Feature request/idea

[az87aris]

I'm getting a fair few visitors to my websites who seem to be staying on the sites for longer than usual lately, probably reading how it works etc who then click a link to sign up and go to my ref link.

The problem i'm seeing is that they go to the link but don't sign up and leave my website. I think this is due to the fact they're assuming they will be signing up at my website for their free whatever, but are then directed to a totally different website.

An idea i've had is similar to the feature already in place on both the gadgets and gift sites where you can customise your referral page, but instead of just choosing a colour for the page we upload our own stylesheet/css file so the referral/sign up page has the same design as our own website.

Is this something that would be easy to put into place? I'm sure it will see an increase sign ups for most people.

What are other peoples thoughts/opinions on this?

Thanks.

[Maxx]

Would be a nice feature, but would be hard to implement because people could use it to break rules, for example, "Welcome to the Hacked FreebieJeebies referral page!"

[williamblah]

I'd imagine as Maxx says, this would have far too many security flaws to practically be implemented.

Your best bet is to either:
1. Alter your final sign up page to make it look like the FJ site.
2. Alter your whole page to make it look like the FJ site.
3. Explain that they are signing up at a totally seperate site, and that you are just the messenger.

Good luck!

[samac92]

would be very hard to police it, and could easily be abused.
and what after they've signed up? they would then be taken to the normal freebiejeebies, which is the problem you said in the first place

[cameronlaw]

That would be really great but are FreebieJeebies really going to let people essentially change their site. The possibilities are endless what people could do

[az87aris]

Originally Posted by Maxx

Would be a nice feature, but would be hard to implement because people could use it to break rules, for example, "Welcome to the Hacked FreebieJeebies referral page!"

It could be with no alterations to any text/links on the pages, just the background colours, colour schemes?

Or to make it even more simple, a feature similar to websites like twitter where you'd just upload your own background image?

[williamblah]

Originally Posted by az87aris

It could be with no alterations to any text/links on the pages, just the background colours, colour schemes?

There is quite a lot of freedom anyway regarding colour schemes. You are far better of designing your site to suit the look of what they are signing up to, rather than working the sign up site around the promotion site.

E.g. Xbox ads reflect what's good about the xbox. They don't just make an ad, and then remake the xbox around the ad that they made. (I understand it's a bit different, but the concept is the same!)

Originally Posted by az87aris

Or to make it even more simple, a feature similar to websites like twitter where you'd just upload your own background image?

That's quite a good idea though - but it depends whether FJ want to keep their branding, or whether they want to let you "repackage" the service with your logos etc.

[foundonline]

This is a damn good idea! I see the same sort of activity from my visitors.
If they were directed to a sign up area with your branding I think this would lead to more referrals, ultimatly this would be a very good thing for freebiejeebies.

I can't see why this would pose as a security risk, it would be the same principle as myspace or YouTube channels

[chigley]

Easy to put in to place? Yes.

However, I highly doubt that we'll ever see anything like this for a number of reasons. The most obvious reason is that of security: a feature such as this would open up so many opportunities for fraud and account theft. On top of this, there are many other issues such as FJ losing it's brand identity and so on.

That's my personal opinion, anyway.

Charlie

[foundonline]

I don't think the freebiejeebies brand Id is what drives referral, it's all the people pushing their own ref link... Therefore it's the brand Id of all the site/people driving referrals.

So, that said why not help us look more credible?

[williamblah]

I agree with the whole stylesheet being made open for everyone being a bad idea, but whatabout a customisable background, as suggested - twitter style?

[Monkeyegg]

Thanks for the suggestion, however, as others have said it will cause security issues that we wouldn't be comfortable with.

It is also important to us that our customers know when they are using our website. I can appreciate why you may want the transition from your websites to ours to be as smooth as possible, but we need our customers to know their account is with us and that it is us they need to contact with any queries etc. This is the main reason we don't allow referral links to be masked. Allowing such a feature is bound to cause unnecessary confusion, and isn't something we would want to do.

[Snave]

What about perhaps adding an option to have your sites logo displayed just in the transitional signup page? That way it would work similar to how Paypal works, you're passed on to the Freebiejeebies site however there is still confidence in that you are just being forwarded to a completely different page.

[az87aris]

I think the best way of doing it would be the twitter way, that way the freebiejeebies banner/logo would still be in place at the top of the referral page, but the background would be of that from the referring website.

[foundonline]

Originally Posted by az87aris

I think the best way of doing it would be the twitter way, that way the freebiejeebies banner/logo would still be in place at the top of the referral page, but the background would be of that from the referring website.

I think this is the best way. This would make it clear that the referral would be signing up as a freebiejeebies member but also showing that the place they started from is a credible/approved affiliate/member of freebiejeebies and can be trusted