Online Personals Watch

How To Find A Millionaire (Or Billionaire) Mate

DAILY STAR -- Feb 28 -- The find-a-rich-guy sites insist they provide a valuable service to wealthy people who are too busy running businesses to hang out at bars, clubs and other social venues. "It's very convenient to sit in your office and look through a catalogue of women on your computer. It's also cheaper than traditional matchmakers", says Steven Pasternack, CEO of Sugardaddie.com. In addition to millionaire dating sites, myriad other niche sites abound. Spark Networks operates 30 special-interest dating sites, including JDate.com, BlackSingles.com and ChristianMingle.com. While Match.com and eHarmony are two of the most popular dating sites in the U.S., China's QQ.com Love is the No. 1 ranked dating site in Asia. Meetic.com and be2 are No. 1 and 2 in Europe, and Amigos.com is second only to MSN in Latin America, according to comScore. The number of U.S. visitors to dating sites has fallen steadily from a peak of 21% of all Internet users in 2003 to 10% in 2006, according to JupiterResearch. Despite the drop, the revenues rose 10% to $659 million in 2006, and Jupiter forecast a compound annual growth rate of 8% through 2011. FULL ARTICLE @ DAILY STAR

Mark Brooks: This article also mentions sayheyhey.com, a dating site that uses videos as profiles. Great idea. Jupiter says $889 million of revenue was generated in the USA on internet dating services in 2007 and that will rise to $1.9 Billion in 2012. Not too shabby. Beat that, social networking industry! 

Complaints To BBB On The Rise

GRANITE CITY -- Feb 27 -- The Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns that complaints against match making and online dating services are on the rise. Consumer complaints filed with the BBB on dating services increased 73% in 2006 over the previous year, reaching 2,525 complaints altogether. Early analysis shows that the numbers of complaints in 2007 are expected to again reach record-breaking levels for the industry.

Mark Brooks: Cause for concern. Your comments please. How can the dating industry do better?

iovation Expands Its Executive Team

BUSINESS WIRE -- Feb 27 -- iovation, the device reputation authority for the Internet, announced two new executive appointments. Chris Reid and Emmett Zahn have joined iovation as VP Sales and VP Technology. Iovation's innovative technology helps online companies stop tens of thousands of fraudulent transactions each day, while protecting the privacy and anonymity of their customers. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

Mark Brooks: iovation is a client of Courtland Brooks, and a client in very good standing. This company, and the people at this company have been nothing but totally professional, always follow through, and with the full weight of whatever reputation I've built since starting OPW, I can't recommend them highly enough. I guess that's why Intel saw fit to pitch $10 million in their direction recently.

WhiteLabelDating.com Is Hiring

OPW -- Feb 26 -- While some social networks are laying off people, quite a few dating companies are hiring. WhiteLabelDating.com just listed these jobs:

 PR and Marketing Executive

Pay is $50-$100k with flexible hours, remote working, 6% salary matching. But what caught my attention was the offer of your "own Blackberry/iPhone, 23" Cinema Display, Aeron chair and MacBook Air." The 1000 UK pound referral fee is kinda nice as well, so let them know you saw the job on OPW ;-) You can see more job listings, at any time, by going to the Quick Links section and clicking on Internet Dating Jobs. Please email me the link to your jobs board if your company is not listed. (Full Disclosure, WhiteLabelDating.com is a client of Courtland Brooks).

JDate: In-Faith Dating

PHILADELPHIA JEWISH VOICE -- Feb 26 -- The Council of Jewish Federations's 1990 National Jewish Population Survey reports that an astonishing 47% of American Jews who married between 1996 and 2001 have done so outside their faith (in 1970, only 13% of American Jews intermarried). With over 600,000 active members, JDate is by far the world's leading Jewish online dating site. JDate is unique in that it also measures the users' religious compatibility by allowing preferences in adherence to the laws of kashrut, frequency of attendance of synagogue, and the form of Judaism practiced, if any. FULL ARTICLE @ PHILADELPHIA JEWISH VOICE

OKCupid Takes Aim At Online Dating

BOSTON NOW -- Feb 25 -- Free dating site OK Cupid markets itself virally, spending less than 1% of its budget on advertising. "Everything about match.com is geared toward the user getting out their credit card," said CEO, Sam Yagan.

BostonNOW: What advice do you have for others starting a business?
Sam Yagan: One of the key drivers to my success is picking really great business partners. You also have to be 100 % passionate about it.

BN: What do you wish you had known before you started your business?
SY: Human resources really are the most important thing you have, so I wish I'd spent more time recruiting and developing the crew that we had.

