What I’m about to tell you is so obvious, you could trip over it.

Yet it’s the one thing that causes most content marketing campaigns to fail, leaving potential profits on the table.  Here it is…

Your website is vital to the success of your content marketing campaign. 

Why?

Because your website is the place where your client can opt-in to your email list and/or where they can make a purchase. 

I told you it was obvious. But that’s not all.

You have to tell your site visitors where to go and what to do.  It’s called, “having a strong call-to-action.”

Implicit Versus Explicit Calls-To-Action

The Jhfunds.com website is filled with implicit calls-to-action.

This site is educational but it still does a good job of leading the visitor back to using or at least investigating John Hancock Funds.  There are calls-to-action on the right hand column, two calls-to-action on the bottom of the page, and the “contact us” at the top of the page.

ADT Security Systems call-to-action is more explicit.

The call-to-action is highlighted in yellow, and there’s even a pop-up that’s activated when you visit.  There is nothing subtle about it.

Which Call-To-Action Should You Use?

Deciding if you want an implicit or explicit call-to-action depends on your branding position and the kind of customer you are trying to attract.

Think about whether your ideal client wants to be courted, informed, and reassured. If so, then an implicit campaign would be best.

In the case of ADT they know that the person visiting their site is looking for a home security system and they want to capture the lead NOW!  This in-your-face approach is consistent of their branding position.

Please know that even with an implicit campaign, you still want to capture the visitor’s email address.  This is called an opt-in.

Your Website is the Hub

Much like Grand Central Station is the transportation hub of New York City, your website is the online hub of your business; content marketing provides the transportation to and from your website.

The 4 Avenues to Your Website

1.  One avenue to your website is through natural search. For example someone goes to Google or Bing! and types in “retirement planning.”  Depending on how well your website is optimized, your website could come up on the first page with the relevant words highlighted.

2.  Another avenue to your website is through a blog.  Again, someone could find your blog through natural search, on a list site like Alltops.com, or perhaps you’ve been guest blogging on another relevant site.

3. Landing pages are another avenue to your website.  A landing page is an online sales page.  It can be a long form or short form page and its purpose is to convince the visitor to make purchase or take another specific action.

Typically these are stand-alone pages on your website.  So you wouldn’t be able to navigate away from this page to another interior webpage (click here for an example of a landing page).

4.  Of course another avenue is your social media outlets, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, List.ly, and so on.

All of these avenues lead back to the hub of your business.

Have a question or comment?

Krista helps small and medium sized businesses:
Get clarity on their marketing message, attract their ideal clients, customers, or patients to their business or practice, and create elegant and effective content for their websites, email campaigns, newsletter, brochures, videos, and more…

Krista Magidson