So you finally have your website designed and it’s up and running. Congratulations! Mission complete and now the customers will start flooding in right? Not so fast.

Your website was created for a specific reason – to sell your service or product, to engage others, or create awareness about yourself or your company. But how to do you make sure your website visitor performs what you wish for them to do? You need to create an effective “Call to Action.”

What’s in it for you?

Depending on the purpose of your website, your call to action might be asking for the sale, filling out your contact form, or signing up for your e-newsletter. However, before you decide what your call to action will be, you will need to come up with an idea of how you will measure the success of your call to action. Do you want 20 people to sign up for your e-newsletter each month? Do you want to increase your sales by 10% in 6 months? Whatever you want your end result to be, make sure your goals are S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) so you can accurately gauge how well your call to action is working.

What’s in it for the customer?

Once your goals are defined, decide what specific action you want your customer to take and what they will get out of the call to action. Keep your message short and use language that your visitors will understand. Also keep in mind that the use of action verbs such as “buy now,” “contact us,” “free estimate,” “join the conversation” or “get a free quote,” ask your visitor to take action while passive verbs are much less persuasive and provide less desirable results.

Success Factors

Your goals are set, your call to action is clear – what next?

• Location is key. Ideally your call to action should be placed high and in the middle of your page (above the fold). However, sometimes this wouldn’t make sense so consider your site goals and place the call to action in the most appropriate location within the structure of your page.
• Keep and eye on design. Which would you notice right away – a sentence of text that’s underlined or a large colorful button? More than likely the button. Take advantage of white space, use an alternative color palette, and don’t be afraid to make your call to action button big!
• Don’t overwhelm the customer. Some websites might want you to view a demo and buy a product along with signing up for their newsletter and following them on Twitter. It’s great to give a user options, but you don’t want to confuse or frustrate them. If you want your customer to take specific-action steps, make sure they know it. Define a process or place different actions on a few popular pages throughout your site.
• Make it easy. Would you want to take 10 steps to get a free white paper, or three steps? Would you want to fill out 20 form fields, or two fields? Make sure your call to action is straightforward and effective (for both you and the customer). Engage the customer – don’t scare them away.

Measure and review your goals

Finally, it’s important to make sure Google Analytics (or something similar) is installed on your site and you’re measuring the success of your call to action in relation to your goals. Pay attention to conversion rates, unique visitors (as opposed to returning visitors) and what pages your customer’s visit. If your call to action isn’t producing the results you were hoping for – make some adjustments. Nothing is set in stone and you might have to try a few options before you find the combination that works best.

Need help defining a call to action or analyzing its results? Throw us a bone! At Good Dog/Bad Dog Creative Design, we’d be happy to chat with you about online strategies that can help your company generate new business and exposure.  Take a look at our Web site for more information on how to give us a shout.

Tags: call to action, GDBD Creative Design, GDBD Design, Good Dog/Bad Dog Creative Design, online marketing, tampa graphic design, tampa website design, website analysis, website design, website development, website effectiveness, website solutions