A challenge confronted by every website owner is engagement. When a site compels visitors to interact with the site, the value of the site goes up. If that engagement produces valuable data related to visitor preferences and desires, the site gains advantages in customizing to a marketplace. The challenge is getting people to engage. One great method of creating interaction and gaining information is through forms.
Forms are particularly attractive due to the improved technology in creating the forms for websites. WordPress provides plugins to create forms. Some of the best WordPress form plugins can be used to create all of the advantages necessary to fully utilize your forms.
The key, though, is using these plugins to get people to fill out the forms. This can be challenging. Here are seven clever ways to use forms on your website.
Catchy Headline
It’s tempting to simply use the pre-populated text in the forms, but those are just examples. Vere from those texts to make your form more compelling. An example of a bad text is, “Sign up here”. Better and more attractive text might be something like, “How To Make Money In Your Sleep”. Because the text doesn’t simply invite visitors to sign up, but offers them value, people are more willing to participate.
Visible Homepage Form
Regardless of how clever your headline is, if your form isn’t easily visible, it will likely be ignored. Place your form in an area on your pages where it is obvious and prominent. This way, visitors don’t have to seek out the form in order to engage. If it is impossible to miss, it becomes difficult to ignore. And if the form offers value, people with engage.
Optimize Every Page
Optimization has become somewhat of an industry term with SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It is an increasingly important factor in web design, however. Using keywords to help search engines find your site is essential. Keyword density along with quality content help people get to your site, which is necessary to get people to see and fill out your web forms. SEO is the method you use to get people to your site. If they don’t get to your site, they won’t find your form.
Feature Eye-catching Submit Button
There is a reason camouflage protects animals in the wild from predators. If you can’t be seen, you are difficult to catch. This applies to your web form as well, perhaps in reverse. If nobody can see your form or if it blends in with the background, visitors will ignore it, even if unintentionally. Design your web form button in such a way it is impossible to miss. People often want to sign up for services if it is easy and obvious.
Change Form Color
Using a color that vibrates against the color scheme of your site helps your form stand out among all of the other content. If your button is the same or a similar color to the background or color scheme of your site, visitors might miss your form even if they are staring straight at it.
Add Image
Photos, particularly high-resolution photos with aesthetic imagery are difficult to ignore. Pictures capture people’s attention and draw the eye to them. Use high quality photos in your forms in order to draw people to it. Make sure, though, that it is still understood that it is a button for a form. If people simply admire the photo, the button becomes ineffective. Photos are valuable in getting the eyes on something, but make sure the text still compels interaction.
Ask for What You Want
In sales, there are the ABC’s: Always Be Closing. In the spirit of the ABCs, your form button should ask for what you want. For example, Click Here For A Free Guide. This text tells the visitor to click on the form instead of passively offering the Free Guide as the only text on the button. People often need guided into action. Providing interjective wording produces more engagement. Site developers often choose passive language because they, themselves, are more comfortable with it, but it is less effective. And in a results driven world, passive wording isn’t helpful.
Conclusion
Forms are a great way to engage your site visitors and to create future contact. The trick is getting visitors to notice your forms and fill them out. Above are some clever ways to maximize the effectiveness of the forms on your website. These methods will help your forms get seen, filled out and improve your engagement. And isn’t that the point, after all?
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