If there was one book you needed to read in order learn how to start an online business then it has to be Dotcom Secrets by Russel Brunson.
Dotcom Secrets is the first book in the secrets trilogy followed by Traffic Secrets and expert secrets. In Dotcom secrets Russel Brunson talks about the core concepts that constitute a successful online business while plugging in his product ClickFunnels along the way.
If you are Struggling with getting traffic to your website or converting that traffic when it shows up you may think you’ve got a
traffic or conversion problem but in Russell Bronson’s experience after working with thousands of businesses he has found that that’s rarely the case.
You don’t have a traffic or conversion problem infact you have a funnel problem. Your funnel is not working right. The Main theme behind the book is what funnels are and how to fix the funnel problem?
Before we dive deep into dotcom secrets lets find out a little bit about the author himself.
Who is Russel Brunson?
Russell Brunson is the founder of ClickFunnels, one of the most powerful web application companies in the world. ClickFunnels has revolutionized the sales funnel process, making it easier for entrepreneurs to create and manage their sales funnels.
Before you go what is a funnel let me explain.
A Funnel is a sales process through which potential customers move towards becoming actual customers.
Funnel is important in marketing because it is the process through which a sale is made. A sale is made when a potential customer clicks on an ad, newsletter, comes to your storefront, sees the product and buys it. Thus, every part of the sales process is a funnel.
There are 3 main stages to a funnel they are TOFU, BOFU and MOFU.
(TOFU) Top of the funnel: it is the widest part of the sales funnel, and the sales process begins here. This is where you first offer something to someone and encourage visitors to provide their information via a contact form, an email list sign-up or by filling out a contact form. Here their awareness level is zero.
(MOFU) Middle of the funnel: This is the stage where you start to transition your visitors into leads. You might see an increase in sales at this stage, but it’s too early to convert these leads into customers. You will need to provide them with a bit more information and opportunities to build trust. Here they are at the consideration level.
(BOFU) Bottom of the funnel: This is where the sales process is finished. This is the most targeted group, where the people are actively looking for a solution to their problems and ready to buy. This is where your lead leads to a sale (conversion level).
Section One: Ladders and Funnels
The Value Ladder was created to help you figure out what products and services you need to add so that your dream clients move from your bait to your high-end services. There should always be an upsell after each sale.
A value ladder is a process where a customer is persuaded to buy additional products or add-ons that give additional value to the original product or service.
A sales funnel is just the online process you take someone through to get them to ascend through the different levels of your Value Ladder.
Section Two: Your Communication Funnel
Now that you know about value ladders and funnels it’s time to find out your ideal customer also known as attractive character or user persona. There is a person out there who needs your product or service.
In marketing if your audience is everyone that means your audience is no one.
If you do your research and create a detailed user persona, you can create copy that specifically targets his/her interests. This will result in overall better conversions.
Clear definition and segmentation of your audience will reduce the chances of failure in your business.
Soap Opera Sequence
Soap opera Sequences in email marketing is a technique that keeps the customers hooked to your emails until they have read your entire email. In other words, it is a series of emails that form a storyline.
Soap Opera Email Sequence typically happens in 5 days. Here’s how it works
Day #1 – Sets The Stage
Day #2 – High Drama -> Backstory -> Wall
Day #3 – Epiphany -> The ONE Thing
Day #4 – Hidden Benefits
Day #5 – Urgency C.T.A.
Seinfeld Email Sequence
Your soap opera autoresponder sequence is your attractive characters introduction to your list. A Seinfeld email sequence is basically an email about nothing just like the show.
Seinfeld email sequences continue the conversation after the soap opera sequence. The goal is to be fun and entertaining while you sell stuff.
Here’s how a Seinfeld Formula looks like 🙂
The secret to keeping your subscribers happy to hear from you every day is using the Seinfeld format.
Be entertaining. Just talk about your day.
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What’s going on in your Attractive Character’s life?
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What happened that’s embarrassing?
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How are you getting through the holiday season?
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Where are you planning your vacation this year?
Form a story arc about your product or service just from the ordinary.
Section Three: Funnelology
Funnelology is the art of creating funnels for a business. It is simple, really. If a person is not aware of what you do or where your business is, there is no way they are going to show interest. You will have to make them aware of what you do and where your business is.
An Important part of identifying who your customers are is by the process of elimination. It is to qualify your leads whether they are hot, warm or cold.
For Example Russel Brunson qualifies who his ideal customers are by giving away the secret trilogy books for free on his website. All you have to do is pay for shipping. If you are not willing to pay for shipping then you are not a part of his funnel simple as that.
Understand Preframing
Preframing is the first step towards developing a funnel that converts. It is the process of qualifying your audience and seeing what state of the funnel they belong to.
While Preframing you will come across 3 types of audiences and they are hot, warm and cold leads.
- Hot leads are the leads that already know about you and your company and are ready to buy your product or services.
- Warm leads are the leads who have some knowledge of your company but are not yet sure about purchasing from you.
- Cold leads are the leads who are unaware of your company and your offerings. To reach out to the cold leads, you may have to have a long sales cycle because they are totally unaware of you. Therefore, you have to educate them about your company and your offerings.
Section Four: Funnels and Scripts
In the last section funnels and scripts Russel Brunson goes in depth and talks about the scripts and funnels he has used to generate millions of dollars for his clients.
This chapter should have been a book in and of itself. The key concepts discussed here are The front end funnel, the backend funnel and the perfect webinar with an OTO (One time offer).
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel here just try to model what works for your business.
