Linking to Registration Required or Paid Sites in Copy

Can't find best way to serve visitors

[jimbeetle]

I occasionally must quote from or refer to an article in the local newspaper, usually along the lines of: Bob Writer of The Gotham News reported yesterday that "blue widgets are piled high" on restaurant plates throughout the city.

It's a multi-part problem.

Problem Part I An unregisted visitor to the newspaper's site can view the home page and the main pages for each section. Anything more than that requires free registration.

An easy fix here. Link to the article with either a following blurb, an icon with an alt tag or an anchor title tag stating Free registration required.

However...

Problem Part II The articles are available for free viewing to registered users for only seven days, after that only by subscription or fee per article.

That easy fix now becomes Free registration required or, after the article has been online more than seven days you have to pay to read it. You might be better off just subscribing to the dang newspaper in the first place.

So, linking directly to an article would frustrate my site visitors who follow the link to read the source. Linking only to the site's home page, which is the practice I currently follow, is also frustrating, as the visitor has to search for the article, only to find that registration and a fee applies. I just find it less harmful in that the visitor at least sees the site's home page and is not hit with a 'you can't see this' blurb.

I'm leaning toward linking directly to the articles with a title tag blurb along the lines of Go to The Gotham News: Free registration required, fee might apply.

<added>Or, I can do what I just noticed MSNBC does for this same newspaper: refer to it, but without a link</added>

Any thoughts on this?

Jim

[rogerd]

This issue is driving me crazy as well. I used to link to archived articles routinely, but now more and more of those links break after a short period of time. For one site, I and some of my partners have been quoted in major national publications - now this stuff is inaccessible without paying. The rare link is lost, too, if these pages are no longer indexed.

I think your last approach is as good as any. Some users may find the article valuable enough to pay, and others may have an existing account. At least you are warning the visitor right away about registration and/or cost.

The process is further complicated in many cases by the lack of an abstract of the article - a user must buy it based on the title, and might well find there was no useful information in it. I liked it better when these articles were ad-supported and readily viewable; I suppose the publications ran the numbers, though, and figured that paid access was the best way to leverage their vast amount of content.

[pleeker]

This is a pain in the you-know-what, no doubt about it. To avoid all headaches, the MSNBC way is best. But as a service to your visitors, it's a nice touch to add a link to help them along if they're interested in reading for more information.

Do you have the luxury of including some content at the end of your own article under the heading "Related Links"? That's where you could put links to the home page(s) of any sources you quote ... and add in any additional disclaimers you may want to add about fees, registration, etc.? I think by separating these links from your own article, you eliminate the impression the reader may have that the link will take them directly to the full (free) article -- an impression they likely have if the link is in the body of your article.

[jimbeetle]

Thanks, folks. And I couldn't have said it better, it's still driving me crazy and a pain in the you-know-what. Each time I make a decision I flip-flop back the other way -- 'cause there ain't no good solution!

I'm going to go ahead and link to the article with a title tag in the anchor. This gives the newspaper credit and, over time, will at least lead visitors in the right direction. Otherwise, a couple of years from now the visitor would have to root around in the newspaper's archives and possibly not have enough information to find the proper article. Unregistered users are faced with a registration page, but it at least has a link to the newspaper's home page.

That's it, I've made up my mind -- until tomorrow.

Thanks again,

Jim