'Click Here To Join' - Is This Obsolete?

[Lee]

Im not sure if its just me or not but lately i have seen a decline in banners from sponsor programs with this on them, has the whole 'click here to join' animated text on banners become obsolete these days do you think?

Personally, i find that if a banner has this on it, click thrus are actually much higher than on banners without it.

Do you think call-to-actions like the old 'click here' have become obsolete and instead sponsors are opting to use alternate methods of getting clicks, like hotter models, raunchier pics, etc?

Regards,

Lee

[derekt]

Do you think call-to-actions like the old 'click here' have become obsolete and instead sponsors are opting to use alternate methods of getting clicks, like hotter models, raunchier pics, etc?

I'm noticing that a lot of affiliates are creating more "explicit" banners for affiliates to use thus still offering "g-rated."

I have seen the "Click Here To Join" banners. We never used those types just because we feel the surfer is going to see the "Click here to Join." They may not click on it just because they think, "Why should I join, I haven't seen anything yet!" So yes, I agree with you in this method.

[smartboysites]

I am sure, surfers aren't stupid, so there is no need to say "Click here to join".

[GayGeek]

Agreed. It's bad design to ever say "click here" on a website. It should be intuitively obvious for web surfers where to go to signup. Sites that say "click here" are usually trying to put out so many "look over here!" signals to viewers that they have to put massive graphics saying "click here to join", which in turn means they make the other graphics bigger to compensate.

Frankly, I have always believed a more minimal interface is far easier for users to use.

--Aaron

[Lee]

I disagree, a call-to-action is still a valuable sales tool, sometimes something as simple as 'click here' or 'get instant access' will be the most valuable tool an affiliate can have.

Unless you tell a surfer to do something, the chances of them actually doing so are very slim $0.02

Regards,

Lee

[HunkyLuke]

you are spot-on Lee, "click here" and other calls to action are very important!!!

[basschick]

i'm still a fan of using "click here" - it still sends 30% or more traffic both on my sites and my clients'. on the other hand, i never got "click here to join" on banners or anything but the actual paysite. after all, most guys aren't clicking to join - they're clicking to see more.

[Teaser]

I have to agree... a push lightly always helps the surfer to go the right way

[GayGeek]

I resubmit my statement that "click here to join" buttons are unnecessary. But I will provide a few details regarding my statement.

- The "click here to join" button is often necessary on websites because they have created such a busy interface that users find it confusing when figuring out exactly where to click in order to join.

Those websites can often be diagnosed because they are repeating a dozen or more times on a page "click here to join". Were the designer to remove all but one of the buttons, users would have a hard time spotting it amid the cluter.

- "Click here to join" buttons have the advantage of transferring information to the viewer. Namely, that the website is membership-based.

I believe, however, that users are ideally served by incorporating the fact that it's a membership site into the overall design of the website. For example, a prominent button for members to log in also visually suggests it's a membership site.

- Obviously, users have to have the ability to click on something to get to the join page, and it should not only be the "next" button on the final tour page. But I would not design a website that is filled with "join now!" buttons to so.

Of course I would never in a million years run one of those (what I consider to be poorly designed) websites with a cover, a 3-4 page tour, and a join page.

I am a much stronger fan in the Sean Cody style of web design. Notice that he has exactly one "join" link on his front page, and that remains the only obvious link on the page even when you look at previews of his content. (Clicking to view a movie when not a member redirects you to the join page. I disagree with that approach -- clicking on a link should only send users to the content they were expecting to see. A better way would have been to adjust the text for non-members to indicate what members can see, but without displaying "watch a video" links.)

Anyway, by lowering down the number of distracting graphics Sean Cody eliminated the need for excessive "join now!" buttons. A single obvious link does the job effectively. Would that more gay websites stopped using the model of "website as a flashy and trashy magazine cover" and started using real usability design principles on their sites.

--Aaron

[Lee]

Aaron,

I think we may be talking about different things, when i said initially 'click here to join' i was meaning from sites that affiliate webmasters build to send traffic to their programs paysites.

Regards,

Lee

[ponyboy]

you go to some places and you can't find where to join, its a real pain in the ass

[Teaser]

What I hate more when reviewing a site, is having to play find waldo for the member's access button. It seems lately sites seem to want to hide them in the text navigation at the bottom of a page...

How annoying that must be for a surfer that just shelled out a membership price then has to play the hide and seek game for an in...

[ponyboy]

i like big bold buttons that stand out, or join, or members here. i hate having to get my glass's to find things, or sub small print