5 Tips to Create an Irresistible Call to Action

When people land on your website, you want them to do something.

Sign up for your mailing list, share your content or purchase a product – something that progresses your goals.

But how do you get them to take the specific action you want them to?

Encouraging a prospective customer to take a desired action is one of the hardest tasks we have as marketers.

You need to focus less on beautiful design or amazing copy – and more on creating a  powerful and compelling call to action.

A clear next step for your visitors, usually in the form of a clickable button.

So how do you create a compelling call to action?

Let’s take a look at some expert examples for inspiration.

Companies that have nailed their CTAs

• KISSmetrics: Their simple, yet persuasive, call to action – “Log In With Google” requires little effort and input from a visitor. It tells you precisely what to expect and is ridiculously easy to get started. By mentioning a respected name such as Google, KISSmetrics successfully pique a visitors’  curiosity and at the same time reinforces their need for security.

• Evernote:  “Want to remember everything? Sign up for Evernote” is another example of a compelling call to action. This time Evernote shows how simplicity can be the most effective way to persuade people. You immediately understand the message when you read it.

• Crazy Egg: The “Show Me My Heatmap” call to action of Crazy Egg is both compelling and right on the money. It uses simple language and makes it further irresistible by utilizing the voice of the customer.

• Square: Square’s call to action says “Get a Free Card Reader.” By offering something to their prospective customers, Square is successfully increasing conversions. This especially attracts small-business owners as the word “get” highly motivates them. Besides, prospects often find the word “free” genuinely surprising, which makes the CTA even more tempting.

• Basecamp: The minimalistic approach of Basecamp is reflected in its call to action – “Use Basecamp free for 2 months – it’s on us.” Basecamp uses the tried-and-true “free trial” approach with casually persuasive language. The company is simply asking users to try something, which is less intimidating. The secret behind its success is Basecamp’s relaxed attitude; after all, what’s the harm in trying something.

These are just a few examples of companies that have nailed their calls to action to enhance conversions. Others include Instagram, Pinterest, OKCupid, and GoToMeeting.

How to write a compelling call to action

Perhaps you have invested a lot of time and effort into your online marketing strategy, but aren’t seeing results.

Maybe you are getting traffic, but no conversions?

Your calls to action may be letting you down.

Here are 5 tips to create a compelling call to action for your website.

1. Be direct

Stop beating around the bush.

Your website means business and you should be direct in your approach. Be precise and tell your visitors what you do and what exactly you would like them to do.

The action must be simple, short and strong.

Make sure there is no room to play guessing games so your visitors aren’t clueless about what to do next.

Some examples of direct language include; ‘get started,’ ‘sign up,’ ‘submit,’ or ‘download’.

2. Be unique

As a marketer you already know that it is crucial to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Find something that makes your call to action special; it could be ridiculously simple or something that aggravates a problem.

For example, Quick Sprout’s “I Want To…” call to action, plays on their prospective customers’ desire to solve a problem.

3. Use actionable language

Realize that some verbs and phrases are stronger than others.

Use action words that compel your visitors to do what you want them to.

“Call us today for a free sample,” for instance is a good call to action as it is actionable. You are giving clear direction to the reader using the verb “call”.

In contrast, something like “Give us a call for a free demo” is a less desirable call to action. Even though the verb “give” is actionable, it’s meaning is usually associated with handing a tangible object to someone, rather than making a phone call.

4. Be urgent

Your call to action should create urgency so that your visitors convert.

You can do this by conveying a message that your visitors are missing a great opportunity should they choose to do otherwise.

Convince them that the clock is ticking and delaying would result in missing the opportunity. Take examples from sites such as Amazon where they create a sense of urgency with calls to action like “Buy now to get 50% off.”

A well tested approach is to show an introductory price and mention clearly that the offer is available only for a short while and the price is likely to go up once that time is over. Using words like “today,” “now,” or “immediately” can work wonders here by adding a sense of urgency.

While “today” is a good word to add in your call to action, using “now” or “immediately” is even better. These words imply a greater urgency and also make it clear that the offer may not last forever.

5. Make it easy

The transition from call to action to performing the task must be seamless.

A complicated call to action is bound to fail. For example, if you want your prospective customers to call, provide your phone number.

Also, tell your prospects that converting is not timely or costly. If you are offering something free of charge, such as a free demo or a free sample, don’t forget to mention that in your call to action.

