Nathan Yerian
In today's marketing arena the internet is used by your potential customers to gather information, compare options, and make buying decisions. Think your customers are different? Think again. According to Hubspot, 89% of US internet users search online before they make a purchase, even when the purchase is made at a local business.
Static brochure style websites no longer suffice. Your website needs calls to action that lead would be customers to the information they are looking for, before they lose interest. Websites that simply have a "Contact Us" page are no longer productive components of a marketing strategy. You have to offer more to your buyers.
To successfully market your company, you must provide the valuable information your potential buyers are looking for through your blog, and other content offers (e-books, presentations, videos, comparison charts, free demos, etc.). Different buyers will be in different stages of the buying cycle. It is important to have strategically placed calls to action that speak to each stage so that a visitor can easily find the information they are looking for and move further into the buying cycle.
Here are three important areas on your website that must include calls to action.
1. Home Page
Your home page is one of the main areas that visitors will enter your website. At this point, you are not sure what the visitor's intensions are, so you must display an array of options. Is this a returning visitor that is ready to get started, or a first time visitor just looking for more info.
Make sure that you include a value based option for either party. For the returning visitor a "Buy Now", "Free Trial", or "Request A Quote" call to action may be just what is needed to begin a relationship, while a downloadable e-book, comparison chart, or case study call to action may resonate more with the first time visitor and still provide a way to begin a dialog (and capture a sales lead from a buyer who is probably in the early stages of the buying cycle).
Think about what these visitors are trying to accomplish and simply give them a way to get it done without having to look too hard for the next logical step in the buying process.
2. Blog Pages
Your blog posts should be value based content in and around your industry. If you are effectively using keywords and promoting your blog with social media, your blog posts are another likely entry point for visitors.
Let's say you sell commercial office furniture and write a blog post that provides a review of a newly introduced chair. When the decision maker of a large company that is looking to replace their chairs goes looking for "XYZ chair reviews", what do you think they'll find?
In this particular case, a good a call to action at the end of the blog post might encourage a visitor to schedule an appointment to come out and test the chair. You have now provided an easy and logical "next step" to an interested, and qualified buyer.
Of course your situation will be a little different. Again, figure out what the next logical step is and provide an easy way for the buyer to proceed.
3. Product/Services Pages
Product and service pages are an often overlooked, but very important place for call to action buttons. The beautiful thing about a specific product, or service page is that you know what this visitor is interested in and you can tailor offers specific to that product, or service.
Let's say you are a mortgage company and on your "Refinance" page you offer a downloadable e-book that gives tips specifically for this type of buyer. When the potential customer downloads your e-book, you position yourself as an expert, and have a hot sales lead to follow up on.
Every product, or service page gives you a unique opportunity to provide more value then your competition, establish your company as an expert and provide the next step to starting a relationship.
If your website doesn't have calls to action, or hasn't added meaningful calls to action in these three critical areas, it's time to get to work creating value based offers and getting these next steps in the most likely areas for visitors to enter your website, or areas where they are likely to be ready to move forward.
Learn how to use this strategy as an all inclusive marketing strategy:
