This is a guest post by Michael Alexis.
Frustrated by poor conversions?
Nobody tweeting your work?
Not getting enough comments?
Disappointed your last post only got a few likes?
You aren’t alone. Bloggers, writers and web-preneurs of all sorts have these feelings. We pour our hearts, time and money into our work – and it can feel like we get very little in return.
This post is about one thing you can do today to start increasing your conversions – whether they be email signups, tweets, comments or otherwise. I’m writing based on this video interview I did with Ana Hoffman of Traffic Generation Cafe.
The Problem Is Too Many Calls To Action
The underlying cause of the problem is that you have too many calls to action. When a reader finishes a post on most blogs they are bombarded with:
- a set of social share buttons
- a question or other encouragement to comment
- an email sign up form
Sounds familiar, right? This approach doesn’t work. Ana says “you can’t do all of it together, you can’t ask people to retweet your post and join your Facebook page all at the same time, then people won’t do anything”.
So what can you do instead?
The Solution Is To Focus On One Call To Action
The solution then is to focus your attention on one conversion goal. When you do that you’ll be able to emphasize a single call to action. If you are new to blogging, you may want to encourage comments as a way of showing social proof and a lively community. Later on, your unsolicited comments may be enough and you can focus on shares, email signups or product sales.
Implementation
These are Ana’s steps for finding your one call to action.
- Establish a conversion goal you want to pursue. This may be building an email list, generating traffic, selling your own product, or selling an affiliate product.
- Decide on the appropriate call to action. When Ana reviews a product, the call to action is “click on this link and go check it out”. When she writes about Google+, her call to action is “join my Google+ page”.
- Spell out your call to action. Make it easy for your readers to understand exactly what you want them to do. When Ana wanted comments, her favorite phrasing was “leave a comment, even if just to let me know you are alive”.
- Remove all other calls to action. Multiple calls to action are distracting. So, if Ana’s call to action is “click on this link and go check out this product”, she removes all other distractions. That means no shares or even links to other blog posts.
Clip From The Interview
Here’s a clip from my interview with Ana where she explains calls to action and optimizing conversions for her email list.
Call To Action
So, let’s put Ana’s strategy to the test. My one call to action is for you to leave a comment on this post – even if just to let me know you are alive ;- ).
Michael Alexis video interviews the world’s top bloggers to learn their strategies. Watch the interviews at WriterViews. He also writes for Mixergy.
I am an eBusiness Coach, Web Developer, Internet Marketer, SEO, Inbound Marketing Consultant, and General Web Geek, making my living from home.
If you feel my blog has contributed to you in any meaningful way, and would like to throw some loose change into a tip jar (metaphorically speaking), a click on the donation button below would definitely be appreciated.
Looks great – thanks for sharing my contribution with your community. I’m looking forward to seeing how they respond.
–
Michael
Michael Alexis recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
What a surprise, Michael – I love your creativity!
Very smart way to multi-purpose the content…
Ana Hoffman recently posted..TweetAdder: How to Get More Followers on Twitter Fast
Thanks Ana. Breaking the interviews down into actionable points seems like a good way to share the learning and improve mine too – the links and traffic don’t hurt either. ;- )
ProBlogger still pending – they seem to be busy this time of year.
–
Michael
I love this post. Hey y’all, be sure to watch the video above. It adds a lot to the discussion.
Donna recently posted..One Simple Tactic To Increase Conversions
Twitter: DonnaFontenot
Haha, wow! I never considered the possibility of having *too many* calls to action, but reading your article it makes perfect sense! People are much less likely to feel overwhelmed when you are only asking them to do one thing, rather than giving them a whole list of things! Thanks, Michael!
Serena recently posted..Social Media Based Conversions and the B2B Sector
Thanks Serena – it was eye opening for me to learn this tactic from Ana. Before I kind of just figured more calls would allow people to choose what works best for them. On my own site I’m testing to see which sharing tool people are using most then I’ll test just using it.
–
Michael
Michael Alexis recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
Hi Michael,
Including too many calls to action is completely confusing.
Another example of making simple things, complex. Include 1 call to action, across your entire blog. Maybe you can add icons to your social networks. Outside of that, 1 call.
Determine what your chief goal is: list building, gaining more comments, etc. Craft your call around your goal.
My blog is simple and focused. I want readers to read my content and take a free tour – and receive a free marketing tutorial – by visiting my gifting club site. I do not beat around the bush, nor do I dilute this call to action by adding more calls. Nope, you know what I want you to do.
The urge is to add more. More actions to take, “just in case”, so you get more shares, or comments, or subscribers. But the extra clutter is counterproductive. You wind up receiving fewer shares, comments and subscribers, because your readers do not know what to do next.
Thanks for sharing your insight Michael.
RB
Ryan Biddulph recently posted..Panic Or Posture?
I can see how in some instances it might be hard to determine what the best call to action would be for a particular post, for example. In that case, it might be a good idea to do some A/B testing. Nothing like seeing actual numbers to help determine what stays and what goes.
Donna recently posted..One Simple Tactic To Increase Conversions
Twitter: DonnaFontenot
Re: ryans recent writing on his own blog I have a feeling he A/B’s everything! (no assumptions).
Re: goal setting, Ana pointed out that the goal can change over time: in the beginning comments, now email list. It seems like more and more bloggers are saying start building your list right away though – I think with the idea that this makes sales easier in the future. I’ll ask them next time…
–
Michael
Michael Alexis recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
Sometimes, when I can’t come up with a specific call to action for a post (i.e. it’s a generic, unfocused post), I would simply ask my readers to join me on Google+, for instance.
Ana Hoffman recently posted..Banner Advertising: Viable Make Money Blogging Solution?
Howdy Ryan – good to see you again. A site that does sitewide calls really well is passivepanda.com – focus is really simple, build the email list! The call is presented on a few different ways: header, footer, in the content – but always the same goal.
–
Michael
Michael Alexis recently posted..Finally: branding for bloggers explained in plain English
I think that your readers are your best bet when it comes to the popularity of your website so the best thing to do is to ask them what content do they want to see and have a consensus.
Mark recently posted..Commission Siphon X Review–STUPID BUY?- By Eddy Croft
The problem is being solve by reading the post. Very creative thinking Micheal, Your post is packed with great information Michael. Making action must be guided.
Gilbert recently posted..how to get a girlfriend