Similarly, if you want your visitors to sign up for your newsletter, make sure it does not take a long time to complete the process. There is a reason why most successful magazines and blogs, use calls to action like “sign up in less than 60 seconds.”

Wrapping it up

Creating a persuasive call to action takes creativity and time.

It needs to be simple enough so that users can easily understand your message and at the same time compelling enough to persuade them to do what you want them to do.

That being said, it is essential to remember that practice makes perfect.

Be experimental and see what works best for your audience.

Guest Author: Vaibhav Kakkar Co-Founded RankWatch, with an idea of making internet marketing an intelligent process. Apart from helping businesses succeed online and writing about Internet Marketing, he’s usually found digging deep into the beautiful world of search engine algorithms. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.  

Podcasting provided by Odovox.com

The post 5 Tips to Create an Irresistible Call to Action appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

5 Ways to Monitor Competitor Website Traffic

The entire goal of SEO (search engine optimization) is to get ahead of your competitors, by whatever Google-friendly means necessary. And just like in warfare, if you want to know how to get ahead of your adversary, you need to know their strategies.

Luckily, Google and other search engines make it pretty easy for you to monitor competitor website traffic strategies by using a number of useful tools.

Identify Competitors

To begin, know your enemy. You can’t expect to get ahead of your competitors if you don’t know exactly who they are, what their mission is, and how they plan to execute it. Your biggest competitors may not be who you think they are. Search engines no longer base comparable companies on size. Just because a company is small, doesn’t mean that they won’t be dangerous to your business.

Take the time to jot down a list of your biggest challengers by searching your own top keywords in search engines. The first 10-20 most common competitors on the list are most likely your biggest threat, and those are the companies you’ll want to closely analyze in order to learn what they’re doing right for such high rankings.

Assess Their Websites

Next, make sure your website is the best. You can gauge competitor performance and generate new ideas for your own website by performing a close analysis of competitors websites. In general, you’ll want to look closely at their home page, user interface, speed, performance, and content.

If their sites are ranking higher than you for the same keywords, they must be doing something right in all of these categories, which means that your website is not the best, after all. Try to identify the positive features these websites have that yours doesn’t and make a plan to try out some of those strategies in your own marketing plan so that you can compete.

Check Out Their Social Media Pages

The second best place to go to monitor competitor website traffic strategies involves fraternization with social media networks. There you can access an entirely free tool that will allow you to see how your competition carries out their social media engagement.

Next to your long list of competitor names, write down all of the social media networks your rival companies are involved with, and then analyze the way they spread their brand mentions and content. Begin with Facebook, the largest by far of all social networks, and then move to Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.  Based off the number of likes, shares, and user engagement, you can determine what content is working and where your strategy can improve.

Furthermore, use analytics tools that can gather data about the impact of opponent social media pages on customers. For example, you’re probably familiar with Klout, which is a free tool used to rank the influence of certain Twitter members on their followers. This tool and more are very helpful for assessing the social influence of your rivals.

Analyze Web Traffic

Why do people seem to like your competitor’s website better than yours? It’s probably not you; it’s them.

Find out exactly how much traffic competitor sites are receiving and what they’re doing to make it happen. There are many tools, both free versions and subscription platforms that will derive comprehensive data sets to allow you to compare component’s website traffic. Look at what’s working and what’s not working to come up with a full strategy.

Out of all the tools out there, choose one that will give you the most accurate and high-quality of analytics tools. For example, you may have heard of SimilarWeb, which is a website traffic tool built on a global platform to ensure accurate and high quality data. It’s not the only one available, but it comes highly recommended by Orbit Media Studios. By analyzing that data, you can learn much about the changes you need to make for your marketing strategy.

Subscribe to Competitor Newsletters

Finally, listen in on your competitors’ online conversations. Monitor the content they share on social networks, and subscribe to their newsletters and email marketing. To throw the enemy off the scent, use a private email to collect the information rather than a company one.

This will let you in on some of the biggest topics your target audience enjoys. It will also alert you of any new strategies or developments the company has experienced lately so that you can know when it’s time to revamp your own strategy in order to compete.

It’s important to monitor competitor website traffic, but it’s also an often overlooked aspect of digital marketing. If you want to know exactly how you can compete in the crowded online market, one of your first steps should always be to learn from the adversary and improve your strategy to surpass theirs.

