rick
This site is dedicated to spiritual and motivation messages meant to uplift and strengthen someone spiritually.
The website has a ton of motivation audios right on the home page, books, and other inspiration resources.
He has a blog right on the website where he blogs about lasting change, overcoming discouragements, and other topics.
- Mail marketing: he has employed email marketing in his sales funnel, where he compels web visitors to purchase his books and motivation series. Once you click the sign-up button, you will receive emails to convert you to a buyer.
- Sales funnels: he has leveraged several sales funnel steps on his website. He has used simple templates to create his landing page and checkout buttons.
3. Funnelytics
The website is in the digital marketing niche and has helped multiple website owners understand their audience behavior and make more fact-based decisions. With audience data, it becomes easy to make profitable decisions.
Here are the ClickFunnels features that it uses:
- Landing pages: the website has a compelling landing page. The color and text size are optimized for conversions. The call-to-action buttons are bold and poised to attract any web visitor to click the links.
- Sales funnels: The website has employed complete sales funnel steps. The landing page is meant to attract and convert visitors to leads. Emails convert them to sales and drive them back to the website to make a purchase.
- Video: there is a sales video right on the landing page. It is meant to inform, spur interest, and ultimately action from anybody who watches it. From experience, landing pages with a sales video in the header get more conversions.
4. AppSumo
The site is mainly geared to digital sellers. It is similar to ClickBank or Commission Junction.
The site connects people selling digital products and affiliates looking for products to promote and earn a commission.
To bring as many affiliates as they can onboard, they opted to use ClickFunnels as a tool to generate leads and conversions.
Their affiliate’s sign-up form has a ton of ClickFunnels features, which are helpful in increasing sales.
- Page builder: they used the page builder to build a compelling landing page. If you check the page, it’s different from a traditional website with different pages and a lot of text. The page is simple, visually appealing, and compelling.
- Custom domain: the page domain is different from the primary domain. It’s geared directly to someone searching to become an AppSumo affiliate. Once you type the keyword into the search bar, the page will likely show up before other pages.
- Follow-up funnels: they have also employed follow-up funnels in their sales funnel process. Just sign up, engage with their emails, and notice how they bring you back to the website after a while.
5. Gabby Bernstein
Gabrielle Bernstein is a celebrated life coach, author, and podcast host. Her books have earned the best-selling title on several occasions. You can find all these resources on her ClickFunnels website.
To generate leads and sales, Gabby has opted for ClickFunnels. You will notice most of the ClickFunnels features on her site:
- Landing page builder: the home page was created using a simple landing page template. Its main purpose is to convert web visitors into leads.
- Integrations: there are a couple of social media integrations rights on the homepage. There seem to be no payment processors, though. Someone has to order the book on a third-party website.
- Sales funnel pages: Gabby has employed the sales funnels steps on her website. There is a landing page, product pages, and a checkout feature.
Topics & Questions
What is a funnel vs. website?
A funnel is a sales process, while a website is a set of interrelated web pages mostly for a company, business, or individual.
What is an example of funnel?
AppSumo has a good example of a sales funnel. It employs all the four sales funnel stages a customer passes before converting.
How do you make funnel websites?
With ClickFunnels, you just need to pick a suitable template and edit it to match your brand’s voice and message.
Why is ClickFunnels so good?
It’s mainly because it has been created with the end goal in mind. It has different sales funnels for different purposes.
Why is ClickFunnels better than a website?
Because it is a tried-and-tested sales funnel-building software, most people have found success with ClickFunnels after taking some of their courses.
Are ClickFunnels worth it?
Yes, if you aim to create highly-converting sales funnels, ClickFunnels is your best bet.
What all things can you do using ClickFunnels?
The main thing is to create different kinds of funnels for various purposes.
What’s the difference between a funnel and a website?
A funnel is great if you aim to rely on PPC-paid traffic sources such as Google and Facebook ads.
A website is good for the long term since you can optimize content for search engines and get leads on autopilot.
Do you need a website and a funnel?
Yes and no. You may need it to utilize both search engine traffic in the long run and paid traffic, which converts to sales fast.
A funnel is essentially designed to give results faster than a website, which is geared to attract as many web visitors as possible.
Is a funnel a website?
No. A funnel is different from a website. A funnel is a sales process, while a website combines web pages with related information.
What’s the difference between One.com vs Clickfunnels 2.0?
The key difference between One.com and ClickFunnels 2.0 is: The ClickFunnels 2.0 sales funnel builder allows you to create profitable sales funnels quickly and easily while One.com offers affordable shared hosting and a simple website builder.
A good choice for newcomers with simple needs is One.com. With ClickFunnels 2.0, you can build a successful online business by using a library of high-converting sales funnel templates, a visual funnel builder, email marketing, eCommerce, online courses, membership sites, customer relationship management (CRM) software, and more.
ClickFunnels Vs Website: Conclusion
Now that you understand the basics of websites and sales funnels, it’s time to take advantage of ClickFunnel’s 30-day free trial.
This will allow you to create a sales funnel for your business and see how well it works for you. If you find that you need more help setting everything up, our team is here to assist you.
With the right tools and knowledge, your business can reach new heights online!
Affiliate Disclaimer: I hope you liked our blog. Please note that some of the links inside this article may be affiliate links to Clickfunnels. That means that if you click on one of the links and sign up, I may be compensated for it. If you do happen to click, we really appreciate it! Any money we make keeps this site running smoothly and allows us to keep writing these high-quality reviews.
I am an independent ClickFunnels Affiliate, not an employee. I receive referral payments from ClickFunnels. The opinions expressed here are my own and are not official statements of ClickFunnels or its parent company, Etison LLC.