Strong Verbs
“Strong verbs are verbs that are active, vivid, specific, and familiar. They are the engine that runs your prose. Don’t use vague verbs that are boosted by adverbs. Don’t write, “Buster ate his dog treats quickly,” if you can write, “Buster gobbled his dog treats.” Don’t use weak general verbs like walk, cry, fall, and touch if the situation calls for plod, weep, collapse, and caress.” says Gary Provost in his book Make Your Words Work.
WEAK VERBS | STRONG VERBS |
Overused Lack imagination Don’t add any new information. | Add more information. Paint a picture. Create well written sentences. |
Examples: The kangaroo went across the grass. My brother hurt me. | Examples: The kangaroo hopped across the grass. My brother twisted my arm. |
Strong Verb Poem
Melissa Forney illustrates the use of strong and weak verbs perfectly in her poem The Dog Ate the Bone. It’s fun, catchy and teaches all at the same time.
The Dog Ate The Bone
By Melissa Forney
The dog ate the bone.
Don’t you think that’s kind of weak?
The verb here is “ate”
But it needs a little tweak.
The dog ate the bone,
Let’s try another verb.
One that’s really fun to write,
One that’s quite superb.
The dog could devour the bone,
Nibble, gnaw, or munch it.
The dog could snark-up the bone,
Gobble, bite or crunch it.
The dog could consume the bone,
Oh yes, that dog could do it,
Inhale the bone, impale the bone,
Swallow, gulp or chew it.
So when you’re writing to impress,
Don’t use a verb that fizzles.
Think of every word you know, Need for speed underground 2 full download.
And give me one that sizzles!
Recommended Links
How to write a sentence effectively.
Wriitng gripping introductions.
How to write an effective conclusion.
Picking the right topic.
Return from strong verbs to the homepage.
References
Make Your Words Work: Proven Techniques for Effective Writing-For Fiction and Nonfiction
Razzle Dazzle Writing: Achieving Excellence Through 50 Target Skills
New! Comments
Have your say about what you just read! Leave me a comment in the box below.Your call-to-action, or CTA, button is one of the most important elements on your landing page or website. Think of it as the door to the next step of your marketing or sales funnels, where every click is a potential customer through that door.
As marketers, we spend a lot of time thinking about the design of a page - the hero image, its layout, colors - and even some conversion optimization - number of form fields, headlines and such. Often, however, we skip over the CTA button, which can sometimes be the difference between a conversion and a bounce.
It's easy to leave your CTA button saying 'Submit'. But you shouldn't. Your CTA should have a clear meaning, even if a visitor has only skimmed your page. The words in your CTA should be representative of the action your visitors are taking.
In this article, we'll look at 25 words and phrases that you can use for your own call-to-actions that will maximize your conversions, including explanations on when and why you should use each of them.
Let's get right into it.
1. Get Started
'Get Started' is probably the most popular CTA in the SaaS space, and with good reason. It's a highly actionable word that suggests your visitor will be able to move forward to using your product when they click.
If you're not sure what CTA to use on your website or landing page, 'Get Started' is a good go-to.
2. Sign Up Free
'Sign Up Free' is a pretty direct CTA that sets expectations for your visitors, letting them know they'll be able to start using service after creating an account.
Adding 'Free' to the CTA makes it clear they won't need to pay at this point in your signup process, increasing your conversion rate.
3. Create Account
A straightforward CTA, 'Create Account' lets visitors know they'll be headed straight to the account creation process, priming them to be ready to fill out a few forms.
Though it's not the most appealing CTA, it can definitely help you increase the conversion rate of your signup page.
4. View Demo/Book a Demo
If your funnel is more sales-focused or sales-reliant, you'll likely benefit more from sending visitors to your appointment/demo-booking page than to any other page. If you have a prepared product demo, you can link to that, too.
Directing people to book (or view) a demo is a little more inviting than a CTA like 'talk to a salesperson' or 'contact sales'.
5. Contact Sales
Though it might be a little contrary to what I said in the previous point, sometimes you can afford to be more straightforward with visitors to your landing page or website.
A CTA like 'Contact Sales' lets people know they'll be connected directly to a sales person through chat, call, or appointment.
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If your product needs a little more explaining, you might find yourself linking your primary CTAs to places like product pages or product tours. 'Learn More' is an inviting way to tell visitors they'll be taken to a low-commitment page where they can get more information about your product and how it works.
'Learn More' works well on popups, too. Since it's hard to put an adequate amount of information on a popup, having a 'Learn More' CTA for your visitors could push them to a page where they can get more details.
7. Join Free
As I mentioned earlier, 'Free' is a great 'flavor' word to add to your CTAs. Having a free product or trial is a huge benefit, and can dramatically improve the click-through rate of your CTAs.
In this specific example, Netflix adds 'for a month', which makes it clear to a visitor that they can sign up for a 1-month free trial. Setting accurate expectations on your CTA helps prepare your visitor for the next steps in your signup or purchasing process.
