A website isn’t necessarily 100% effective in increasing the revenue of a business by merely having words and images on the page. In creating a website, you should make visitors more encouraged to go through the different pages to see what you offer. The final step should cause them to either sign up or buy the products, and this can be done by sound call-to-action techniques.
To make this happen, a call-to-action step is necessary. But how can this be done?
What is a CTA?
A call-to-action or CTA is an image or a line of text that provokes visitors and customers to take some action. This simply means that incorporation of something visually enticing to make website visitors interested in what the site/business has to offer and finally taking the action to click on it.
An action that you want people to take may range from booking an appointment, downloading an e-book or signing up for a newsletter.
The most common types of CTAs include the following:
- “Act Now”
- “Add to cart”
- “Sign up now”
- “Read More”
- “Help”
- “Submit”
CTAs can be found anywhere in a web page and the more CTAs there are, the better because this would mean better conversion.
The three ingredients of a CTA are based on:
- Content
- Appearance
- Location
Neglecting the importance of these three would definitely not help convert visitors to become customers. It is to be noted, however, that despite having to create more CTAs on a page, it should be used liberally.
CTAs should be placed correctly and should be designed accurately in a manner that can encourage visitors to click on it using text that is clear and powerful.
Call-To-Action Techniques
Building a business is not only based on how you want it to be but on how people would be able to respond to what you can offer. For example, creating a call-to-action on every page is a must which would make your visitor go through all your pages. Part of your marketing scheme is to provide something that will literally tickle the mind of your visitor who could possibly become a customer.
Here are some call-to-action techniques you can try to boost your business:
1. Creating a list of leads
Such call-to-action can help you create a list of leads by making your visitors sign up for a newsletter. Everybody loves free things. When you offer your visitors a free e-book, this could encourage them the seek more on what you offer. You can then gather a list of leads, which will eventually lead to a following.
One good strategy is to come up with a unique and informative online guide or e-book that would make people sign up or even purchase something on the site.
You may have come across websites that bluntly ask for the name and email address rather than finding a “submit” button at the bottom of the page. Some people would just skip that “submit” button because it is not promising enough to do. The best idea would be providing them with something – like a free e-book download – in exchange for the information you need.
It is highly effective to place sign-up buttons on every page to create a stream of leads for newsletters. But it is also wise to inform the visitors on the frequency of sending out the newsletters. People would not want to always be bombarded with a lot of emails coming from a single business to the point of becoming too annoying, as this would definitely make them unsubscribe.
2. “Read more” can do more
Some landing pages would provide excerpts of several posts. To ensure that people would be able to read what is on the pages, adding “read more” after a few lines of a certain post would mean that your engaging posts will receive the stats they deserve. Visitors would again be encouraged to click rather than scroll down, and it can guarantee that the post gets credited with its own traffic.
3. Content is still KING
The main purpose of creating a website for your business is to encourage people to patronize what you offer. Have you experienced such feeling that upon reading something on a certain site that you just feel the need to share the information with your friends?
The best way to make your visitors stay on your website and read through all the pages is by providing them unique and informative content that is worthy enough to be shared across different social media sites. This in turn helps you widen your virtual presence, thereby letting more people become aware of your business – marketing made easy by a single click!
4. The location, size and color matters
To encourage your visitor to click on that CTA button, it is important to remember that the most ideal location would either be at the center of the page or on top of the page where there are no additional or distracting images, which could dissuade them from clicking the button immediately.
The size should not be too small nor too big. There is no specific color to use but make sure the color would make the CTA stand out on the page. A page that uses different shades of a certain color may not be too encouraging enough and may even be missed out by visitors.
5. Call a sense of urgency
To create a sense of urgency, you must use lines within your page that would really make your visitors take the action. Some examples include the following:
- Offer good while supply lasts
- Special weekend offer
- The stocks are quickly selling out
Final Word
An eye-catching call-to-action design of about 225px wide and 45px high is ideal, using a contrasting color from your website design. There is a need to make use of actionable verbs to immediately encourage visitors to take action.
It is also important to let the people know exactly what will happen when they click on the call-to-action button. Make sure that what you advertise is not misleading. Otherwise, instead of creating a sales funnel, it could just break your hopes in sustaining the business.