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I'd definitely use a feature to invite new users to demo the free membership.  Perhaps setup some sort of reward system (like additional book to index for free users, points to giveaways for free or paid users, or a small account credit if they join for paid users).

As no-one else has jumped in to comment on this I thought I would.  If getting new members isn't a major problem for EYB (I have no way of knowing), I'd rather the money it costs to develop a feature like this were spent on indexing more cookbooks and, for the same reason, I wouldn't be in favour of account credits in exchange for introducing new members.  I know that some other websites do have this functionality and it probably draws new members in, but it is just as easy to send a link to the relevant EYB web page or Facebook page.

Apologies mrskitcatb that I didn't reply sooner. To be honest, when I first read your post I felt I needed to give it some thought before I replied and then it got buried. FJT's answer really gets to the crux of the matter - we do not have unlimited funds to spend so we always have to prioritize our spending on what gives the most benefit to the most members. And indexing more books/magazines and adding new features would I'm sure be most members preference to giving a dollar or two back for referrals.

We also hope that if people love our service they would want to spread the word to friends and family who love to cook without needing an incentive. It's like if you see a great movie or read a wonderful book - you want to tell others so they get the same joy, you don't need the movie producer or book publisher to give you payback.

I think really for me, the incentivising piece is secondary. Something as simple as an e-mail form with some pre-filled benefits to the service, to send a semi-personalized invitation, rather than copying/pasting a link in a personal e-mail or message.  I know what benefits I get, but that doesn't mean that I remember all of the benefits that others find using the service. Perhaps the research on that, is people don't tend to join based on that sort of invitation.  Just my 2 cents.