8. Shop Now
'Shop Now' is the 'Get Started' of CTAs for ecommerce businesses. It's as straightforward as can be, and lets your visitors know that they'll be headed to a product page or category within your store.
If you have multiple products or product categories, it's not a bad idea to add the name of the product or category to the CTA - for example, 'Shop Women's' or 'Shop Clearance'.
9. Explore
Though being straight-to-the-point isn't a bad thing for your ecommerce CTAs, you can be a little more subtle by using 'Explore'. This is particularly great if your product pages act more like landing pages than traditional product pages, giving visitors more information about your products.
10. Discover
Though it's pretty similar to the previous one, I'll include 'Discover' because it's a relatively common CTA for businesses of all kinds. Again, it's great if you're sending people to detailed product pages, or even things like restaurant menus.
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Try Wishpond free!11. Get X% Off
I'm a big proponent of discounts and promotions when it comes to marketing online. If you simply want to sell more, create a discount offer that gives people a % off their first purchase when they subscribe to your email list (or complete some other action, like following you on Instagram).
CTAs with numbers can be quite appealing, especially when those numbers represent discounts. And having a promotional offer for first-time shoppers is an awesome way to incentivize them to become customers.
12. Add to Bag/Add to Cart
Why not cut right to the chase? Though this CTA text is pretty common on ecommerce product pages, some companies have started using 'Add to Bag' CTAs on their product directories. This essentially allows you to skip a whole step in your buying process, which could lead to higher conversion rates down the line.
13. New _______
As you can see in this example, Shwood uses 'New' instead of 'Shop' to direct their visitors to product pages. This CTA is less actionable than 'Shop Men's', but it does help tell visitors that they're shopping new arrivals to your store.
I'd be inclined to keep an action word in there - maybe 'Shop New Menswear'. Your CTA represents an action, so making this clear to your visitors can make it more compelling to click.
14. Buy Now
Sometimes, it's better to be direct. I like the 'Buy Now' CTA in particular because, for a visitor, a lot of their intent is conveyed when they click. A lot of the commitment in ecommerce purchasing can be overcome when a visitor clicks 'Buy Now'.
15. Schedule/Book a _______
If you're a service-based business, it can be tough to get any real commitment from your potential customers until they've learned more. One good primary CTA particularly for businesses like gyms, clinics, or auto repairs is 'Schedule a (Visit/Consultation/Assessment)'.
I'd recommend you connect this to a landing page or popup that allows your visitors to schedule a time to visit your business, or where they can fill in information which you can use to contact them later.
16. Enter Now
If you're running a contest, you never want to use the default 'Submit' CTA for your form. Change it to something like 'Enter Now!' to indicate the action your visitors are about to take.
17. Try for Free
Even non-SaaS businesses can take advantage of a CTA like 'Try for Free'. Often, it's a good idea to get new potential customers in the door with a special promotion like a free class or trial.
This CTA makes it clear to visitors what they'll be getting - a free introduction to your service or product without any commitment. Use this CTA to generate leads, bring them in, and then sell them on your product later on.
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Try Wishpond free!18. Join _______
Social proof is a big motivator for a lot of people - they want to do what others like them are doing. It follows, then, that CTAs like 'Join 123,456 brilliant marketers' can be very appealing to visitors.
They feel like they're becoming part of something exclusive, and feel like they're missing out on something if they don't covert.
Let's end up this article with a few words you can use to spice up your CTAs. These are words you can combine with the 18 CTA words above to maximize your conversion rates.
19. % or $
When you're promoting a discount, adding the offer itself into your CTA is an awesome way to draw people in. 'Save Now' isn't nearly as compelling as 'Save 20% Now!'. Adding numbers to your CTA makes your discount feel a little more tangible to your visitors.
20. Try
Like I mentioned in tip #17, the word 'Try' is inviting because it feels low-commitment. Adding this to your free trial or free class offer CTA buttons is a good way to get people in the door.
21. Now
Calls-to-action are aptly named - they signify action, and adding 'now' to your CTA buttons is an awesome way to reiterate that. Psychologically, they push visitors out of indifference (it's easy to ignore a CTA) and into a state of mind that they need to convert on your page - now.
22. Free
In today's world of ecommerce, every CTA button can feel like a purchase commitment. If your offer is at all free - think free trial, assessment, consultation, or what have you - this is a word you need to have in your CTA buttons, as it assures visitors there's no downside to clicking.
On top of that, people love free stuff - they have nothing to lose by clicking, so why not convert?
23. Save
This word should be a staple in your discount or offer CTAs. Whether it's a sale or a % off coupon, you can use the word 'save' to signal to visitors that they'll be saving money if they click, and missing out on potential savings if they don't. I prefer a CTA like 'Save 10% Now' compared to something like 'Get Coupon'.
24. Me/My/You/Your
One thing that's common between most CTAs is that they can feel impersonal. Using pronouns or determiners like 'me' or 'my' can turn a CTA into a personal call-to-action, increasing a visitor's emotional or cognitive connection with your button. For example, 'Download Ebook' pales in comparison to 'Download My Free Ebook!'.