BN: What's the biggest mistake you made in getting your business going?
SY: I think early on we didn't spend enough time differentiating ourselves from the competition. I spent too much time on the concept of "free". It's not about just being free, it's about being free and better.
FULL ARTICLE @ BOSTON NOW

Matchmaking For Muslims Is Custom Job

CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- Feb 25 -- Today, few Muslim Americans are interested in traveling halfway across the world for an arranged marriage. "There are so many young people in the Muslim community looking to get married, but they have a dilemma: They can't date. "We offer options within Islamic boundaries", said Imam Mohamed Magid, vice president of the Islamic Society of North America. The Islamic society's chaperoned speed-dating sessions. In addition to social networks such as naseeb.com or muslimsocial.com, some mosques have started adding matrimonial databases to their Web sites. Matchmakers offer a more old-fashioned approach. Athia Syed's is a popular matchmaker from Chicago. Syed counsels young Muslims to be more active in finding their future mates, rather than relying on their parents or matchmakers. FULL ARTICLE @ CHICAGO TRIBUNE

Europe Online Dating Turnover Up To €103 Million

JUST4BUSINESS -- Feb 21 -- Germans spent 85 million Euros on finding a partner online in 2007, according to Jupiter Research. For 2008, another increase to 103 million Euros is predicted. Currently about 6.3 million Germans visit online dating services each month. In Western Europe turnover is expected to increase from 317 million Euros to 393 million Euros in 2008. FULL ARTICLE @ JUST4BUSINESS

SeekingArrangement & SeekingMillionaire Launch Affiliate Program

PR WEB -- Feb 21 -- SeekingArrangement.com (130k members since 2006) and SeekingMillionaire.com (60k members since 2007), cater to millionaires and beautiful girls and has launched an affiliate program. "While other online dating websites pay a commission only when a customer pays, our affiliate programs pays when a visitor registers, and each time the customer pays to upgrade," said Brandon Wade, CEO of InfoStream Group Inc, which operates the sites. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

Mark Brooks: WealthyMen, MillionaireMatch, FriendFinder's MillionareMate.com and SugarDaddyForMe.com also compete in the high niche.  The current rankings for this niche can be found under the Niche Internet Dating Rankings under the Official Internet Dating Rankings on this site. 

 

Sugar Daddie, Alexa ~ 1/08
1 SugarDaddie
2 SugarDaddyForMe
3 WealthyMen

This post also appears on FrequentFlirters.

Affluent African Americans Represent 45% Of AA Buying Power

MEDIA POST -- Feb 20 -- According to a recent Packaged Facts study, reported by MarketingCharts, African Americans are crucial to the consumer economy, with a population of 39 million and buying power of $892 billion, and expected to exceed $1.1 trillion in 2012. Black media continue to offer advertisers access to African-American consumers, who also share many of the mainstream media preferences of other American viewers and readers:

    * Television is a top source of media consumption, with 4 in 10 households containing 4 or more televisions.
    * Spending on magazines is 6% more than the national average.
    * Radio and newspapers are less popular than the average.
    * Internet use is still lagging, but by 2012 penetration in the African-American community is expected to reach 62%.
FULL ARTICLE @ RESEARCH BRIEF

 Mark Brooks: You can see a ranking of the top African American dating sites by going to Internet Dating Official Rankings over on the right bar and clicking on Niche Internet Dating Rankings.  Here are the current rankings for Black Personals.

• Black Personals, Hitwise ~ 1/08
  1 Black People Meet
  2 OnlineBootyCall
  3 Black Singles 

E-dating Goes Niche

METRO.CO.UK -- Feb 20 -- According to press agency Response Source, 7.8 million people in Britain went online to find their match last year, up a third on 2005. And "e-dating" became more specialised. Mysinglefriend.com, where people nominate their unattached chums, was one of the first niche markets. WooMe, is an online speed dating company, and LoopyLove is a social networking site for singletons. Then there is the slightly more risqué market. AshleyMadison.com is for people looking for 'extracurricular activity'. Sugardaddie.com is aimed at women looking for a man with that extra bulge where it matters most, the wallet. Launched in 2002, the site now has a database of 250,000 members and is growing at a rate of 4,000 a week. FULL ARTICLE @ METRO.CO.UK

A Date Without Words

NEWS TIP -- Feb 20 -- Jiffr.com is a new dating site, a flickr-mashup, currently in a private beta. It's a picture based dating service that works without words. All members need is a flickr account to upload their pictures. On Jiffr, members introduce themselves without words, only using the language of pictures. It's a sort of encoding of their personality.

