5 Places To Include Calls To Action On Your Website

I completely love calls to action and they’re one of the largest parts of my website strategy.

Why?

Because readers aren’t likely to do anything without being asked or told. This isn’t because they’re rude or don’t like your content. It’s simply because they don’t know what you’d like them to do or didn’t think about doing anything in the first place.

For myself, I’m almost always going to share a post I enjoy on Twitter. Buffer is super easy to use and I love making new connections that way. But if you don’t tell me to check out a related post, opt-in to your email list, or comment? I probably won’t do those things.

Today I’m going to go over 5 great places to include calls to action on your blog.

Blog Posts

It’s super important to include calls to action within your blog posts. Your posts are likely your largest source of traffic so you want to be sure to provide your new visitors with an action to take!

Great call to action options for blog posts are to:

• Opt-in for a free download – I like to include this type of CTA right at the beginning and the end of each of my posts. I also draw some extra attention by including some type of graphic or brightly-colored button.
• Share on social media – Trying to grow your social media following? Be sure to ask people to share and make it super easy to do so. I like to include at least one click-to-tweet in most of my blog posts, right near the beginning. That way readers know I’d love for them to share and I’m making it as easy as possible.
• Check out related posts – We all want our visitors to see more than one blog post, right? Make it easy for them by linking to blog posts related to the one they’re reading. If I’m really enjoying a topic I’m learning about I’m definitely going to click over to another post on a related topic!

Most importantly, always end your blog posts with some type of call to action. I usually ask my readers to comment and then include the opportunity to grab my bonus content one last time.

Header

Calls to action aren’t just for your blog posts. My most effective CTA is actually my header.

Your header is a great place for your best call to action because everyone will see it on each page they navigate to. If you’d like to learn more about the importance of above-the-fold content you can check out a full post on that here. But the repeated exposure of a CTA in your header produces great results.

This is the perfect place to give something away for free. If you have a free course, eBook, or action-packed workbook, your header is a great place to include it.

Homepage

I find homepages to be a bit tricky as far as calls to action go. There’s a fine line between too little and way too much. I dislike going to blogs and being asked to do 10 things all at once. But a little direction is also needed too.

I recommend that you either include a couple of soft calls to action or one main one. If you check out my homepage you’ll see that I’ve gone with the first option. I’m giving people the option to read my blog, work with me, or learn more about me.

That page would have a different feel if I was including strong calls to action for each one. My readers would likely end up with too many tabs open, leading to overwhelm.

Within A Free Course Or Workbook

I ask my readers to share on social media at the end of each of my free workbooks as well as at the end of many lessons in my free courses. This is a great way for my students to get some friends to join them and my content gets more eyes because of it.

It’s important to make sharing easy. Don’t just ask them to share it without including a simple way for them to do so. I always create click-to-tweets and link them to my CTA text or an image. That way all they have to do is click and a pre-written tweet is right there for them!

Thank You Page

I love asking people to share on social media on all my thank you pages. My readers run across these after opting-in to my list for a free course, download, or workshop.

This gives your readers a chance to get their friends to join them and it also gives you and your content extra exposure!

Here is the thank you page that my readers are brought to after opting-in to my free course:

How Do You Use Calls To Action?

What are your favorite ways to use calls to action throughout your blog?