Binoculars Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "5 Ways to Monitor Competitor Website Traffic" was first published on Small Business Trends

6 Ways to Use Google+ to Increase Your Visibility

Do you use Google+ for your business? Interested in ways to get more exposure? With a few simple tactics, you can extend your reach on Google+ and attract additional followers. In this article I’ll show you six ways to increase your visibility on Google+ and in Google search results. #1: Include Key Links in Your Introduction […]

This post 6 Ways to Use Google+ to Increase Your Visibility first appeared on Social Media Examiner.
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The Art of Storytelling in a Digital Age

Stories are in our make-up.

They help us interpret meaning, connect with people across generations, and articulate really complex stuff in easily digestible snippets.

The advertising & media industries are built on their ability to tell compelling stories.

Stories of love, stories of hate, and stories of redemption.

Your ability to tell a compelling story was the differentiating factor for the Mad Men era of agencies.

Brands would pay big bucks for a story that would influence their audience into making a purchase.

Mass media provided a captive audience for these stories, with eyeballs and the associated hearts & minds of a generation unburdened by the internet.

We were living in a world of dreams – where our aspirations of wealth, health, acceptance and excitement were fuelled by the promises of advertising creative and PR spin conceived in agency boardrooms; and those with the desire & means to pay for it.

Tell people who you are, tell it with the right reach and frequency, tell it with a creative treatment or angle that is new, relevant and exciting.

Hire a model, take a picture, throw a party, sell a dream.

And it worked.

Prime real estate was snapped up

While our ability as humans to create is unlimited, the ability to broadcast our creations at scale has been restricted.

Only a certain number of full page adverts will fit in the newspaper, there’s only a certain number of 30 second slots available during prime time broadcasting, and there’s only a certain number of outdoor locations with the foot traffic and visibility to warrant a billboard.

Hungry for attention, advertisers scrambled to secure media space to broadcast their stories, and media owners happily packaged up every available spot for sale. Global media revenues ballooned and those who owned the real estate (or sold it for commission) profited.

You only have to take a walk through Tokyo, Times Square, or virtually any community in which the global brands play, to see the overload in action as a result of this media generation.

This is the media model upon which the majority of the world’s agencies, and indeed the success of their clients, has been built.

The model is changing, fast

For the first time, we live alongside a medium that is infinite.

The social-mobile revolution means the ability to both produce and publish content is no longer restricted. Nor is the space through which good stories can spread.

As the volume of content has exploded and attention spans have shortened, captive audiences held hostage by the medium no longer exist. As humans, we now set our own filters, we tune into those we trust or care about most and our ability to ignore comes at the peril of those that have commanded our attention for so many years.

As the power to produce and spread content moves away from traditional media owners and into the hands of the individual, the role of brand & marketing teams, and the role of the agency partners they trust, is perhaps in the midst of its most fundamental shift to date.

Brands and publishers must now, more than ever before, become masters of storytelling rather than simply creating advertisements.

In today’s social & mobile powered world, brands are once again who the people say they are. No matter how creative the marketing campaign, or how loud it is told - the voice of the people now has the potential to be louder.

Old school values are back in vogue

Before mass media, quality products and meaningful causes inspired the masses and spread via word of mouth - via media that was earned not bought.

We are entering a new age, where the ability to earn your audience is now once again the most valuable media asset. Although this time, the village is a global one.

Forget the complexity created by the proliferation of media or the frantic pursuit of the next silver bullet.

Stop. Because the equation is now once again incredibly simple.

Good wholesome products, good wholesome service experiences and good wholesome stories are a currency on the rise again.

Produce a quality product, deliver an experience that delights. Be worth talking about. And the people will talk.

And if you don’t, they won’t.

You need to earn it

The role of the brand & marketing team, and their trusted partners, is changing.

The objective is rapidly shifting away from telling people our stories, to empowering our customers to tell the story for us.

Instead of talking at your audience, create experiences worth sharing. Earn the right to a share their voice, then curate the story they tell.

Produce something remarkable.

Then nurture your own media based on the goodwill you will earn.

Guest Author: Jonny Mole

The post The Art of Storytelling in a Digital Age appeared first on Jeffbullas's Blog.

