Call to action for a website

Many business owners approach Green Umbrella Marketing as they are keen to learn more about social media. But before we engage a new client in social media management services we always find ourselves suggesting a list of actions that they need to implement on their website or landing pages first to optimise them and ensure they are ready to convert.  At the end of the day, there is little point in spending lots of time and money using social media to drive traffic back to your website, if the results are no conversions when the visitor lands on your site?

Do you have a call to action?

When looking at a landing page or website, the first question is always “Do you have a call to action above the fold of your website?”.  Ideally, we’re looking for:

• A nicely designed image with call to action buttons
• General language on the site such as call us, click here, download, join us, subscribe now, click play, etc.
• Are visitors to the web page being given something to do when they arrive ie: Searching for jobs, properties, or asking them to download an offer or an ebook/whitepaper.

Recently, I was asked “Ok, but what type of calls to action would you suggest for my website?”.  This question made me realise just how many options there are to choose from.  Listed below are the three main ways to add a call to action on the homepage of your website, along with a list of “quick fixes”.

#1 – Embed a video

A video is probably the strongest type of call to action for a website.  Using a video to promote your services, upsell a product, event, or even sharing advice or tips to show that you are an expert in your field is essential.  The golden rule is NEVER set the video to autoplay as that tends to annoy people. They will switch it off before listening to a single word!

Another benefit of a video “call to action” is from an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) point of view. The longer a visitor stays on your website, the better it is for Google rankings as this helps with everything from bounce rates to and helps increase page experience scores.  (Speak to your web developer or web designer on how best to embed the video into your website so it doesn’t slow it down too much!)

#2 – Inbound Marketing Techniques

Adding lead generation forms via inbound marketing techniques is crucial if you want your site to work for you as a marketing tool.  All lead generation forms should ideally be linked to an email service provider such as MailChimp, Active Campaign, Constant Contact, Keap (Infusionsoft), etc.

What is inbound marketing?

Drive people to your website from your social media activities, and encourage them to download a free ebook, white paper, checklist, assessment, quiz, or discount code/voucher in exchange for the visitor’s email address.  You can then remarket to that client via email at a later stage.

You will find these calls to action all over the Green Umbrella website within our blogs and also several under our Goodies page!  We also use a WordPress Plugin that creates forms such as the one that will pop up when you go to leave this page! They link to our MailChimp account, we then use RSS technology to send everyone a digest of our blogs that we have written each week on a Friday.

#3 – Social Sharing Tools

One of the easiest ways to add a call to action to your website is to implement social sharing tools within your site.  Please do not add social sharing tools to every single page of your website as people often confuse social sharing with social media links.  They will click on the Facebook sharing tool expecting to find your Facebook page and instead, they are presented with “share our page”.  It is unusual for a visitor to want to share your “about us” page, or “home” page.

Always add social sharing tools to your blogs, vacancies, properties, landing pages, special offers, etc.

Quick fixes and call to action tips

• Add the words “call us” in front of your telephone number
• Avoid the word “submit” on a form or button on your website. (It’s a negative word, and proven split tests show that this word decreases click-throughs).
• Create urgency by adding countdowns.  I recommend using Motion Mail (free of charge), which you can embed into any site.
• Make your call to action specific, not generic.
• Test, test, and test again.  If you want to make the most of your calls to action then try split testing.

I hope these ideas give you some inspiration as to how you can not only add extra conversions to your website but also make the most out of all that traffic that you are generating via your excellent social media presence.

Remember, we are only a phone call away if you need help with any of the above. Reach out to us and we’ll happily jump on a quick call to give you some pointers!