CTAs + why you need them.
The story behind why I first made a website. . .
When I was seven years old, my family moved to a whole new state.
All the sudden, having grandparents + family friends come to visit for extended stays became a regular occurrence—and I turned it into a story.
More specifically, I started imagining our house was a hotel. . .
I cut out cardstock in the shape of room tags, wrote numbers on them, and hung them up on our bedroom doors
I made key cards out of paper + laminated them with leftover packing tape from our move
I learned how to format documents in Microsoft Word, so I could make guest directories—which included everything from amenities to local restaurants + attractions.
But all that wasn’t enough. There was still something missing.
No one could make reservations.
(I mean, did it even really count as a hotel if no one could book a room?!)
And the most logical solution to my seven-year-old brain was simple—I needed a website.
By the grace of God, I was not only blessed with a mom who had just built a website for a small Christian school, but who also refrained from laughing at me when I came to her with my grave need. 🤭 Instead, she jumped right in + offered to help, playing right along with my very active imagination. (I love you, Mom. ❤️)
Soon, our house hotel had a website + I was way more excited than a seven-year-old kid probably should be about that. 😅
But it worked. It performed its function well.
From then on, any time someone wanted to come stay at our house for longer than a day, I’d send them the link to my website + they’d book a room through me.
And this, at its simplest, is why websites exist. To fill a need. To solve a problem (in my case, being unable to collect guest reservations) by convincing visitors to complete an action (submitting my “Book A Stay” form).
They need a function—something they’re designed to do or compel your site visitors to do.
Because, if they don’t, your visitors will just find what they’re looking for + move on with their day.
The best websites don’t just provide information—they use that information to persuade visitors to get involved.
More technically, this is what’s known as a website’s Call To Action (CTA).
And this is where a lot of websites get it wrong. By creating a purely informational site with no next steps for visitors, you could lose valuable connections that could grow your brand (even if you aren’t selling anything yet!)
When visitors make that choice to sign up for your newsletter or schedule a meeting to get to know you better, they become invested in learning more about who you are + what you do. And that personal, emotional connection is what you need to sell books.
P.S. If you have a website or are building one—what is ONE action you want your site visitors to take? How does it fill your need, solve a problem, and create a connection? Let me know in the comments!