Having a Great Call-to-Action

You have researched and learned how to write, publish and syndicate amazing content. You have compelling titles, magnetic teaser paragraphs, a rich body and an insightful conclusion. What about your Call-to-Action? Are your readers compelled to connect with you?

After your readers have read your content, your Call-to-Action should leave them with absolutely no doubt about what they need to do to connect with you on a deeper level. It is a clear, compelling statement that convinces your readers to take action. If people end up spending any length of time at all trying to connect with you, your Call-to-Action is not doing what it is supposed to be doing. If your readers experience any frustration throughout this process, they will lose interest and go away.

Draw attention to the right thing

You should consider yourself very fortunate if you have gotten someone to pay attention to your content and to have enough interest to want to connect with you and interact with you. The fewer distracting elements you have, the better your chances will be that your visitors will arrive where you want them to be and do what you want them to do. If your Call-to-Action is text, the words must be exciting and enticing. If it is a graphic, it must be the graphic that stands out the most. If your Call-to-Action is not effective, you are losing business—plain and simple! If you distract your readers, they will pay attention to information that is not critical to your business and you will never reach your goal of converting them to clients. Remember that you cannot assign equal importance to everything. You must arrange the content by priorities. Your highest priority should have the most space.

Make your message clear

Your readers must be able to tell right away what you are offering and what you want them to do. The following are tips that will help you to stay focused on having a clear message for your readers.

• A clear and effective title: When it comes to your web presence, each page of content that you share must be about something significant. The purpose must be communicated clearly and the purpose must be evident. Aside from it coming through on the page itself, it must also be plainly stated in the title, which goes across the top of the page.
   
• An effective action block: You should have one place for your readers to interact on your page and the colors on that page should be soft and aesthetically pleasing to the reader. One of the purposes of the action block is to make the readers’ eyes go to that spot that you want them to focus on, which will lead to their reaching out to you and your business. The rest of the page should not be as aesthetic. It should not draw the readers’ attention. If every spot on your page attracts your readers equally, you will not be able to achieve your goal of getting them to interact with you directly. It is not good if they pay equal attention to every spot on your page.
   
• Your action block needs an effective subhead: The intention of your action block must be abundantly clear. You must make your readers understand clearly what you are asking them to do. You should also communicate to them what will happen if they do take the action that you are asking them to take.
   
• A clear Call-to-Action within your action block: Within your action block is where your Call-to-Action should live. It should describe what will happen next and what the reader can expect if they agree to reach out once they have clicked on the button. The message should be specific. Remember that you should have the concept of WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) in mind when you are writing your Call-to-Action. It isn’t about how wonderful you and your business are. It is about what you can do for your readers and how you can solve their problems.

Conclusion

It is well known that the Call-to-Action is a critical part of  your content. It needs to drive your readers to content that will entice them to want to go further. It is the only way that your readers will be able to reach out and interact with you. You need to make sure that you not only have a Call-to-Action but that you have a high-quality one that does exactly what you need it to do. It should be very easy for your readers to see and the words should make them understand that you are there to help them in some way. The question “What am I supposed to do next?” should never occur to them. They should know clearly what they need to do next.

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