What Makes You Register / Comment?

Sabre0001

Trying to do some on-the-fly and loose market research (blatent ) but not quite sure if this is the right forum for this topic - it could fit a couple...

Basically, I own a website and we are getting good view numbers per day and a decent time on site and bounce rate. Any time people (that I know) visit the site they say to me that it must be going well because there are always so many visitors displayed (I am aware that some of this number is bots). However, the problem is that these people are "guests" rather than registered users / logged in.

Now what I am wondering is what makes you register to a site / post comments? Or, have you any suggestions as to what could be done to "encourage" this We currently do not have a forum - don't want a barren land because this is one of the first things that people will judge a site on (I know I do). Do have some ideas - media section is registered only...want to run competitions and events - but others are always appreciated.

Thanks!

STBR

Hi there,

Well I can't really answer than question because I hardly ever register for a site I'm not going to use a lot, I hate the whole process of registering for anything myself.

I suppose one thing I would recommend is that you make the users realise that your sign up is very short and painless.

Take a look at Bebo.com's Sign Up page.

It's short and to the point. How it should be.

Maybe also allow extra privileges to registered members to entice users to join.

But don't do it to the point that it seems you're punishing them for not joining.

Make it seem like their own decision.


May I ask what your website is about, and what is the URL?


EDIT: I also totally agree with what you're saying about the barren land.

Maybe start a poll to see if people would be interested?


Or you could also run competitions through a forum, thus making people use the forum, AND getting them to register.

Sabre0001

Website is eSports.ie. Want to leave most things available to unregistered people. Obviously comments are disabled unless logged in. Media files (photos from events) also require registration.

Will probably stay away from the forum for now. Competitive gaming subforum here + IRC channel do the trick at the moment. Definately want to run competitions / tournaments anyway. Couple of work-in-progress ones at the moment.

If only I could buy time

CuLT

What kind of figures are you getting in Google Analytics?

What are your top viewed articles?

Where's your traffic coming from?

The first thing I see when I go to comment on an article, I'm told "Only registered users can write comments!", and no link to where to register
If you want to get comments, you don't make people jump through hoops. Name, mail address/URL (if even) and their comment is what passes for registering to comment on an article these days. Even then, some people argue that's too much.

I'm going to assume your content is compelling, it's been a while since I last competed in CS leagues; guessing it must be the progeny of cs-ireland.com and thus have some interested and knowledgeable people behind the wheel

Sabre0001

Hey CuLT,

Getting approx 400-500 unique visitors per week with an average time on site of just over 4mins. Top viewed articles have been things that are updated / long running such as coverage of the World Cyber Games in Cologne or the Irish ClanBase team. One article stood out and that was an interview with a Quake 3 pro (Stermy) which received 2,000+ hits.

Traffic is worldwide but unfortunately, a large proportion of views are from redirecting sites (~50%) rather than direct to the site.

Must look at the signup system alright. Have had a couple of people ask "how do I signup?"; guess that should have been my first warning The signup form in itself is very short and straightforward - Name, UserName, E-mail, Password (x2)

I'm going to let other people judge whether the content is compelling and if the people involved are knowledgeable

p

You need to make the site as easy as possible to register for. Also, if possible don't even do that. This is exactly the type of problem a good designer can work with you on. Here's some articles that have some suggestions.
http://thinkvitamin.com/features/turning-visitors-into-users/
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/signupforms

Sabre0001

p wrote: »

You need to make the site as easy as possible to register for. Also, if possible don't even do that. This is exactly the type of problem a good designer can work with you on. Here's some articles that have some suggestions.
http://thinkvitamin.com/features/turning-visitors-into-users/
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/signupforms

Interesting articles...Worth a thought anyways.
To be honest, there's no real need to register for the site (except to comment as stated). Would like people to of course or even if they log in once and click the 'Remember Me' box.

CuLT

If you're looking to give people a way to participate easily, try putting in something like boards.ie's thanks system, or a voting up/down system on the articles.

I rarely comment on blog/news articles, I'll happily hit a share/bookmark/+1 button on something interesting though.