Posted in   Productivity   on  August 25, 2019 by  Himanshu

Ever thought of building a wildly profitable sales funnels on WordPress?

Whether you are selling digital products like online courses, coaching on consulting; you are into selling physical products like T-Shirt or souvenir, you need a sales funnel.

If you have ever wondered how to design a beautiful sales funnel with WordPress, you are at the right place.

This post will guide you step by step into the process. In fact, the blog that you are reading right here is a part of the sales funnel.

I have mentioned all recommended upsell and funnel plugins here. However, this post explains the complete process.

Before I jump into the technicalities of a WordPress funnel, here is the basics.

Basic Sales Funnel Structure

You can get access to special 5 days bootcamp if you are looking for an implementation program.

Sales funnels are revolutionary. Personally, I am crazy about the idea of funnels because, in my opinion, this is how an ideal marketing should look like.

Even though there are options like Clickfunnels to build your marketing funnels, I prefer WordPress+Getresponse combination to design my sales funnel.

And here are the reasons for it.

Why WordPress is good for building sales funnels

WordPress gives you more control over your landing pages, Optin pages and lead-capture. Since WordPress is a free software, you can always change your hosting and export your complete funnels to another platform. 

Unlike DONE-FOR-YOU funnels, you go through the essential learning curve while building your funnels on WordPress. While it might be a little time consuming if you have no clue about WordPress, it saves you from getting scammed by fake-gurus who are trying to sell over-hyped funnel software without putting any actual value.

I have used Thrive Themes WordPress sales funnel builder for this tutorial as I found it the best among any other WordPress alternative.

It allows me to completely transform my WordPress website into a custom sales funnel without hiring any developer or designer.

Here are some of the essential topics I will cover in this post.

Build Converting WordPress Sales Funnels

It is an extensive guide so fasten your seatbelts. After you will carefully finish reading this post, you will learn

  • What is a Sales Funnel
  • Why focus upon a WordPress sales funnel builder (Graphic explanation ahead)
  • Designing Converting Sales Funnels with WordPress
  • What is the Best WordPress themes and plugin to design your funnel
  • Best Email Autoresponders to communicate with your customers
  • A FREE Course to learn funnel (Special Invitation)

You Can't Ignore "THIS" About a Sales Funnel

While you will be well aware of the idea of sales funnels, let me tell you the most simplistic way to understand a sales funnel.

As we will approach talking sales funnels on WordPress, you will feel like a pro funnel hacker way before.

As you can see from the infographic above, sales funnel is more about winning a client instead of simply selling your products.

In my course and webinars, I always advise to pay more attention to life-time value instead of simply selling a product. This is what most of the successful companies do with their process.

The journey of a buyer from finding a solution to his (or her) problems to taking a decision to buy is a more or less a bumpy ride.

You will need to have the right communication system to help them take the decision.

The best way to create a communication channel for your sales funnels is by building an email list.

My friends recommended me Getresponse. And I am using it as my primary way of building a relationship with my clients.

Enough, recommendations, let's understand the process of building a simple sales funnel.

Sales funnel builder -Sample

Can you see, Clickfunnels over there? Simply, replace it with WordPress Thrive Themes landing page and you are all good.

So, there are 5 Different phases of a successful custom funnel

  • Traffic sources to get eyeballs to your funnel
  • Landing Page to capture visitor attention
  • Optin System to capture the leads
  • Email communication system to connect with your customers
  • A Sales Page to offer your products.

WordPress Funnels vs Clickfunnels - an Honest Comparision

WordPress is free software to create your websites, blogs and funnels. I Even though this is an advanced concept, building a WordPress funnel can save you at least $2000 a month.

While Clickfunnels, will make your job a lot easier by providing a simple drag-and-drop system, you do not own your funnels on a SaaS software like Katra or Clickfunnels.

As soon as you decide to leave this self-hosted service, your all funnels will be deleted and you will end up starting everything from scratch. You can read my full comparison in this previous post.

However, this is not a case with Self-hosted, DIY funnels you create with WordPress.

The only challenge with WordPress is, you need to have at least "some" knowledge about WordPress software and how you can host your websites on it. 

Design Your DIY Sales Funnel

If you are coming from an affiliate marketing background, I have added some of the best affiliate programs you can pick. You can choose any one of them to discover a good product to sell if you don't own one right now.

