Making Social and E-Mail Calls to Action More Effective
To boost our site's traffic, we promote our site and encourage users to subscribe to us. We put in links of our social pages and persuade users to register on our sites. In giving so much importance on building relationships, we tend to create so many social pages for our brand and have them all embedded on our sites. In this way, we likely to overwhelm users.
Always bear in mind that users subscribe to us because they are interested in our content. So, too many social pages links on our site would not get us followers if we don't have content that would interest them the most. Here are some tips shared by Rand Fishkin, CEO and Co-founder of SEOmoz.org, in improving social and subscription calls to action.
1. Limit Your Subscription Choices and Don't Overwhelm Users
Not all social networks can effectively drive users to your site. Identify which of your social pages can best serve their purpose. Choose only two well-performing social pages to be embedded on your site. After identifying your best social pages, embed them only at a single side of a page on your site. Having the links and icons of your social pages, inviting for subscriptions, cluttered on your site could get you less subscriptions as your repetitive links disgust users.
2. Promote Subscription at the Right Time
Know the right time for calling to action. For instance, for a blog post or product offering, it could be better to offer subscriptions or products at the end of your content. Having users reached the bottom of your article could likely denote that you have them engaged throughout reading your content as they scroll down your page. Off course, it's a bit illogical to ask users to subscribe or buy a product prior to reading your content. They should comprehend first your content and benefits they might get from what you are promoting before subscribing or making a purchasing decision. If they get interested in your content or find your product worth their money, then they might subscribe or buy your product.
3. Customize Your Calls to Action Image/Button
Standard calls to action (CTA) graphics are now becoming trite as they look the same in hundred of sites. It's better to have customized CTAs for these have better chances of getting noticed by users. By customizing, you can design unique images or graphics on which your brand is accentuated. You can also add clever messaging on them to make them stand out all over the web. Having your signs get easily noticed by users boosts the possibility of having them subscribed to your site.
4. Create and Fulfill Expectation
If your CTA promises users of getting more updates about new trends in SEO by subscribing to your site, then you should be fulfilling that promise the soonest time after they sign up. Or else you will not only lose subscribers, but also put your credibility at stake.
5. Present Relevant Social Proof
Determine what social proof is relevant to your site the most. Then, put this on your pages. You may follow other experts in their social media accounts. Or you may subscribe to sites of importance to your niche or with high page ranks.
6. Make Your Subscription Process Dead Simple
A less complicated way of subscription tends to please users. If you're going to ask for more information from them before confirming their registration, they will less likely finish the subscription process.
7. Eliminate "Noise" from Your Social Media Channels
Your subscribers may get annoyed if you're going to flood them with tweets, status updates, or e-mails. Too many updates within the day can make your conversion or engagement rate strategy less effective. So, it is better to send fewer messages to your subscribers through your social medial channels if these updates are of high quality or interest to them.
8. Know Your Social Media Channel's Return on Investment
Know the benefits you're getting from each of your social media pages. As mentioned earlier, not all social networks can serve you best. An effective social network to others may not work well for your site. So, it is really important to identify which among your channels drive more users to your site and create high engagement. Then, give priority to your most effective social media channel.