Paltalk Adds Vumber's Disposable Phone Numbers To Video Chat

MASHABLE -- Feb 19 -- There are a number of VoIP services, like Jangl and Jajah, that let you chat online, or even via landlines without having to reveal the phone number. Paltalk has integrated Vumber's disposable number service. The biggest benefit of Vumber is that its users can have an easier time taking their Paltalk video chat sessions offline. Paltalk customers get a 30-day free trial of Vumber's service, after which the $4.99 per month rate will kick in. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE

This post also appears on SocialNetworkingWatch.

TrustCash And Paivis Partners

MARKETWIRE -- Feb 19 -- TrustCash, the anonymous payment systems provider, and Paivis, a telecommunications carrier that sells prepaid "point-of-sale activated" and live cards, begin working closely together on numerous aspects of their businesses. One project which will benefit from this integration is a pre-paid debit card.

DateHookup.com To Offer Demographic Targeting To Advertisers

EMEDIAWIRE -- Feb 19 -- DateHookup.com now offers advertisers the ability to target its ad inventory by specific demographics, including age range and gender, thanks to Google's new demographic bidding feature. Google's demographic targeting feature recently entered beta testing. FULL ARTICLE @ EMEDIA WIRE

 Mark Brooks: Here's a comparison of DateHookup.com and Plentyoffish using Compete.com. Both sites are growing gangbusters. DateHookup.com, like Plentyoffish, is also run by one person. Plentyoffish also offers ad targeting via Google Adsense. Direct advertising deals for top tier dating sites are available on Plentyoffish now, btw. (Full Disclosure: Plentyoffish is a client of Courtland Brooks)

Alternate Dating Sites

CNET NEWS -- Feb 18 -- Worldwide there are more then 1400 internet dating sites. Given the market saturation online dating consultant Mark Brooks says newer sites are forced to innovate both in concept and technology. Want your avatar to meet mine? Try out OmniDate.com or let's find out if our voices are compatible. Log onto LoveDetect.com. Another one of those alternate dating sites is CrazyBlindDate.com. Prior to the date you only get to see a pixilated photo of your match and you can only communicate by texting through the site's cupid line. Unlike more established dating sites, webcam sites like SpeedDate.com, Woome.com and Camlink.com require very little personal information to get started. As long as people are out there looking for love there will be a website to cater to their needs, desires, fantasies and fetishes. SEE THE VIDEO HERE

Online Dating Firms Split Over Screening

ASSOCIATED PRESS -- Feb 17 -- New Jersey became the first state to enact a law requiring the sites to disclose whether they perform background checks. True.com already does such screenings.
"The online dating industry tends to get a real bad rap because of criminal activity," said True.com's founder and chief executive, Herb Vest. "If we were to clean up, there's hordes of offline singles who'd come online to find their soul mate." Many critics contend that True.com's screening method is incomplete and too easily thwarted, potentially creating a false sense of security for customers. Match.com said it had been assessing online background checks for six years and concluded they offered no extra protection. FULL ARTICLE @ SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Match.com To Double U.K. Ad Spend

MAD.CO.UK -- Feb 18 -- Match.com will double its £4 million marketing spend this year. Match.com's current outdoor campaign, Cupid & Fate, runs across the London underground network and was created by US agency Hanft Raboy & Partners. The site's strategy is to show that online dating really works by highlighting its successes, tempting new people to the category and challenge the British character. FULL ARTICLE @ MAD.CO.UK

iovation Helps Stop 10,000 Frauds Per Day

BUSINESS WIRE -- Feb 13 -- iovation, the device reputation authority for the Internet, is currently helping its online customers stop more than 10,000 fraudulent activities per day using its device-based fraud management solution. The company expects that number to nearly double by the end of 2008. Using patented technology, iovation's ReputationManager™ fraud management service uniquely identifies devices that have been used for fraud and abuse. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

Mark Brooks: iovation offers a device identification platform and a means to share the reputation of those 'devices' industry wide.  I've worked with iovation to help them sign up an initial batch of dating sites that are now feeding the iovation system. iovation recently raised $10 million from Intel Capital. (Full Disclosure: iovation is a client of Courtland Brooks)

