Blogs can be a little different to more formal websites showcasing products and services. But if you are looking to prompt an action or response from your visitors many of the same rules apply. Whether it is encouraging a visitor to download a free ebook, register an account, or sign up for a service, you’ll need to include an appropriate Call-To-Action element on your page.
Purpose
Before you think about design or placement you need to be absolutely clear about what it is you are seeking to achieve. Your page’s content should be focused on that making that objective happen. In this way your CTA will be both relevant and obvious because it will complement the page content.
Style
The most common format is to use a rectangle-shaped button for a CTA. That’s because visitors recognise what they are and how to use them. If you decided to use a different shape such as a circle or banner you need to ensure that is instantly recognisable as a CTA and that fits in with the page’s overall design.
A good way to do this is to include white space around the CTA so that it stands out distinctly from the rest of the content. Make sure you keep it simple, clean, and unambiguous so that you don’t confuse your visitor.Colour is very important but make sure that your choice fits in with your overall page theme. Use combinations that contrast the text from the background, but avoid combinations that are too distracting or clashing.
It is common to include an image and commonly used symbols, such as a download symbol. Just keep in mind that it is the text that makes the CTA’s purpose obvious and any visual inclusion is there to enhance the prompt not distract from it.
Placement and size
There are no written rules on size placement or size but keep it user friendly so you don’t distract from the visitor’s user experience. For example, plastering five CTAs all over your page or using a massive CTA is going to come across as being pushy and unprofessional. Two CTAs would be suitable for a longer blog post that requires scrolling to view all the content. In the top part of the page include a small button-sized CTA.
This should be visible without requiring any scrolling. Chances are your visitor won’t be ready to click that one because they’ll want to finish reading the page. You can include a page-width banner CTA at the very end of the content, visible only when they have scrolled to the end.
Make sure the wording on them is the same and that their design is consistent with one another. Remember, they are essentially just two versions of the same CTA so that needs to be obvious. Don’t add in any other CTAs prompting different action because they can be confusing; keep the focus on prompting a single action.
An important consideration is responsive design. Google employs a mobile-first strategy for its page rankings so your content should be presented appropriately for whatever screen size your visitor is using. Your CTA should be automatically scaled together with your page content so that it is optimised for small screens.
Text
Remember, it is the CTAs text that drives action. You should keep the wording simple, sometimes as few as five words. The wording should make it extremely obvious what the CTA is for. The inclusion of a verbs such as “Download” or “Learn more” helps achieve this. You can also include personal pronouns to personalise the button, for example: “Let us help you become an SEO expert.”
Pop-Ups
A CTA can be any element that prompts visitor action so this can include pop-ups. Done correctly a pop-up can be very powerful but unfortunately they have been abused so much that many modern browsers now block them by default.Because a modal pop-up blocks the visitor’s interaction with the main page’s content (such as scrolling), don’t have the pop-up occur as soon as the page has loaded. It is too aggressive. A better idea is to have it appear once the visitor has finished reading the page, such as when they scroll to the end of the content. And definitely make sure there is an easy way to close the pop-up in case they are not ready to follow your prompt!
The placement and timing of CTAs is crucial to get a positive response and avoid alienating your customer base. By following these five simple rules you can drastically increase your engagement & conversion rates.
Click here and see 5 more great reads from our digital expert Luke Chaffey:
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5. Improve your ecommerce conversion rate
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