Can I show a special greeting to new visitors?
 

Hi,

I don't know if this is even possible... but is there a way to set it up so that someone who is visiting for the first time sees something different (say a special greeting) that goes away on future visits?

Thanks in advance,
Sharon

This popup scheduler is one plugin that might be what you are looking for.

Cool! Thanks for the reply!
Sharon

Another option is the plugin called WWSGD (aka What Would Seth Godin Do?). It also allows you to customize multiple messages based on where your visitor arrived FROM based on "referrer links" (ie. if they found you via a Google Search, or if they typed in your URL directly, etc). Fun options!

The big problem is knowing when a visitor shows up for the first time. Unless you force people to register, you can never be sure it is thier first time visiting, even if you put a cookie on thier computer.

Say I visit the site, so you pop up a special message. Then I go to my friends house and visit the site again. If you are using a cookie and he has never visited, you will thing this is my first time again, but its not.

And what if someone evisits the site on a public computer, then someone else visits it for the first time, but the site thinks it's not their first time since it found a cookie on the computer.

See the issues.