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Don’t forget that small things can make a huge difference, as we have blogged before. Sometimes we get caught up in going for those huge projects, thinking that they will do wonders for us, thinking that this will be what puts us over the edge. Those big projects can be incredibly difficult, and often too time consuming to execute, so we turn to smaller measures.

The call to action (CTA) ~ is so simple and everyone knows what it is, but are we fully utilizing it to its potential? Are we making our CTA’s the best they can be? Before we dive into some tips and tricks to perfecting your CTA’s, let’s talk about what it is and why it’s so important.

A CTA, first and foremost, is an opportunity for a next step. So it usually manifests as a button or a hyperlink on a website or in an email. It is the precursor to your landing page. The idea is getting someone’s attention and bringing them to a place you want them. A CTA is the first step in converting visitors into a lead.

What should you do to make the perfect CTA? Here are just a few things you should remember when creating your calls to action.

  • Make it action-oriented: this means using strong and actionable language. “Learn how to ____;” “Discover that new ____;” “Download this _____!” Get the picture? We’re using effective language to draw more attention. Basically, you’re empowering your readers to click on your CTA.
  • Make it consistent with your landing page: When creating a CTA, you have to make sure everything lines up with the actual landing page. Don’t advertise what you’re not planning on giving. Just keep all the language the same. If you call it a guide in your CTA, don’t call it a crash course on the landing page. This just ensures that no one will be confused.
  • Location location location: When placing CTA’s on your website, you have to make sure they are in the perfect place. You can’t just place it anywhere on your website and hope it gets noticed. If you want the CTA at the bottom of your blog page, make it big and eye catching. If you want it on your primary home page, make it accessible. Make it so people want to click that link. As an ending note on location, put a call to action on every single page of your site. Seriously, don’t waste any opportunities. I mean, make it relevant to the page its on, but still visible.
  • Test it: This seems so obvious, but in our haste, we can forget one of the most important steps. A/B test multiple CTA’s in order to determine which is the best performer. Give two options—maybe one is blue and the other is orange—and see which one has the better click through rate. Find out which minor differences make it the better option to click on. People are strange. They react to all sorts of things. Maybe they’re more likely to click on your CTA if its at the top of the page or if it has a picture on it. You have to run these tests or you’ll never know which they prefer.

In the end, you have to just keep optimizing and testing until you find the right one for your audience. Every company is going to have a different set of people that follow their content. You have to perfect your CTA’s, and ultimately your content, to what they want to see.