Optimize Your Website with an Effective Call-To-Action

On-site optimization ensures that visitors to your website have a seamless experience and can find information they're looking for. This comes down to good design: beautiful layout, useful white space, clear copy, and functionality.

The crucial element of on-site optimization is what marketers call "conversion optimization."

Conversion optimization is the process of encouraging visitors to take action on your site. How do you do that? By clarifying the action for visitors.

What Is a Call-To-Action?

A Call-To-Action (CTA) is an image, pop-up, line of text, or button that encourages people to take a specific step. A CTA instructs a website visitor to do something. It is important to evaluate and consider the CTAs that can help your business. The most common CTAs include:

• Learn More - show me more
• Form Submission - contact us
• Social Media Sharing CTAs - follow and share
• Lead Generation - get a free demo
• Close the Sale - buy now

How is a CTA  beneficial?

An attractive and appealing CTA entices website visitors to quickly click and take an action on your website. Creating a sense of urgency to your CTA keeps your website visitors focused on the desired action. It is a great way to guide users to navigate from one stage to another and get them to learn more about your products and services.

It is crucial to have a CTA on nearly every page of your website. This includes your homepage, product/services pages, blog posts and landing pages. Effective CTAs should turn your visitors into top of funnel leads and convert leads to customers.

What makes a CTA effective?

The best CTAs are the ones that work organically. They fit in with the surrounding content and create an instant emotional reaction. CTAs will differ depending the type of business and marketing approach. But there are fundamental elements to any effective CTA.

• Size -  the point of a CTA is to draw attention and encourage people to click. However, bigger is not always better. The CTA should stand out , but needs to balance within the design of your website.
• Color - choosing the right color and shape is critical. You want to create an energetic feeling. The CTA should contrast with the website design, but no so much that it looks out of place. 
• Copy - action verbs that create a sense of urgency will prompt visitors to stay focused and act immediately. 
• Placement - the position of CTA's is crucial, having the right size, color or copy won't matter if you place in an area where people can't locate them. The CTA should fit within the path of the user.

Key Takeaways

You want to make sure you are leading prospective customers to do something actionable on your website. 

Think about the primary action you want visitors to take, and make sure that action is clearly and prominently communicated via a button or clear link to a landing page. Ensure that the value of this action is clearly communicated. Make sure that it's not competing with other buttons or links for attention.

If this article was helpful for you, you may like our in-depth eBook. It provides even more tips to ensure your website is optimized for conversions and quality engagements with your prospects.