How to convert Guests into Members?

[Dollarsign]

Hello everyone,

Please post up any tips or tricks you have for converting Guests on your forums to Members?

I am weighing up whether to make the general area on my forum private so people will be more inclined to login / sign up? But some forums similar to mine have everything available, nothing private so I don't want to make the wrong decision.

What are your thoughts? Thanks!

[padfoot007]

I would make the forum itself publicly viewable but keep certain things private like if you have download links...then make those only visible to members that way people will be able to view the forum but at the same time be inclined to register

[Dollarsign]

Hmm download links are not usually pasted on my site, it's usually exclusive pictures / information and youtube videos

[Cryo]

Display a banner that only guests see encouraging them to register. You can also use a mod to make it so guests can only view the first post in a thread.

[Biker_GA]

If I hit a forum that I MUST register to see anything, I quickly move on.

[BlueNinjaGo]

My solution to this problem... Limited Guest Viewing -- Motivate Guests to Register

You can set it so that guests can view X amount of threads before they're stopped from viewing anymore. That way, guests can get a taste of your forum and can decide if it's worth their while registering, but stops them from lurking non stop.

There's a 3.8 version as well.