7 Calls To Action You Should Be Using

Posted on April 25, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Are your readers looking at your site but not clicking or buying? If not, you may need a “call to action.” What’s a call to action? Read on to find out, get some call to action examples, and learn how they work.

The best call to action

It may sound silly, or obvious, but if you really want people to do something you need to ask them first. It’s what copywriters call a “call to action.”

It’s simply a request to do something. It could be trying to get a reader to download a pdf, buy a product, or subscribe to your newsletter.

You can spend a lot of time and effort tweaking your calls to action to see which works best. The first rule, however, is simply to have one.

Why calls to action are important

Because they ask someone do do something. And, oddly, if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

It’s not necessary to be pushy, just clear and obvious. The goal is to encourage people to click (or call, or mail back a response).

You’ve gone through a lot of trouble to write an irresistible headline, outline the benefits of your service, and make an offer they can’t refuse. But, it will all be wasted without a call to action.

Call to action examples

“Ask for a free quote today”

“Join Now”

“Start My Free Trial”

“Start Now”

“Download Demo”

“Sign Up Here”

or even the much maligned “Click here” (which, incidentally, works really well for people, even if search spiders don’t like it).

Be clear about what people should do

For example, tell them exactly what to do (click here), explain what will happen next (your download will start), and stress the importance of doing it right now (not two days from now).

Your readers are busy, possibly a little nervous (will this work? will downloading hurt my computer?), and easily distracted. Get them to act quickly – before Joe from accounting comes over with a question about last month’s timesheets.

Test your calls to action

Don’t just stick with one. Try different variations and test them against each other to see which works best. You can use Google’s Website Optimizer (free) to do this.

Test the colors, size, position on the page, or wording. See which gets more clicks.

Using more than one button? For example, you might have a subscribe button as well as a read more button. Make the subscribe button bigger or a different color than the other buttons on your site. It’s the most important action to take and you want to make sure it stands out.

How to Survive the Ezine Crash

Posted on April 4, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image via Wikipedia

Do you post your articles to Ezine Articles, Article Alley, or other similar sites?

If you’re not familiar with them, they are content sites that allow you to post articles on nearly any subject you choose. Ezine in particular has standards in place for minimum levels of quality and all articles are reviewed before they go live on the site.

The idea is that you get more visibility, because the site gets lots of traffic. In return, you can place a resource box at the end, with a link back to your own site. In addition, readers are allowed to repost your articles on their own sites, as long as they keep all the links and author profile intact. It’s supposed to help your work spread.

Here comes Google and “Panda”

The panda in the picture may look cute and cuddly, but its Google namesake is giving lots of webmasters and marketers headaches. Google’s Panda update just changed how their algorithm works. They want unique content, not words that have been repeated all over the web. This has hit Ezine (and sites like it) pretty hard.

Quantcast estimates that their traffic has dropped by nearly one million readers in the last month. Ouch!

Google’s algorithm can change at any time. We can’t control it. What we can do is take a different approach.

Go direct

Use other blogs to gain exposure. Write guest posts on your topic. Most bloggers will let you add a resource box (like ezine does) at the end of your article – with a link to your own site. Don’t write a sales pitch. Give them something useful.

Sign up for HARO and get free publicity by responding to reporters’ queries in your area of expertise. Or, post a query of your own. This can also be a good source of blog post ideas. Follow up with the people who answer your question (they might guest post, or even become clients).

Use social media such as Twitter or Facebook or SnapChat to build your own fan base. Posting in different places gives you more exposure and helps insulate you from any one algorithm or site’s idiosyncrasies.

Content Marketing Update

Content mills are hurting even more now than they were when I first wrote this. Some are trying to survive by breaking themselves into pieces with more focused, niche sites.

Content marketing is still an important part of your marketing message though. Use guest posts, Google Plus, and other tools to expand your audience. Keep your own site clearly focused on your specific market, your specific solutions, and your audience’s needs. Make your your site uniquely useful and interesting, and the visits will follow.

A word about duplicate content

Panda is still causing some confusion though. The duplicate content Google is worrying about isn’t what many people think it is. Google wants the most authoritative version, and they want to make sure you don’t duplicate the same information on your own site (for example selling red shoes and putting each size on a different page).

How an Eight Year Old Kid Can Outsell Grownups

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image by SMN via Flickr

When I was a kid, my mom was active in the League of Women Voters (a non-partisan organization devoted to increasing voter registration and lobbying on selected issues).

One day she dragged me along to help hand out voter information leaflets in the local shopping mall.

Plenty of traffic, tough crowd

We set up a table in one of the corridors in the mall. We had big stacks of leaflets with voting information, background on the candidates running that year, and information on the important issues. Behind us, there were signs “Help Hire a President.”

