A Recommend Form Alternative
Recommend forms on web sites can hold privacy concerns for
your site visitor. No matter how boldly you state, "We
don't spam," or "We never share your email address, nor
the addresses of your friends," some will not believe you.
Don't get me wrong. Recommend forms still work. They're just
not used as much as they were in the past. (I don't have
hard numbers, just my observation over the years. We've
been using recommend forms ever since I wrote our first
tell-a-friend script in 1998.)
If you wish to alleviate privacy concerns that recommend
forms can hold, this article talks about a practical option.
It is the affordable Email .This. Link software.
With Email .This. Link, site visitors click a link which opens
their default email program — with your custom message
pre-written.
Because the email is being sent from their own email
program, users have no reasonable privacy fears.
You'll find Email .This. Link here.
The proof-of-concept version of the software is in use at
WillMaster > Blog. Below each individual blog post, you'll
see an "Email This" link. See this "hotlink" post for an example.
Click on it. You'll see how good it really works.
The public version of the software was made site
owner-friendly, including copy 'n paste code for
different types of web pages.
Here is a short features list.
-
Email .This. Link will work on regular web pages, PHP
web pages, and even for blogs. A placeholder can be
used to automatically insert the web page title.
-
The software's control panel is used to specify the
link text (and/or image), the pre-written subject of
the email, and the pre-written body content of the
email. Placeholders can be used to automatically
insert the web page title and URL.
-
The link code is copied from the control panel and
pasted into your web page or template.
Let's suppose you specify the following:
Link text: Click to email this "[[TITLE]]" link!
Email subject: Check this page, [[TITLE]]
Email body content —
You gotta read this.
[[URL]]
Seriously.
It's [[TITLE]]
When the control panel generated code is placed on a web
page with the title "A Lot About Everything" and URL
http://example.com/sixreasons.php, then the clickable
link will be seen as:
Click to email this "A Lot About Everything" link!
When the link is clicked, the user's email program
launches. The subject line is pre-written with:
Check this page, A Lot About Everything
And the email body is pre-written with:
You gotta read this.
http://example.com/sixreasons.php
Seriously.
It's A Lot About Everything
Now, when someone receives a personal email from a friend, they
are interested. The site visitor pre-qualifies their friends
by sending links to those who s/he thinks would like your
web site.
People might not believe your own statements about yourself.
But they believe their friends.
Similar links can be put on as many web pages as you wish.
Email .This. Link is a multi-domain license: You may use it on
all domains you own so long as you do not sell it, give it
away, or otherwise transfer the software or provide any
copies to others.
Visit the WillMaster > Blog "50 Things ..." blog post (as an
example). Click the Email This link below the post to see
how well the software works.
Then, visit the Email .This. Link sales page and get it for yourself.
Will Bontrager
©Copyright 2008 Bontrager Connection, LLC Bontrager Connection, LLC
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