The Cut-and-Paste Personality

WALL STREET JOURNAL -- Feb 15 -- Among the 125 million people in the U.S. who visit online dating and social-networking sites are a growing number of dullards who steal personal profiles, life philosophies, even signature poems. Hugh Gallagher, a 36-year-old writer in New York, is one of the copied. Match.com has more than 50 profiles with parts of Mr. Gallagher's college entrance essay. In a recent Engage.com's survey of more than 400 online daters, 9% of respondents copied from another person's profile. A search on Match.com brought up more than 90 profiles with such lines as: "I want an opposite. A yin to my yang," or "You know that woman who is the first person on the dance floor at every party? That's me." They were cribbed from sample profiles posted at E-Cyrano.com by dating coach and profile writer Evan Marc Katz. JDate.com's recently released online dating tips include the advice: Look at what everyone else is saying and then SAY SOMETHING DIFFERENT". FULL ARTICLE @ WALL STREET JOURNAL

News Tips

OPW -- Feb 15 -- Got a news tip? Please send it to tips@onlinepersonalswatch.com. If you have a press release, please send it a day or two early and note the embargo date. - Mark Brooks

Matchmaker To Millions

FORBES -- Feb 14 -- There are about 92 million singles the U.S., says Match.com CEO Thomas Enraght-Moony. Match.com is an online dating leader, with networks in 37 different countries and with roughly 15 million users. Enraght-Moony talked to Forbes.com about why online dating is now widely accepted.

Q: Are the people who use the service in the U.S. much younger or older than in other markets?
A: Our sweet spot is people in their late 20s into their mid to late 30s. The 50-plus is our fastest-growing segment.

Q: Who do you worry about the most? eHarmony.com? Singlesnet.com?
A: This is just a short list of people that I worry about. We're in 37 different markets, and every market that we're in there's a list of competitors.

Q: How is the money made in your business? Is it all subscription-based revenue?
A: We're about 95% in subscription revenues. Last year, we did $349 million in revenue and $78 million in profit, which is up about 24% over the prior year.

Q: Are people finally comfortable with saying they use online dating services like Match?
A: I think people on Match today are very comfortable talking about it. It's a big change from 12 years ago, and that's part of the success we've had.

Q: Have the social networks hurt business?
A: Those services are great for keeping in contact with the people they already know. But, if they want to expand their possibilities or are interested in meeting people outside their social circle, they come back to Match. Late last year, we launched an application for Facebook. It's called Little Black Book at Match.com.

Q: What's the next big offering in terms of technology or expansion?
A: We're rolling out a mobile platform, we're figuring out how to work with Facebook and MySpace.
FULL ARTICLE @ FORBES

When Harry 'Online Dating' Met Sally 'Social Networking'

INFORMATION WEEK -- Feb 14 -- Engage.com is two-years-old and has a pretty impressive lineup of executives, including co-founder and CEO Suneet Wadhwa, who came from Snapfish, and experts such as former Psychology Today Editor in Chief, Robert Epstein, and former Match.com maven Trish McDermott. Engage released a research entitled "The State of The Date." Most singles (68%) are interested in falling in love and getting married in the next five years. Only a few singles (12%) think bad romantic news should first be delivered electronically. McDermott said that Engage.com is now looking at ways of incorporating more Web 2.0 elements. The Series A funding from The Founders Fund, RevolutionVentures, First Round Capital, and Advanced Technology Ventures is expected to help. FULL ARTICLE @ INFORMATION WEEK

How To Survive Valentine's Day

MERCURY NEWS -- Feb 10 -- On Valentine's Day couples long for the perfect evening, singles just wish it was Feb. 15. Too much emphasis is placed on this one day, says Jennifer Hunt, who with "life partner" Dan Baritchi operates the Dallas-based Ask Dan and Jennifer dating and relationship site. "Such pressures can make many Valentine's Day gifts and gestures seem forced and obligatory." Here are a few tips to make this the best Anti-Valentine's Day ever:
• Exchange flowers with friends
• Instead of wishing it was you getting a box of chocolates, buy yourself the most decadent, pricey sweets around
• Hold a singles party
• Grab that decadent meal on any day other than Feb. 14.
• Make an online dating profile. 
FULL ARTICLE @ MERCURY NEWS

Online Dating Pros Offer Tips

REUTERS -- Feb 14 -- Some 82 million adults were unmarried in the U.S in 2000, ~40% of the population (U.S. Census). The unmarried adult population is projected to reach 106 million by 2010. "There's a lot of people looking for love, look around; you tell me -- how good are profiles these days,"said Evan Marc Katz, dating expert and author of "I Can't Believe I'm Buying This Book: A Commonsense Guide to Successful Internet Dating." Katz has written some 500 profiles for clients on his online profile writing service, E-Cyrano. Old photos are the #1 shortcoming of profiles. Another piece of advice is to drop the bad vibes. "Most of all, be honest", said Thomas Enraght-Moony, CEO of Match.com. FULL ARTICLE @ CANADA.COM

 Mark Brooks: Dating sites are selling people to people, so if your people look better, you just improved your product. Dating sites should offer LookBetterOnline to users.  LBOL also offers a nice rev share. The conversions/revenue stream from LBOL probably won't justify the real estate on your site, but if 3% of your users get professional photos made up, then you just improved the look of your service. That's a differentiator these days. People still put up dated, inaccurate, bad photos in many cases.

