Remember Your Call To Action

When you're creating online media, it's easy to get overwhelmed with the details of code, multilayered Photoshop files and deadlines. It's also easy to get caught up in the excitement of the process and in the "coolness" of the visuals that you're creating. Throughout the process, it's important to continually remind yourself of the purpose of the project. Mostly, you'll want to prompt a visitor or a user to do something, and that prompt is called a "call to action". Some important questions to keep in mind:

• What do you want your visitor to do?
• How will you ask them to do that thing?
• If they are prompted to click somewhere, what does the landing page look like?
• Do you need to gather information from visitors (do you have a form)?

If you're trying to make a sale, then ask for the sale! A while back, I took a call from a salesman. I had enough interest in his product that I agreed to participate in his hour-long webinar. Following the presentation, I was still interested in the guy's product. To my astonishment, he never asked me to become a customer. You'd be amazed at how many salespeople never ask for a sale and how many websites don't have a call to action.