One of the most common mistakes I see when I review websites is weak calls to action. Actually, I spent the whole morning going through some of the calls to actions on our clients’ websites and I re-wrote them. Here is what I did for them:

Takeaways:

• The word “Get” rocks!
• Get as specific as you can. Call to actions need to explain what people will get if they decide to take action. “Start My FREE Trial” is a great example of a specific call to action.
• Move away from standard and boring calls to action. Nobody wants to subscribe to anything. People hate subscribing (but they love being “the first one to know”).
• Some power words: free, get, instant, easy, fast, simple, now.
• The word “now” increases conversion rate by about 25% in average.
• The word “FREE”, when capitalized, converts 86% better than its small caps counterpart.
• Capitalizing the first letter of each word increases conversion rates by about 22% in average.

Just so you see that I practice what I preach, here’s my call to action: Please Tweet this Post (Your Followers Will Thank You).

This reminds me of one last thing: giving a reason WHY people should to do what you ask them to drastically increases conversion rates. Explain why they’ll benefit from taking action.

BTW, we added a new WordPress plugin that I absolutely love. It’s called Sexy Bookmarks and it’s awesome to allow your readers to share your content. Play with it (it’s right below this sentence) and please share this post on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. Let me know if it works OK. Thank you!

Author: Zeke Camusio

Zeke Camusio is a serial entrepreneur, marketing speaker, author of The Internet Marketing Bible and CEO of The Outsourcing Company, an Internet marketing agency based out of Portland, Oregon.

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8 Responses

1. 

   1

   Deb Zimmer 
   

   I love the list of rewrites. Made me rethink what I’m doing. Thanks.

2. 

   2

   Stephen Da Cambra 
   

   These are all really good points. We see poorly worded CTAs too often. Now, about the “Submit” button below….

3. 

   3

   Yosef Solomon 
   

   Thanks man! This information is totally useful!

4. 

   4

   Wesley LeFebvre 
   

   Thanks for the informative details of your actual CTA changes, Zeke. I’ll be applying a few of those call-to-actions immediately. Also its great to see some actual data regarding increased conversion rates by making those small changes.

   Last, I was totally jealous when I say your bookmarks and I was trying to figure out if you did that yourself or if you got them somewhere. Good thing I read your post. Thanks for sharing where you got the “Sexy Bookmarks”.

5. 

   5

   Alan 
   

   Great website tips Zeke. Your examples are perfect. Just wish we could put some of these in email subject lines without getting caught in spam filters.

6. 

   6

   Zeke Camusio 
   

   You just gave me a great topic idea for a future article! How about “7 Killer Subjects that Will Get Your Emails Open Every Time”?

   Zeke

7. 

   7

   Zeke Camusio 
   

   I know! It’s my new favorite plugin! I love it!

   Zeke

8. 

   8

   Muxx 
   

   Definitely agree.

   Many website owners and bloggers will try their best to integrate adsense and other advertising into their post so it fits the flow of their website.

   Unfortunately, they don’t treat many of the other elements on their website with the same care.

   Simply putting “Click Here” won’t cut it. You will derail the reader right in their tracks. Instead, use action words that continue the flow of the post or content surrounding the call to action in order for it to blend seamlessly and give the reader an additional incentive to click through.