This is important as you should always have a result-oriented mind before you start building your funnel.

Best WordPress Sales Funnel Builder Theme

After testing multiple applications like Optinpress, GetResponse and Instapages, I picked thrive themes over others.

I got significant funnel training and a recurring affiliate program to earn a 35% lifetime commission with Thrive themes. While I could make more money promoting a SaaS software, I feel my duty to share what I use instead of just sharing for the sake of money like many gurus are doing.

This is not the highest paying affiliate program in the world, but Thrive themes is the most complete WordPress funnel theme and plugin bundle.

Free wordpress funnel theme

With ten several products, it is the most complete plugin bundle you will ever get to create a high-converting marketing funnel on self-hosted WordPress.

Step-by-Step Guide to Your First Ever WordPress Funnel

As I have already covered, WordPress funnels are no different from any other sales funnels. You are simply using a self-hosted website to create one.

Step 1

Get a Domain Name

You can go to Namecheap and find out some good domain name for your funnel. This can be something related to your brand name or even your own name.

As you can see, "withhimanshu.com" is the domain name I use to create my funnels and blogs.

Step 2

Get a Stable Hosting

DIY funnels are different from Clickfunnels. Where you get Free hosting on Clickfunnels, you need a place to host your DIY WordPress Funnels.

I am using A2Hosting Linux hosting as my base. You will get Free SSL certificate with it and surely powerful and reliable support.

Step 3

Design Your Funnel Structure

Sales funnel builder -SampleSimple DIY funnel structure for self-hosted websites

Your brand new funnel must include the following elements

  • A Landing Page
  • Optin System
  • Sales page or thank you page
  • An Email System

That is it. If you already know, what products you want to sell (you can find some great suggestions, here), you are 3 Steps away from launching your first funnel.

Step 4

Create Your WordPress Page and Launch Thrive Architect

If you have installed Thrive themes properly, all you need to do is to create your new page on WordPress (as you can see in the image below)

Create new page on wordpress - 1st step

Now You Need to Launch Thrive Architect by Clicking on the green button you can see below

Step 2 - launch funnel architect

Step 5

Choose from Multiple Ready-to-Use Funnels

As you are almost ready to create your first ever WordPress funnel landing page, this (see the image below) will be the screen which appears after you click on the button.

pre final step to launch your funnel

You can pick from hundreds of landing page templates below. These templates include categories like business, consultancy, webinar, lead-capture and bridge funnels.

See some of the examples here

funnel templates for wordpress

That is it.

Use drag and drop features given by the WordPress theme and create the thank you page in a very similar way.

You will find your lead-capture already available with your landing page and you can find the option to edit it just like any other element on the page.

It's super-duper simple if you are even a little bit familiar with the WordPress interface.

Advanced Features to Explore While Building Your Funnel

You will find advanced options like page split testing and headline optimizer to actually see which one converts better than others.

This is actually an interesting option to identify how your sales copy is working.

It's fun to build your first ever WordPress sales funnel and you will eventually become a master of it under the right guidance.

I teach, how to design your master funnel so that you can bring more leads, conversions and cream customers for your business.

You can enroll into 5 Days Sprint to build your own Authority website and funnels with WordPress.

WordPress Funnel Cost

There are various costs associated with building a DIY WordPress funnel.

And there is nothing optional. In fact, I am giving you the minimalistic set of tools I am personally using to build funnels (including this website).

Concluding Everything: Is WordPress Funnel for You

WordPress funnels are not for everyone. Just like any other software, it has its own limitations. There is a sharp learning curve which is not the case with Clickfunnels.

Furthermore, WordPress updates will annoy you every third day and you can end up beating your head. 

I found most WordPress plugins are full of bugs and if you are a beginner in WordPress, better go for the alternative.

No matter what, it's the skill and not the tools which will truly make you a great marketer and entrepreneur.

About Himanshu

Himanshu is a recovering shiny object seeker and computer science engineer turned into an internet entrepreneur.

He bootstrapped Afleet.io from 0-$200k and has helped tens of companies grow from scratch with the help of building online communities.

He helps coaches and entrepreneurs grow their business through content and communities.

  • What an excellent article Himanshu. Thank you for saving me another $90 I was about to pay for Kartra.

    I am going for WordPress as I feel comfortable using WordPress for my all blogs.

    Love

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