How do you create a good call to action and where to place it

29 July 2011

Creating good 'call to action' buttons and where to place them on a webpage is vitally important as it means you will get viewers to interact with you on your site. Most people who view a page need to be encouraged into taking this next step once they have arrived on the page. They need to be kept interested in what is being said or sold on the page.

People react to different call to actions on pages, for instance on a blog it often only takes one person to leave a comment for others to follow suit. For websites they play a vital role in getting viewers to get involved, they have to be strategically placed on the site in way that is easy for users to understand.

There are multiple calls for action buttons on web pages and it is important to place as much emphasis on these as possible in order to draw viewers to them. Some are more important than others so you need to know which these are and which have less importance attached to them.By placing the call to action button where it is clearly visible in a focal point on the page the viewers' eye is automatically drawn to it. The centre of a page layout is always a good option to consider.

Whitespace (or dead space) is important too because if the call to action button is placed in the middle of the page it is an effective method of making the button stand out. The button does not have to be elaborate. It can be a simple plain design but with whitespace around the button it makes it nonetheless stand out on the page. It is also a good idea to vary the amount of whitespace around the buttons as this will indicate a logical relevance to them.

The colour of the buttons is important as they need to contrast well with the colours used on the web page. They have to stand out so that viewers can easily recognise them in an instant.

The background and foreground colours are also worth looking at closely with bright colours being a great way of urging viewers to 'learn more' or 'find out more' being emphasised by use of vibrant and eye catching colours.

Secondary alternative action buttons convince viewers to take the first primary call for action more seriously and are therefore a useful way of getting them involved with the page. A good example of this is when a user needs more encouragement to use the 'sign up' call to action button.

This can be achieved by tempting them with a secondary call to action one which will take them on a product tour of the site or visit a page which holds more information about a certain product. The placement of secondary buttons needs to be calculated well, they should ideally be placed next to the primary one with very little whitespace between the two.

Conveying a sense of urgency by using confident and commanding words will make a viewer perceive the buttons differently, it will make them think they need to investigate what lies behind the buttons.