Setting Up A Clear Call-To-Action
I've noticed a trend on lots of the websites I've worked on recently, and I'm curious if you think it applies to yours.
The purpose of a website for your organization is to help visitors take the next step towards engaging with your offer. This might mean signing up for a service, buying a product, making a donation, or registering for one of your programs. Directing your website visitor where they need to go is done with a Call to Action.
A Call to Action (or CTA) is typically a button, a link, or a popup that website users can click on to take an action - go to a new webpage, download a form, or send an email. CTAs are the links (literally!) between where a website visitor starts and where you want them to go.
Call to Action - A Road Sign on Your Website
Think about a Call to Action like a road sign. Driving out on the road, an easily visible sign with clear directions can guide you to the correct destination. But if that sign is hard to read, or has too much information, or if the information is outdated, you’ll probably end up confused or even lost.
The trend I've noticed on most websites I work on is having too many calls to action. When the roadsigns on your site point in too many directions, it causes extra confusion and decision paralysis. With so many choices given to them at once, your website visitors don’t know where to go.
Give your Visitors a Clear next step
When I work with a business or organization on designing a website, one of the first things we do is identify a primary call to action. This is consistent next step that you always want to drive your site visitors to take. In most cases, this should be related to your main offer. The primary CTA is then prominently displayed across your site - in your website header, throughout your pages, and woven throughout your content.
By keeping your website visitor’s focus on your primary call to action, they’ll be more likely to take that next step. If you add in a lot of different links, buttons, or other CTAs that aren’t related to your offer, it leads your website visitors on a wild goose chase around your website.
what is your primary call to action?
How about your website? Can you easily identify your primary call to action? Or do you have more than one choice for website visitors to click on when they find your home page?
If you’d like an outside perspective on your website’s CTAs, I’d be happy to review your website. Schedule your free website review today, and I’ll send you a recorded video going through the core pages of your website that you can watch on your own schedule. Your website review will give you practical advice on:
The key places where you’re likely losing website visitors
Strategies for keeping your audience engaged
Action steps for how you can convert more website visitors into customers!
