“Gating” your website is when you allow site visitors to view a certain number of articles or web pages before you require them to sign up, pay, or give you some information about them to view the site further.
A soft gate is when you ask for information about the website visitor (ie. email,name, subscribe) but the information isn’t required. The visitor can still view the site without registering.
A hard gate is when the site visitor is required to give you some data about themself—or pay– before they can look at anything further.
Here is a soft gate that REALLY looks like a hard gate. If you click on the “register” option, you can actually sign up for free.
Note the myriad of free newsletters you can get, with links to samples.
Here are some paid hard gates. Some are inexpensive paid options . Some are for the first 4 weeks of access for only $1, Vanity Fair for an annual subscription.
Once you click to subscribe, the brand collects email, then contact info, then payment info. They clearly let you know that you will be charged once you subscribe, unless you cancel, once you enter all your information.
One of my pet peeves is this pop up that I get from a local newspaper, to which I don’t subscribe but occasionally read an article:
There are many tactics you can incorporate into your website to capture new users on a regular basis. Part 1 of this article included a wide variety of pop ups to encourage newsletter registrations from your site visitors.
The journey continues. Cindy