What's Your CTA?

The CTA, or Call To Action, is one of the most important parts of a web page's textual content. It is the phrase or sentence that leads a visitor to perform your desired action. It is the vehicle that drives your visitor to converting into a customer and can make the difference between a popular website and a profitable business. If you are relying on the most popular CTA on the web, "Click Here" (Google it and see how many results it displays), then you are unlikely to be generating the conversions you should.

Where To Use A CTA

A CTA can appear in all forms of contact and content. This is true of online and offline communications. Emails, newsletters, websites, and articles should all use an effective CTA in order to entice readers to take the next step. Many of these should have their own CTA defined by the target market, the surrounding content, and the next step in the process.

Personalising The CTA

Most web pages will have a different target market. Even if your website only has a minimal number of pages, and you use PPC or SEO to advertise those pages, each page will more than likely attract visitors of a different demographic. As such, the CTA, along with all page content, should be tailored to meet the most likely reader. This may mean a different CTA for each of the pages on your site, as well as any direct marketing communications, such as email or newsletters.

Never Miss An Opportunity

The power of the CTA can't be overstated. Even responses to customer inquiries should be geared towards a particular action. Attract general queries to seek more information from the relevant page of your website. This will need a unique CTA for each query that you receive. Alternatively, direct a potential consumer to the appropriate product page on your site. Again, this is going to need a unique CTA.

Where The CTA Directs

The CTA isn't always necessarily a direct link to a product purchase page, or to any product page, for that matter. The action that you wish your visitors to take may be to start the sales procedure rolling. It could be a call for them to contact you, sign up for a newsletter, or browse different pages of the site for more information. While all of these actions are usually designed to be an early step in the sales process, this doesn't necessarily have to be the case.

Different Site – Different Needs

Different types of site will obviously rely on different actions. Affiliate sites need to presell a product, and the action that you require from your visitors is actually quite a complex one. Rather than trying to directly sell something, you are trying to sell the concept of the product and direct visitors to the appropriate page on another website. You need to build a lot of trust but you also need to instill a lot of confidence in your visitors. The CTA can help you to achieve this goal when done properly.

Why Click Here Doesn't Make The Grade

"Click Here" as a standalone CTA is a poor one. It does little to call visitors into action, because they have no incentive and the action is not clearly defined. Yes, you want people to click the link, but they have no reason to do so based on the words "Click Here". Defining the action is an important concept. If you want visitors to click and read more then even the CTA "Click here to learn more" is a better one.

Doing Your Research

One of the most common methods of researching content for a website is looking at competitor's sites. While it is a bad move to copy the content, on so many levels, it gives an idea of what might prove popular and might not. With a CTA, the same is true. Market research and visitor analysis should help you determine where and why your visitors are landing on the pages they do.

If a page's traffic has arrived through search engine listings or PPC ads then this gives you an excellent idea of the keywords that have attracted them. Typically, for more general keywords, your CTA should be less sales orientated and more geared towards pushing the visitor around the site. Conversely, very specific search phrases, especially those that are obviously used by interested buyers, could warrant the use of a powerful buying CTA. As with many varieties of online marketing, doing your research is essential.

Effective Use Of The CTA For Your Website

Using as personalised a CTA as possible is the best approach. When a visitor believes that the CTA is written for them they will be more inclined to take the action you want them to. Essentially, this is good practice for any website content and will increase conversions, whatever your desired CTA.