As someone who used to work with small business owners trying to optimize their websites, I have heard the story hundreds of times. Business owners spend an inordinate amount of money on a website redesign, only to find that it doesn’t covert. This often leads them to believe that the internet doesn’t work. However, what I would tell them and what remains true to this day is that the internet does in fact work and can do wonders for small businesses.

We have reviewed website redesign checklists before, but today we are going to take a look at what turns a good site into a great one. The main factor separating your site from being great is how well it converts. After all, the goal of a website is to educate and entice customers into buying what you are selling, is it not? What better way to do that than with CTAs or Calls-to-Action.

In this article, we are going to review some best practices handed down from industry professionals and walk you through how to craft a meaningful CTA for your website. Once you master this, your website will truly be all that you imagine. Let’s get started.

Finding the right balance

There is a certain level of salesmanship that goes into creating meaningful CTAs for your website. After all, you are quite literally calling your users to action, that action often being to complete a purchase. This can be difficult, as Neil Patel, online marketing guru puts it, “Developing a sense of urgency versus being pushy is a fine line.”

As marketers, it is our job to learn how to walk that fine line. Finding the right balance between being sales-y and helpful can be difficult, especially in a world where we are taught not to trust salespeople. While some users might be comfortable with your CTAs if they were said to them in person, the limits of online interaction only allow you to write something for them. With this in mind, let’s figure out how to write in a way that toes the line and strikes the proper balance.

Command the conversation with strong verbiage

CTAs by definition are clear, concise, and to the point. On top of that, most websites you will work with have character limits for CTAs, not allowing you to go on and on. This is a blessing and a curse. While having a character limit forces you to keep the word count down, it can be difficult to get your point across in so few words.

Your job is to let the audience know exactly what you want in as few words as possible. No time to screw around. The best way to do this is with strong command verbs, such as:

•      Start your CTA with words like shop, order, or buy for an E-commerce website.
•      Promoting a newsletter or eBook? Start off your CTA with something like download or subscribe.
•      Words like “fill out a form for” or “find out how” to request information.

These are small changes to make when working on your website redesign and CTAs, but strong verbiage can be the difference between someone saying yes or no to your offer.

Provoke emotion and enthusiasm

Another area where word usage is vitally important is when trying to provoke emotion and enthusiasm. After all, you only have a few words to do this, so choose wisely. For instance, something like “book your next dream vacation!” sounds a lot better than “sale on flights to Portugal.”

A small, effective way to elicit the emotion you are looking for is by adding an exclamation point to the end of your CTA. While some experts on website redesign will tell you to avoid exclamation points due to how sales-y they can sound, when used in the right context, they can provide the extra boost you need.

Understand your acronyms

In the world of website redesign, there are a few acronyms that you need to understand and take advantage of, namely, USP and FOMO. Both of these terms will enhance your CTAs and make sure that your website redesign is worth it.

USP

Why should your audience actually perform the desire action that you are showing them? The answer to this question can be found in your USP or unique selling point. By understand what makes you exclusive and unique, you can understand what your customers are looking for by utilizing your services. Figure out your USP and use it in your CTAs to maximize your ROI.

FOMO

Again, one of the best ways to maximize your CTAs is by invoking a fear of missing out, or FOMO. An easy way to do this is by mention some sort of sale or promotion that won’t last long. Or, by highlighting a premium service that is only available to members (if you work off a subscription model).

No matter how you decide to use the acronyms for your success, by simply understanding them you will be able to craft better targeted messaging while working on your website redesign.

Don’t be afraid to get creative

Our final piece of advice on creating meaningful CTAs is to not afraid to be creative. Taking risks is going to be one of the only ways to stretch yourself and make sure that the website redesign process is worth your time.

Being creative means something different for everyone, but the important thing to remember is that when creative CTAs are done correctly, they are far more powerful than they would have been. The best way to figure out if they are working, though, is to test them.

A/B testing

A/B testing will be your best friend for creating CTAs that take risks. It is the only way to know for absolute sure if it is working or not. If you aren’t sure how to A/B test, it is very simple. All you do is create two different CTAs and you run them side by side to see which one receives more clicks.

Obviously, they should be done simultaneously but not next to each other on the same page. After running each of them for a few days (or weeks, up to you) pick which one works best and run that. Then, start all over with another ad to test against the previous winner. Doing this will make sure you never become complacent and keep it fresh for your audience.

Bon voyage!

Creating meaningful CTAs for your website can be difficult, but hopefully after reading this article you have the tools you need to do this well. With this, we wish you bon voyage on your website redesign!

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