Call to Action Words - My Aha Moment Revealed

byMarkBa

2.1K followers

8 years ago

Do you ever get to the end of a blog post and wonder what the point of reading it was? It's possible it was simply a pointless article but it's more likely to have been missing call to action words, commonly abbreviated to CTAs in the industry.

What Are Call to Action Words?

They are the words that tell your readers what you want them to do as a result of reading your article.

These important words 'finish off' your posts so that readers have a sense of what to do next should they choose to do it.

Some Typical CTAs

Call to action words usually tell the reader to click on a link, button or banner in order to do one or more of the following type actions:

• Read something
• Check something out
• Buy something
• Sign up to something like your list or to get a freebie you're offering
• Leave a comment or ask a question
• Share your information with their social media audiences

Good CTA Practice

Call to Actions are most effective when the instruction is:

• Clear and unambiguous - They give one action that is clear to follow.
• Short and to the point - You have seconds to get someone's attention
• Catchy and attention grabbing - The same way you'd write a captivating post title
• Relevant - Make the connection between the post subject and your CTA clear for readers.
• Visually strong - appropriate color choices, bold, bigger text if a link etc.

My CTA Aha Moment

I am constantly evaluating CTAs on other blogs as well my own with a view to improving mine.

I decided to ask the WA community what they thought.about CTAs. As usual there were some great responses.

If you're interested in adding yours or reading what others had to say, you can click on the question here > What CTAs Work Best for You?

While responding to a comment there, a question came to mind about what makes me click on CTAs.

Instantly I realized that regardless of what CTAs look like or how good they are, I only ever click on a CTA if I really want whatever's being offered.

As long as I connect with the content and I believe I'll benefit in some way from clicking on the CTA, then I do. Period.

If that's true for me then it's most likely the case for a lot of people who read my content too.

So If you want someone to click on your CTA then you must get your content in front of the right audience and offer them a solution to their problem. Then there is a much greater chance they will take the action you ask for.

On the other hand if your content is in front of the 'wrong' audience, it does not matter how clever, striking and amazing the CTA is, they won't go further.

Focus on reaching the right target audience. Present them with valuable content, include a CTA and everything else will take care of itself.

~Mark