SkaDate: If You Build It, They Will Come

So now that you know all about online dating, you decide that it isn't enough. You figure that you have a voice too. So you want to build your own online dating site. Well SkaDate is the software for you! It is very easy to implement. It is user friendly and best of all it is pretty reasonable...$350 for 1 license!  You can buy two for $600 and three for $900. The 3 license version comes with mobile capabilities. They have an upsale for $95/mth, which gives you more features and more support. They have TONS of features and templates. I looked through what they had to offer, and it almost made me want to start a site! I would recommend  this to way to startup to anyone. You could be up and running in a few days!

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Communication is oh so important!

Differences in communication styles of the Sites eHarmony and Match.com

Using Match.com users are able to search matches immediately after signing up and can locate or talk to people found in their search. The match pair is remained hidden until it is communicated that they choose to “reveal themselves”, this usually occurs when the pair decide to meet face to face for an official date. This site is useful for people that don’t mind making initial contact for their match and prefer that hands on experience; as opposed to leaving the decision up to an algorithm made up by some person in a computer lab. In contrast eHarmony strongly advises that members take precautions before making open ended contact; they have a set of guidelines for information exchange. This can take weeks to complete and is only good for people with some patience, this is cited as one of eHarmonys biggest drawback. The site also offers templates for first time emails to avoid the awkwardness of the situation, which most users loved. Because of the guidelines and restrictions eHarmony has on their site, it may take a while to ever meet your match. Although the success rate of eHarmony is one of the top; the “dating training wheels” need to be removed at some point so a real relationship can develop. It’s said that communication is the basis for any and every relationship, so online dating sites need to always improve this criteria to boost the amount of people that join their sites and success rates.

Hitch: The Online Dating University

Do you still have questions about online dating? Is there something else that you would like to know? If so, there is a school for you. Online dating org has an "Online Dating University" for you! On this website, you can view related articles, reviews of the top sites, safety issues and anything else that you might can think of.

They just had their "17th Edition of the Carnival of Online Dating" . It included links to articles by very respected writers, experts and more. I must say, that it is a little sad though. This is what we have come to. I know that we all can use some help, but what ever happened to good ole fashioned trying. It seems like we are trying to take the error out of relationship making, which to me might make more bad relationships. I mean no one is perfect. However, if you say the right things, act the right way and come off as the perfect soul mate, what happens when the real you shows up? What happens when you can't get more coaching when you need it, or the situation dictates something different than what you read? Most of have seen the movie "Hitch" with Will Smith and Kevin James. It ended up working out for Kevin and Will's characters, but that is Hollywood, and not real life.

What do you think? Knowledge is good, but wouldn't you rather see the bad and decide if you can tolerate it?

Avoiding the Awkward Pauses!

Everyone knows how awkward a first date can be unless you already know the person somehow. With online dating, meeting someone for the first time can be nerve racking! "What are we going to talk about?" is the first thing that goes through your mind. In order to relieve yourself of this stress and calm your nerves, simply come up with a list questions/topics to talk about and avoid the awkwards pauses. A good conversation starter is always "How was your day?". This shows your politeness and manners which gives your date a good first impression. Your putting the focus on them and allowing them to talk a little about themselves and who doesn't like to do that? It also gives you a chance to see what kind of person they are. Do they constantly complain and talk about all the crappy things that happened that day? Do they focus on the positive things that happen? Or do they take the bad things that happened and turn them into something positive? This tells a lot about how people percieve things. Then, of course, you can go into the questions of things that they do in their spare time such as hobbies, etc allowing you to see if there is anything you have in common. If this is the case, this gives you an opportunity to build on the thing you have in common. You're able to connect and allow for a growing conversation. This leads to more questions building on the thing you have in common like how long you've been doing it, why you are interested in it, etc. On the other hand, if its something you don't have in common, your now giving the person time to tell you about it, putting the attention on him/her. Putting the focus on your date will gain you brownie points. It shows your curious about the person, your a good listener and allows you to learn more about the person. But these are just a few simple ways to avoid the awkwardness a lot of people dread on a first date with someone you've never met before. Next time you go on a date, be prepared with topics/questions!

Online Dating on Facebook?

Is Facebook stealing the spotlight? New features available on Facebook now seem to imitate features on paid dating sites. One of the ways Facebook has been stealing away customers is by adding features, such as the new subscription button, available on everyone’s profile. The button allows people to subscribe to things you post without being your friend. It is kind of like followers, on twitter or a fan club, not to sure what do you guys think? Anyways this feature allows you to pick certain information to share and you can group this information as wanted. This allows people to create groups and almost a sub-profile on Facebook. Dating online through Facebook isn’t so uncommon, so will this continue to grow with every Facebook update? I think so; Facebook has enough users to undermine the traditional online dating sites. As soon as users incorporate their “dating profile” through subscriptions, why pay somewhere else? 

Top Profile Turnoffs

When you are online dating, the biggest way for someone to understand who you are is through your profile. Bellow, are the top turnoffs for men and women when looking at others profiles.

Top Turnoffs For Men:

1. If a woman states all the things she does not want, instead of listing the things she does want. This makes him feel like he will never be able to you happy.
2. He does not want to here the same old things or know all of your accomplishments. He wants to get to know the real you.

Top Turnoffs For Women:

1. If a man does not have correct grammar and spelling mistakes on his profile. That catches a girl's eye very quick, but not in a good way!
2. If a guy is careless about which photos he posts. Those hat and sunglasses photos probably look nice, but she is going to want to see the full picture of you!

The only thing you need to remember is be as honest as possible! Trust and honesty are key in a relationship. You don't want to start off the relationship by lying!


