Is Match Making / Dating Industry Still Profitable?

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Is Match Making / Dating Industry Still Profitable?

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WebBizIdeas

posts: 125

Jun 26, 2008 2:17 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Hi,

Do you think it is still profitable to start a business (offline or online) in the dating / match making industry? If so how would you suggest competing in the industry?

Online Dating
Speed Dating
Private Match Making Services

I just read IAC 2007 report, the own Match.com, and they reported they currently have 15 million registered users, 1.3 paying members, and still have over 60,000 members signing up a day! I was astounded with the numbers due to the rise of MySpace.com & Facebook.com.

besthealth

posts: 277

Jun 26, 2008 2:33 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Looks like folks will always be looking for that connection - perhaps you need to figure out how to tap into that area - marketing will also play a huge role in how successful your business will be. You could do very well - best wishes!

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Take each day, mold it and make it yours.......

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kcorder79

posts: 27

Jun 27, 2008 10:42 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Any business that allows communication between people is going to work. There are a lot of lonely people out there that need that communication and are afraid of getting rejected especially in person. I also agree that you would need to market it well. I believe you will do great in this area, just make it very appealing to people and do a lot of research! Good Luck!

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Tired of high gas prices? Then stop driving to work, duh..... Learn to Work from home

blogging at http://jusmeplease.wordpress.com/

WebBizIdeas

posts: 125

Jul 08, 2008 6:19 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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HI,

Thanks for all your comments. I have came to a conclusion on if dating websites are still profitable and wrote about my findings here:

http://blog.webbizideas.com/starting-an-online-dating-website-is-it-still-profitable/13/

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree?

Jeff

kcorder79

posts: 27

Jul 09, 2008 10:33 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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I totally agree! I thought it was a great blog and I believe that particular market will be very profitable. If I was looking to find someone online, I would look for a site that I would have to pay for...to me it would seem that you get a higher quality of people that you are not looking for the average so and so. That`s my opinion. Hope that helps!

Good Luck!

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Tired of high gas prices? Then stop driving to work, duh..... Learn to Work from home

blogging at http://jusmeplease.wordpress.com/

meeting42

posts: 5

May 04, 2009 6:12 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

Points: 1 Vote

Again I’m no better off than before. My previous relations are over and I don’t have anyone to spend a romantic weekend. I know, I’m 38 already and that’s time to have a family and lovely children running around. I want to get married but I want to find my special one. I’ve tried a lot of free internet dating services already but I haven’t found the one yet. Each time a lady loses her job, or her mom gets in a hospital and they don’t have money for the treatment or so. I don’t want to be a fool, you know. I don’t want to be rude to anyone but I really believe that dating websites should be paid, some nominal charge to cut off scammers and losers.

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Online Relationship Discussion

stevens

posts: 54

May 04, 2009 7:19 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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I think it would be a good money maker and I would do 3 things to really make it successful:

1. There are a TON of dating websites on the market today so your offline campaign will have to be just as strong as your online marketing. I would try to partner up with any business or sponsor you could possibly partner with to gain market exposure. Look for venues and businesses that would compliment your website. Maybe you can link up with Meetup.com and sponsor some of their singles groups. Maybe giving away a free month if you use meetup.com in the promotional box.

2. Find something that no one else is doing. That is going to be hard because most of the larger sites are doing everything right now. I can`t off the top of my head think of anything. Maybe you can do a group dating thing or include a forum in your dating site. Maybe you can import some of google lab products into your site.

3. Give a absolutely free month (but make sure you take their credit card and charge them at the begin of the next month) to do everything. Most dating sites let you sign up but then you have to pay to get to see your matches or your emails or both. This is fustrating. If you make it free for a month they will more likely sign up and even though you will get a lot of cancellations, some will forget and some won`t cancel at all. I think its a better model than the pay to play model most dating websites offer. I think they offer it mostly because most people never really find a date on those sites.

4. This is a bit unethical but all of the major dating sites have done it. Fill your site with models and stand ins. You want to make your site look like its well established and lots of good looking people using it. If you only have 2 people in California who are looking for a date then you`re not going to have much business. Filling them with models will increase your business because people will think people are using your site.

5. Another idea is to link up with all the major dating sites and do something like what orbitz and hotwire does for the airline business. Make your site a gateway site to all the other major dating sites. If you can do something like that with 3 or 4 major dating sites then you will do very well for yourself.

Those are some of my ideas.

I hope it helps.

Good luck

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PVnation

posts: 24

Jun 01, 2009 7:52 PM ET Quote Report Abuse

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Nice blog.

I had the idea of having a dating place and started one simple one just to taste the water.

Here is the link

http://craigslist.diydating.com/

Please let me know your thoughts.

Did you ever started a dating site??

infinique1

posts: 178

May 30, 2010 2:50 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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It is definitely competitive. With Facebook and all the social media sites springing up, dating is finding ever more competition.

aaliyah008

posts: 1

Nov 24, 2010 4:38 AM ET Quote Report Abuse

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