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Old 01-05-2010
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Arrow Call to action - what does your website ask visitors to DO?
Every single page of your website is an opportunity to engage visitors - not just talk AT them. Your site, ideally, should have effectice calls to action, strategically placed - the site should ask your visitor to DO something: move on to a new page within the site, sign up for something, subscribe, download something, fill out a contact form, etc. It could be in the form of graphic buttons, text links, or a signup form.

If your site does not incorporate calls to action you're wasting that site as a marketing opportuity.

If your site does incorporate calls to action, I'd love to hear from you which calls to action you include on your own VA business site and how you've structured them for effectiveness, what results you've seen, etc.

I see so many VA websites lacking this that I thought I'd share some of my favorite articles on this topic.

From Grok Dot Com:
Features of a strong Call to Action:

  • It’s distinctive. They should look different from other actions people can take on your page.
  • It’s obvious. Don’t crowd your Calls to Action or confuse people by making the click anything less than intuitive.
  • It communicates benefits. Tell people the value behind taking the action.
  • It answers questions. If there’s a reason someone might hesitate to click, address it.
Click here to read the entire article.


From SEO Smarty [one of the BEST SEO blogs you will ever come across, by the way]

Calls to action may vary. You may want your visitors to subscribe, to register, to buy something, to bookmark your post, etc. With calls to action everything is important: the color of your buttons and supporting elements, the language you use to describe the action, the place on the page where you locate them, the additional elements that encourage people to act. All these elements should be consistent and support each other getting your visitors one step closer to their objective.




Click here to read the entire article.

and another related article at SEO Smarty: Call to Action Follow Up
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Old 01-06-2010
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Default Re: Call to action - what does your website ask visitors to DO?
I love it! I'm always preaching about the use of a good call-to-action on a website. Without it, web visitors are likely to click away without doing anything at all. Thanks for sharing!
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Old 01-06-2010
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Default Re: Call to action - what does your website ask visitors to DO?
Thank-you Tess! I know I struggle with this on my website, and I especially found the article from SEO Smarty helpful. I can definitely work at improving the "Calls to Action" on my website.
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Old 01-06-2010
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Default Re: Call to action - what does your website ask visitors to DO?
Thanks Tess for this information, you always give us some great tips
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Old 01-06-2010
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Default Re: Call to action - what does your website ask visitors to DO?
Tess,

This is a great article and is very timely as I am working on my website right now. And Crystal, I REALLY like your website!

kathy
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Old 01-14-2010
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Default Re: Call to action - what does your website ask visitors to DO?
Thank-you Kathy!

I just found a great page with examples of Calls to Action Best Practices. When I read it, I thought of this thread!
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Old 01-14-2010
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Default Re: Call to action - what does your website ask visitors to DO?
Thanks Tess for the info. It's great to see and be reminded what I need to do sometimes.
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Old 01-14-2010
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Question Re: Call to action - what does your website ask visitors to DO?
So do I have this right?

The goal of a call to action is more than getting the visitor to visit the various pages on your site, it's to get the visitor to provide you something - their info, a sale, something.

???

Lezly
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Old 01-14-2010
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Default Re: Call to action - what does your website ask visitors to DO?
Good information that is often overlooked. Thanks Tess!
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