You're Wasting Your
Time Blogging if You
Don't Use Calls to Action
in Your Blog Posts

Every blog
post should
contain a
call to
action
(a CTA).

No CTA = high bounce rate = opportunity lost.
Think of the first-time visitors:
what do you want them to do after
they finish reading your post?
Do you want them to wander off?
No, you want to capture them so
that you can contact them again.

Your blog’s bounce rate: does it make you happy?
If this number is above
that's too damn high.
By blogging you’re actually paying people to read your free content.
You’ll want to protect your investment by reducing the bounce rate.

At the end of every post
you publish there should
be a CTA.
In it, you promise your
visitors something of
value and they give you
something in exchange.

Put the CTA at the very end
of your blog post.
Don’t bug your readers with popups or
CTAs at the beginning of the post.
You need to first prove your worth and
give, give, give before you ask for even
a smallest commitment.
A reader reaching the end of your post
is proof enough of your worth. That’s
where you should put a CTA: where it
adds value and where it doesn’t annoy.

One CTA per blog post only.
Ask for ten things and you'll get none: every website page should have one
and only one purpose. For example, your blog post's purpose can be to get
permission to start a relationship with your reader.
Apply the minimalist principle
and ask for only one thing, i.e.
an email address.

Make the CTA relevant to
the blog post content.
If the blog post is about project
management, the CTA is about project
management too.
Take a look at this example from
Hubspot: an article about Twitter has a
CTA related to getting more followers
on Twitter.

Make your CTA stand the hell
out from the rest of the page.

Use size and contrast color
for emphasis. Use images,
forms, even animated gifs
if you feel adventurous.
You've proven your worth:
now drop the shyness!
Make your CTAs
clearly visible on
mobile devices.

Make your copy sell: write your
best value proposition.
It's the text that sells.
Spell it out: what it is exactly that
people receive from you in exchange
for their email address?
You can offer your exclusive stories
about what you’ve learned in your
business. Nobody else but you can tell
your stories, which makes your value
proposition pretty unique.

Automate
your CTAs
if you can.

Have one or more CTAs ready for
inserting into a blog post.

Don't make your CTA ask
for sex on a first date.

Ask for their permission to proactively get in touch with them.
Ask for a tweet. Offer an instant social media follow button.
Ask for an email address.
Don't ask for too much commitment
from readers. They are probably not
ready to buy anything just yet.
Don't ask for money.
Don't ask for a free trial.
Don't ask to fill out 20 form fields.

You don't need
complicated
tools to create
a CTA.

Take a look at the CTA at the bottom
of our article.
The tools we used for creating it:
1. Google Slides for drawing a simple
ebook cover.
2. Placeit.net to generate the photo
of a tablet with the ebook cover.
3. Our favorite graphics program to
add the text and graphics.

Optimize your
CTAs for first-
time visitors.

A small number of
first time visitors will
subscribe at their
first visit. If your
content is good,
they'll stumble upon
your new blog posts
in the future and
they'll subscribe then.
First-time visitors don't know you. You won't get the chance to get to know
them better if you don't at least try to capture them as email subscribers or
social media followers.

You need to ask your
visitors for a
relationship every time
they're visiting your
website.
If they keep coming back,
they'll accept your offer
sooner or later.

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Read this content as an article:
https://www.simpfinity.com/blog/ctas/

1. http://pixabay.com/en/clock-time-stand-by-650753/
2. http://pixabay.com/en/malinois-jump-powerful-summer-672839/
3. http://pixabay.com/en/baseball-substitute-bench-hands-454559/
4. https://www.flickr.com/photos/nattu/895220635/
5. http://pixabay.com/en/boss-business-crowd-different-2206/
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_sheep#/media/File:Black_sheep-1.jpg
7. http://pixabay.com/en/peacock-white-fauna-ave-feathers-642431/
8. http://pixabay.com/en/mars-mars-rover-space-travel-robot-67522/
9. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_rover#/media/File:
Martian_rover_Curiosity_using_ChemCam_Msl20111115_PIA14760_MSL_PIcture-
3-br2.jpg
10. http://pixabay.com/en/space-station-moon-landing-apollo-15-60615/
11. http://pixabay.com/en/argument-conflict-controversy-238529/
Creative Commons photos

12. http://pixabay.com/en/couple-love-together-woman-young-498484/
13. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Young_(astronaut)#/media/File:John_W.
_Young_on_the_Moon.jpg
14. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Domesday_Book_-_Bedfordshire_-_page_17.
png
15. http://pixabay.com/en/tools-do-it-yourself-hammer-498202/
16. http://pixabay.com/en/pioneer-boy-working-wood-shop-744301/
17. http://pixabay.com/en/romantic-proposal-sunset-ring-739161/
18. http://pixabay.com/en/eighty-80-percent-statistic-money-706881/
Creative Commons photos