Calls to action are an integral part of any marketing strategy. They are the bridge between a content offer and the delivery of a qualified lead via landing page. Without CTAs, there’s no way for anyone to take any kind of next step with your content and if there’s no way to progress your website users through your sales funnel, then what is happening to all that web traffic you’ve generated?
Here’s your hint.
So how can we generate calls to action that don’t simply read ‘contact us’ or ‘buy now’. How do we target the 97% of your website traffic who aren’t yet at the point of sale and move them to the next step in the buying journey? How do we target other parts of the sales funnel? You’d be surprised at how simple yet effective a real call to action can be. Here are some ideas:
1. Leave a Comment
Encourage feedback by engaging readers with your blog comment section. By asking them a question based on your topic, you can help kick off the conversation. For example, if your blog post is about harvesting your garden tomatoes, you could end the post with a question like “What are you planning to do with your fall harvest this year? Share your ideas below.” Once the conversation is underway you can keep it going by replying to the comments provided by your readers.
2. Inline CTAs
A call to action isn’t always a big button at the end of a blog post. They can be as simple as linking text directly from your post to more information. As long as the text is actionable it will direct people toward a next step. You could link to related content, support material, a landing page. etc.
3. Subscribe
One of the simplest ways to grow your readership is to employ a CTA that allows users to subscribe to your blog and take the first baby step toward becoming a paying customer. Make your subscription method as simple as possible and don’t ask for anything more than a name and email. Making it easy increases conversion rate. Heck, even Old Navy asks for your email when you buy a pair of corduroys and you give it to them. Why? Because it’s easy, and you’re already there.
That will be $17.99, and an eternity of spam.
4. Social Sharing
Another great way to get people interacting is by generating calls to action that encourage people to connect via social media either by visiting the company social pages or by sharing your content with others on various social media platforms. Make it as simple as possible to share and follow your content. If all they have to do is click a button to share, you’re likely to have a much higher sharing rate. Quick inline CTAs that say things like “Tweet This” are also great for quick sharing quotes, infographics and other juicy tidbits of data.
5. Smart CTAs
If nothing else, it’s highly important to implement a CTA at the end of your blog post that allows the reader to take action. That’s great, but depending on where they are in the sales funnel, not everyone is going to want the same additional content. If you’re already set up to segment leads as they come in through the website, you can begin serving different content to each group with Smart CTAs.
For example, a new visitor may be presented with an introductory offer like downloading a list of tips. A lead who is already in your system can be presented with a CTA for a free demo or trial. A current customer may see a CTA with some extra features of your product or service that they can take advantage of. By making use of Smart CTAs and serving custom content to each group you can increase conversion throughout your sales funnel.
There are a plethora of ways you can get your website traffic to take the next step. For more tips on driving more traffic, leads and sales, try our free guide:
No Comments
Be the first to start a conversation