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A recent article in The Wall Street  Journal pointed out the importance of using correct grammar in your online dating profile. According to surveys done in recent years by dating websites OkCupid and Match.com, grammar is by far one of the most important aspects of an online dating profile. If you mix up “your” and “you’re,” many daters will move on to the next.

But why is this? Aren’t people more concerned with great photos, as we’ve seen with apps like Tinder and Grindr? Why should online daters care about how people write – it isn’t necessarily an indication of who they are in real life or how great a match they would be. Besides, aren’t most daters attracted to physical appearances rather than writing style?

Apparently not. Match.com found that 88% of women and 75% of men in their survey of 5,000 singles said they cared about grammar most, putting it ahead of a person’s confidence and teeth.

The WSJ attributed this trend to the rise of dating apps and the common use of text slang, with abbreviations like YOLO (You only Live Once) replacing standard phrasing and sentences. While messaging has now become more of a convenience than an art, grammar has fallen by the wayside, and one way to make yourself stand out among the millions of other daters out there is to approach communicating with someone as though you put in some effort. After all, most dating apps don’t require much more effort than a swipe.

In other words, think about your professional life and how much time and care you put in to communication with your bosses and co-workers. When you send an email to a group of work colleagues, chances are you spell-checked it before pressing the “send” key, and most likely it isn’t filled with acronyms for every common phrase. If you apply the same protocol to online dating, it might seem a bit formal at first, but it definitely scores you more points. The person receiving your message is more likely to take you seriously because it looks like you have put in more time and effort.

In other words, you come across as smart and caring. Thoughtfulness goes a long way.

Grammar has been important in the online dating scene for a while, even before the popularity of texting and dating apps made bad grammar much more common. Dating websites like Match and eHarmony encouraged users to use complete sentences in their profiles and check for spelling errors. Wouldn’t you be turned off if someone you didn’t know turned in a report or emailed you with a couple of brief sentences, rife with misspellings?

A little effort goes a long way.

What is love in the time of Tinder and marriage in the age of Ashley Madison? You've heard the critiques. Detractors say Tinder encourages shallow hookups at the expense of meaningful relationships. And Ashley Madison... well, we all know how well things are going for them lately.

But it's not all bad news. Despite being one of the earliest players in the online dating game, eHarmony remains one of its strongest. Founder Neil Clark Warren sat down with Bloomberg to discuss how the site remains relevant despite the increasingly competitive landscape.

Warren shared some impressive stats about eHarmony. The site boasts over 66 million users and is responsible for around 2 million marriages. It's divorce rate is only 3.86%. Its fastest growing demographic is 25-35 years old. Sixty-two percent of users now come through mobile platforms. eHarmony even saw 80,000 new users sign up in a single weekend. Clearly, growth is not an issue for the company.

As to competitors, Warren feels eHarmony has nothing to fear from services like Tinder and Ashley Madison, because they're designed for difference audiences. Tinder users tend to be young and Ashley Madison users are typically not looking for long-term relationships. eHarmony, on the other hand, primarily serves older users who looking for serious partnerships.

That's not to say eHarmony is lazy in its approach to business. The company works hard to keep up with the rapidly changing online dating market – lately, for instance, by bumping up its security measures. “We've never been so serious about security,” says Warren. “We're spending several million dollars a year to make sure our security is as solid as it can be.”

eHarmony also keeps things fresh by introducing new features. Most recently, the company has announced plans to enter the professional world with a careers platform called Elevated Careers, expected to launch by December. The aim is to apply what eHarmony has learned about playing cupid to the workplace, using algorithms and other assessment tools to match applicants with their dream jobs.

Warren notes the far reaching implications of the career matchmaking service. Today only 30% of Americans say they like their jobs. If eHarmony can successfully help users find better employment opportunities, Warren promises a revolution in America – one in which people are happier in their professional lives and, in turn, happier in their personal lives.

All in all, Warren is feeling confident about the company's future. “eHarmony has never been in better shape,” he says.

eHarmony is offering a free trial this weekend here in the United States. It starts Friday October 2nd and ends at the end of the day on Monday October 5th. The sooner you register the longer you will have to communicate with your matches for free. No credit card is required.

The days are getting noticeably shorter and the air is turning crisp. Summer is over and everyone is back from their vacations. Fall is here. A good time to try a bold adventure in life is when a new season is upon us. If your dating life is stuck in a rut and is going no where, online dating is the recommended solution. If you are interested in finding a quality partner for a long-term relationship then eHarmony is a good dating site to try. With free communication weekends at eHarmony you can create a profile, receive matches, and communicate with those matches for no cost. To get started it just takes about 45 minutes of your time before you will be reviewing your potential matches. eHarmony can be accessed via your web browser or through an app from iTunes and Google Play. During free weekends all members can communicate so this means it is an extra busy time, which is good for you.

Free communication events at eHarmony do not include: the phone service called secure call, skipping the guided communication process, and viewing of profile photos. For more information on this popular dating service you can check out our review of eHarmony.

Thanks to Labor Day here in the United States and Canada, eHarmony is having a free trial weekend. It starts this Thursday morning September 3rd and runs until midnight (PST) on Monday September 7th.

This free trial weekend (or what use to be called free communication weekends) runs for 5 straight days and it allows all members of eHarmony to communicate for free. When communicating you must complete the guided communication steps first. These are a couple of questions that each member answers which are designed to allow you to learn more about the person and to give you some topics for further conversation. After these steps you can go straight to emailing each other.

The sooner you register, the longer you have to communicate with other members. Registering as a member on eHarmony has always been free with no credit card required. eHarmony has a number of ways to access their service. This includes via the dating app either through your tablet or phone (found on iTunes and Google Play), or via the website through your laptop and mobile devices. Free trials do not include the viewing of profile photos, secure call (phone service), or skipping the guided communication process and going straight to email.

To find out more, our detailed eHarmony review contains further information about this dating service.

MeetMe is a smaller player in the social networking space, but it has undertaken a number of initiatives to boost its customer base. Looking at the company's financial results for the second quarter of 2015, they appear to be paying off.

Highlights of Q2 include:

• Mobile revenue was $8.3 million, up 47% from the second quarter of 2014
• Mobile revenue represented 75% of total revenue, the highest in MeetMe's history
• Total revenue was $11.1 million, up 4% from the second quarter of 2014
• Cash and Cash Equivalents totaled $16.2 million at June 30, 2015
• Net income was $1.2 million compared to a net loss of $1.4 million for the second quarter of 2014

There is a free communication going on at eHarmony this weekend in both the United States and Canada. It starts today (Friday, Aug 14th) and runs till the end of the day on Monday (Aug 17th)

It is getting close to the end of summer and this might be the last free event before the fall. With the event, new and existing members get to communicate for no cost on the eHarmony website and app for 4 days. The dating app is available on iTunes and Google Play for both phones and tablets.

For new members all you need to do is signup for a free membership (no credit card required) and then fill out eHarmony's profile questionnaire. eHarmony is all about the matchmaking so the profile contains a number of questions that will probably take you about 30 minutes to complete. This is for your benefit as how you answer the questions determines who you will be matched with. eHarmony has over a decade worth of research going into their matchmaking algorithms and this has resulted with them matching a large number of men and women together. eHarmony's goal is to create long-term quality relationships. Free communication events at eHarmony do not include the viewing of profile photos, secure call (phone service), or skipping the guided communication process.

Our review of eHarmony contains lots of information about the dating site and app. If you would like to find out more before you signup this is a good place to start.