If you haven’t been entirely happy with your
Why are CTAs important
The whole point of content is to get readers to take action.
How you wrap up your post, encourage readers to leave a comment, share on social, or even the way you frame the general content on your website, is critical.
Through all the content you are conversing with the readers. Content should be laid out intuitively and guide its readers systematically. This is not possible without clearly defined and easy to follow CTA buttons and/or links strategically placed.
Don’t assume people will sign up for a blog just because the web design looks amazing, the blog posts are highly relevant to them and the videos are engaging. Also, don’t assume just because they enjoyed reading your article they will click on the ‘like’ button. They might browse your blog. They may even come back. They may not necessarily take any action beyond that, though.
Yes, the content has to be inspiring and moving, but the majority of readers need a nudge to take action in the form of a professional and compelling CTA.
Here are some ways to accomplish that:
Spruce up your landing pages
A landing page is simply the page that you want visitors to see when they land on your website. If they reach your website by clicking a link on your Twitter profile, they might not necessarily land on the home page. It could be a blog post that they first see or any page that you have linked them to, but that does not necessarily make it a landing page.
A landing page could contain a number of things — a welcome message, an image, a brief bio of the owner(s), links to downloadable resources, discount coupons. But most importantly, it should contain clear CTA buttons to prompt the visitors to take the desired action. Usually, this involves providing one’s name and email address in order to subscribe to updates.
If you do not ask visitors in clear terms to sign up, they might not do so even though the website/blog itself does capture their fancy.
A CTA can make a visitor travel the extra distance to becoming a lead.
Spell out the benefits
If you want someone to take a particular action, you need to convey to them the benefits of doing so.
- Why should they sign up for your blog?
- How exactly would the content help them?
- Is it just the email updates or are there other resources too?
- Why should they spend their precious time reading your blog updates?
Invite readers’ feedback
End your articles with an invitation to your readers to participate in comments. Ask them to share their experiences or thoughts. Asking specific questions could further nudge a reader to take this action.
This feedback could be positive or negative. Don’t try to manipulate it. When people engage of their own accord, the chances of them signing up with you are higher.
Give them something concrete to do
If you feel asking people to leave a comment isn’t quite cutting it, here’s an example of an elaborate CTA, which, fittingly, gets readers to open up and express themselves at length in their comments:
This CTA inspired 258 comments, all of which had readers pouring their hearts out on the blog and generating conversations that made them feel heard and valued.
Use relatable tone in your content
Professional doesn’t have to be dry or disconnected. Adopt a tone that brings you closer to the people you want to reach.
If you sell baby products, you know the kind of tone that new parents, especially new mothers, appreciate. Use this to your advantage. Your CTAs will look naturally personal if the rest of the content is personal, too.
It won’t be a big leap for your visitors then to entrust you with their information.
Use humor to spice things up
It helps not to take oneself too seriously. Humorous content and CTAs can get a reaction out of your visitors, converting prospects into hot leads.
Don’t we love it when we come across a quote that perfectly explains our feelings? It could be a t-shirt, a line in a movie, a brand tagline or it could be something that we read in a blog post.
We can’t wait to share a beautiful quote. If you have good writers your content must be sprinkled with rich and highly shareable quotes. In addition to social buttons elsewhere on the blog, also incorporate them next to the best of the sentences, the ones that meet Twitter’s character limit.
Sometimes a quote can capture the essence of a story or it could represent an interesting idea that somehow rises above the topic of the blog post itself.
You increase the likelihood of your content being shared by incorporating share buttons within the content.
Clearly spelled out CTAs can have a tremendous positive impact on the success of content. When done the right way, CTAs turn content into a clarion call. It’s possible you might not be able to get this right the first time. A bit of trial and error will tell you how your readers react to certain CTAs. You can track and measure the performance of CTAs with Google Analytics. Keep experimenting. As a business grows, its content evolves, too. CTAs become more natural and compelling at the same time.
What examples do you know of CTAs that generate heightened user engagement? Any personal favorites? Leave a comment and let us know!
Images: ” Blue stamp on a glittering background: call to action /Shutterstock.com“
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