What is a CTA and Why Does My Website Need Them?
CTA stands for Call to Action. These are the important words, phrases, and clickable links that compel the reader to take action. What is this action we speak of? Well, it’s a prompt to lead them to read more, subscribe to your blog, buy your book, and much more.
Without them, a reader can be unsure of how to make the next move. A good CTA will make that clear. CTAs use language and placement that make them hard to miss. You don’t want to entice your reader only to have them wondering, Now what?
The purpose of a CTA is to drive conversion. But they can drive different types of conversions.
Using CTAs on Your Website Can Serve Many Purposes
CTAs aren’t used exclusively for driving sales. Using CTAs on your website can mean visitors clicking through to other pages, or subscribing to your blog. It depends on your strategy and goals. So don’t think of them as just a Buy Now button. They are able to do much more.
The Type of CTAs You Use Can Make a Difference
When using CTAs on your website, you need to consider their purpose. This means you want to use them strategically. Not every CTA needs to be a direct command or a Buy Now button.
Of course, you want to use the most direct call to action when you are hoping to get a new subscriber or to buy your book. But they can also be used more subtly and for other purposes.
For instance, you can use them for getting a reader to click through to another page on your website that leads them to the page where they can buy your book. And that page should also have a clear, compelling, and more direct CTA.
CTA’s can come in many forms too! Buttons. Popups. Links. There are many options.
Good Copy Matters Too!
The thing about using CTAs on your website that most people don’t pay enough attention to, is the copy leading up to the CTA. Yes, the CTA itself can and should be unique, compelling and irresistible. But if the copy leading the reader to it is lackluster or confusing, then they’re not going to be as effective.
All the copy and content on your website needs to be polished, optimized for SEO, and purposeful.
Some Stats to Inspire Using CTAs on Your Website
This is where things get inspiring! Seeing how using CTAs on your website can make a big difference in your conversions and boost your SEO may make you take some action yourself. Apparently, 70% of small business websites lack a CTA completely. So it seems like using them is probably a great way to get ahead of the competition.
Here are some stats we gathered from internet resources. They are all recent or updated for 2023 and 2024:
- Using CTA’s in the anchor text on your blog can increase conversions by 121%. Whoa!
- Unique, customized CTAs convert 42% more website visitors. Getting creative goes a long way!
- Button-shaped CTAs increased clicks by 45%. We talked about buttons, right?
- Buttons with an arrow and red buttons received between a 21% and 25% increase. Even shape and color matter.
- Images can increase conversions by nearly 64%! They work even better on mobile device users.
- Modal style popups increase email sign-ups by almost 75% compared to the slide in styles. So, style matters too.
We’d like to note that where you place your buttons matter too. It should also be noted that conversion rates, according to our sleuthing, aren’t very great on average. They hover around less than 3%. Maybe because no one is using CTAs? So do what you can to increase them!
Check Out These Examples to Get an Idea of How CTAs Work
These scenarios can show how using CTAs on your website can make a big difference!
- Let’s say someone comes to your website, landing on your Homepage. A friend told them about you so they looked you up. They know you’ve recently written a book. Even though it’s mentioned that you’re an author, there is no link in the text or prompt to find out about your book. That visitor may go to the menu to find your Book page. They may not. But if there is an obvious prompt and a clickable link taking them to their Book page, and that Book page has an eye-catching Buy Now button, it not only greatly increases the chances that there will be a click-through to your Book page, but that they may even buy your book.
- Maybe a reader finds one of your blog posts via a keyword search. They read that post, and they want to know more. They could click a link prompting them to read another post, or that takes them to your Book page, or your About Page. They could keep clicking through and increase their time on your website—all of which is good for your SEO—but nothing compelled them to do so. You may have lost a future dedicated fan because you weren’t using CTAs on your website in strategic ways.
- Imagine a website visitor ends up on your website because they’ve found your book and want to know more about you. So they click on the menu and go to your About Page. They read about you and become more interested in what you have to say. Then they see a CTA leading them to your upcoming speaking events, readings, or classes. Wow, they think, I want to go to that! So they click to buy the course, or the tickets, or maybe just show up at your reading for support. Bam! Conversion.
Ultimately, using CTAs on your website can make a big difference in your conversion rates! Now that you see how they work and how and where you can use them, you can take advantage of their power.
So, we say, Go for it! Start using the simple power of the CTA and see if it grows your subscriber list, sells more books, and draws people into your website content.
Need help? We build in these features when we design our websites and we have a copywriter to help you out with content and copy if you need it.
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