I found a great article and forwarded it to a colleague who might benefit from it. The colleague emailed me and said he couldnt access it because he didnt have a login ID. He didnt want to mess with registration, even though it was free.
My list of IDs and passwords is huge. When I open the list, its contents take several screens to view, with each screen having multiple columns. I bought software to help me manage this giant mess. Some sites require email as an ID while others use a name of your choice as long as it has the minimum number of characters required, and someone else hasnt already claimed it.
With each site having varying rules, its impossible to limit my choices to two or three login IDs. Microsoft works around this with its Passport, but many sites dont use it, and people dont trust having one login for multiple sites. Its funny how some people dont want one global login account, considering many use the same password for everything.
Why torture with registration
If many people dislike memberships, even when its free, and wont sign up unless its information they need, then why bother For one, it provides the company with your information. Any shared information is gold to a business and its marketing department. The more they have, the better they know you and your needs so they can provide them through paid products and services.
Sign-ins also help businesses track their membership activities to determine what works and what doesnt work, which articles are popular and which stink. On the plus side, it ensures the members get content they want and keeps out the topics that are bad apples.
For one of my columns, I studied the statistics to see which articles did well and which fell flat. I also reviewed the best articles on the site. Using the data I collected, I modified my column, and the first one after that received the best results ever.
On the other hand, how effective are these registration-required sites Many users have gotten wise to the registration process and enter phony information along with a BugMeNot entry or a junk email address, which users enter whenever a site asks for an email address that they dont want to provide (typically free accounts like Yahoo and Hotmail or IDs like Mickey Mouse and Charlie Brown).
The frustration of teasers
Once a person enters a site and clicks on a link to an article that sounds interesting, three things often happen:
1. The site indicates membership is required, so the visitor must sign in or register for a free account.
2. The site provides a paragraph of the article and says, Want more Sign up or log in.
3. The article appears in its full glory without the user having to do anything.
Obviously, number three would be the best choice, as it has no barriers stopping the reader from accessing the content. Number one is upfront about requiring membership and gets right to the point. Number two is obviously a teaser, and those dont go over well with many users. Number two wastes more time than number one because of the time you spend reading the partial content (if its not immediately obvious that the complete article isnt available).
When referencing an article requiring sign up, providing that information with the reference saves the user time. For example:
Watch Me Do That Online [Free sign-in required]
Vlogs struggle to come up with fresh programming
by Sarah Boxer, The New York Times
This tells the reader that the article requires registration to view it, and its from The New York Times. So, based on whether or not the user is registered on the site or takes the BugMeNot approach, its easy to make a quick decision about whether or not to bother. However, not everyone takes this approach. I sent an article from a registration-required site thinking it didnt require sign-in because not all content on the site requires signing in; however, I was mistaken.
Preventing walk aways
When newsletter publishers like InternetVIZ select Best of Web articles for a newsletter, we avoid pointing to sites requiring registration. Some sites dont require it when an article comes out, but after a certain amount of time has passed, it requests your login ID. We avoid those, too, because they may not be registration-free by the time the newsletter goes out, or they wont be accessible from the archives.
Sites that charge for content, on the other hand, are not typically an issue. Subscribers of fee-based content know the content is not likely to be accessible and wouldnt post such references in their newsletters, blogs or Web sites.
The Internet has miles of information free for the reading. Were overwhelmed and overloaded. So whatever barriers get in the way are likely to incite more walk aways than new members.
A few smart e-commerce sites, aware of this barrier, dont require the user to register to add things into the cart. Some offer the option of signing up with the benefit of remembering your information the next time you visit, or you can check all the way out by providing the basic data of shipping, billing and email addresses (sometimes optional).
Putting it in their hands
With registration sites receiving phony information or BugMeNot IDs, will the trend change either way Not likely. Even if all the publishers in the world teamed up and said, Were going to create a law that registration shall be required on every site so were all on equal ground an utterly ridiculous idea there will be many who refuse to implement the barrier.
The least we can do is let people know when an article requires registration. That way, the decision about whether to sign up or not is in our readers hands.
is the Content Maven behind , eNewsletter Journal, and The Remediator Security Digest. She is also a PC Today columnist and a tour guide at InformIT. She is geared to tackle your editing, writing, content, and process needs. The native Texan resides in Plano, Texas, a heartbeat north of Dallas, and doesnt wear a 10-gallon hat or cowboy boots.
When writing a sales copy, all internet marketers know that along copy will sell more than a short copy. This does not meanthat the more words the better; it is the quantity and thequality what will increase its performance.
