Calling All Writers & Bloggers!

There’s [still] a knee-high pile of articles and emails to plow through re getting a mailing list going, attracting viewers/followers, and making big bucks.  <LMAO>  It sounds so f’g easy.  And, for some, I don’t doubt that it is.  God bless you that have it easy.

As one of the “missions” of this blog is to share information gleaned, I thought I’d touch upon that valuable marketing tool called the “Call to Action Button” (CTA).

It has a plethora of purposes—like getting readers to sign up for your mailing list, subscribing to your blog/website, leading them to your shop, or purchasing a product or service.  You can use these CTAs in posts or add them to a sidebar.  Whatever it is you want your visitor or viewer to do, make sure you have one.  But before you design one, ask yourself this: “what’s the goal of my blog (website)”?

There’s a ton of stuff to be learned about this lovely little tool; given this is a post and not a page or in-depth PDF doc, here are a few highlights (which I’ll apply to mine, when I finally apply a CTA to this blog—and I will).

Make it clear/uncomplicated.  Your visitor should be drawn to it almost immediately.  Let it stand out from the bordering content, so watch what’s around it.  Also, keep an eye on the size of your button.  Too small and it’ll be lost; too big and it’ll take over the screen.

Fun fonts are just that—fun, far-out, and frivolous—but make sure they’re readable.  Keep your lovely call-to-action short and sweet.  Create a sense of urgency, if doable.  Consider words like: “try”, “buy”, “sign up”, “get”, “join”, “start”, and “send” to name but a few (“free” is a pretty good one, too).  Get personal, as well: use “you” and “me”.

Offer a reason (or two) why your visitor should complete your CTA.  And don’t overwhelm him or her by offering too many actions or options.

You can keep them rectangular, as most of them are, or you can opt for something different—circle, box, star, whatever you like.

Remember: while a CTA may look amazing, it may not generate action (i.e. convert traffic), so you’ll want to test it out.

In my Google travels, I came across a couple of free call-to-action button sites (and this is by no means an endorsement, simply a sharing of something found); I’ve not tried them.  You may want to check them out (like I plan to) to see where they take you.  But, like I always say: do your due diligence.  Learn what’s out there: absorb and apply . . . and have some fun, too.

http://buttonoptimizer.com

https://dabuttonfactory.com

Author: tylerus

I'm primarily a writer of fiction and blog posts, and a sometimes editor and proofreader of books, manuals, and film/television scripts. Fact-checking and researching, organizing and coordinating are skills and joys (I enjoy playing detective and developing structure). My fiction audience: lovers of female-sleuth mysteries. My genres of preference: mysteries (needless to say), women’s fiction, informative and helpful “affirmative” non-fiction. So-o, here I am, staring up a new blog for aspiring and established e-Book writers. The plan: to share the (long) journey of getting to this stage, and share "learnings" and "teachings". There's a lot I hope to accomplish with this blog, but it may be a while before that happens as there's a lot on the ol' plate - taking care of Mom, working full-time, and attempting to get another book in the Triple Threat Investigation Agency series written (never mind blog postings and other writing projects). It's very challenging and it's all good. As I like to say: teeny focused baby steps are just as effective as long forceful strides. It may take a little longer, but we will get there. View all posts by tylerus