Funnels Versus Websites - What's The Best Option?

by James Canzanella, Guest Contributor

There's no doubt about it that sales funnels have been on the rise for the past few years, and because of that people have wanted to know what's the best option when it comes to funnels versus websites.

So in order to help you make the best choice for your online business, I'm going to walk you through some of the main benefits for each.
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First, let's see how this all started.
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Funnels Versus Websites
While this battle of the platforms has been around for a while, it was Russell Brunson who really started to shine a light on the way businesses are being built today.

​So when it comes to his message:

• Should you "just say no" to websites?
• Are funnels going to be the best way to run your online business?

​Let's answer these questions (along with a few more) starting with the funnel.

Sales Funnels
In case you're not familiar with what a sales funnel is, here is an easy way to understand definition for you:
The process a visitor takes in order to invest in your product, offer, or service.

Related: Entrepreneur.com Answers What Is A Sales Funnel?

Now the reason why sales funnels can be so powerful is that they are also great at eliminating distractions.

If you've ever seen a sales letter or video sales letter before then you'll know what I'm talking.

Sales letters usually only have a few options:

1. Read what's on the page and leave.
2. Read what's on the page and make a purchase.

This greatly differs from a website because websites tend to have many more distractions.

Let me give you an example and say that a website owner wants to make sales on their website.

Here are many of the distractions a visitor might have to dodge in order to simply just get to a sales letter:

• Sidebar widgets and ads.
• The content they are reading (or watching if there's a YouTube video).
• An offer for a free download within the content that a person is trying to read.
• Google ads littered all over the page (which are very relevant to the viewer's needs).
• Drop down menus at the top of the page which can include numerous amounts of links to click.

And that's only beginning to scratch the surface (as I didn't mention welcome mats or even popups).
Sales funnels don't have any of that.

Just hard-hitting sales copy and a call to action button (like Buy It Now).

And yes websites can be stripped of many of the distractions you see above, but how often do you come across a site like that?
Let's move onto the other side of the battle now.

Websites
Websites are often seen as your main portal for your brand and are perfect when it comes to getting your audience to know, like, and trust you.

It's like being a teacher except that millions of people across the world are now your students.​

Related: Developing Trust With Your Content

So while websites might certainly serve more purposes than funnels, they also have a lot of great benefits too:

• Many ways to monetize.
• You stand out as an expert in your niche.
• Creating valuable (and shareable content) is simple with WordPress.
• It's less expensive for a domain and hosting (compared to how much sales funnel software can be).
• You can't forget about the organic traffic from search engines (it's hard for funnels to compete with that).

The last one is really important.

But if websites have so many powerful features, are they really worth "saying no" to?

Let's wrap up this post and get to the conclusion.

Should You Say No To Websites?
There's certainly been a lot of back and forth when it comes to funnels and websites, but after using them for many years it's safe to say that you should utilize both.

How come?

Because I prefer getting the best of both worlds.

So when it comes to websites?

• Building up your credibility and expertise.
• Getting your audience to know, like, and trust you.
• And don't forget about being able to get traffic from Google.

Then you'd be able to have sales funnels for:

• Getting leads.
• Making sales.
• And don't forget about creating any other type of funnel.

Plus you can always connect these two where you take someone away from your site in order to:

• Reduce the number of distractions.
• Then you can either generate a lead or make a sale.

So when all is said and done?

I think you should say YES to both websites and funnels.

How about you?

Feel free to leave a comment down below and let me know.

Thank you for reading.​
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