5 Ways to Use an Announcement Bar on Your Website

Your website is your potential customer’s first impression of you and your brand online. Adding an announcement bar on your website allows you to announce news, discounts, and events with website visitors and increase your sales!  

Also, because announcement bars only display at the top of the screen, they are less invasive than pop-up ads.

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Scroll to see Charisma’s top five ways to use an announcement bar on your website!

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What is an Announcement Bar?

An announcement bar is a thin bar at the top of your website above the header and is usually just a short line of text with a button or a link and an “X” button to close it if a visitor wants to hide it.    

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Using Announcement Bars to Convert

When building an announcement bar, you want to make sure that it converts, and ensure that it does not annoy your visitors in the process. Keep these factors in mind:  

• Use colors that stand out but complement your theme
• Instead of plain text, use a colorful button
• Add a CTA in the link
• Add a thumbnail photo of your product or freebie
• Make the intent clear. Don’t overload the bar with text
• Don’t be afraid to be creative  
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Take A Look at Your Website. Could You Use An Announcement Bar To Grab Your Visitors’ Attention?

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Five Ways to Use an Announcement Bar

Here’s how to make these marketing tools work for you:  

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Display a CTA

An announcement bar can be used to display your future availability for service businesses who wish to fill their calendar with consultations, appointments, or projects.  For example:  “Last minute slot available: Book today!” “Schedule Fall HVAC maintenance today!” “August is full—booking for September now!”

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Announce a Sale, Discount, or Limited Time Offer

Whether you are running a sale on your products or are offering a discount on your services, you can  create a sense of urgency to get visitors fired up to act with your announcement bar.   It is also a great place to display a discount code that people can use at checkout—Just make sure the discount code is configured properly on the backend before telling your consumers about it!

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Encourage Newsletter Signups

This is one of the most common uses of an announcement bar because it is extremely effective. Use your announcement bar to get people to sign up for your mailing list.  

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Promote a New Product or Service

If you just launched a new product or service, add it to your announcement bar to get people interested! Just be sure to change the announcement regularly and don’t keep the “New” sign hanging above your website for months on end.  

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Notify People of an Event

Whether you are hosting a physical event, workshop, or virtual webinar, an announcement bar is a perfect place to promote it and add a sign-up CTA too!    

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Use Announcement Bars Sparingly

While announcement bars can be quite useful to get important messages across to your visitors and potential customers, use them sparingly.   Consider leaving your announcement bar up for a couple of weeks and then wait before using it again—maybe changing the color each time you do. This way, visitors won’t become blind to your call to actions and announcements at the top of your site.  

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Grow Your Business with Charisma

The opportunities are endless! An announcement bar at the top of your website is an opportunity to educate your customers about your services and products, promote a sale, increase opt-ins, or update your availability.  

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‍Charm customers away from the competition. Give your potential customers the best experience online! At Charisma Communications, we create compelling web pages, newsletter content, blogs, and more to convert your visitors into customers. Schedule a consultation with Charisma today.