Tips for Creating an Effective Call-to-Action

effective call-to-actionAfter you make a website, you need to focus on bringing in visitors. While landing pages are great ways to make that happen, using links and sales copy alone won’t always do the trick.

If you want people to click through to visit your site, you need strong calls-to-action. A call-to-action (CTA) simply encourages a visitor to take the next step toward becoming a lead or a customer: to read another article, take a freebie, or buy your product.

Here are some common calls-to-action:

    • Start your free trial!
    • Download our free guide.
    • Buy it now.
    • See it in action.
    • Take a tour.

You can even try clever ways to engage visitors, like daring them not to do something (for example, we dare you not to click the shiny red megaphone above.)

Here are more tips to help you create the best calls-to-action possible.

Keep it simple. When you make a website, you want it to be easy to navigate. The same is true with creating a CTA. Resist the urge to cram in as many words as possible. Avoid technical terms, acronyms, or words that people would have to look up in the dictionary. After writing your call-to-action, take a close look. If you see any adjectives or adverbs, try removing them. The result will be a clear, simple, effective call-to-action.

Use action words. Your call-to-action should prompt people to take the next step down the conversion funnel. Use verbs such as click, learn, find, download, examine, and explore. 

Throw in a statistic. This is one way to spice up your CTA without making it too complicated. For instance, you could say something like, “Download the e-book that 1,323 people have already read!”

Make it easy to find. Your call to action should appear on the upper portion of the page. Visitors shouldn’t have to scroll down to find it. Depending on the page design, it might make sense to center your CTA on the page or set it apart from the rest of the content. Take advantage of contrasting colors and different button shapes, as well as 3-D qualities that can help make your call-to-action irresistible. 

Test it. Don’t automatically assume your CTA is working for you. Use analytical software to check the conversion rate for your landing page, and take advantage of A/B testing: trying several versions of a call-to-action to see which one gets better results.

Patriot Software, Inc., develops online software for U.S. small businesses, including online payroll software, applicant tracking software, human resources software, an employee portal, and 1099 software. Patriot Software also offers a payroll tax filing service for payroll customers, and is developing bookkeeping software and a website builder. For a free trial, visit www.PatriotSoftware.com. 

We provide fast, simple, and affordable accounting and payroll software. After a rough start-up experience, we know first hand what small businesses need in order to breakthrough and achieve success. So we created a software service to help you keep the two things you don’t have enough of… time and money.

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