General News

AshleyMadison.com has now opened their affair website to married men and women in the United Kingdom. For those of you who haven't heard of this site before it is described as a traditional dating site but for people who are already married. For UK members it costs £49 for 100 credits. With these credits members can email someone for 5 credits, chat in real-time for another 30 credits and send a virtual gift from 20 to 50 credits.

Apparently there are plans to spend upwards of £10million in advertising if Ashley Madison can get their ads approved by the Advertising Standards Authority. With this type of marketing budget Ashley Madison expects to have 1 million UK members in 3 months.

For more on this story read TNT Magazine.

A recent post from Markus, the owner of PlentyofFish.com, over on his blog commented on Mark Brooks view that free dating sites are going to kill off paid dating sites. It looks like Markus doesn't see that happening (which I agree) since he mentions the fact that the rankings for dating sites over the last few years have remained relatively stable.

What he did say is Facebook has been taking traffic from all dating sites. According to Markus, his Google Analytics account shows that page views per user (a free dating sites bread and butter since they make money on displaying ads) have declined 30 percent in the last 2 years. He also reported that PlentyOfFish.com's traffic increased by 15 percent on September 23 when Facebook went offline for 4 hours.

I was actually surprised to see Markus refute Mark Brooks in public like that since he was a client of Marks dating consulting business for a while a year or two ago. It looks like their working relationship may not have ended on a high note.

For more information on the online dating site mentioned in this article, read our review of PlentyofFish.com.

The online dating site Chemistry is having a free communication weekend starting this Friday October 8, 2010 and ending Sunday October 10, 2010 at midnight. During this 72 hour period all visitors will be able to create a profile and take the personality test to become a Chemistry.com member. Once completed, you then will receive personalized matches. From here you can communicate with these matches at no cost, by expressing interest and sending emails.

This is Chemistry.com's 10th time they have run a free communication weekend. The last one was held in late August (see Story). For more details on this popular matchmaking service please check out our review of Chemistry.com.

In mid August eHarmony released their iPhone Dating App. On September 28 a eHarmony Dating App for Android phones was released. As with the iPhone version, users can view their list of matches, look at members profiles, and communicate with them. Communication includes using the guided communication process, sending ice breakers and eHarmony Mail. Some parts of your profile can also be updated through the app as well like your photos (by using the camera built into your phone).

To take this new Dating App for a test drive, visit the Android Pit on your phone to download. To find out more about this online dating service, check out our eHarmony.com review.

eLove is quickly growing into a large matchmaking service with 50 offices located across the United States. The have recently acquired Cupid's Coach which is a matchmaking company based in Los Angeles. This acquisition will add two new locations to eLove, one in Los Angles and one in Westlake Village.

Julie Ferman will still stay on at Cupid's Coach as the principle matchmaker. She has more than 20 years experience in the industry and has been responsible for over 1100 marriages. She also has been on national TV and was recently awarded "Matchmaker of the Year Award" at iDate.

To find other similar services, check out our Matchmaking Services category.

The dating site Lavalife has a new feature available to members for free. It is called "Call Me" and it allows you to request a live phone call with a member who is online that you are interested in. It is 100 percent anonymous, confidential and easy to use. All you need to do is click the "Call Me" icon on the profile or in the search results and on the form that comes up, enter your phone number. The other member will be notified and asked to do the same. Once Lavalife has both phone numbers, it will then place two phone calls and connect you both. This feature uses Lavalife's phone system so all phone number remain private. Lavalife will not display or share your phone number with the other member and it will not be saved or used for any marketing purpose.

Currently Call Me is in beta and Lavalife is looking for feedback. If you use this new phone feature let them know how it went and what could be improved. You can send Lavalife feedback by using their contact us link found at the bottom of most Lavalife pages. This feature is free for only a limited time.

For more information on this dating site, please read our review of Lavalife.com.