A very important factor to keep the reader interested through thewhole copy is to keep a right sales structure. These are thesteps to follow to make a successful sales letter.
1. USE A POWERFUL HEADLINE. You must think about the biggestbenefit of your product an try to express it in a short sentence.The objective is to grab your readers attention and raise hiscuriosity to continue reading.
2. CREATE EXCITEMENT WITH A SUB-HEADLINE. In no more than two orthree short sentences, you should expand on the benefits of yourproduct and generate excitement on your reader. If you areoffering a limited promotion, you should specify the limitationsof your offer here.
3. OUTLINE THE BENEFITS OF YOUR PRODUCT. You must tell the readerthe three main benefits that he will get when buying yourproduct. Attention, this has nothing to do with the features ofyour product; you have to think about your customerssatisfactions. For example, if you are selling holiday villas,you could mention something like:If youd like to take advantage of the comfort of a luxuryapartment, enjoy the Mediterranean sun and save money on yoursummer vacations, then this might be the most important letteryoull ever read
4. EXPLAIN YOUR UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION. This is the specificbenefit that differentiates your product from anyone else. Atthis point, you must mention your USP in one or two sentences. Itwill be later on in your sales letter where you will explain thedetails.
5. PROVE YOUR CREDIBILITY. The most important thing to sell onthe internet is to establish credibility. You need to make yourreaders fell comfortable buying from you, so you need to tellthem why they should trust you. Explain the three main reasonswhy they should believe you. Try to proof that what you say istrue.
6. EXPLAIN THE FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF YOUR PRODUCT. Explainwhich are the characteristics of your product and which are thebenefits associated to them. For each feature, try to explain howthis will help to improve your readers life or how this willoffer a solution to a problem. In this section, you can expandyourself as much as you want. The more features and benefits thebetter.
7. PROVIDE MORE DETAIL ABOUT YOUR PRODUCT. Here is where you canexplain all the details about your product. Use as much space asyou need. Write until you get boring.
8. INCLUDE CUSTOMER TESTIMONIALS. In order to continueestablishing credibility, you must mention testimonials of othercustomers that have already bought from you and have experiencedthe benefits of your product. Try to mention the details of theirexperiences rather than sentences like I really loved yourproduct... or something similar. Mention at least 5 testimonialsif you can.
9. ELIMINATE THE COMPETITION. You eliminate your competition bygiving your reader the elements they need to judge your product.Of course, you will mention the elements where your product isexcellent and much better than your competition.
10. BUILD VALUE. To build value in your offer you have to letyour readers know that your offer is so good, that they cannotrefuse to take it. One way of doing this is to compare the valueof your offer with the normal value of your product.
11. PROVIDE A SUMMARY OF EVERYTHING YOUR CUSTOMER WILL RECEIVE.Make sure your customer understands everything he is going to getfrom you.
12. MENTION THE PRICE OF YOUR PRODUCT. Mention the regular priceand the sale price of your product. The regular price must becrossed out and the offer must follow.
13. LIST YOUR FREE BONUS PRODUCTS. The objective is to promptimmediate action by offering free bonuses. With this strategy,you are also adding value to your product. You can also try tocreate a sense of urgency by telling that the bonuses will onlybe available for a limited period of time.
14. OFFER A STRONG GUARANTEE. The strongest guarantee you canoffer is a money back guarantee. The fact of offering to tryyour product at no risk will generate a lot of trust andconfidence on your readers. It is very important that you honouryour guarantee for any returns you may get, but you can be surethat the sales you will generate with this strategy will be byfar more important than the returns you may receive.
15. RE-EMPHASIZE YOUR GUARANTEE. Remove all elements of risk byclosing your sales copy saying something like:You dont have to decide now if this product is for you. Justget it and try it out. If it doesnt do everything I say andmore, if you dont save money, or if your business doesntimprove, or if your life isnt better, or if you dont absolutelylove it, just let me know and Ill give you every cent of yourmoney back! So you have nothing to loose and everything togain.
16. TELL THEM HOW TO ORDER YOUR PRODUCT. Provide detailedinstructions about how to place the order.
17. SIGN THE LETTER. Use your full name and title.
18. CLOSE WITH A P.S. Use this part to emphasize the mostrelevant points of your letter.
Remember that this will be a long sales copy that will take yourreaders some time to read. With this in mind, you must work onthe format and design of the copy trying to make it as friendlyas possible. Highlight the most important statements, so that theletter can be read also in one or two minutes.