You probably already have a call to action or two on your website, but this post will show you why they’re important, where to put them, and what they should communicate to your potential customers. Read on to learn the details behind our recommendations:
WHY SHOULD I USE CALLS TO ACTION?
A racetrack is shaped the way it is for a reason. Without a finish line and barriers indicating where the racecars are supposed to go, there would be chaos. Some drivers may not even realize it was a race and spend their time idling past the concession stands. Show your website traffic that it IS a race; a race to buy your product/schedule your service/read your articles. Placing a call to action will help to direct that traffic wherever you’d like them to go.
Your call to action doesn’t have to be sales-y or even pushy. You can use a question as simple as “Want to learn more about whale migration patterns? Click this button to subscribe to our quarterly newsletter!” Show them that you offer what they want, or whatever they’re interested in, and then deliver.
Calls to action also help with site readability. They help to create a general flow from page to page on your site, making sure that nobody gets lost on an island page that’s lacking links to the rest of the site.
WHERE SHOULD I PLACE MY CALLS TO ACTION?
It’s pretty common practice to include a call to action on the bottom of nearly every page of the website. I like to include Contact Forms or Calls to Action that direct customers to our Contact page on most services pages or other landing pages. A call to action can also be as indirect as a request to check back on your site for more products or updates at a later time!
Another way to utilize a call to action is to get people to partake in some sort of sample from your business, whether it’s a freebie download, an email newsletter, or a coupon for your services. It’s important to direct your website traffic around both your website and your brand, and your calls to action can help give any under-appreciated aspects of your business some exposure, improving your brand awareness. A great place for more calls to action would be your sidebar, or even your main header/navigation menu.
WHAT SHOULD I PUT IN MY CALLS TO ACTION?
Depending on what you’re trying to get your website traffic to do, you can use a variety of phrases and tactics. You can show a bit of your playful side with a somewhat lazy tactic I like to call the “You Know You Want To”. It goes like this:
Think you like what you see? Subscribe to our newsletter to see more in your inbox every week. You know you want to! Everybody’s doing it!
If you’re not careful, you may sound a little desperate, but it gets the job done. You can also try a simple measure that I like to call “The Button Tells it All” that consists of nothing but a colored button or image with a description of where a click will take your site visitor, like:
CONTACT US or CLICK TO READ MORE
You should test out different wording around your site and see which pages lend themselves to more click-throughs. My recommendation would be for more calls to action to follow the “What’s In It For Me” formula:
Reserve your spot today to get clean carpets in time for the holiday guests to arrive!
OR
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As you can see, there are many varieties and techniques used in promoting your own business on your website and driving your website traffic through different channels and pages. Whether you’re looking for more social media follows or to actually book jobs, a simple call to action can be that extra little push a potential customer needs to pick up the phone or click that button.
How have you utilized calls to action on your site? What is your plan to promote conversions with your website traffic?
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