How to Create Click-Worthy CTAs for Your Website

April 14, 2023 11:30am

A landing page without a powerful call to action (CTA) is like a boat without water — it will get you nowhere. CTAs encourage consumer engagement and prompt your customers to take action, not just any action, but the specific action you want them to take when they land on your website.

Without a clear CTA, your website visitors are left in limbo not knowing what step to take next. Ultimately, this is where many small business websites lose their potential customers. Why spend time designing a wonderful, dynamic landing page, without putting the same effort into creating a CTA that will help you gain more customers?

What are CTAs?

Marketers strategically place CTAs on a website's landing pages with the specific purpose of inspiring consumer action. These CTAs may be in the form of a button, phone number, live chatbox or pop-up box.

CTA best practices

While there's not a magic formula for creating successful CTAs, there are some best practices you can follow. Here's a look at the top CTA best practices for marketing your website.

Color

Your CTA must attract attention, and the proper use of color can help to accomplish this.

You want to select contrasting colors while still ensuring the CTA looks great on your page. In addition, some colors can inspire certain emotions.

For example, the best performing colors are green, which inspires growth, and orange, which is associated with confidence.

Size and shape

The size and shape of your CTA button can be a tricky matter.

You want the button to be large enough for the user to spot easily, but not so overpowering that it appears sales-y or takes away from the meat of your content.

Play around with different shapes, sizes and graphics until you find one that works well on your page.

Language

CTAs should be short and to the point.

Marketing experts recommend just two to five words, so it’s important to make every word count. Always start with an action word, like "try," "download" or "open."

Studies also suggest that using first-person language can increase your click-through rate (CTR) by as much as 90%. For example, instead of saying "Download your free e-book," say "Download my free e-book."

Placement

The placement of your CTAs must be purposeful and strategic.

When creating a long landing page, one CTA always should go before the fold. But, don't be afraid to include multiple CTAs that visitors can see as they scroll.

The user should never have to backtrack up the page to find a CTA.

Mobilization

81% of Americans now have smartphones, so it’s imperative to optimize your CTAs for mobile phones. Specifically, it's important to make sure any pop-ups on your website are user-friendly.

Google announced that it will punish sites with intrusive pop-ups that make content less accessible on mobile devices.

Make sure your pop-ups don't take up the entire screen so users can choose to opt-out easily.

Value proposition/urgency

Consumers are always looking for great deals.

Using value proposition language, like "free," "50 percent off" and "discount" can help the consumer see the value in what you are offering.

You also want to encourage the user to act quickly. Words like "now," "today" or "for a limited time" can help create a sense of urgency.

A/b testing

It’s crucial to test the effectiveness of your CTAs on a regular basis.

A/b testing, with the help of Google Analytics, allows you to test variations of your CTAs to see which one performs better.

This type of testing can help you perfect your call to action and improve your click-through rate.

Our user-friendly website builder makes creating effective CTAs quick and easy. The combination of dozens of templates, hundreds of fonts, stunning photo galleries, easy editing features and enhanced mobile settings gives you the power to customize your CTA buttons to meet your company's unique needs.

Pick a website design template to start building your website.

Originally published 8/16/19