Call To What?
This week we’re learning about calls to action and landing pages from Hubspot’s Inbound Marketing University course taught by Jeanne Hopkins. If you missed it, be sure to check out last week’s post, How to Get Found With Advanced SEO.
(Don’t) Click Here!
First things first, what action are you trying to elicit with your landing page? Do you want the customer to call you? Sign up for a free webinar? Download a webinar? Click? Go to another page for more information? Whatever it may be, there doesn’t have to be a lot of copy; you want it to be very clear what you intend for them to do. (And if you have too much copy it could get overwhelming and confusing.) Hopkins suggests maybe using a link (with creative, informative–and keyword rich!-anchor text). For instance, “What factors should i consider before choosing a marketing program?” is a much better (and more effective) call to action than “Click here!“. Other examples could be “Buy a (blank) and never (something else) again!” or “Which social media platform is right for your business?” or “Call today and find out what our competitors don’t want you to know.” Essentially, people know they’re clicking “here” so by saying “click here!” you’re missing an opportunity to make a call to action and potentially a conversion.
Test. And remember: Clarity trumps persuasion.
Ok, so now that we know that our calls to action have to be informative, we’ll touch on what Hopkins considers the best landing page practices. She started out by asking how many people have redesigned their websites in the past 12 months–probably not many given how difficult it is to do. She then asked how many tests have you run in the last 6 months? After doing some research, I began to realize how important it is to test your landing page! You can test things like email subject lines–which ones work best for conversions, html vs. text, headline and call to action locations. The issue with testing is knowing what to test and how to prioritize those tests. Hopkins reminded those listening to her webinar that on the internet, you are only a click away from the competition, so make sure you’re taking advantage of potential customers being on your site! And that means that you must have optimized calls to action and a great landing page. You want your visitors to sign up for free trials or whatever it is you want them to do so that it will result in conversions! Hopkins also told us that “clarity trumps persuasion,” so make sure your landing page is telling your customer: why they’re there, that they are in the right place, and what it is exactly that you want them to do. Keep in mind that your landing page is not your home page; if you’re sending people to your home page, you’re telling them to figure out what they are supposed to do themselves. And in those instances potential customers could say, “ok, I don’t know why I’m here,” and leave. Clearly, you don’t want that!
So go optimize your landing page, be clever with your calls to action, and don’t forget to check in next week for Brian Carroll’s course on Inbound Lead Nurturing.
