Calls-to-Action: An Important Part of Your Website

In today’s online economy, everyone is competing to get your click. Calls-to-action are the tools to make this happen. They have the power to grab people’s attention and direct it to new topics.

A call-to-action (CTA) is an image or text that prompts visitors to take action, such as subscribe to a newsletter, view a webinar or request a product demo. CTAs should direct people to landing pages, where you can collect visitors’ contact information in exchange for a valuable marketing offer. The purpose of the CTA is to generate more leads and conversions for your website.

You should create a variety of CTAs that span across different stages of the sales cycle. The more CTAs you produce, the more opportunities you create to convert visitors into leads.

Types of Calls-To-Action:

CTAs for well-performing offers – offers that have traditionally provided a high visitor-to-conversion rate show that there is demand for the offer. Create a CTA around that offer.

CTAs for high-quality offers – create CTAs not only for the highly compelling ‘white paper download’ offers, but also for product demonstrations or sales consultations as this offer is further along the sales funnel and more valuable in qualifying prospects.

CTAs based on behaviour – use the information you know about prospects and anticipate what they might want next. Keeping them on your website longer by providing additional information will make them strong supporters who share your message.

CTAs for upcoming campaigns – give your visitors the opportunity to sign up for upcoming events or contests.

On-Site Call-to-action Placement:

Calls-to-action should be sprinkled liberally throughout your website. As the most visited page on your site, the home page should have more than one CTA. Try for two or three that drive visitors to different services or products you offer. Don’t put CTAs on landing pages. This is where the visitor will get the information they’re looking for by either downloading or providing an email address to be sent your newsletter.

Determine what the visitor should do next when they land on any particular page, and have the call-to-action tell them what that is. Help visitors understand what they should do next.

Your blog is an excellent opportunity to offer CTAs that are relevant to the content. Throughout a blog post you can encourage people to: download some content, follow you on social media, subscribe to the blog, or join your newsletter email. Make sure that the CTA is related to the content of the blog post so as to be relevant to the reader.

Off-Site Call-To-Action Placement:

Calls-to-action should be included in any email marketing you do. There should be a link within the first couple of sentences, another link in the middle, and one at the end. This gives your followers the opportunity to learn more about you and what you offer.

You will also want to incorporate CTAs within your social media profiles and activity. Tweets should contain links to your offers. LinkedIn answers provide opportunities to share your expertise with those who have questions. Facebook business pages are another opportunity to get your CTA out there.

Wherever you control content, look for an opportunity to insert a call-to-action such as your email signature, pay per click campaigns, press releases, YouTube video descriptions etc.

For more information about CTAs, visit hubspot.com

Marnie Hughes is an SEO copywriter, author and online marketer. She works with small and medium-sized businesses to develop their marketing and communications and expand their customer base.