In late 2008, after I had been offering social media consulting services for about 2 years, I had the same conversation, twice in the span of two weeks.
Both times, it was with conference organizers that were friends, that knew me. I had just spoken at events for each, and they contacted me and told me that an attendee had reached out to them about needing help with social media consulting, and then they both asked me the exact same question:
“Is that what you do?”
I was floored! Here were two people that were friends of mine, that knew me, and even THEY weren’t sure exactly what it was that I did. That’s when I took a long and honest look at my blog (which was then The Viral Garden, this was about 6 months before this site launched). I realized that there were no clear cues to the reader to tell them what I did. Sure, there were some vague references in my bio, but readers would have to make multiple clicks to figure out who I was and what I did. Many readers would never go to that trouble, nor should they have to.
So when I started prepping this site for launch, I knew some changes had to be made. I needed to give readers clear calls to action, and indications of who I am and what I do. If you look at the front page of this site, notice the following:
In the nav bar at the top, you have ‘Book Mack to Speak’, ‘Need Help With Social Media?’ and ‘Need Help With Your Blog?’. There’s also a spot for Contact Me, and on the right sidebar there’s a place to give me a call, and to request a email me for a social media marketing quote. In other words, there are very clear calls to action for the reader, all above the fold.
As a result, since this site launched last summer, I have seen a jump in requests/questions from potential clients, it’s gone from 1 or 2 a month, to a few a week. But I have noticed a HUGE jump in referrals from friends and people that have connected with me. I think this is a result of more people simply knowing what it is I do.
So take some time today and really look at your blog. Think about what you want to accomplish with the blog, and look at the calls to action you are giving your readers. For reference, I just looked at the blog for a HUGE agency. Not one single call to action anywhere on the blog above the fold.
You can’t blindly assume that your readers know who you are, what you do, and why they should care. You need to assume that every person that visits your blog is there for the first time, and has no idea who you are. You need to help them by explaining who you are and what you do, and give them a sense of direction. This isn’t being pushy or self-promotional, it’s helping visitors figure out who you are, what your blog is about, and why they should care about either.
I appreciate the reminders about call to action. I do believe our blog does have plenty of those throughout the site, but I am always open to counsel. My biggest challenge moving forward is the overall respect factor that needs to be acquired and gained within the space and within my industry. I will review my site though and make sure it tells the write story about the company I work for and who I am. Thanks for the post Mack.
I have realized this quite a bit lately, how I need to change things…especially my contact info and subscribing with email – I figured my “connect” category would be helpful (nope) and the regular subscribe button where it takes you to options of how you want to subscribe (nope).
Thanks for the extra push – updating today!
Thanks for this post! I’m always trying to improve my blog and I’ve mainly focused on branding myself, but now I’ll also make sure I’m branding the actual blog and what it’s about.
Excellent points Mack, and something I’ve been thinking about and meaning to get to on my website and blog. I also have a vague description of “services”, but I need to make clear “calls to action”. This has inspired me to make that a top priority with a deadline. 🙂
Mack, Great points. My blog has always been a part of my company site, and I think you’re right that the calls to action need to be upfront and center. Not “hard sell” or “pushy” but after all, it is about business. Off to tweak some navigation, all that jazz. Thanks.
.-= Davina K. Brewer´s last blog ..Five to Follow Friday: Challenge Yourself =-.
Mack– You are so right! I can’t believe it’s so easy for all of us to just think that we want our blog to be “educational” and not salesy. But, without a call to action, we’re only doing half of our job. We try to make sure we include a call to action for our clients and we don’t do it for ourselves. Thanks for telling me we have to do this. So, officially, I owe you one!
Dennis, the call to action doesn’t have to be ‘salesy’, either. It could be something as simply as putting an email subscription form on the sidebar. But whatever the goal is for your blog, you need targetted calls to action in place that lead back to your intended goal(s) for your blog.
I think being educational in itself isn’t really a goal for a blog. You’re absolutely right when you say that we’re only doing half the job if we don’t have a clear call to action. I’ve tried to do this for my own blog by putting a banner in the sidebar.
Mack,
One step further on your point of assuming every visitor is there for the first time… assume they WON’T enter on your home page/through the front door. If an organic search take them to a page deep on your blog, or another entry point on your site, you have those same few seconds to convince the visitor that he or she has, indeed, arrived at the right place. *Every* page needs a good call to action of some sort and enough clues to welcome people who walk into your online home through a side door.
.-= Mandy Vavrinak´s last blog ..More Favorite PR People, Tips & Resources =-.
Mandy that’s a VERY good point about having a call to action on every page cause you don’t know what page someone will enter the site at. Like you said, they might come in the side door, not the front door 😉
Mack,
This could not be more relevant for me as today I was paging through a new website in development and yearning for clarity of purpose around each button and link that a visitor would find. I love that you say you need to give your guests a sense of direction – I think this applies to one’s whole site and not just the blog.
What I keep asking myself is what’s the “compelling reason” – that a guest would want to visit the site, that they would want to linger on the blog or any other page – that they should care (as you so eloquently stated). And then once that compelling reason is clear, the challenge is to give them the most specific direction possible to enable them to get from the page/blog/site what they came for.
By setting up your “MackCollier.com” top navigation as question tabs you’ve brilliantly executed this. “Need help with social media?” Um, yeah, I do…bingo…the compelling reason for me to be here becomes clear in my head, much more so than if that top nav tab said “Services.” And then you take my hand and lead me where I need to go…
It’s not just a call to action, it’s a compelling reason to be here, to linger, to learn – which, when coupled with the clear direction, is just oh so powerful. But you already knew that, didn’t you?… 🙂
.-= Lisa Petrilli´s last blog ..LisaPetrilli: "The ultimate form of sophistication" RT @mikemyatt: Why Simplicity Matters (4 success) http://bit.ly/LxP55 #Leadership =-.
Thanks Lisa! And just think about Twitter, your friends RT your links to their followers, so many of them might be clicking on your blog simply because their friend linked to your blog. So they may have no idea who you are, and could be visiting your blog/site for the first time. Without a roadmap for them, they have little idea what/who they are looking at.
Guys I wanted to hit on something Dennis and Davina said. They mentioned not wanting the blog/calls to action to be salesy. I think a lot of people are really worried about being too ‘salesy’ and self-promotional, and we’ve been told this is a ‘no-no’.
But who are the people telling us this? Is it people that are active in the ‘social media space’, or is it our potential clients/customers? Usually, it’s the former. So if the people we are trying to connect with don’t think we are being to ‘salesy’, why would we care if ‘pundits’ do?
Something to think about…
Great tips Mack. I’m constantly tweaking my site, yet also have a long list of to-do items to improve things. Right now I have a very simple call to action box in the left nav that directs users to my services section–which still needs fine-tuning, but it’s an evolving process.
Regarding Twitter I’ve also created a custom landing page for Tweeps. Thus if they’re viewing my profile and click on my link they are taken to that page instead of my homepage. This tells them a bit about who I am as well as my Twitter following habits. They won’t see it if they click straight through to a blog post, but for those viewing my profile, I think it helps.
.-= Heidi Cool´s last blog ..Dust off those pixels: your Web site may be due for spring cleaning. =-.