One of the most important parts of any marketing effort is the call to action (or CTA). This also is true for the web pages on your small business web site – each page should have a clear, compelling CTA to guide your visitors to do something as a result of visiting your site. Whether it’s making a purchase, making a phone call, or joining your mailing list, your visitors should feel so motivated by your information that they want to take the next step, whatever that next step may be.

A call to action can be as simple as “click here” or Call Us Toll Free at 800-your-number-here. But is that really enough to get a visitor to click a link or pick up the phone? If your CTAs are not motivating your web site visitors to take some sort of action, then it may be time for a Call to Action Makeover.

Easy As 1-2-3

There are three basic elements to a successful call to action. They are:

1) What you want your visitors to do
2) Why you want them to do it (the benefit to them)
3) When they should they take the requested action (so it doesn’t get put off until later)

Typically, a call to action comes at or near the end of a web page, after readers have spent some time reviewing the information on the page. When creating a call to action, you should try to maintain the connection you’ve established with your readers, and lead them toward the next logical step – taking some type of action.

For example, a landscaping services page may have great page copy that explains the benefits of using their lawn maintenance services, how their pricing can save customers money, and how their products are environmentally friendly. Using the call to action “Call Us Toll Free” does little to motivate a visitor to do anything. But using a CTA like this could work better:

“Because our lawn maintenance services get such great results, the Spring/Summer schedule for services in your area fills up quickly. We recommend you call us at 800-lawns4u to arrange for your free consultation as soon as possible. This will help us guarantee a spot for you on our 2010 schedule.”

Why does this work? Because in this call to action, the implication is that the schedule is already filling up for spring, and if you want this great service for your lawn this year, you should call right away before your neighbors get all the available spots. The three main elements have been answered:

1) You have told your readers what to do (call you),
2) They know why they need to call you (to get a free consultation and a spot on the schedule), and
3) They have a sense of urgency to do it now before it’s too late (when to take action).

A shorter version of this CTA could also work; although it is much less compelling and contains fewer details:

“Call us today at 800-lawns4u for your free lawn consultation and to guarantee your spot on our 2010 Spring services schedule.”

This CTA still tells your readers what to do (contact you), why they should contact you (free consultation and spot on the schedule) and when to do it (today), but it is much less powerful.

Managing Expectations

Another call to action element you can incorporate is telling your readers what they can expect, or explaining what will happen as a result of taking action. For instance, replacing “click here” with “learn techniques for lawn care here” or “register here for our lawn care seminar” gives readers a clear idea of what they can expect to find when they follow the call to action.

The Path to Conversions

Part of motivating your visitors to take the next step is to answer some basic questions that they might be considering before they follow any call to action:

• HOW do I contact this company? Should I call them, send an email, etc.?
• WHY should I do business with this company? Can I trust them? Are they better than their competitors? Can they help me solve my problem?
• CAN I WAIT to take this action? Is there a promotion with a deadline? Are supplies really limited? Will my coupon expire? Is there a benefit to taking action right away?

Make sure these questions have been clearly answered throughout your page copy and in multiple places on the page as well. By answering these questions on the way to your call to action, readers will already feel comfortable and have the details they need to take the desired action without any hesitation.

So whatever goal(s) you have in mind for your web pages, a strong call to action is necessary for getting your visitors to do something once they are on your site. Because having web site visitors is nice, but having visitors that are engaged and interested in what you have to offer is better. By creating strong, clear calls to action on your web pages, you can help move each web site visitor down the path to conversion, where visitors can become customers, subscribers, leads, or whatever a conversion means for your small business.