Calls to Action: The what, the why, the where and the how
Posted on 28th June 2018
Calls to action (CTAs) are a vital part of any website. Here, we’ll let you in on a few trade secrets about how to effectively use CTAs on your website. Why? Just because we’re nice like that.
What is a call to action?
So let’s tackle this before we go any further, because knowledge is power and all that, and we want your website to have the power to do its job as effectively as possible.
A call to action (CTA) is a line of text or a picture that encourages visitors to your site to ‘do’ something. …Click here, phone this number, take this survey, download this, and the like…
The action you want people to take could be anything: contact us today, sign up for a webinar, get a coupon, attend a seminar, etc.
Why you should use CTAs
They ask visitors to engage with your company – and engaged visitors stay on your site longer. Not only that, but by actually doing something visitors are far more likely to remember your company and think favourably of you, compared to their passive equivalents who just stop by, take a look and move on. You want to be remembered, and you want it to be for all the right reasons. CTAs can do that for you.
In short, effective websites use calls to action and so should you.
Where you should use CTAs on your website
A CTA can be placed anywhere – on your website, in an ebook, in an email, or even at the end of a blog post. But when considering effective web design, there are a few guidelines to consider…
People won’t stay long unless you give them a reason to, so don’t hide your CTAs away. That means putting them near the top of pages instead of anywhere visitors need to scroll to get to. Yes, people really are that lazy.
And on a similar vein, put CTAs in direct line of sight – ie. so they take no effort to get to and cannot be missed.
Don’t put two CTAs near each other though, as that just means you’re competing against yourself unnecessarily, and neither CTA will benefit.
How to create effective CTAs
Make them the right colour – this doesn’t necessarily mean bright but does mean eye-catching. Make sure it both fits in with the rest of your website, yet catches your visitor’s attention. You can even create something that veers away from your branding if it helps the CTA make an impact.
Increase the font size – bigger is better in this case (within reason), again this is because it will make the CTA stand out.
Place them directly in the line of sight, people are lazy and this will help you.
Minimize the number of fields people need to fill out – they don’t want to, and they will give up if they get bored.
Use copy that makes people want to click – ie. ‘click here’ is not great. ‘be in with a chance of winning £50k’ will do the job a lot better. But the cash incentive isn’t the important bit – ‘start your journey now’ works just as well.
Go jargon-free, be clear, be concise and use actionable verbs.
So, here is our Call to Action!
If you think your business would benefit from a new website and you don't know where to start, why not have a free, non-obligation consultation with it'seeze Horsham. Call us today on 01403 610125 or send us an email, and we'll get a date in the diary.
Tagged as: Website tips
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