How to Create Pinterest Content That Connects: What Marketers Need To Know

Do you use Pinterest for your social media marketing? Interested in better ways to connect with your audience? People use Pinterest differently from other social networks. Instead of conversations or news sharing, people use Pinterest to collect information about their interests. In this article you’ll discover what the Pinterest community looks for and how to create pins […]

This post How to Create Pinterest Content That Connects: What Marketers Need To Know first appeared on Social Media Examiner.
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These 6 Online Screw Ups Are Driving Away Your Prospects

I’m sure you’ll agree that website copy should lock a prospect in a tight grip, lull their objections, excite them about a product, and seduce into making an inquiry.

But I bet that looking at traffic data you feel prospects run away confused, bored, or perhaps even annoyed. Bounce rate is sky high, average time on site is barely noticeable and nobody seems to be reading everything you have to say.

But what if that was the problem exactly? What if the amount of information and how you present it is driving away prospects?

Let’s look at why this is happening.

You Lose Readers with Warm Up Paragraphs

You know, it’s kind of scary. It turns out that humans now have shorter attention spans than a goldfish. According to this research, our attention span on the Web is only eight seconds. The attention span of a goldfish, however, is a second longer.

It also means that you have only eight seconds to grab your readers’ attention.

And chances are you waste it with warm-up paragraph. That’s copy that does nothing else but beat around the bush until you’re finally ready to introduce the key message.

If the first 20 words, or about two paragraphs of your copy, don’t introduce the problem, remove them. Chances are that they’re there only because you needed to warm up to finally write the key points.

There is one other thing to remember when you write Web copy: Your prospects are in a rush.

They have other websites to visit before making the buying decision.

And the quicker you tell them what they need to know, the bigger the chance they’ll remember you and come back to buy.

You Feature Long Lists of … (nomen omen) … Features

I know, features are easy to write. After all, they’re tangible aspects of your product, functionality or technology behind it.

They can also take a lot of space on a page, making it seem richer with content.

But they don’t sell.

At least, not until a prospect had familiarized him or herself with your business.

Prospects visit your site for a reason. They want to find out:

• If your product could help them solve their particular problem,
• If it’s a solution for people like them,
• What makes it different from other alternatives and,
• Why they should buy from you.

Lists of features only distract them from finding it out.

When writing your web copy, focus on benefits – tell visitors what they are going to gain by using your solution.

And leave features for the last stage of the buying cycle, when you’ll have to overcome your prospects’ final sales objections.

You’re Trying to Please Everyone

You can’t write content that satisfies everyone.

Or fill a single page with arguments that’ll speak to and attract different audiences.

But chances are that you really don’t need to target them all.

You probably offer a solution to a particular market. And so, write copy with that audience in mind:

Make it clear that your solution is for them

Less Accounting is open as to what audience they’re trying to attract: business owners who dislike bookkeeping.

But what if you need to target a secondary audience too? Use a separate, dedicated landing page.

(Less Accounting’s site features additional landing pages targeting other customer groups).

Use a language your audience can relate to make copy more relevant

Wishpond product tour page mentions epic content marketing. And it a one thing every marketer strives for?

Showcase images that communicate with whom you want to do business

It’s an interesting fact – our brains process images 60,000 times faster than text.

This means that visitors will have made up their mind about your page before they finished decoding the copy. How? By processing images and other visual cues.

To make your copy more effective you need to back it up with relevant images. In a case of landing pages, ones that communicate who a page is for.

Harpoon features an image that backs up the main headline – a contempt looking freelancer.

Nudge your audience a little, too

Lastly, nudge your audience with something only they will understand. Use cues to connect with them on emotional level,too.

Workado’s product screenshot features projects from companies like MomCorp, Stark Industries and Wayne Enterprises. I’m sure every geek or comic fan will know what these are.

Your Copy Includes Only Long Paragraphs

This may come as a surprise but, you don’t have to elaborate on all points.

Some are self-explanatory. Others are easier to consume in a condensed form. And some ideas might be easier to understand if they’re abbreviated. In such cases, convert them into bulleted lists.

• They grab the reader’s attention.
• Help them focus on the key message of your copy.
• Break the dense chunks of text.
• And make it easier to scan.

You’re Not Using Images to Communicate Emotions

You know, sometimes the best way to connect with a reader is by telling her that you know how she feels.

That you’ve been in her situation before and can relate to the problem.

But describing it in words might just fill the page with unnecessary copy

In those situations, communicate emotions with an image or animated gif.

