Writing an amazing blog full of useful info is certainly a great way for people to find you … But what happens then?

Do they simply find you, read the information, then click away again?

Or do they perhaps bookmark you, subscribe to your RSS feed, sign up for your newsletter, follow you on twitter or like you on Facebook? Or perhaps they even become a customer?

What happens next is much more in your control than you think.

It all depends on whether you have a strong ‘call to action’ on your blog post or not.

Although I’d read this myself a few times, I didn’t understand what constitutes a strong ‘call to action’ myself until recently.

Hung up by the reserve that most British people feel when it comes to actually asking for anything, the first few months of my blogs life I didn’t have any call to action at all! I thought people would click on my services page or sign up for my newsletter naturally.

Does this sound like you? Or have you progressed to the next step yet…?

The ‘I’m worth it, honest!’ step? This is when you add a call to action like the one below that I used to use.

I thought it was full of reassurance for my readers and proof that I knew what I was talking about. But yammering on about myself like that just caused people to switch off and very few bothered to click the ‘get in touch’ link at the end of all those words about me!

Then something happened, I was playing around trying to turn my testimonials into pictures so I could pin them on Pinterest, part of an idea I had to help particularly those with B2B blogs make them more ‘Pinteresting’, and I decided to have a go at doing the same to my calls to action.

Suddenly I needed to get rid of a lot of those words!

And it made me focus on what the person reading that particular blog might be interested in.

The first couple I made were ok, you can one of them below, and straightaway I saw a few more hits to my ‘services’ page and got another request or two.

But then I changed it again…

I’m not sure why really, I branched right away from the brand identity I’d been building and suddenly produced the one below.

I went from getting 10 hits on my services page a month to getting AT LEAST 10 a day! And of course that has meant more clients!

So how can you create a strong call to action for your blog?

Step One
Stop assuming they’ll click on your services page, you’ve just given them some great info and they are probably off to action it straight away … Or answering a clients phone call etc!

Step Two
Talk to them about what they want or need, there is no need to prove yourself to them, the great info you’ve just given them in the blog post has done that!

Step Three
Make sure it has a strong visual impact. Your reader has a hundred other things vying for their attention.

Step Four
Make sure you tell them why that little extra click or two will make their lives easier/better.

Step Five
Be friendly and helpful. It’s important to make the buying process as quick and easy as you can! But Another thing I do to make my calls to action more friendly is include a picture of my smiling face! It’s not there because I think I’m so beautiful, trust me I don’t! But seeing the face of the person you might end up talking too encourages a sense of familiarity and friendliness.

Oh and one bonus tip for you …
Once you’ve created a call to action that’s working well, go through you old blog posts and add it to them too! (This is a little time-consuming so start with the ones that are still getting regular hits! I’m not even half way through doing this on my blogs!)

Over to You! Have you discovered the power of a strong call to action? Or are people reading your blog and leaving? Let me know in the comments below!