Geeklog Forums

Question for you experienced GeekLoggers out there. I want to strongly <b><i>encourage</i></b> my website vistors to to register an account, so I can have an idea of who is actually using the site. I would normally do this by making some of the most popular content available to only logged in users. The problem is then the content won't get indexed by the search engines, which will make it harder for people to find me in the first place! Anyone have clever suggestions for this? Is anyone implementing cookies for "Anonymous" users, to help measure repeat visitors?

I use the frontpage feature to create a static page that's only available to anonymous users. See this post.

The static page contains a "Become a member" message with the standard GL registration form. It's a great way to "force" people to register. If they don't register and login, they will always be presented with the page....it's kind of annoying but, that's the point ;-)

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Danny @ squatty.com

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In a world without walls and fences, who needs Windows and Gates?

Except for intranets and very small sites which are hard to find, lurkers outnumber registered people by a huge margin. Most people do not register because it's a huge annoyance and they want to retain their privacy. Can you imagine what a huge pain in the neck it would be if you have to register at every single site you ever want to visit? Many people block cookies or delete them on a regular basis. If you really want to see if there is a pattern, then I recommend you install the visitors stats block. It tracks people by IP. IMO that's probably the best you'll get in knowing if the same people are repeatedly using your site. You know this is a funny post coming from someone who is posting anonymously himself.