QuieroLatino.com Partners With nocheLatina.com

NEWSWIRE -- Feb 14 -- QuieroLatino (dating site for Latinos in the US) is providing visitors to nocheLatina (event directory, magazine, music, videos, and Latino community) with dating content and access to its singles database. nocheLatina will offer QuieroLatino's visitors comprehensive local information on nightlife, concerts and other Hispanic lifestyle content from some of the largest cities in America, including Los Angeles and New York. FULL ARTICLE @ NEWSWIRE

Relationships Revealed Online

CHICAGO TRIBUNE -- Feb 14 -- Digital-age dating brings new pitfalls, like learning where your relationship stands by logging on. Facebook's profile template lets members choose from six relationship statuses. Trish McDermott, a founder of online dating community Engage.com, said she's heard many stories about people learning their relationships had ended because their partners changed statuses back to "single". Facebook allows members to name their partner and link to their profile, which requires verification from the other person.

Dateline.co.uk Goes Live on WhiteLabelDating.com

WHITELABELDATINGBLOG -- Feb 13 -- Dateline, the UK's first national dating agency, has chosen WhiteLabelDating.com to power their new generation online dating site. FULL ARTICLE @ WHITELABELDATING BLOG

Virtual Dating - The Future Of The Future

NBC -- Feb 25 -- Omnidate is a dating site, where you choose a virtual person to represent you in a 3D restaurant or bar. By clicking on a button, users can blow a kiss or even touch their dates face. Even websites not focused on dating like the virtual reality site Second Life have also become places for love. Igor Kotlyar, Omnidate: "By going through a virtual dating experience allows you to relax, have fun and really create a bond with a person before meeting them in real life." SEE THE VIDEO HERE

Mark Brooks: Dating sites need to give their users something to talk about.  Wether it be personality profiling, handwriting profiling, Love Detection, or avatar based IM.  Add something different to your site and inspire your users to yabber. (Full Disclosure: OmniDate is a client of Courtland Brooks)

Matchmakers, And Virtual Dates With Omnidate

CBC -- Feb 15 -- Andrew Lekas is a busy man looking for love and tired of the bar scene. So he's hired a matchmaker to do all the leg work. Ruth Fox, an It's Just Lunch Matchmaker: "What we basically do is set up fun first dates, easy first dates." It's Just Lunch hand picks a blind date and no need to worry about choosing a restaurant, its all taken care of. Now let's say you want to meet people in a bar but not leave home. Omnnidate is a virtual date where singles can interact in a simulated dating environment online from the comfort of their own home. SEE THE VIDEO HERE

Read OPW On Your Mobile Phone

OPW -- Feb 15 -- Bookmark mippin.com/mippin7848 on your phone to get a slimmed down mobile version of Online Personals Watch to read while you're out and about. - Mark Brooks

Casual Dating Affiliate Payouts Top The Industry

OPW -- Feb 15 -- Does anyone know of any dating affiliate programs that pay out higher than casual dating sites?  The super fast growing dating sites Fling and SexSearch are topping my research on payouts. SexSearch is paying out $90 and Fling $50 per paid sign up over Valentines. Adultfriendfinder is definitely feeling the heat on its tail from these two. I'm surprised how many dating sites don't have affiliate programs. Match, eHarmony, Perfectmatch and Yahoo! have good programs, but many top and second tier players have relatively small programs, if they have them at all. From the affiliate perspective adult dating sites just plain convert better, which would partly explain the rise in popularity of casual dating sites over the last few years. CJ, Linkshare, Azoogleads, Shareasale, Primary Ads, and Link Connector all drive significant amounts of traffic to dating sites.  CJ seems to have the most offers. Email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com for a copy of my spreadsheet listing all the dating offer payouts on the top affiliate networks. - Mark Brooks 

