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I live in the wonderful town of Pleasant View, Tennessee. It’s located about a 30 minute drive northwest of Nashville. Yesterday, as I passed exit 31 on I-24, I saw a sign in bold red letters proclaiming… “FIREWORKS Sold Here!” Nothing too fancy or flashy, just red paint on a white sign.

I began to recall fond memories from my childhood… memories of the all-too-seldom family vacation fireworks stop. At every exit with fireworks I would beg my parents to pull over and let me partake of explosive goodness. I’m not sure if it was the idea of blowing something up, or the large red arrow that caught my attention, but regardless…I wanted them…NOW.

Many organizations over think marketing. Clever slogans and one-liners seem to have lost some of their zeal. In today’s world, people are too busy, being pulled in too many directions to hunt down the value in your marketing initiatives. When I was a kid, the fireworks stand did not need an large marketing budget, just a piece of plywood and some paint was enough to catch my attention.

I wonder how many of us forget to provide visitors to our website with that large red arrow saying, “Fireworks Sold Here!” The clear call to action is the cornerstone of a successful website. Ask yourself if the call to action on your website fits the following criteria:

1-    Is it obvious?
2-    Is it something unique to your organization?
3-    Is it attractive and eye-catching?
4-    Is there only one call to action or do other items compete for attention?
5-    Does it address a pain, or evoke happiness?

Chances are for most of us, we cannot 100% claim that we have followed each of these criteria. That’s ok, but we can start thinking today about what unique call to action we want to convey. In then end, just remember that it doesn’t need to be clever, just clear and to the point. Once you’ve tackled this opportunity, go blow something up…that’s the real fun of fireworks!