Encourage user registration

[carlgao]

The homepage page currently lacks an appropriately obvious call-for-registration, and doesn’t make it easy to register.
Either have a large sign up button on the home page ("Sign up for Free!" should be a large, colorful, and prominent button), or, like Facebook, include the sign up form right on the home page. Having to click on a sign up button just means another page the user has to visit before reaching his/her goal.
The best sign up process would actually be integrated with Facebook Connect because users would not have to create accounts unique to finalsclub.org.
"Please use your school email address" should go on the actual sign-up page.
The registration form itself should be extremely simple and not push for too much customization information.
Reasons to sign up should all be embedded in an interactive, catchy, and friendly home page to encourage more signups.

We asked some of our friends to check the website, but no one registered. Some said that it was a useless hassle; they enjoyed most of the benefits of the website without having to register. They were able to check the courses and were never prompted to register. We recommend that the home page be modified so that the registration process is clearly visible. Another solution would be to use Facebook login and thereby eliminate the overhead of having to register a new account.

[carlgao]

Example: http://www.u4uboston.com/

[AndrewMagliozzi]

Thanks for posting these, Carl. Hope you have a good thanksgiving today as well.

Warmly,
Andrew