Gay Matchmaking Sites Find A Growing Market

SF CHRONICLE -- Feb 14 -- After eHarmony said its psychological research is based exclusively on heterosexual relationships, a growing number of rival online matchmakers are using their algorithms to find same-sex love as well. "There are just not enough services for creating healthy relationships, and it is a major gap in the gay community," said matchmaker Patrick Perrine, founder MyPartner.com, which caters to "sophisticated, cultured and relationship-oriented gay men. "There has been a long-held stereotype that gay people are only looking to hook up." Matchmakers like Chemistry.com, which estimates that about 10% of its 3.7 million clients are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender, say all love is equal, straight or gay. The matchmakers claim "you can actually find people who are compatible, and this is a major advance that is going to keep the industry alive for the upcoming 50 years," said Mark Brooks, an Internet dating and social networking consultant. FULL ARTICLE @ SF CHRONICLE

Online Dating Boom

OTTAWA CITIZEN -- Feb 14 -- Unlike traditional dating, people's intentions are more evident online than in the non-virtual world. PlentyofFish.com is virtually a dating haven for millions of people around the world. The site rakes in $10 million a year in advertising and Ontario is one of the biggest hot spots for PlentyofFish users. Founder, Markus Frind says that meeting people in today's fast-paced world is just too hard, and it only gets tougher with age. "The baby boomers are signing up in droves now," says Frind. "They never used to use the site, but now it's the biggest growth market for all dating sites." Lavalife has started a dating service called LavalifePRIME, exclusively for those 45 and older. FULL ARTICLE @ CANADA

Don´t Call It A Dating Service

24 -- Feb 14 -- A singles service, Meet Market Adventures, organizes gatherings and invites singles to sign up for them online. "We're not really a dating service, so to speak," said Mark Smith, president of the company's Alberta franchise. "What we do is bring singles together in a safe evening and they mingle among themselves." Meet Market Adventures, launched five years ago in Toronto, and has 3,000 members since it set up shop in Calgary six months ago. Mark Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com and a consultant to the Internet dating industry, said the number of people visiting online dating sites in December 2007 was down 10% over December 2006 (according to comScore). He said that doesn't mean the industry is declining, but that the people who are still doing it are serious about it. FULL ARTICLE @ 24 (page 8)

Digital Dating In Canada

CORD WEEKLY -- Feb 14 -- Each month, 20% of Canadians visit an online dating website. According to the CBC, online dating sites in Canada get approximately seven million unique hits every month; that's just over one-fifth of the population. As our generation ages, the amount of people turning to the web for intimacy will rise. FULL ARTICLE @ CORD WEEKLY

Avoid Being Duped By Online Dating Sites

SMART MONEY -- Feb 14 -- Complaints about online matchmaking and dating sites are up 73% from 2005, according to the Better Business Bureau. A common complaint about online dating is that sites exaggerate the number of potential dates. In 2007, while 10% of Internet users posted a personal ad on an online dating site, only 5% became paid subscribers, according to Jupiter Research. The most common complaint about matchmaking sites, is that the quality of the singles don't meet the seeker's criteria. Also nearly 70% of complaints against online-dating sites stem from billing issues. FULL ARTICLE @ SMART MONEY

Money And Relationships: It's Love 3.0

REPORT ON BUSINESS-- Feb 14 -- Unlike Facebook and MySpace, whose values are based largely on their potential to generate future revenues, online dating sites are making millions from user fees and advertisers now. For Vancouver-based PlentyofFish.com, the emergence of love 3.0 has generated what its creator Markus Frind admits is a global cash machine. More than 600,000 people log on to his site every day. Online dating has become a billion-dollar industry; companies that own a portfolio of sites, such as Spark Networks, are ringing up revenues of between $15-million (U.S.) and $18-million every quarter. FULL ARTICLE @ REPORT ON BUSINESS

Saon Group Acquires Maybefriends.com

ONREC -- Feb 14 -- Saongroup.com has entered the online dating business with the purchase of Maybefriends.com, an Irish online dating website, for an undisclosed sum. Saongroup.com is an online recruitment company with operations in Ireland, the UK, Europe, the USA, China, India, South Africa and the Caribbean. With a worldwide online dating market of €1billion and online dating in Europe expected to reach €650million by 2012, this diversification represents major growth prospects for Saongroup.com," said Leslie Buckley, Chairman. FULL ARTICLE @ ONREC

Dating Site Visits Up, Pre-Valentine's Day

CNET NEWS -- Feb 14 -- Visits to dating sites were up 26% in the week ending February 9 in comparison with the equivalent week in 2007, according to Hitwise. At the top of the rankings was SinglesNet.com, followed by PlentyOfFish.com.  Rounding out the top five were eHarmony, True, and Yahoo Personals. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS

PartnerForLife.com Launch Doh!