Here’s one example how I do it:

See the post live here: http://blog.ahrefs.com/manage-cash-flow/

You Don’t Catch the Reader’s Attention with Numbers

Numbers stop a wandering eye.

When you have to use statistics or data to back up your points, use digits instead of words.

Numbers make the copy easier to scan too. Also, readers often associate them with the most important information on the page and thus naturally seek them out when skimming through it.

And there’s data to prove it:

In one eye-tracking study. Jakob Nielsen discovered that numbers often work well to stop a wandering eye, even when they are embedded within a mass of words.

According to his findings this happens because:

• Numbers represent facts. And that’s what readers are often looking for.
• The shape of a group of digits is significantly different from a group of letters. That’s the reason why they stand out in the reader’s peripheral vision. Take a look at this example: the number 2015 looks different from the word five. And yet they both include the same number of characters.

Keep these items above in mind the next time you’re producing website copy to seduce your prospects into becoming your new customers.

Disgruntled Web Reader Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "These 6 Online Screw Ups Are Driving Away Your Prospects" was first published on Small Business Trends

Taboo Topic? Communicate Through Infographics

In a single day, we create more than 1.5 billion pieces of content, including 140 million tweets and 2 million videos, according to this great infographic on “big data”.

It’s no surprise that even with the most careful planning, our marketing messages often get lost in the data chaos. On the flip side, how many articles we see on a daily basis and mentally mark as “interesting” but fail to ever read or save the great data within the article?

Infographics are a visually compelling communication medium that breaks down complex data into easily digestible content.

In essence, they’re the perfect marketing solution for a world that’s overrun with interesting data and lacking an effective means for organizing this information.

Ninety percent of the information that comes into the brain is visual.

Infographics help us quickly and easily visualize relationships between statistics. But great infographics are more than just a powerful data visualization tool for content marketing. They’re also an effective viral marketing tool for taboo products that are in high-demand but not always easy to advertise through traditional channels.

Case in point: an online STD test. While there’s clearly a built-in market for STD tests, you can’t just buy a commercial during the Super Bowl and call it a day.

Not only would such a commercial be prohibitively expensive, but it would also be a bit awkward and uncomfortable for viewers at home to see in between their favorite chip and beer ads — and it might even turn off your target audience.

For a socially taboo product, you need to think creatively about how to get the word out to potential customers. Infographics focused on raising awareness about a relevant issue are the perfect solution.

1. Identify the Data

Even with a clever infographic, a collection of random, dense statistics is still a collection of random, dense statistics! Don’t just grab a bunch of random facts and throw them into your infographic.

You need to think strategically about which statistics to include. One option is to select data around a problem or issue that individuals in the target market may not realize is as common as it is.

Diaper Buys created an infographic that shows the different causes of adult incontinence and aims to remove some of the stigma associated with wearing an adult diaper.

2. Raise Awareness

Another option when creating an infographic would be to addresses a common issue that individuals in your target demographic may be experiencing, even if this issue is only tangentially related to the product that your business is selling.

For example, older individuals who need adult diapers may also face additional challenges in their daily lives, especially if they live alone. Diaper Buys created just such a demographic for “National Senior Independence Month”.

Organizing the data around an awareness theme makes the infographic relevant and timely, two key characteristics of viral content.

3. Be Smart About Design

If you are not a graphic designer, it’s probably best to leave the heavy lifting to someone who is.

After all, you don’t want a poor design to cloud out your message! The good news is that you don’t have to spend a fortune on great design. Visual.ly, one of the world’s most popular infographic sharing sites, can also connect individuals with a graphic designer for affordable infographic design.

After the infographic is complete, you can create your own business profile and publish the infographic directly on the site.

4. Share Your Infographic

Once the design is complete, think strategically about the best ways to get your infographic out to the right target audience.

In addition to sharing the infographic via Visual.ly, be sure to post it on your company’s blog and cross-post on Pinterest (one of the most popular social networks for infographics) as well as other social media channels.

Tweet a different, interesting statistics found in the infographic each day for a week with a link back to your company’s blog post. Share it on Facebook and include a link to your company’s weekly newsletter digest (if you have one).

The key is to get cross-posts on as many relevant platforms as possible.

Bottom Line

Marketing a taboo product or service can be tricky, but by using infographics to focus on an educational or awareness-building angle, you can position your product for viral marketing success.

Taboo Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Taboo Topic? Communicate Through Infographics" was first published on Small Business Trends