Do You Actually Need a Funnel and a Website?

You’ve probably heard this before: 
“You don’t need a website. You just need a funnel.” 

Or maybe the opposite: 
“Funnels are scammy. Just build a solid website.” 

So which is it? 

Do you actually need both? 

Or is one enough? 

In this episode, I’m breaking down the real difference between a funnel and a website, when you need one, when you need both, and how to make them work together instead of competing. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Why Funnels And Websites Differ
• 1:04 What A Website Really Does
• 2:00 What A Funnel Really Does
• 3:10 Pitfalls Of Funnel-Only Or Website-Only
• 4:31 When You Need Both
• 5:02 Make Them Work Together
• 6:10 Checkout Flows As Simple Funnels
• 6:40 Connect Blogs, Email, And Funnels
• 7:32 Start Simple And Scale
• 8:12 Map The First Click And Next Step
• 8:40 Closing And Review Request

Transcript

Carrie Saunders: 0:00

You probably heard this before. You don't need a website. You just need a funnel. Or maybe the opposite. Funnels are scammy. Just build a solid website. So which is it? Do you actually need both? Or is one enough? In this episode, I'm breaking down the real difference between a funnel and a website when you need one, when you need both, and how to make them work together instead of competing. And I'll share the one mistake I see business owners make when they rely on only one of these and how it quietly costs them sales. Let's dive in. Struggling to turn website traffic into real sales, you're not alone and you don't have to figure it out all yourself. Welcome to Smarter Online Business, the podcast for course creators, coaches, and e-commerce entrepreneurs who want their websites to convert visitors into buyers without the tech overwhelm. I'm your host, Carrie Saunders, a website strategist and conversion expert with over 20 years of experience. Each episode delivers simple, proven strategies to help you generate more revenue and make your website your smartest sales tool. Welcome back to the show. Today we're talking about funnels, websites, what they are, and what the difference is. So, first off, a website is a home base. Think of it as like your house. It's a place for exploration, it's a long-term asset, it is a high-leverage asset as well. It's where people learn who you are, what you do, and how you help them. It allows for you multiple navigation paths so you can give potential customers choices, blog content for search engine optimization. It can really help that trust building factor as well. It can give you brand depth and it can give you organic discovery via search engines and searches like that. And a website typically or should answer who you are and can I trust you. That's what's on everybody's mind when they visit your website. They may not know it consciously, but that's what's in the back of our brains. Who are you and can I trust you? So let's talk about what is a funnel. It's a guided linear experience. So it's a straight line from point A to point B. It is built around one clear outcome. It's very focus-driven. It's designed to eliminate distraction. And it's focused on a single conversion, whether that's checkout, whether that's buying a product or service, whether that's signing up for a newsletter, getting a freebie of some sort, a digital download. It's focused on one thing. They are great for lead magnets, webinar registrations, course launches, promotions, paid ads, you know, newsletter subscriptions, things like that. And a funnel asks, will you take the specific next step? That's the whole purpose of a funnel is a specific next step. So some of the mistakes I see for a funnel-only business is you have no real home base, no base for somebody to come and explore. There's no brand depth behind it because it's very focused on one thing. It's hard to build long-term trust with a funnel only. And you don't really have great SEO for it generally. It's generally very, very weak in SEO performance. Funnels can be great at converting in bursts, but generally struggle with sustainability and converting day in and day out. Now, a website only business sometimes will fall into the trap of just having a beautiful site, having lots of pages with no purpose behind them, no clear guided action, and visitors might wander without converting and not knowing what to do next. Just a website only, especially if it's not done correctly, can just get traffic, but really no momentum in your business. So one of the common mistakes I see is people treating funnels and websites like competitors instead of teammates. They are supposed to work together, hand in hand, and really help each other. So when you need both, a lot of people need both. Most actually do. In general, I feel like most people need a website at minimum. I will say that. But you most likely need both if you run launches, you use ads, you want search engine optimization working long-term for you so that you're not constantly posting on social media. You want to sell higher ticket services and you want credibility and conversion. So that's when you usually want both. So think of it this way: websites build trust. Your funnels drive action. So together they build revenue, they work hand in hand. It's like peanut butter and jelly. If you like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, they work hand in hand. You got the sweet and the salty together, and it works hand in hand. So then, if we should have both, and I'm not saying that your funnels need to be complicated, you know, have a wonderful website, supports your business, shows you what you do, how you serve people, the benefits you bring, the products you sell. But then the funnels really drive that call to action. They really drive a specific task. So a funnel will live under your main domain typically, and funnel pages should match your website branding. And then your website should support your offers and your funnels. Many times a website will have a funnel within it. So you click on a specific link and you get started into a funnel. I was talking on a call the other day with some of my students that you know a funnel can simply be a checkout. You notice whenever you go to modern websites and you start checking out, all the other stuff disappears. The menu disappears. You may only have like a link to click back home, and that's it. Everything else disappears. This is this is a funnel in a way. This is a way to direct you to a specific action, which is finishing your checkout. Whenever we also have funnels and websites together, your blog content can feed those funnels. Say you sell services and you have some freebies, maybe some free downloads or something. You could have a blog article that references one of your free downloads, and then that sends them into that funnel. And then email flows, email newsletters, things like that can really connect the two together. Maybe somebody has found you via a funnel, and then you capture the email, and then you bring them back to the website via an email that you sent them, a newsletter you sent them with the interest in it. Or maybe they came and signed up to your newsletter via your email, but you want to offer them the specific thing, whether it's free or paid, you can do that via email, and then they go to your funnel, and then now they're in your funnel system. So they can always work together really well. Many I've I'm suggesting that you should really have both if at all possible. And I think Mac is wanting to enjoy having our podcast today. So if you hear or see Mac in the background, and he is uh having fun this morning. So let's get back to the funnels and the websites. Having both is a great, great strategy and what I recommend for most businesses. Don't feel like you have to start there though. If you're brand new listening to this, start with a you know a decent website that's going to really showcase who you are and provide trust, and then add in a funnel or two as you can. So if your website feels like it's floating or your funnels feel disconnected from your brand, that's a lot of the things that we solve here in our business. Just head on over to Smarteronline Business.com and you'll find a link to sign up for a newsletter where you can find out more about our products and our services. And you can always join our Facebook group too. Just go to SmarterOnline Business.com forward slash Facebook, and that will redirect you to our Facebook group to join there. So then for our final bonus tip, I want you to ask yourself, where does someone land first with you and with your business? And then where do they go next? Is that journey intentional or accidental? If you're not sure, it's probably accidental. If you can't clearly map that path, your website and funnel aren't strategically aligned. And that's something we want to work on and fix to really help boost conversions even more. That's all we have for this week's episode of the Smarter Online Business Podcast. I hope you thoroughly enjoyed it. And be sure to rate us and review us on your favorite podcast player because that helps spread the news about us and gets the word out to other business owners just like you to help them grow their business. And we will see you next week.