Here’s a question that’s far too often neglected by small business owners: What exactly are you trying to accomplish with your website? Is it merely an online placeholder, or do you intend for it to be an around-the-clock sales machine—actually bringing in leads and converting them to customers? What’s the mark of a successful website, in your mind?

It’s important to know what you want your website to do—but more than that, it’s important to communicate that to your visitors. If you want website visitors to click a button and download your e-book, join your newsletter list, or purchase a product, you’re going to have to tell them. You do so through a call to action.

The call to action is an essential component of website text—a direct invitation to take the next step. Purchase today. Discover new solutions in our e-book. Contact us at your convenience to set up an appointment. The call to action helps direct your readers, leading them through the site and ultimately through the sales funnel.

Not All Calls to Action are Created Equal

Every page of the website should have a call to action—but more than that, it should have a good call to action. No, not all calls to action are created equal. The best ones are simple, straightforward, and powerful in their expressions of value. In short, they grab the reader’s attention, explain why the reader should take action, and then make it easy for that action to be taken.

And if you’re worried that your calls to action could stand some upkeep, don’t worry: Honing your CTA skills requires just a few tweaks and strategic adjustments.

Lead with a strong verb. The point of a call to action is, indeed, to motivate action—so make sure you include a good action word. Begin your call to action with a really expressive verb. Examples. Explore our new catalog right now. Claim your discount by ordering today. Prepare your home for winter; buy energy efficient windows from our e-store!

Keep it direct. Hopefully, your site has plenty of great content to educate your reader and prepare him or her for action; as such, your call to action shouldn’t require paragraphs of text. Keep it to a sentence or two, tops.

Convey value. The point of the call to action is for it to be enticing—so sweeten the deal with some specific value claims. Get your 30 percent discount today. Earn a free gift card when you order now. Reduce your home energy costs by 10 percent when you buy our product.

Make your calls to action single-minded. A good call to action has one purpose, and only one. The more choices you provide to the reader, the less likely he or she is to actually take action. Call us, email us, or buy our product today is not a strong call to action.

Make your call to action stand out. Your call to action should be separate from the rest of the content on the page, and easy to spot. Bold fonts, italic fonts, different colors, and larger lettering can all be good ways to make your call to action stand out. Compelling graphics can also help.

Calls to action require some crafting, and some strategy—but that effort is more than worth it when you arrive at a call to action that gets readers motivated. Reach out to the enCOMPASS team today to start crafting high-impact, high-value CTAs!