Congrats! With our help, you’ve taken the steps necessary to optimize the contents of  your website. But don’t break out the Champagne quite yet. Attracting a lot of traffic isn’t enough – you’ve got to convert visitors into customers. At the very least, you’d like all visitors to leave behind some identifying information so that you have a chance to deepen the relationship. It usually takes some nurturing to turn a prospect into a sale. The first step in that direction is to optimize your calls-to-action (CTAs).

An effective CTA motivates a visitor to take some action he or she wouldn’t take in the absence of the CTA. To that end, you should always place a CTA “above the fold” and in clear sight, allowing visitors to figure out how to proceed. A good CTA is the key to converting traffic into leads. Here are some tips:

• Emphasize the CTA relative to the rest of the page, but don’t make it garish.
• Use colors and graphic design to make your CTAs look irresistible to visitors. The CTA might be an image, form, button or link.
• The CTA should give away something valuable, such as an e-book, whitepaper, report, etc. For heaven’s sake, don’t create a CTA that simply says “Contact Us” – would you respond to that? No, and neither will your visitors.
• Ensure that the visitor understands that the CTA is “clickable”. Include a button or a hover effect, if necessary.
• Don’t overdo it, keep it simple and clear. Too much information in a CTA may turn off potential leads.
• Experiment with different colors, designs and placements. There are commercial tools you can use to set up A/B testing. The CTA that gets the most clicks wins.

The CTA button is probably the most important element. One change to a button can yield dramatic results. Here are four variables to consider when crafting your CTA button:

1)    Size: Make it BIG! You want to get noticed, don’t you? A small button is too easy to ignore. We recommend something like 225 by 45 pixels.

2)    Location: As we mentioned above, put it above the fold, where it naturally follows the path of your eye. You can use the Browsersize utility from Google to discover how much of the page will be seen without scrolling.

3)    Color: It should contrast with its surroundings.

4)    Text: Make it a command, like “Download Free E-Book Now!” Studies show that people respond more when CTA button text is forceful.

And remember: test, test, test. There are no absolutes when it comes to web page design, so test your ideas and see which ones perform the best.

Eric Bank