Thanks for joining me on the final part of my series and we’ll be discussing the importance of proper call-to-actions. Many web designers make the mistake of NOT including the right call-to-actions during their web design and this makes it tough for them to include them at a later time. Before continuing, it’s important to go back a read Part 1 and 2 so you get a better idea of other factors discussed. Because these factors are often forgotten by web designers, it’s important we shed light on them so you can make the right changes during the development stage. Let’s jump right in…
The Call-To-Action
Having a proper call-to-action is very important whether you’re writing content or creating opt-in forms. Many visitors who arrive on your page will be new to Internet marketing and are NOT clear about what to do after reading your content. However, if you can provide guidance, then this will increase your conversions, adding to your bottom line. Call-to-action buttons can be in the following forms:
These call-to-actions are meant to provide a conclusion to a process. You’ll notice, on landing pages, there’s the “submit” button and when on a product page, the “buy now” button is the final call-to-action. However, when designing a website, they are important so you can add them in the right place and start testing them right away. This is often ignored by designers and they add them at a later time, making it more difficult for them.
Adding a call-to-action during the development doesn’t have to be difficult because there have been some areas proven to increase conversions. For example, consider the following:
Sidebar – This is a very common place to add a call-to-action button and has been proven to increase conversions. When using WordPress, you’ll notice the sidebar widget will be seen on every page so it gets in front of the reader effectively. However, even with a form or call-to-action within the sidebar, it’s important to test different colors, text, and images to get optimal conversion rate.
Embed in Text – This is another common area, especially if you’re providing value to the reader. As the visitor scrolls through the text and enjoys the value, you’ve increased the chance they’ll opt into your call-to-action. I recommend adding a call-to-action half way down in your content and right at the bottom. Again, you should test different elements until you have achieved optimal conversions. Next, if you’re using WordPress, a simple plug-in will make it easy for you to implement a call-to-action in the following forms:
- Subscription
- Purchase
- Banner ad
- Social sharing
However, sometimes you don’t have to add a call-to-action in between text because you can make your phrase an actual call-to-action. I’m sure many of us have seen the following highlighted “click here”, “read more”, etc. These are call-to-action words, however, the designer won’t be able to implement this strategy because it’s often done by the content writer.
Footer – When you visit popular blogs, you’ll notice many of them have call-to-actions in the footer. Here’s something cool when you check out JohnChow.com.
You’ll notice he has links to popular content and even a way to download his awesome eBook. What this does is increase the chances of someone opting into his email form. Then, he can run a series of follow-ups to increase his bottom line and conversion rate. It’s a very effective strategy and has worked well because readers always scroll to the bottom when they finish reading content. If they miss the call-to-actions within the text or sidebar, you’ve just given them another way to convert into a customer. However, again, testing is the best way to find out what works so always split test your campaigns. Once you find out what’s working, you can start implementing this strategy in different places on your blog.