Curatti

How A Focused Call To Action Leads To Greater Interaction

  • Alice Elliott

    • Plenty of posts are written without any kind of call to action, let alone a focused call to action.

    Yet when you tell bloggers about this, the realisation makes their eyes widen. They may well have heard about a call to action, but they didn’t think about including one in their post.

    It’s as simple as making sure your message has been received and acted upon. Merely by asking for some action from your readers will bring you closer towards success for the purpose for your post.

    This Infographic gives you some indication of the importance of a focused call to action, and what a difference it can make:

    Never assume

    As far as your reader is concerned, all they want to do is to read your post. Of course they need to enjoy it, and you need to make sure the content is suitably satisfactory for them.

    However, it probably won’t dawn on them that they have to do anything else. It won’t even enter your readers’ heads that they could do something that could help you.

    So it’s wise to never assume the average reader will take any kind of action after they’ve read the post. They need to be told what they need to do next.

    The average blog reader will need to be told to share or comment after reading your post.Click To Tweet

    Give them instructions

    Your readers need to understand why, as well as what and how, their actions can benefit them also.

    Not every reader will naturally be altruistic. A normal reader won’t consider for one moment what they do next will have an effect on your post. They are only concerned with their own needs at this point.

    So if you want them to respond to a focused call to action, you need to show them how it can benefit them as well as yourself if you want to achieve your desired result.

    Ask a question

    The simplest way of adding a focused call to action is to ask a question at the end of your post. This question needs to relate to the post’s subject matter and appeal to their understanding of it.

    Get them thinking by asking these kinds of questions: “What else can you think of that you could add to this post?” “Is there anything missing you could contribute?” “What do you think about this subject?” “Do you agree with what I’ve said?”.

    However, make sure the question is open ended, so that it can’t be answered by a simple yes or no. This way you will be guaranteed with a fuller and more relevant answer that is worth publishing.

    Ask an open ended question as your call to action to encourage more comments and interaction.Click To Tweet

    Ask them to share

    Another simple focused call to action is to simply ask your readers to share your post. Since the majority of them will be on social media, this process should be relatively straight forward.

    Make sure you have placed highly visible and colourful social sharing buttons at the bottom of your post. All you need to do is to draw attention to them and remind your readers what they need to do.

    Sharing posts this way is beneficial to everyone. Your posts are seen by a bigger audience. And your readers are seen as being widely-read and willing to share valuable content with their friends.

    How can your readers relate to you?

    If a reader is going to understand why they need to respond to your focused call to action, they need to be able to relate to your post.

    This then needs to manifest itself into a desire. You need to encourage them to take on a more positive role than just a passive reader. If they feel an affinity with the subject, it will be much easier for them to leave a comment or share your post.

    It is important your readers and followers should be able to relate to you and your blog. Appreciating the relevance of what you write about will result in sense of connection and belonging to your blog.

    If your readers can relate to you, they will be more willing to respond to your call to action.Click To Tweet

    Show your human side

    Reveal your humanity if you want to get your readers to relate to you and what you have written. Show you are just like them, to make them feel more comfortable with you and your blog.

    This is done through using a conversational style. Open up to your foibles and expose the quirkiness of your personality. Being able to freely converse with your readers through your posts will bring your writing down more to their level.

    Start using the same words your reader would use. Think of how your readers could have an affinity with what you write about. How can they relate themselves more to you? All this will help towards a more positive response to your focused call to action.

    What’s in it for them?

    Try swotting up on the art of persuasion to achieve a favourable response to your focused call to action. Combine this with giving your readers a valid reason why.

    They need to know that leaving a comment will result in a link back to their own blog. Commenting will also allow them to showcase their expertise and raise their credibility. And lots of comments will make a post seem popular, therefore more attractive to the search engines.

    Adding a focused call to action should remind the action-taker what they will achieve from this transaction. The temptation to respond will be stronger if they know they will get something in return.

    A call to action is more likely to be taken up if the reader knows they can benefit from it. Click To Tweet

    Create a sense of urgency

    People are more likely to take action if you say you can’t wait much longer. If they realise this fantastic deal is going to disappear overnight, they will be more eager to respond.

    Insert a countdown app that descends to zero. This shows that time is slipping away and that readers need to act now. People hate the idea of missing out on something that could be good for them.

    Even if you are not able to recreate this on your blog, you could use the same principle. Merely give your readers a deadline that’s not too far in the future, if you have a specific offering.

    A purposeful focused call to action

    A successful post is much more likely to be based around a focused call to action. This is usually the main reason for writing it.

    Add in a suitable call to action in your next post. It’s as simple as suggesting another page on your website that offers more information on the post’s subject.

    Or for an information-packed post explaining about your business, the accompanying call to action could be to tell interested readers to make contact to find out more.

    Stick a valuable solution behind a call to action to get your readers to respond better to it.Click To Tweet

    Provide a solution

    If you write the sort of post mentioned above, base it around providing a solution to a problem. This is the perfect accompaniment to a focused call to action.

    What are the gaps in your readers’ knowledge? Find out how you can fill these in. Write something that fulfils your readers’ desire – in fact whatever they want to read, write it for them.

    This is part of a beneficial call to action. Stick the solution behind it, and your readers will be more disposed to react to it to get what they want.

    Over to you

    The call to action for this post is to ask you to leave a comment in the box below. Tell me some stories or anecdotes about how a focused call to action has benefited you. Or not, if you forgot to include one and missed out on an opportunity! The more you can share, the more others can learn from your experiences as well.

     

    To read the earlier entries in this series, click here to start with part 1, “How An Awesome Headline Can Make a Big Difference to Your Post“

    You can also read:

    Part 2: “How A Blog Post Introduction Can Make Your Readers Stay“

    3: “How To Use Images Effectively To Attract Readers To Your Post“

    4: “How Having A Positive Purpose Can Influence Your Blog Writing“

    5: “How Suitable Content Contributes Towards A More Readable Post”

    Or part 7: “How Careful Editing Can Improve The Quality Of Your Writing“

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    Alice Elliott

    Alice Elliott (aka Fairy Blog Mother) is an award winning blogger who has been "explaining things really simply" about blogging since 2006. She is also founder of The Commenting Club created to educate the benefits of commenting, engagement and interaction to individuals and businesses.