Calls to Action: Part One

To say that 2020 has been a crazy year is an understatement. With everything going on the past six months, we kind of abandoned blogging for a while. I cannot guarantee that we will be nearly as consistent as we were in pre-COVID days, but we’re trying to get back on track this month. We’ve been thinking a lot about websites lately, and with web presence being as vital as ever, now seems a good time for a mini blog series on one aspect of a website. 

What is a Call To Action? 

A Call To Action is as it sounds; it’s a device intended to prompt an immediate response or action. Technically, it’s a marketing term that isn’t solely related to websites; however, it’s an important tool for a website to encourage visitors to do something. If you’ve ever visited a website and noticed buttons for “Buy Now” or “Make An Appointment,” then you get the picture.

Why is it important? 

Well, if you ever intend to connect with your online audience, sell a product, or provide a service, then it’s pretty important. Your call to action is how you get people to take the next step and potentially engage with your business. People can read your website all day long, but unless you have an accessible call to action, then your online audience won’t know how to take the next step. 

I know that probably sounds a little ridiculous, but it’s true. For the most part, people don’t have the time or patience to sift through your entire website. In fact, you have less than 15 seconds to get an online visitor’s attention. There’s more to keeping someone on your page than a good call to action, which we plan on talking about on the blog later this month, but this is one piece of the puzzle. 

Where should it be? 

This is debatable depending on which marketing book or guru you want to follow. Most people seem to agree that it should be somewhere above the fold (i.e. on the upper half of your web page). This is because of that whole less than 15 seconds thing I mentioned earlier. However, there is also some validity to having different types of call to actions in different places depending on what you’re asking your online visitors to do. For example, calling visitors to sign up for your newsletter or email updates is less urgent and can have success placed below the fold. 

Currently, we have two calls to action in our main banner. One is our main action that we hope people will take, and the other is a call to download a free resource. We repeat the call for the free resource again on the homepage below the fold. We also repeat our call to “Schedule A Consultation” on the far right side of the main menu. We do this so that no matter which page our visitors see, their invitation to schedule a free consultation is always present. 

So, are you using calls to action on your website, and if so, how? 

Also, stay tuned next week as we go into some examples of highly effective calls to action.