What are the things you do to convert guests to members? Do you have annoying flashy ads that follow you around as you scroll the site? Or do you only have the standard "Register" button in the navbar/header area? I use a registration badge in a notice that is displayed sitewide. I also have a "register now" banner ad that is displayed after the first, 5th and 10th posts in a thread. What about you guys? Which method has proven to get more users to register?
My site is supposed to have a "welcome guest" message that appears at the top of every page. I think its still there, I guess I need to check that out and make sure its still working. But no flashy banners or anything like that.
Setsou Design has the standard register link. Bird is the Word has the welcome message. I find that having something not so buggy and pushy will make users want to register. If it's their desire to do so, anyway. Forcing them to register through advertisements turns them away. In other words, they'll only join to read posts and such without being annoyed with advertisements.
I have a "welcome guest, please join our happy little community" message at the top, but nothing fancy.
Me too. Simple and not too annoying. We try to make the community interesting and inviting, as I am sure all of you do too.
I've always used a customized "Welcome, Guest!" message at the top of the forum index page. Rather than using a standard text-based message, I've started incorporating graphics into the message - it attracts more attention.
And with IPB, I love how you can make it as long as you'd like, include multiple graphics, etc. Some software's don't allow that.
