12 Jul The Importance of Calls to Action

When you are writing a blog or utilizing social media you are generally doing so to get a response from a particular audience. In order to get a response from a reader you need to put in place something called “a call to action.” A call to action is when you encourage interaction between the reader and your website, blog, or social media post. This can be anything from a request for quote to a request for a free item. Free items can be anything from an article giving more information or knowledge about your particular blog or posting to a free download, such as wallpaper or an MP3. Whatever it is that you are encouraging your reader to contact you for, the idea is simply to get that reader to provide you with their information so you can continue to keep in contact.
Calls to action can help you acquire demographics about your readers and help to put you in an authoritative position with them.
Here are a few calls to action that you can put in place:

• Free Information – offer information about the product or service you are writing about via an emailed article to the reader. You can offer the information after a visitor has clicked a link and filled out an email form that sends them a link with the information included on a website for which the link takes them.
• Discounts – you want to be careful to only offer discounts that are not detrimental to your overall profits and do not over inflate your normal prices only to falsely offer a discount.
• E-books – an excellent call to action because you generally will have a person fill out a form and in return email them a link to their free E-book. The secret to utilizing E-books is to make sure your book is something that people who visit your site are interested in. You offering an E-book can also help to make you look like an authority in your venue.
• Trial Offers – depending upon the item you are selling or offering as an entrepreneur, you can stimulate interest in it by offering a free trial offer of the product. Obviously this is completely dependent upon the item you are working with and in some cases dependent upon whether you can afford to offer “freebies” to your readers (in the form of trial sizes, etc.).
• E-Zines – offering an E-Zine can be another way to put you in the position of being a credible source of information on your particular product or subject; making you an expert in your field to your readers. This also gives you instant access to demographical information to them and an open door to their in-box.

Needless to say, having a call-to-action, whether in the form of a “Click Here” button or an email stimulator form, is extremely important. Utilizing calls to action can help you grow your online presence in a variety of ways.