Clickable link to bloggergirl's startup:
http://page99test.com/
Basically, don't require more info from the user than you need right now. An example is you can read HN/reddit without an account - but if you want to vote/submit/comment, you need an account (and that's all: email etc is optional).
Although you might really want signups, and so it seems to makes sense to get them ASAP, the counter-productive result is that people don't go further. I didn't; the GP didn't - and that's even after the wonderful publicity here on HN. You've got to make it as adoptable as possible.
1) White text on brown background is very difficult to read for many people.
2) Horizontal scrolling is bad.
3) The main headline is far too big. You should be able to take in a headline in a single glance.
4) The placement of the gigantic green button seems somewhat arbitrary. In general, those buttons always look as if they've been designed for a baby toy.
5) I'm forced to create an account to read a sample.
6) The "written about by" references are not clickable.
The general impression is that the site looks cluttered, trying to spread out a modest amount of actual information over as large an area as possible.