The mall had lots of traffic, but it was hard to attract attention. There were plenty of people, yes, but it wasn’t really the right audience. People were focused on bargains and shopping, not voting. If we sat there – nothing. If we stood and held out the pamphlets – nothing.

Talk to them, not at them

On the other hand, if we asked a question, such as “Are you planning to vote?”, they’d stop for a second and listen. I later found out that this was also likely to get them to actually go out and vote on election day. Robert Caldini (author of Influence) tried this exact same test about ten years later and tracked the results. It turned out that once someone has publicly (or mentally) committed to do something, they are more likely to do it.

Engage your audience

We got even better results with an open-ended question, or one asking for their opinion, “What do you think about the landfill proposal?” (the county wanted to build one near the water supply – such bright bulbs they were). That required that they stop and think, give us a reply, and think about what the consequences of that landfill would be.

Don’t assume – test

I noticed which questions got the best response, and started asking only those. Mom did too. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was my first split test.

Because I stopped, listened, and noticed what was happening my mom and I (and the others) gave out a lot of pamphlets and registration information. Success!

5 Simple Ways to Get Your Readers to Love You

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image by qthomasbower via Flickr

When I first started writing this blog, my posts were rather dry. My newsletter too. I knew content marketing was important (though we didn’t really use that term then), so I was dutifully writing, without really thinking too much about it and without a real b2b content marketing strategy in mind.

Dull. dull dull. Not quite as bad as sharing what color socks I’d worn for the last five days, but pretty boring.

Since I was doing b2b marketing, I was trying too hard to be professional and formal instead of personable and likable.

Nobody wants to be lectured at, or read a dry recitation of marketing advice. It has to be entertaining. Heck, I didn’t even think to add pictures. Duh. So here are five b2b content marketing tips to make your newsletters, posts, and email marketing more interesting. Your readers will love you for it.

Make your content marketing interesting

If you want people to read what you write, start with a great headline, like “The Worst Marketing Idea Ever” or “Ten Secrets to Successful Landing Pages.” Talk to them in a conversational way. Ask some questions about what they are struggling with. Point out your own failings, and how you compensated for them.

Add illustrations to your posts

Don’t just write text, add photos or other images to your blog posts, newsletters (if appropriate) and social media posts. People like looking at pictures, especially of other people. Use them to draw more attention to your site. There are lots of places to get free images for your blog.

Be personal

That doesn’t mean you have to go back to your sock colors, or write six paragraphs about the terrible headache you had two days ago. It just means sharing what you’re comfortable sharing. Showing that there’s a real person behind the curtain. Talk about dumb things you did, or setbacks, and then how you got over them; like writing boring posts about your socks.

Make connections

If they leave a comment, answer it. Respond to your emails. If someone new leaves a comment, email them and thank them. Go check out their blogs. Leave them a comment or two. Comments can also be a great source of new blog post ideas. Either use your own comments or refer back to other blogs or posts you’ve read or commented on.

Promote your readers

If they do something you think your other readers will like, showcase it. I’ve started writing posts about my readers’ ebooks, videos, and newsletters. If you’ve got something you’d like to share, send me an email.

Have you tried any of these? What are you doing to make connections?

P.S. And one simple way to confuse them – forget to edit the default post ID number so your title doesn’t show! Oy!

The Connection Between Clients and Old Shoes

Posted on February 3, 2011 by Jodi Kaplan

Image via Wikipedia

It is a truism of business that it costs more to find new customers than it does to keep old ones.

So, why do so many companies treat their existing customers so badly? The phone company and the cable company offer all sorts of incentives for new customers to sign up (lower prices, extra channels, bundled services).

Old customers? They’re old shoes, scuffed up, with the heels worn down. Not bright and shiny like the new customers. No goodies or discounts for them.

I just cut ties with an insurance company. I’ve been with them for 19 years. They didn’t even ask why. Nor did they try to win me back. All they did (two months later) was send a note acknowledging the cancellation.

Why not do something remarkable?

What if the cable company occasionally offered a freebie to its current customers. Like a surprise 25% discount on the anniversary of the day you signed up. Or a greeting card on your birthday.

It would build trust and loyalty. And, it would be remarkable. Customers would talk about it. They’d tell their friends. I mean, have you ever heard of the telephone company being nice?

We can do better

Large corporations, like the phone company or the cable company are often slow, bureaucratic, and sometimes a bit arrogant.

Since we’re agile and nimble and all that cool small business stuff, we can do better than that. Keep in contact with your clients. Email them or send them random surprises (the good kind) just because. If they leave you, ask why. . See what happens.