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Hanging out at SES Chicago last week, I spent some time with Stewart Quealy, VP of content development for SES, who told me that he enjoyed my last column about the power of a great unique value proposition. He suggested that as more new faces begin to adopt conversion rate optimization, some may not be as familiar with the fundamentals as many of us are. And of course, the end of the year is always a good time to talk the fundamentals. This week, I want to discuss another conversion rate optimization basic: the call to action (CTA).

A landing page is any page on a website where traffic is sent specifically to prompt a certain action or result. Think of a golf course… a landing page is the putting green that you drive the ball (prospect) to. Once on the green, the goal is to get the ball into the hole. Likewise, the goal of the copy and design of a landing page is to get the prospect to take your desired action.

Sucharita Mulpuru and Forrester Research recently released a report called Myths And Truths About Online Customer Reviews. The report covers a lot of ground, but I want to hone in on customer behavior after reading negative reviews. Many retailers have avoided adding reviews for fear negative reviews will hurt sales, despite the proven conversion benefits they deliver. From the report, here are 7 actions consumers take after reading not-so-shining reviews (customers may take more than one action)

I've written about this before, but new reports keep reinforcing the point that most organizations don't know what to make of their Web Analytics, meaning they can't take action to improve their site based on the information they have. And while the best bet in these situations is simply to hire an expert guide, that may not be an option for you (or maybe you're just a hard-core DIY-er when it comes to website improvement). If that's the case, here is a quick and dirty 5 step process to get you started:

Effective Action Based Copywriting Location: Salon D Copywriting, copywriting, copywriting - it's not just about lots of content anymore. This session will examine ways to write effective copy for search and sales. Learn about action based copywrighting from leaders in......

The elements of persuasive architecture -- momentum, calls to action, credibility, trigger/keywords, AIDAS, WIIFM, and benefit-oriented copy -- depend on proper hyperlink use. Understanding what to hyperlink, when to do so, and why can turn mediocre conversion rates into superior ones.

Perhaps one of the most sensitive calls to action (aside from asking for credit card information) is the request for customer feedback (especially when the request is made through the intrusive and long-despised pop up window.)

SEO is nice for popularity, but conversion is even better. So, before you go out and start snatching up more keywords than you can shake ...

When it comes to selling online, getting someone to take action right now is often the key to success. Many ...

Findable. Scannable. Readable. Concise. Layered. We know much these days about how to make Web content usable-thanks to experts such as Robert Horn, Jakob Nielsen, Ginny Redish, and Gerry McGovern. What we don't understand as well, however, is how to make content win users over to take the actions we want them to take or have the perceptions we want them to have. We don't understand how to make Web content both usable and persuasive. I, by no means, intend to imply that we should sacrifice the usability of content to make it more persuasive. Truly winning content must be both.

With four people dedicated to chat and email responses, Memorysuppliers.com is one of thousands of ecommerce companies adding chat to its marketing and customer service mix. And why not? A February 2008 study from Forrester Research, "The ROI of Interactive Chat", found merchants with click-to-chat options (also known as "reactive" chat) earn a 15 percent return on investment (ROI) on the chat service itself. Merchants with chat invitations and pop-up windows tied to user actions (also known as "proactive" chat), meanwhile, earn a whopping 105 percent ROI.

As Avinash Kaushik says: Analyzing data in aggregate is a crime against humanity. … If you want to find actionable insights you need to segment your web analytics data. You need to separate out the various Sources, Behavior and Outcomes.

Although there are many forms of Web Monetization (I've listed out nearly 15 forms), the newest iteration of web marketing: widgets, haven't yet fully cashed in. Widget, Gadgets, Applications, Canvas Pages, Embeds, it goes on and one. One thing is clear, the rate of widgets continues to increase, take for example Facebook's application platform has over 15,000, 20,000 applications in just about 9 months. Granted, many of those are slightly tweaked clones of each other, the top 100 widgets clearly has adoption. In some cases, there are sophisticated companies developing widgets, the RockYou's and Slides of the world can really zero in and focus, or take the garage developers such as the two Russian developers who created Scrabulouos, or lastly, the big corporations or interactive firms that are getting in on the action -often with limited success. Yet, how do we monetize widgets? There's only a few ways, some tied back to traditional methods, and some leaning on the new media.

I spotted vente privee (private sale) e-tailer RueLaLa inviting members to add upcoming "boutiques" (private sale events) to their Outlook calendars in an email:

I've always been a big proponent of having actionable anchor text for links when I really want someone to click. ...

Conversion Rate Marketing - Future Now persuades your prospects to take action

Add to Cart buttons - they may be small, but no online retail store can do without them. These little, rectangular, sometimes colorful clickables connect the product to the shopping cart and are an extension of your branding. It's important to put some thought into what your "Add to Cart" icon looks like in your shopping cart.

The average e-commerce site is effective in getting shoppers to buy less than half the time. Web site design gurus say usability testing can help bring profitability up.

Subscription options for consumables is not necessarily a new concept, but certainly an underused tactic of online retailers. It's far more common to see e-tailers offering tiered pricing (discounts on quantity) to increase basket size. But customers don't always want to order a case lot of something - who has room for a year's worth of coffee in the cupboard? Others don't have the cash-on-hand to pre-purchase items.

Last year we posted cart buttons from over 100 top online retailers. Just over a year later, I spotted 46 out of the 111 retailers using different button designs. But does that mean they're testing? Not necessarily.