Sign up form on front page of site?

Is it OK to put a sign-up form on the front page of our site? (rinnku.com )

I got feedback from one user that we should remove the form so we could move the "recently shared bookmarks" section up.

I can see the value in that but I worry that making the user click on the Join button to go somewhere else to sign up makes the sign up process too difficult (and the user will abandon joining).

What do you think?

Classic scenario for A/B testing.

In the end you'll find that you can't please everyone, and no matter what you do some subset of your audience will always wish (and suggest) that you do it the other way.

Yeah the A/B testing is the way to go.
Have a look at Google's new A/B testing, its just a few HTML markers and they deal with the rest.

Personally, Your site feels a little sparse, I would put the list higher as you say and run the boxes down the right hand side of the page.

OR use 99designs.com or DesignBay.com to get a wide range of options you can then A/B test with.

I'd say, go with what most sites do. You obviously have a image slider to advertise your capabilities - just put a large and friendly "Sign-Up" button there. the sign-up form takes a lot of space and kind of t deters me ("Let me see what you can do, if i like it, i'll sign up, don't push the form in my face"). Use the freed space for more "marketing".

Use modal popups and some javascript programming to take advantage of multiple layers. So, like Ron M said, create one big "Sign Up" button, but when clicked, have a beautiful form slide into view instantly.

Just an opinion, but for your concept, I like the "Get Started" approach over the "Sign Up". Sign up just seems like work to me.

A/B testing is great, but it's hard to maintain a controlled environment.