Every blog should have a call to action.
In fact, when I think about creating a website I like to think that every page has a goal for the visitor.
We don’t always know what the visitor wants to do on our site, but that’s not the point. If we left everything up to the visitor we probably wouldn’t make much money. We need to think about ourselves first and this means you can take control when it comes to the goals of every page on your website and that includes your blog pages.
The thing right now is that most blogs don’t have the right call to action.
The Right Call to Action for Blogs
I was reading some of the posts on Psy Blog today (check it out if you haven’t already) and there was an interesting point about persuading people to purchase or to make decisions.
From Don’t Take No For An Answer:
Foot-in-the-door (FITD): better known as the ‘low-ball’ technique, this is the exact reverse of the door-in-the-face, in that you first ask for something small, then crank it up. Agreeing to the smaller request makes people more likely to agree to a second, larger request. The art is in judging the step up just right.
This is a great technique for bloggers and websites to keep in mind as they create content and design. Since every page should have a call to action it makes sense to use the call to action in a way that has the best chance to get the visitor to eventually make a purchase.
For most blogs it’s difficult to ask for someone to purchase your service right away. Many of a blog’s readers will be first time readers. These visitors are people that have discovered your website through search or social. They are reading your blog post for the first time. This is the very first time they’ve been introduced to your brand.
Does it make sense to ask them to make a big purchase of services right away?
Okay. Maybe it’s alright to ask about your main service. At least you’re being honest with the person and letting them know that you’re selling something that can potentially help them out, but chances are they aren’t ready yet.
The first thing I always like to ask for is for people to subscribe to the blog for future posts. If the blog post is interesting to them and has helped them they’ll want to get more in the future.
This conversion is important.
When people feel like they are getting something (help from blog posts) they’ll feel obligated to return the favor in the future. Once you get people subscribed to your blog you can market to them (in due time) through your email program. You earn their trust with the good content while getting that first conversion.
From there you can work on the next and biggest conversion – the sale.
Image Credit: ToastyKen