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Refer Me
If you're concerned about a message you've received via this system and you've come here to see what's going on, please visit the abuse page.


There are people who spend a lot of time and effort sending unwanted email (spam) to strangers in an effort to get traffic to their site. How sad.

With Refer Me on your site, visitors can instantly send a personal recommendation to their friends and there's a good chance their friends will visit because the message came from somebody they know and trust, not some evil, anonymous spammer.

You can have Refer Me up and running within ten minutes, then you don't need to lift a finger to maintain it, just sit back and watch the extra traffic come rolling in.

Refer Me is FREE and there are no volume restrictions. However, Refer Me PRO has many kewl extra features!


This page: [ Test It | Quick Setup | Benefits | Details ]
Other pages:


Test It

You can play around with this to see how it works and what the various messages will look like. Visit the test page.


Quick Setup

There are no forms to fill in and no messing about, just copy and paste the following code onto your home page (or any other page). Replace the coloured text with your own preferences and you're ready to rock! Red is required, blue is optional.

30-minute queueing system: messages are sent twice an hour, not instantly. If you're testing your form, please be patient.


<FORM METHOD="post" ACTION="http://refer-me.net/cgi-bin/referme">

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="webmaster_email" VALUE="you@youremail.com">

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="get_names" VALUE="on">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="home_url" VALUE="http://yourhomepage.com">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="home_title" VALUE="Your Home Page Title">

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="message" VALUE="
Some extra text describing your site would appear here,
and it's also a good idea to sign off using your own name...

All the best,

Jim
">

<CENTER>
<TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="0">
<TR BGCOLOR="#0000CC" ALIGN="center"><TD>
<TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="7" CELLSPACING="0">
<TR BGCOLOR="#EEEEFF" ALIGN="center">
<TD COLSPAN="3"><B><FONT SIZE="+1" COLOR="#0000CC">Do you like this site?
Tell a friend!</FONT></B></TD>
</TR>
<TR BGCOLOR="#DDDDFF" ALIGN="center">
<TD><BR></TD><TH>Name</TH><TH>Email</TH></TR>
<TR BGCOLOR="#EEEEFF" ALIGN="center">
<TH ALIGN="right">You:</TH>
<TD><INPUT TYPE="text" SIZE="15" NAME="sendername"></TD>
<TD><INPUT TYPE="text" SIZE="20" NAME="senderemail"></TD>
</TR>
<TR BGCOLOR="#DDDDFF" ALIGN="center">
<TH ALIGN="right">Friend:</TH>
<TD><INPUT TYPE="text" SIZE="15" NAME="newname"></TD>
<TD><INPUT TYPE="text" SIZE="20" NAME="newemail"></TD>
</TR>
<TR BGCOLOR="#EEEEFF" ALIGN="center">
<TD COLSPAN="3"><INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Send Referral"></TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>
</TD></TR></TABLE><P>
<B>[ Get your own <A HREF="http://referme.deadlock.com">FREE
referral system</A>! ]</B>
</CENTER>

</FORM>



Benefits

Unlike some (more famous) email referral systems, the user doesn't need to leave your site to make the recommendation, it's all done right there on your own site.

The 'Thank You' page prompts the user for six more referrals, and it keeps coming back for more (unless you choose otherwise - see advanced features)!

The referral message is written by you, not the sender (unless you choose otherwise). The advantages are: a) less effort for the user, so they can concentrate on writing names and addresses and b) your text sells the site more strongly than a message written by the sender.

The referral message is so highly personalised that the recipient cannot possibly mistake it for spam. They WILL read it.

You get lists of all the names and addresses (if you want) so you can follow up, although I would advise against it. The recipient has already been given a glowing report of your site by their own friend, so a further message from you will only spoil it. Why not just relax and watch the referrals pour in?


The Gory Details

Here's what each form element means:

  • webmaster_email
    Put your email address. This serves two purposes: it's the address to which the list of names and addresses will be sent, and also the address for notification to let you know about upgrades to this system.

    NO AUTORESPONDERS PLEASE! If your webmaster_email address points to an autoresponse message your Refer Me form will be disabled without notice (since there would be no point in notifying your autoresponder!)

  • get_names
    When this is set to "on" you'll be sent a list of names and email addresses each time somebody sends a referral. If you don't want to receive the names and addresses, set this to "off" or simply remove the field altogether.

  • home_url
    The URL of your home page, for the return link at the end of the 'Thank You' screen and also for inclusion in the referral email. If you don't specify this field, it will default to the URL of the page from which the original referral was sent. Very handy if you want to install the same form on lots of pages.

  • home_title
    The name of your site, to go with the home_url value above.

  • message
    By default, the following message is sent:

    Hi {name},

    Your friend {sendername} sent you this note via our online referral system to recommend our site because they enjoyed it so much, and thought you would too!

    It's called {Your Home Page}. Here's the URL:

    {http://yourhomepage.com}

    The 'message' field is a place for you to ADD some extra info about your site if you want to, and to sign off using your own name (a good idea).


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