6am Feb 14th Email -- Feb 14 -- "Our editor inadvertently sent out our e-newsletter with your email addresses exposed. We sincerely apologize for this lapse in security... There is another thing for which we must humbly apologize.... We discovered several serious bugs at 3 AM, just hours before the site was to go live... problems that cannot be resolved immediately. Instead of launching a defective site, we choose to bite the bullet and delay the launch until we can give you a product that we can all be proud of. Dale Bullock. President"

Headhunters For The Heart

USA TODAY -- Feb 12 -- Matchmakers seem to be popping up all over the country, many targeting their personalized services to eligible businessmen. Matchmaking has become such a buzzword that some dating websites use it in their marketing. In December, Match.com unveiled Match My Friends, which allows friends and family to play matchmaker. Engage.com came up with that premise when it launched in 2005. Matchmaking as a field also has grown since the 2003 opening of the Manhattan-based Matchmaking Institute, which sells a home study kit for $1,500. LaRosa's research suggests there are about 1,600 matchmakers in the USA, and about 100 are added each year. It is a very difficult business because matchmakers are dealing with emotional currency and extreme expectations. FULL ARTICLE @ USA TODAY

Starting Up: The Business Of Love

SM SMALL BIZ -- Feb 13 -- Making a bundle in the dating industry, isn't easy for a small player competing against Yahoo! Personals, Match.com and eHarmony. At PlentyofFish, which now ranks among the top 10 dating sites in the U.S. for unique visitors, Frind's strategy was simple. "I undercut them on price," he says. When it comes to the business of love, newbie entrepreneurs need to figure out a way to stand out in a crowded marketplace. Here's how:

- Find a Niche
- Undercut the Competition
- Add Value
- Innovate

More narrowly focused niches have begun to surface. i.e. golfmates.com and vegetariandating.com. The best niche businesses are usually started by entrepreneurs who have a deep understanding of the community they want to serve. i.e. Patrick H. Perrine, a psychologist who spent years studying human sexuality and dating preferences, launched a gay male matchmaking service in San Francisco in 2004, and then expanded the service online - myPartner.com — to a national audience last year. "We discovered there was no space for gay men looking for a serious relationship on the web", he says. To compete with the big guys, Sam Yagan, co-founder of free dating site, OKCupid.com, offers users the ability to craft their own personality quizzes, or choose from 30,000 others. The idea behind the quizzes is that users will share them with their friends who, in turn, may sign up for the service.
FULL ARTICLE @ SM SMALL BIZ

Share This, Pretty Please

OPW -- Feb 13 -- You can now share posts with friends by email and add them to Digg, Delicious, Facebook, Mixx, etc by clicking on the 'Share This' button on the bottom of each post. I hope that's useful. Thanks for spreading the word. Please let me know if there's anything else we should add to the blog by emailing me at mark@courtlandbrooks.com, or calling me at 212-444-1636. Thanks. - Mark Brooks

Reseaucontact.com Couples Up With Yahoo! Quebec

MARKET WIRE -- Feb 13 -- Yahoo! Quebec launches Yahoo! Quebec Rencontres, powered by Quebec's No. 1 matchmaking site, Canoe's Reseaucontact.com. Partnering up with ReseauContact, the Rencontres launch follows on the success of Yahoo! Canada's English-language Personals website and further extends the leadership of ReseauContact. This past December alone, ReseauContact attracted over 500,000 unique visitors, while the Yahoo! Quebec home page drew in 375,000 unique visitors. ReseauContact generates more than 100 million page views per month, with an average visit time of over 20 minutes, twice a day. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKETWIRE

MeetMyFriend.com.au Launches Today

NEWS.COM.AU -- Feb 14 -- MeetMyFriend.com.au is a new national dating site, built on each member's network of friends, and allows people to 'hook up' their single friends with other acquaintances, making it safer for those who are nervous about the online dating experience. Friends can nominate their single mates for membership or single people can also nominate themselves. FULL ARTICLE @ NEWS.COM.AU

Baby Boomer Section For 40 Plus Hotties

PR WEB -- Feb 13 -- The newest section of online dating website Hotenough.org is exclusively for attractive and trendy singles, aged 40 and above. Candidates can sign up at www.hotenough.org by submitting three photos, including one full-body shot. Only active members aged 40 plus rate Baby Boomer photos which ensures a fair vote. 25 votes and a minimum score of 6.0 must be maintained to be awarded site access. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

Dating In A Modern Life

PR WEB -- Feb 13 -- A recent poll of Date.com's female members found that 58% would not wait for Mr. Right to come along in order to have children, while only 42% still believe that marriage should come first. Single women who have decided to approach motherhood without any relationship commitment has intimidated many men from getting intimate. FULL ARTICLE @ PR WEB

Why Perfect Dates Make Lousy Partners

LIVE SCIENCE -- Feb 12 -- New research shows that popular people who appear to be the most socially appropriate are often highly sought after as romantic partners, but these people show less satisfaction and commitment in relationships than socially-awkward people.