25. Start/Stop
Words like 'start' and 'stop' are also great for CTAs. They work in a ton of contexts - for example, a gym might use 'Start Changing Your Life' as an emotionally-driven CTA. The word 'stop' can also be very powerful in the right contexts - for example, Wishpond might have a CTA for its popup tools that says 'Stop Wasting My Website Traffic!'.
There you have it - 25 proven words and phrases that you can use for your call-to-action buttons. Are there any I missed? Let me know in the comments below, and don't hesitate to ask any questions.
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To go straight to expanded list of verbs, scroll down to the middle of the page for our “huge verbs list”.
What would happen if we didn’t have verbs? Not much at all. Verbs are perhaps the most important part of speech in the English language. You can’t do or be anything unless a verb lets you. Verbs are everywhere, and it’s about time you got to know them with this list of verbs of many types.
Action verbs tell about something a person, animal, force of nature or thing can do or be. Can you cry, march, rinse, or turn? Can the wind blow or a cup fall? Yes, those are all actions. Use this list to think of other action verbs.
add allow bake bang call chase damage | drop end escape fasten fix gather grab | hang hug imagine itch jog jump kick | knit land lock march mix name notice | obey open pass promise question reach rinse | scatter stay talk turn untie use vanish | visit walk work yawn yell zip zoom |
Verbs also use special rules for telling when something happened – in the past, the present, or the future. Here is a list of examples for each verb tense using the verb break. Try putting other verbs in the place of break.
Present tense – I/you/we/they break, he/she/it breaks
List Of Strong Action Verbs
Past Tense – I/you/he/she/it/we/they broke
Future Tense – I/you/he/she/it/we/they will break
Present Perfect Tense – I/you/he/she/it/we/they have broken
Past Perfect Tense – I/you/he/she/it/we/they had broken
Future Perfect Tense – I/you/he/she/it/we/they will have broken
Being Verbs tell about something in a state of being. A noun or pronoun does not always take action. Sometime, it just is. For that purpose, you use a being verb. Here are the being verbs in all the past, present, and future tenses.
Present tense – I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, they are
Past Tense – I was, you were, he/she/it, was, we were, they were
Future Tense – I will be, you will be, he/she/it will be, we will be, they will be
Present Perfect Tense – I have been, you have been, he/she/it has been, we have been, they have been
Past Perfect Tense -I had been, you had been, he/she/it had been, we had been, they had been
Future Perfect Tense – I will have been, you will have been, he/she/it will have been, we will have been, they will have been
Helping verbs do not stand alone or express action. They are part of verb phrases that “help” the main verb. Helping verbs define the tense (past, present, future) or change the meaning of the main verb. Consider these examples:
Do you need a tissue?
We are helping the third-grade class.
Hank might have been driving the wrong way.
This list has commonly-used helping verbs:
List Of Strong Action Verbs For Kids
may might must be | being been am are | is was were do | does did should could | would have had has | will can shall |
Linking verbs do not show action. Instead, they connect nouns and pronouns to other information in the sentence. Here are some examples:
My sister is smart.
The picture appeared blurry.
Your supper smells delicious.
The most common linking verbs are listed here:
am are are being appear | be become feel get grow | have/has been is lie look might be | might have been prove remain seem sit | smell sound stay taste turn were |
Irregular Verbs are verbs that don’t follow the rules for changing tense. The best way to understand irregular verbs is to practice and memorize them.
Here are some common examples shown in the present/past/past participle:
The dog wants to bite me.
The dog bit me.
The dog has bitten me.
My arm hurts.
I hurt my arm yesterday.
I have hurt my arm before. Look up tucker saddle model numbers.
bite/bit/bitten
choose/chose/chosen
eat/ate/eaten
fall/fell/fallen
hurt/hurt/hurt
go/went/gone
lay/laid/laid
ring/rang/rung
send/sent/sent
teach/taught/taught
write/wrote/written
Verbs do a lot of work in the English language. Some are busy action verbs; others are modest helping or linking verbs. No matter what kind they are, verbs keep the English language movin’ and shakin’.
List of Verbs
A abate | B babble | C cackle | D dab |
E ease | F fabricate | G gabble | H hack |
I idea | J jab | K keen | L label |
M maintain | N nag | O obey | P pace |
Q quack | R race rustle | S sack | T tabulate |
U ululate | V vacillate | W waddle | X – Y – Z x-ray yank zip |
List Of AdjectivesList of VerbsList of PronounsList of PrepositionsList of NounsList of Adverbs | Adjectives to Describe Food & RecipesWords to Describe Feelings and EmotionsList of Words to Use Instead of SaidMarketing Words to Use to Make the SaleAdjectives to Describe ColorsAdjectives to Describe Texture | Adjectives to Describe People & PersonalityAdjectives That Mean FewAdjectives That Mean ManyAdjectives That Mean SmallAdjectives That Mean BigRhyming Words |