How to correctly use Call to Actions on your website
It took me a long time to understand this thing with “Call to Action”, or CTA, as it’s described short.
For me, it felt so salesy and pushy to use them both in my Instagram posts and on my website. But since I understood how to use it as a part of a strategy and that a CTA is more than a button saying “Buy Now”, I now use it with ease and confidence. And I’m here to tell you how to correctly use Call to Actions on your website so you can feel the same.
TAKE THEM ON A JOURNEY
In order to learn how to correctly use Call to Actions on your website, let’s start from the beginning.
When someone visits your website, they enter a journey, and the end of this journey is to have them book a photo session, right? That is always the goal for everyone that visits your site – to hire you.
But just as you do not start to talk about your prices when you meet someone for the first time, you don’t do it on your website either.
You start to present yourself, talking about what you do and if you understand that they are interested to hear more, you continue more in detail about what you do, that you love sessions on the beach at sunset, while feeling the sand between your toes. And that nothing makes you happier than capturing a family running around playing in the sand.
When that person you talk to confirm they feel the same, you move on and present the pricing and offers you have.
FIRMLY GUIDING THEM AROUND
The same procedure should happen on your website. You are kindly but firmly guiding your site visitor around while presenting your services and each time you get a positive signal back, you guide them further. And this guidance is made with help of CTAs.
That is why CTAs are a very essential part of your website, as your site visitors need to be pushed in the right direction.
Because when we are scrolling social media or the web, we are in some autopilot mode. We don’t (want to) think, and we are moving in a direction decided on what’s presented to us. Just think of when you are on YouTube, where you constantly click to watch new videos as they appear, even the ones you didn’t know you ever wanted to watch.
So CTAs are important to have your site visitors continue the journey around your website.
EXAMPLE OF HOW TO ADD A CALL TO ACTION
But a CTA is much more than a button saying “Book now”. It can of course be that short, but a CTA can also be a whole sentence or two. It was when I realized just that it didn’t feel so pushy and salesy to use them anymore.
For example, when someone visits your service page, the next step on the journey is contacting you to book a session. Yes, you can have a button saying “book now”, it’s not wrong.
But it can also be a bit more in-depth, like “Want to capture the love of your family?” And then a button or link asking “ Contact me to schedule your family session”.
See, that feels more friendly but still, the message and the action you want them to take are the same.
Another aspect of adding a little longer CTAs is that it allows you to address concerns and connect with your potential client’s feelings, which is an important thing when it comes to marketing.
THE RULES OF USING CALL TO ACTIONS
One rule to follow when adding CTAs on your website is to only add one for each page. Of course, you can repeat the same CTA throughout the page but only by using the same one.
This means that you shouldn’t have one CTA telling them to go to the portfolio page and another asking them to visit the blog on the same page.
Use only one of them, and the one you use should be based on where on the journey they are and where you want them to go next.
An exemption is your first page, which can include a few different Call to Actions. It’s because you don’t know where the people are on the journey when they visit your home page.
For example, someone can be totally new to you, while others may have followed you on social media and are ready to book you. For those people (that are familiar with you), it can be beneficial to have a direct link telling them to inquire, instead of letting them click around searching for the correct page.
While others choose what CTAs they want to follow depending on where on the journey they are.
How to correctly use Call to Actions on your website
Now that you know how to use CTAs, it’s time to implement the strategy on your website. To start, you need to map out the journey you want your visitor to take.
To do so, you simply decide where you want them to go for each page on your side. For your help, you can download this planning document.
Once you have decided where you want them to go next, you add the CTA links on each page, asking them to move on to the desired page of yours.
For example, if someone visits your “About Me” page, the next step on the journey can be to continue to the “Portfolio Page”.
If they like what they see there, a natural step can be to continue to the pricing page, or depending on your business strategy, book a consultation call?
You need to decide the journey and steps you want your potential clients to take and then add relevant CTAs depending on the processes you have for your business.
CALL TO ACTIONS HAS A GREAT IMPACT
It might sound a bit complicated at first, but I recommend you download the CTA planning document. Once you have mapped it all out, you will see how your pages and the CTAs are connected.
The outcome of how to correctly use Call to Actions on your website is that the people who visit your site will be guided through your website in an order that will build their trust and give them what they need to inquire – The whole reason why you have your website!
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