Whether you are redesigning or simply rethinking your current Web site, Boca Raton, Fla.-based Internet marketing company MoreVisibility's recent white paper, Top 10 Considerations When Planning a Web Site Redesign, written by Director of Optimized Services Khrysti Nazzaro, is a helpful checklist for across-the-board improvements.
Conversion points are at the top of the list as the most effective areas for a marketer to improve. Out of all of a Web site's assets, the whitepaper suggests, you should first consider conversion points in order to best funnel visitors through the site and toward critical actions. Below are three steps for making site-wide improvements to your calls to action:
1. Make a List of Conversion Points
Create a list of every possible action that you want visitors to take on your site. Some examples are e-mail sign-up, membership sign-up, contact forms, quote requests, information requests, content submission and purchase. Include not only those actions available on your current Web site, but also the items that you may want to add in the future. While phone numbers, text links and other navigation may be action-inspiring, do not count these as primary calls to action when taking stock of your site because they are subtle when compared to, for example, a highly noticeable "request a free quote" button. You need to limit the number of "true" calls to action to keep Web pages from looking cluttered, all the while keeping each page informative and interesting.
2. Prioritize and Annotate the List
Next rank every available action on your list in order of importance. Consider acquisition value and customer retention value, but give prominence to those actions that produce revenue. After ranking the calls to action, look at your Web analytics data to see how current points of conversion are functioning, and note those points that are in need of design or placement improvements.
3. Rethink Placement and Location
Use the prioritized list to plan placement for each call to action. As a rule, the whitepaper advises that no page should be without a call to action and recommends two to three primary points of conversion on every page. Taking the time to select the most relevant call to action for the content on a given page helps increase conversion. Finally, avoid garish or flashy button design; it's best to keep the call-to-action design in line with the branding and tone of your entire site.
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