Closed

In mid October we reported about (see Story) Perfect Match's Dr. Pepper Schwartz on the Bonnie Hunt Show. She was helping Bonnie's friend Holly by reviewing her profile and pictures and giving her some pointers to improve her online dating adventure. Starting last week and for the next 5 weeks Holly and her online dating experiences with PerfectMatch.com will be regularly featured on the Bonnie Hunt Show. Holly currently has 3 matches she really likes and can't decide which one to go on a date with. Voice your opinion and vote on which 3 of these PerfectMatch.com guys Holly should go out with.

If you want to find out what all th fuss is about with this dating service, read our Perfect Match review.

Just got back from a mini vacation and I have loads of emails, articles and websites to check up on.

The first bit of news I want to relate is I have 2 new reviews in the works. Based on our 2008 Dating Sites Reviews Single's Choice Award poll and the number of votes SinglesNet.com has received, I have decided to do a review of the service. I initially look at doing a review of the site a few years ago and didn't like what Singles Net was up to or the style of online advertising they were using. Their ads tended to be much more sexually suggestive than it needed to be, especially when this theme doesn't appear to be the focus of the dating site itself. Maybe some things have changed with SinglesNet.com, I guess I will find out (I know their ads have not).

The other site we plan a review on is It's Just Lunch. This dating service is different than your average dating site. The service has been designed with the busy professional in mind. At It's Just Lunch, they find you a match, coordinate your schedules and setup a lunch date for you at a convenient location. We will get into more details when the review is released.

Dr. Pepper Schwartz from Perfect Match was on The Bonnie Hunt Show yesterday. She is the dating sites chief relationship expert and helped develop their Duet compatibility matching system used on Perfect Match. On the show, Dr. Pepper Schwartz gives Holly Wortell (Bonnie's long time friend) dating profile advice as well as a personality test to help improve her odds of finding a match.

Here is a small video segment from the show in which Dr. Pepper Schwartz gives Holly advice on what profile photo to use.

Read our Perfect Match Review to find out more information on this popular dating service.

The company Avalanche, which owns Date.com, Matchmaker.com and Amor.com, released a press release which reviews how these dating sites are performing this year. Avalanche's revenue grew 17% in the first two quarters of 2008 when compared to the same period last year. The release also points out increased activity on the dating sites with members logging in more often and staying online longer. This activity has been increasing by at least 3% per month since the start of Avalanche's fiscal year. In total this means a 26% increase in member activity. New subscriber numbers have also risen but no percentages where released.

With many dating sites appearing to be reaching a plateau this year thanks to in part the recent economic conditions, the Avalanche suite of dating services have been performing well. While revenue increases don't help singles directly (unless used to help improve the site) the increase in member activity does. I just wish Avalanche had released their new subscribers numbers so we had a better idea on how things look.

For more information on these dating sites read the following reviews:

• Amor.com Review
• Date.com Review
• Matchmaker.com Review

It looks like CNBC received a number of complaints of some dating ads which had been displayed on their website recently. The ads showed:

... women unbuttoning sweaters and listing mileage to ladies looking for a date. And the others showing come-hither countenances and blaring "NO CREDIT CARD REQUIRED".

A couple of days ago, the Managing Editor of CNBC.com, Allen Wastler, posted an apology to their readers with a small explanation on how it happened. He doesn't mention which dating site the ads are for, but I have a feeling it was SinglesNet.com. I have seen several of their No Credit Card Required ads before. They also tend to have woman in sexually suggestive poses on most of their ads (of course they are far from the only ones who do this).

It is now official LoveHappens have closed its doors. I'm still surprised this site has gone out of business. I can understand maybe the existing investors want to get out do to the fact of losing over 60% of your traffic but why didn't they sell it and least gain a little of there money back? A site with a couple hundred thousand visitors every month is still very attractive to the right people.

Related Story: Is LoveHappens Closing Shop?