Once you’ve set up a website, the next step is to drive traffic through digital marketing. We can assure you with 100% certainty that a strategic, well-thought-out digital marketing campaign WILL bring people to your website. The bigger problem is when people land on your website, what would you want them to do?
Entrepreneurs are often so focused on blogs, videos, and images as the primary forms of content that they overlook one essential element of web copy – a button that can deliver the desired results.
This button is called the Call-to-Action (CTA) button; a key feature of your website that tells the visitor what you want them to do upon landing on the page.
The CTA button is small in size and does not occupy a lot of real estate on your website. But when properly designed and located, the CTA button can yield big results for your business.
Call-To-Action: What Is It Really?
A Call-to-Action is a command, instruction, or a specific course of action that you want the audience to take. On a website, the CTA is typically presented as a button, usually on the home page which is the landing page when someone clicks on its URL.
In website design, all the elements of a webpage must work together. For a home page, the Header carries the business’ Brand Value Proposition (BVP).
As we discussed in our article “One Simple Hack to Get More Website Engagement”, a Header that captures the interest of the visitor within 6 to 8 seconds is critical to cause the visitor to explore your website.
He may scroll down and find your CTA button. The next few seconds will determine if the visitor will move further down the sales funnel – or abandon the search and click out of your website.
The CTA button must answer this question:
“What do you want the visitor to do NOW?”
Why You Need A Clear-Cut CTA On Your Website
Let’s assume you’re really hungry and badly craving a burger and fries. You enter a restaurant with a slogan (think of it as the website Header) of serving the biggest, juiciest burgers in the world.
When you enter the restaurant, you have no clue where to sit and how to order. No one’s attending to you and there are no signs on the entrance detailing the next steps.
With your stomach grumbling, chances are, you’ll forego the biggest and juiciest burgers in the world and just opt for the regular, fast-food burger next door – perhaps 2 or 3 orders this time!
A vague, lackluster, and drab CTA will have the same effect on a potential customer who lands on your home page.
We defined CTA as a form of command or instruction and these descriptions might seem too forceful or aggressive. But an effective CTA is one that is crystal clear; there’s no second-guessing on the action you want the website visitor to take.
With a consumer needing only a few seconds to make a decision, you can’t afford to be cute with your CTA. It has to grab the visitor by the collar, get in his face, and tell him with absolute certainty what he needs to do next.
If your CTA is unclear and leaves the website visitor wondering what he’s supposed to do next, he will leave and you will end up leaving money on the home page.
Examples Of Good And Bad CTAs
Let’s start out this section by giving you examples of CTAs that won’t get the job done for your website:
- Learn More
- Get Started
- Ask Me How
- Take Part in the Journey
- Click to Believe
These CTAs will fail to deliver because they’re ambiguous to the visitor. It’s not clear how taking the action will help the visitor find the solution to his concern. The CTA does not convince the visitor that you’re the answer.
A CTA might as well be called Compel to Action because that’s what you want the button to do – act or move according to your command.
Why? Because by following the instruction of the CTA, the visitor will find what he’s looking for. Whether it’s solutions, answers, or information – by clicking on your CTA button, he will get it.
Here are 10 examples of effective CTAs that will compel the visitor to act:
- Buy Now
- Book an Appointment
- Sign Up For Free
- Get 1 Month Free NOW
- Click for FREE Access
- Click for FREE Consultation
- Get Free Estimate Now
- Download Free Copy
- Claim Your Free Gift
- Click For BIG Discounts
When you go over these examples, the CTAs are crystal clear on what they want you to do.
How do these CTAs work or deliver results for your website?
Example 1: A Pharmaceutical Company that sells insecticides and disinfectant products engineered to kill mosquitos, cockroaches, other insects, and green chemicals proven to destroy a wide spectrum of bacteria and viruses.
Header: Keeping Homes and Offices Safe From Diseases, Bacteria, and Viruses For Over 50 Years.
CTA: Buy Now
Example 2: A roof repair company with extensive experience fixing leaks and other forms of damage.
Header: One-Stop Shop For All Your Roofing Needs
CTA: Book An Appointment
As you can see, the CTA is aligned with the Header and the company’s overall value proposition. It answers the question:
“What can we do for you?”
Answer – Click our CTA!
6 Rules For Creating A Good CTA For Your Website
Creating a CTA that works wonders for your website is not as hard as you might think. Here are 6 rules you need to keep in mind when coming up with a good CTA for your website.
1. Support the Header
Yes, we’ve mentioned this quite a few times in this article. But it’s worth stating again the importance of having a CTA that clearly aligns with your Header. The CTA must help push the visitor further down the sales funnel.
2. Be Bold and Clear
A General isn’t vague when he gives the Private an order to “drop 10”. The Private has to drop down right away and knock out a set of 10 push-ups.
With the CTA you have to be bold and tell the visitor what you want him to do. Buy, sign up, try, subscribe, claim, or download – be clear in telling the visitor what he needs to do next.
3. Make it Emphatic
Assume that the visitor who landed on your page wants a solution NOW. He clicked on the right URL, it’s up to your CTA to push him to act by creating a sense of urgency.
4. Keep it Short
If you noticed from our examples of good CTAs, the maximum word count is 4. Can you go over? Sure, but it should not compromise the effectiveness of the 3 previously discussed tips for a good CTA. Too many words and the message can get lost.
5. Visually Appealing Design
The CTA should stand out on the webpage. Ideally, it must be brightly-colored and creates a wonderful contrast with the background.
6. Location Must Be Visible
The CTA usually comes after the Header. It must be clearly seen and easily identifiable to the reader. The font size must be large enough to be visible with enough spacing between the words to make it highly-readable.
Conclusion
If your website isn’t delivering results, the CTA could be the problem. We recommend to our clients that they run A/B testing among possible CTAs to have an idea which one has the best chance of generating the desired outcome.
The CTA accentuates your sales pitch to the visitor. Take your time in coming up with one for your website.
Better yet, give us a call and we’ll create a CTA that will meet your business goals. We’ll run the A/B tests so we can assure you that our CTA is the right choice for your website.
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