Today I googled a concept, and the top two results were from a website that will remain nameless. The content snip that showed up in the search results looked promising, I clicked, and was faced with a registration form. The form looked short, so I dutifully entered an email address and password, clicked “submit” and, instead of having my content nicely delivered, found another form. Then another. By page three I was done. I felt deceived, cheated of time I could have spent actually reading other articles that turned out to be just as useful.
I understand the value of having logins for content. But please… make them short. Don’t ask me about my personal income level. Don’t ask me where I live, if I have a cat or a dog, or if my husband is good about taking out the trash (which he is, by the way). Email, password, and that’s all. Really. If you want to learn more about me, my likes and my dislikes, at least be sophisticated enough to track what I read and where I click. Then serve me up all the ads you want in an unobtrusive sidebar. Don’t be lazy. That’s my job as the content consumer.
WebGuild article on the costs and benefits of registration- link
