A potential customer has just arrived at your homepage. What next? Do they browse aimlessly? Or worse, click the little X in the corner after a brief glance? Let’s look at how you can snag those eyeballs and translate them into real results with an effective call to action (CTA).
A CTA is a website element that encourages visitors to take a proactive step directly after viewing your content. Here are some common calls to action:
- Subscribe to our blog
- Contact us
- Sign up for our newsletter
- Request a free consultation
- Order a product sample
- Donate today
Such prompts get your visitors to immediately interact with your brand and morph into potential customers, readers, subscribers, and advocates. Would you believe 70% of small business B2B websites have yet to utilize this tactic on their website? Be better; consider the following to get started crafting powerful calls to action:
What are my goals and who is my target audience?
This will help you identify what the meat of your call should be. The answer may change depending on which page of your website you’re on. Consider what your audience is looking for as they browse your content and catch them in the right context.
Where should the call to action go?
You want people to immediately see your call to action, especially since the average visitor tunes out after 15 seconds. This may mean placing it on the upper half of the webpage. Even though scrolling is habitual in 2015, content placed above the fold is still grabbing the majority of our attention (source: Moz). Or, there may be a strong case to place it near relevant, strong content below the fold, as an interesting experiment by ContentVerve showed a 304% click increase. Either way, be sure your CTA stands out.
What is my message?
After you’ve established your goals and strategic placement, you’ll have to carefully consider the creation of a compelling message. As Entrepreneur cautions, too weak and viewers won’t be motivated; too strong and they’ll be turned off. After you’ve tweaked the copy, then it’s time to test, test, test to see what resonates with your audience. They also point out, “Every call to action needs to quickly answer two important questions for your visitors: What do you want them to do and why should they do it?”
Need help elevating your website’s potential with strategies like this? Contact us for a free consultation. At New Sky Websites, we’re experts in smart website design and online marketing strategy that delivers real results.
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