Have a call to action

- It should be clear by now that I'm advocating a form of permission marketing, where you give information freely first and then ask for commitment later, rather than requiring a login before you share any information, or asking for contact details first and then blasting people with information they may or may not want later on. But that doesn't mean you should be timid. If you're trying to get visitors to do something, then make it clear what you want them to do. Subscribe to your newsletter, comment on your blog post, hire you, or buy your product. There's an idea from social psychology called reciprocity. The theory is that if you give people something that's useful to them, they'll be more likely to be nice and give something back to you. By providing a website that allows them to find the information that they need quickly, easily, without hype and without pestering them, you make it more likely that they'll react positively when you ask them for a favor in return. So go ahead…