Call to Action: Top 6 Reasons You Need One

Writing by Nick Stamoulis

This is a guest post written by Jessica Sanders of ResourceNation.com

Do you know that a call to action is important to your business? Well, the world of online marketing is valuable, but not if your customers are just wandering without intent. By providing a call to action, you not only get their attention, but help them navigate where you want them to go. While there are many places you can place a call to action, there are 6 major reasons to make better use of it.

1. Generate Leads
In this new world of big data – sets of email lists that companies have been collecting for years, for example – it’s in your best interest to collect as much customer data as you can. Not only will it be great for email campaigns, but you can upsell, follow up, and generate leads through the customers that provide you their information.

2. Encourage Engagement
More and more, SEO is looking to your social networks for information on your business’s authority. To ensure you’re looking good to search bots you need to encourage engagement from your readers and customers. According to Koozai Digital Marketing, “Both Google and Bing have admitted that they use ‘social signals’ to help rank search results.” Whether you post a question on Facebook or ask for retweets, you’re increasing your chances of a reaction and therefore increasing your SERP.

3. Increase Traffic
You want people at your website. You want them browsing your services or products, getting involved and signing up. To do so, you need to include a call to action wherever you can; from your Twitter description, to Google+ tagline and email campaigns. The action can be simple, “Come see our new product line,” or “Sign up for a free trial,” but it has to be present.

4. Gauge Need for Change
While most companies are currently tracking their online progress in analytics, an easy way to get specific with what is performing and what isn’t is to add a call to action and track the pages you’re directing to. By using the same call to action for multiple pages, you can gauge which ones are actually successful by then analyzing bounce and conversion rates.

5.Show Your Authority
Whether you have a lot of educational content on your site, or a little, it’s a great way to show authority in your niche. However, the buyer’s guides of your website are likely hidden in the background and therefore less frequented. To make the most of this information, create a call to action in various social media posts, directing readers back: “Learn more about this in our learning center.” This is an area where you can provide a greater value than your competitor.

6. Support Discount Efforts
If you sell a product or service, you like to run offers from time to time, or have long standing discounts for particular customers. However, if your customers don’t know they exist, then your offer is no longer good. Use a call to action to get your customers there – if only one purchase is made, you’ve successfully converted.

A call to action can be the difference between a sale and no sale. When you tell customers what you want them to do, it gives them direction. Take the opportunity to direct them where it will benefit you most, while still bringing value to their loyalty with your business.

About the Author
Jessica Sanders is an avid small business writer touching on topics that range from social media to telemarketing and internet service providers. She is a professional blogger and web content writer for ResourceNation.com.