Matchmaker Marks 25-Year Milestone

PRESS RELEASE -- Feb 12 -- The Right One dating service's matchmaker, Brenan McGarrigle is celebrating her silver anniversary with the company – on Valentine's Day. With approximately 600 marriages to her credit, Ms. McGarrigle has been introducing compatible singles to each other and launching great relationships for 25 years. Now catering to more than 300,000 members at over 60 locations throughout North America, The Right One and Together Dating are the largest brick and mortar dating services in the industry. FULL ARTICLE @ PR.COM

Match.com Eyes Social Networks For Subscribers

REUTERS -- Feb 12 -- Match.com's resolution for 2008 is to get out and meet more people, or in this case, potential subscribers. Match is testing an application for Facebook, and seeks growth in new vehicles for its subscription service, according to Chief Executive Thomas Enraght-Moony. "We're extending Match to wherever people are. MySpace has announced their platform initiative, we're exploring that.", Moony said.  Moony notes that an advertising partnership with MySpace has become Match.com's fastest-growing source of new subscribers. FULL ARTICLE @ REUTERS

HotOrNot Acquired For $20 Million

TECH CRUNCH -- Feb 11 -- San Francisco based HotOrNot, founded by James Hong and Jim Young in October 2000, has been acquired. The buyers are investors connected with Avid Life Media, and paid somewhere around $20 million for the site.  Their annual revenue is estimated to be around $5 million, with $2 million in profit. According to Comscore, the site has around 5 million monthly unique visitors and 200 million page views. The investors are creating a new company, called HotOrNot Media, and they may be acquiring more properties as well. FULL ARTICLE @ TECH CRUNCH

Cupid.com And RegionalHelpWanted Acquired For $100 Million

MASHABLE -- Feb 11 -- RegionalHelpWanted.com was purchased by onTargetjobs, a portfolio company of Warburg pincus. The financial terms weren't explicitly disclosed, but according to PE Hub, Classified Intelligence "pegs the figure at $100 million". RegionalHelpWanted is also the company behind the telephone and online dating service Cupid.com, another recognizable brand name. The RegionalHelpWanted portfolio will join the onTarget portfolio that includes other sites like BioSpace.com, Hcareers.com, HEALTHeCAREERS.com, MedHunters.com, JobLoft.com and CareerBank.com. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE

Mark Brooks: Cupid and RHW are promoted on remnant radio advertising usually at second tier radio stations around the country. What's unusual is that the payouts are on a CPA basis to radio stations.  onTargetjobs has picked up a unique marketing channel.

CrazyBlindDate In L.A., Chicago, D.C.

BUSINESS WIRE -- Feb 11 -- Singles in Los Angeles, Chicago and the Washington, D.C. metro area have their chance to join the growing CrazyBlindDate.com. Already in New York, Boston, San Francisco and Austin, CrazyBlindDate.com is the only online dating site that encourages singles to get off their computers and into real, live dates. CrazyBlindDate.com, first launched in November 2007. FULL ARTICLE @ BUSINESS WIRE

Can This Marriage Be Matched?

NY TIMES -- Feb 1 -- After visiting the eHarmony Labs for my Findings column on matchmaking, I wondered if its algorithm would match me and my wife of 12 years, Dana. So we each registered separately with eHarmony and answered the 258 questions. After we filled out the questions, we each were given a personality profile. Our biggest difference was in the category of agreeableness: Dana was rated as consistently taking care of others, while I was consistently taking care of myself. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Guinness World Record Speed Dating Event

PRESS RELEASE -- Feb 11 -- In cities around the world over 2500 singles will participate in a Guinness World Record attempt for the world's biggest speed date event, this Valentine's Day. FastLife Speed Dating will host 19 simultaneous events in cities around the globe, including London, Sydney, Toronto and New York. The event is free for the public to attend; any single night owls that would like to attend need only register on www.fastlife.com and pay the $1 booking fee. FULL ARTICLE @ FASTLIFE

Mark Brooks: FastLife charges $70 and includes free food and drink at events. Predating (part of Cupid.com) charges $39, Hurrydate charges $37, and 8 Minute Dating charges $35. People will pay $70 for speed dating events, just so they can meet other people who are able and motivated enough to pay $70.