Resources:
http://www.yourtango.com/experts/jaime-richards/worst-online-dating-profiles-ive-ever-seen

How to Succeed

So we have spoken quite a bit about the safety of online dating and what you should do to ward away “the weirdos”, but what about tips on how to succeed online and actually meet someone great.  We found this article about how to NOT screw up online dating.  One thing the article suggested was that you should put your “best foot forward” when filling out your profile.  One statement though caught our eye and made us start thinking.  The article said to not talk about your shortcomings.  Well what really are shortcomings?  We all agreed that shortcomings meant something that you think others will find unsatisfactory.  But the key word here is shortcomings in your eyes.  What some people may see as a shortcoming may be something attractive to another.  We came up with a couple of examples and we wanted to know what you guys thought.  The best example we could come up with was the smoker.   The person that smokes could see that as a shortcoming but if they were to meet another smoker then there would be no problem.  A smoker could also meet a non-smoker that simply didn’t care that they smoked.   Another common example would be a person that’s overweight.  They might see their weight as a shortcoming but some woman simply like a bigger man… a sense of protection.  We just found it odd that so many of the articles and responses we have found on online dating are ones concerned with how dangerous and unsafe online dating could be.  This one was actually tips on how to succeed in online dating and some were very interesting.  What do you guys think?

http://www.faceromance.com/online_dating/

Starting over made easy

Relationships have their ups and down, but when it's over it's over. Whether in your 20s, 30s, 40s or whatever age group, for a lot of people, it's hard to just start over. It seems to be especially hard for people who have been in long term relationships and middle aged people who don't like the bar and club atmosphere. What are they suppose to do, give up? Online dating has provided an opportunity for these groups of people. It even makes it easier. The profile tests they take when signing up provides a better match than someone you may meet at a bar or club and realize you have nothing in common and then the search starts again. At least with an online dating account you are provided with many options with people who shares common interests and personalities. People who don't have the time to go and find their sole mate, online dating makes it easy. And for the people who may have forgot how to date because their coming out of a long term relationship, this provides an easy out for them. The hard part of looking for someone is now made easy!

Whatz yo Flava?

  In this "have it your way" Burger King age, online dating offers a plethora of choices for even the most discerning date/relationship seeker. Internet dating sites have a low barrier of entry for doing business. You can buy a domain name for $.99, get a online server and a basic design for less than $500. This has created a landscape littered with niche sites aimed at capturing even the smallest crowd of people.
  We waited is for people who "say" they are virgins and would like to hook up with other virgins. The site conducts background checks on its perspective members to ensure they are virgins (how they do that is an entirely different conversation!). Veggie lovers can find someone who enjoys the bounty of the land as much as they do. Have you ever wanted to find someone who loves the punk rock lifestyle as much as you do? What about that yearning desire to find your soul mate behind bars? Are you a woman with the burning desire to upgrade your cupsize? Click through these links to discover your paradise!
  There are literally thousands of other sites. Sites for Trekkies, Harvard grad lovers, little people, tall people and everything in between. Crime should not be so high in the world. Just get on the internet, find what you want, relieve your stress and live the rest of your life.




http://www.switched.com/2009/08/05/17-niche-dating-sites-for-specialty-lovers/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/fashion/06Niche.html

Let's talk revenue!

Let’s talk more money.

All online dating sites have practically the same business models, either you subscribe to the site or it is available at no charge, but how do these sites collect revenue and keep their business growing with a market saturated by small time players trying to get a piece of pie in such a vast market place. In the competitive market today, some sites need an edge over others. Let’s figure out how this competitive advantage is obtained.

The cost of running an online site is practically nothing compared to the potential revenues. Most of the content needed to run the site is provided by the users, with their photographs and personal content, hence there is a constant flow of free material. The amounts of employees needed to run the site is minimum, even for fortune 500 sites. This makes the margin of profit almost a super margin, some companies averaging up to 1 million dollars or more a year per employee. This mostly pertains to the mega sites like match.com and eHarmony, but niche sites are jumping on the bandwagon too, by selling personal ads to established web communities across the internet.  The key to these monster sites successes is aggressive marketing and business acquisitions, and making smart partnerships to expand the websites to more customers. Getting customers to fill out a free profile and post pictures is easy, also allowing to browse people is appealing to online users but in order to contact potential mates, the user must take the plunge and pay to subscribe to most sites. This is where the business model of most online dating sites gets tricky because millions of users are registering daily but after the free time trial most cancel or never sign back on, only the heartbroken return with wallet in hand. Why do you think so many people would take the time to fill out a free profile but not pay to find potential mates contact information? Any other ways you think these businesses acquire revenue? 

Pay Up or Get it for Free?

Today, there are so many online dating sites on the Internet. How do you know which sites to use? How do you know which sites are better? Not many people are willing to pay for something when they can get it for free. One thing to consider if it is free is the quality. Most believe if they pay for something, they should get a better quality of service or product.

When paying for an online dating service you are paying for many things that a free online dating service would not offer. These things include having better success in finding your match, people on the site are more serious, and everyone is screened. If you are very serious about finding your match, you are going to want to know the success rate of using the site, as well as finding someone who is as serious as you are. A lot of people are still skeptical about using an online dating service for security reasons. When paying for the online dating service, everyone is screened. This means you know this is a real person and not a scam.

Even though you have to put money into this service it is not as expensive as some may think. The fee is typically pretty small, sometimes even as small as the amount you would pay going to the movies or out to dinner. If you go out with friends more than once a month, you can pay for online dating! Some sites that do require a payment, also offer a free trial or the first month free at times. This allows people to try out the site to see if they like it better than the free sites out there. Usually, people do like it better. Would you pay for online dating?

Soures:

http://bestonlinedatingsites.info/paid-vs-free-online-dating-membership-sites/