Tweet

A simple call to action

Written by: Max Kalles

Article Overview: If the purpose of your website is to turn traffic into customers then you need to have a call to action on every page. If you do not ask then the answer is always no. Learn how to use the easiest call to action, your phone number, to get your customers to take action.

A simple call to action

One of the main reasons why websites don’t convert traffic to customers is because of a lack of calls to action. A call to action is simply showing your customers “the next step” if they are interested in doing business with you. If you want something in life you know that the only way to ensure that you get it is to ask for it. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. So why would your website be any different. If you want to generate leads or sales through your website, then you must simply ask for it.

The easiest way to ask for a sale or to get the visitor to take the next step is with a phone number. If you are the type of business that wants phone calls, then you have to place your phone number in key areas of your website. There are three areas that should contain your phone number.

The first area is in the top banner. By having your phone number in the top banner you are ensuring that it is always visible and also subliminally informing your visitor’s that you would like them to call. Because you do not know which page the visitor will want to call as this is different with every visitor, you need to make sure that your phone number is visible on every page.

The second area is within the text of your website. Every page that attempts to sell your service needs to have your phone number within the content. This is best placed at the bottom of the text with the comment “if you would like to take advantage of this service then please call 555-555-5555.” Once again this is telling the visitor what the next step is and making it easy for them to take that step.

The final area that should have your phone number is on the contact us page. This is the least important of the three because if the other two are in place they will not need to visit the contact us page. Since your contact information is expected to be here, and not everyone will see it in the banner or the text, you should always have your phone number on this page.

By simply having your phone number on these three key areas of your website, you will notice that the phone calls you receive from your website will increase.

Related Articles
  A Call to Action for the Sales Force
  Make Sure Your Sales Letter Has A Strong Call To Action
  Should Your Blog Posts Have a Call to Action?
  Found Your True Calling (To Action)?
  50 Powerful Call to Action Phrases

Article Tags: call to action, conversion marketing, internet marketing



Related Forum Posts
Re: Keyword Phone Tracking - Google PPC - Hi Jeff, Thanks for the heads-up. No, I hadn't heard of the company. I understand that the company tracks phone call leads, but does the company also set up a recorded message for the client so that leads will hear the message and have the option of leaving a message? Or is the phone call redirected to the webmaster's business line and either fielded by the website owner, or a member of staff, or a call handling system that the business owner has set up entirely separate from the phone tracking company? What I mean is, is the tracking separate from the action the lead takes, just as with an ad tracker, where the tracker redirects the lead to a target web page while registering the action in the ad tracker control panel? Thanks, David H
Re: 12-Step Foolproof Sales Letter Template - This type of gimmickry might work in the quick hit consumer or internet marketing world, but do you really think this is going to help when you are selling to decision makers at a business? The full proof sales letter in the business world contains: 1. A quote from a customer that achieved results 2. Direct knowledge of the person you are reaching out to 3. A call to action that can give them the option of seeing how your offering makes a difference. This is a simple sauce that makes for great sales dishes.
Why So Much Time? - Hi Evan. I'd challenge you about how long a webinar takes to prepare. There are some simple models out there that would suggest that the time you need is a lot less than you might think. Remember, you are not writing it all down and just reading it out. 2 minutes settling everyone in 5 minutes outlining the call and the ground rules of listeners (if it's interactive) 10 key points of 3 minutes 10 minutes of Q&A 5 minutes of a sales pitch 5 minutes of a review of the call 3 minutes of goodbye If you are able to manage it so that the call is even more ointeractive (Q&A with others on the call chipping in with their ideas and you act as a facilitator), you workload is even less. The only time you need to prepare is the 10 key points and the marketing/e-mails. Pretty straight-forward! Regards
Crafting a script - Hi Andrew This is actually a pretty big topic. And it's so unfair to dump it on you because I've seen even experts mess up a telephone strategy. The trick is to develop a reason for calling that really is to the callee's benefit. If you can do that, and if you have a good backup document, you can often get an excellent appointment hit rate right from the first, ice-cold call. I don't generally recommend going for the appointment on the first call because here are the average stats for appointments on a call cycle of every 60-90 days: 1st call, less than 1% will agree to see you 2nd call, maybe 3-5% will see you 3rd call, maybe 7% will see you 4th call, maybe 60% or more will see you So if you go pushing for appointments too soon in the call cycle, you could well be turning them against you and ruining that beautiful 60% later on. Here's an example of a strategy that I did for a client - a recruitment agency, just recently. I discovered just by chatting to employers and hr managers (I asked them what their biggest staff challenge was) that they lived in fear of staff quitting on them. Staff retention was their biggest issue. So the spiel went "I'm calling because we've noticed that staff poaching is a bit of a problem in Perth right now, and that's not helping us either. That's why our MD is visiting local businesses to explain a simple strategy you can put in place to help stop poaching. He's going to be in Xville next Thursday afternoon, and again on Friday afternoon - which is best for you?" If they said they didn't want to have a meeting the spiel continued "Oh that's fine, of course I know you're busy. Would you like me to just email the report to you instead so you can read it when you've got time?" Most people said yes, they'd like the report. And of course the report contained a strong call to action (to have the MD visit). Lots of times even when they'd said no to the telemarketer, they called back to make the appointment after all. This is what I mean by a strategy, it's not just a call by itself. This particular strategy got an appointment rate of 3:7 calls. Pretty good for ice-cold. Three provisos with this: 1 The reason for your visit, and the content of the backup info, must be critically relevant to a crushing need your client has 2 You need to have a mature professional making these calls, not a teenybopper who sounds like they're just out of school 3 When you do go out to that appointment, make absolutely sure you deliver on what they're expecting -- if you turn it into "bait and switch" you'll lose them forever. Give them even more than they were hoping for. Hope that helps, and good luck. Best wishes Christine
Re: Article: How to Improve Your Cold-Calling Skills - Another thing that can help is to separate yourself from the outcome. Even the best call in the world won't work every time -- so after you craft a great approach and make a great call, that's it. Then you walk away satisfied with the job you did, regardless of the outcome. The action of calling (and doing your absolute best every time) is what matters, the outcome is not something you can control. That mindset will help since the rejection rate is high for cold calls. Also, taking an attitude of finding out information about your client's needs instead of pushing something onto them they might not want/need can help you feel less like a pushy salesman jerk. It's nicer when they react to you more like a helpful friend putting them in touch w/ info they really might need.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Do You Deserve To Be Happy and Successful?

Why Small Businesses Don't Survive

Reverse Mentoring

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.