This is the second post in a series of posts that examine ways to get your website in tip top form for the new year and turn it into a selling machine.

In an online world where most websites are confused and disjointed, your prospect is practically begging you to make a website that helps them accomplish their goals and call them to action. People need direction. This can be your local advantage.

What is a Call To Action?

Like all good sales people, your website must ask for the desired action that you want the person to perform. If I can take it further, your website should ask in different ways to get the desired result. Statistically, the best sales people ask for a sale at least twice when the time comes.

Let’s get right to it. Is your website designed to move your prospects along the sales process that ultimately benefits them and you? I’ve seen too many websites that are devoid of any call to action.

Ask them to buy something.
Ask them to directly call you on the phone.
Ask them to fill out your survey.

Your call to action must be on every page and ideally placed in a place where the visitor can view the request. More about that in a second.

I’ve taken a screen shot from the popular financial services website mint.com. The two red arrows clearly show their call to action.

They want you to sign up.

I love visiting websites like this because they’re organized and they’re to the point, they clearly have a goal and they ask for the next step essential to accomplishing the goal of the website.

It’s not ingenious, it’s just good marketing.

Are You Being Clear About Your Call To Action?

In the movie Glen Garry Glen Ross, Alec Baldwin’s character proclaims that all good sales people should “always be closing.” Consider your website a sales person; your website should be asking every single person that visits your website if they want to buy or do business with you.

Before you close, you have to ask for the sale. The most essential part of the close is asking. Your website simply can not convert browsers into customers without asking the person to move forward in the process.

As the example illustrates, a good website should ask the browser to take action and it sure doesn’t hurt to ask for the next step in a number of different ways.

Your Call to Action Must be on Every Page

Over the last year our office has probably conducted over 72 A/B split and multivariate tests on call to actions. Without knowing your website, I would say that your best bet for placing a call to action is in the top, center of every page of the website where people typically focus when they first visit your website.

Compel Your Readers to Take Action

Make your call to action urgent. Make it so that they have to call you or respond to you right now. This could be with a special offer, this could be with a sign up bonus or this could be some sort of limited time offer. In almost all cases, your potential customers will respond much better to a gentle online push.

Don’t Be Afraid To Ask For The Business

If I had to isolate one factor that makes a difference to most clients I work with, it would be the implementation of a strong call to action combined with powerful copyrighting that directs the customer to perform the ideal action.

If your website is passively sitting around without asking people to take the next step; for all intents and purposes, your website is collecting digital dust. Your website shouldn’t be a trinket, it’s meant to be a powerful business tool.

If you have examples of great websites that follow these principals, feel free to link to them below in the comments section. Our next post is going to talk about how to get your website to close more sales and bring more business.