Does Your Website Have a Clear Call to Action?

Hey there, Frank That One Web Guy here with another article. Today I’m continuing with my series from a training I did for a private marketing group on “The 10 Most Overlooked Website Mistakes That Kill Conversions.” I want to zero in on something that a lot of people overlook, but it’s absolutely killing their conversions: no clear call to action.

Now, I said this in a recent training, and it still holds true. A lot of times visitors land on a site and just don’t know what to do next. There’s no direction. No button that says “Click here,” or “Buy now,” or “Get more info.” And you know what they do when they don’t know what to do? That’s right—nothing.

You’ve got to guide them. Every page of your website should have one main goal—and that goal needs to be obvious. Not sort of hinted at. Not hidden at the bottom. I mean, right there in their face: Here’s your next step.

I’ve seen websites where the button—the thing you want them to click—is buried under a wall of text, or worse, it’s not even clear it’s a button. Maybe it just says “Submit.” What does that even mean? Submit what? For what?

I talked in the training about how the wording of your call to action makes a huge difference. “Get My Free Report” performs better than just “Download.” Why? Because it’s clear. It’s specific. It tells them exactly what’s going to happen.

And let’s not forget visuals. Button color can have an impact, too. Years ago, we tested a lot of button colors. Sometimes an orange button worked best. Sometimes green or blue outperformed depending on the industry. But what mattered more was contrast. That button has to pop. It can’t blend into the background. If you’ve got a white background and a light gray button, guess what? People are going to scroll right past it.

Another thing I emphasized in the training was that your CTA should be repeated if the page is long. Don’t just have it once at the top or buried at the bottom. Sprinkle it in at the natural breaking points, where it makes sense. Give people multiple opportunities to take action.

And on that note, a huge mistake I still see is trying to give the visitor too many choices. I’ll land on a homepage and see: “Watch the video,” “Sign up for our newsletter,” “Join the Facebook group,” “Schedule a call,” “Read our blog,” and “Buy the product.”

That’s too much. It creates decision fatigue.

Pick one main thing per page. One call to action that stands out. You can offer supporting content, but the main goal should be the hero of the page.

Now here’s something to think about: mobile users. A lot of sites still aren’t optimizing CTAs for mobile. If someone has to pinch and zoom to click your button, you’ve already lost them. Google uses mobile-first indexing, and most of your traffic is probably mobile anyway. So if your CTA doesn’t function well on a phone, you’re leaving money on the table.

If you want to test this for yourself, go to your homepage right now. Squint your eyes and ask, “What stands out?” Is the call to action obvious? Is it worded clearly? Does it guide you?

Start small. Even changing one button to something clearer and more benefit-driven can make a huge difference. You can test placement, wording, and color. But the bottom line is this: if your visitors don’t know where to click or what to do next, your website isn’t doing its job.

One call to action. One clear next step. That’s what drives conversions.

I say it all the time—people want to be led. If you guide them, they’ll follow.

That’s it for today. Go back through your site with fresh eyes, make sure that CTA is loud and clear, and watch how your numbers improve.

Until next time—keep building smarter sites.