Powerful Freelance Writing and Calls to Action

From my work with my writing students, I know that crafting effective calls to action is something that freelance writers often overlook.

Basically a “call to action” is telling people what to do.

Calls to action are vital in all your writing. Writers overlook them because they know what they want people to do… it seems obvious. But remember that what’s obvious to you is far from obvious to someone else.

Two common areas where writers tend to forget calls to action are in article proposals to magazines and in Web pages.

Article Queries to Magazines – Get to the Point

Tell the editor what to do as a result of reading your proposal. Say “I’ve been a yoga student for five years. My article includes interviews with top yoga teachers, and the estimated length is 1500 words. Please contact me if you feel this article would benefit your readers.”

I’ve had students say to me: “Yes, but the editor KNOWS what to do – it’s a query letter.”

That may well be so, but the call to action is as much for you as it is for the editor. Writing a call to action stops you waffling. I’ve read query letters from both new and experienced writers where you’d need a crystal ball to figure out what the writer wanted.

Your call to action ensures you get to the point – fast. Editors skim – they’ve got hundreds of queries to read. Make yours stand out.

All Web Pages Need a Call to Action

All Web pages need a call to action. When you’re writing Web pages for others, always ask “What do you want the site visitor to do when they visit this page?” When you’re writing your own sites, ask the same question.

I see many writers’ sites where there’s a jumble of information on every page. Jumbled pages are confusing; once again, it’s a crystal ball situation, and confused site visitors take a simple action – they click away from your site.

So for every page you write, unless the page is an obvious “table of contents” page, as some home pages are, focus on just a couple of points, and write a clear and direct call to action. Examples include “Contact me” or “Contact Fred Bloggs to discover how you can remortgage your home fast”.

Calls to action are easy to overlook, but they’re vital.

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