General News

I am surprised at the Economist. They posted this article on Thursday about how Online-dating websites prosper in the recession. While this may have been true 5 months ago, it is not the case anymore. They should of really done more fact checking. Take a look at a few traffic monitoring sites like Compete.com and they show most dating sites in February actually stayed flat or lost 5 percent or more of their visitors, when compared to January. February is suppose to be a dating sites most busy month. Granted traffic monitoring sites are not 100 percent accurate but they do give you a rough idea when you take several of them in consideration.

The Economist should also realize that traffic alone does not determine a website success. Revenue and Net Income ultimately determines if any business will survive. Not once is this information mentioned. They talk about OkCupid and how their registered active users is up but no where do they mention how online advertising has dried up in the last few months, OkCupid's primary source of revenue. eHarmony is also mentioned but, traffic patterns do not support this. Plus, there is a huge goof in the article:

eHarmony, a wholesome marriage-oriented site with more than 20m paying subscribers.

eHarmony has had 20 million people register on the site since they launched in 2000, this is both free and paid members. In 2008 we had estimated eHarmony only has about 90,000 paid members at anyone time (see this page for more details).

Another thing the Economist should of considered is, none of the major dating sites have had a press release lately touting the continued growth during the recession. This is another sign things may not be as good as back in November-December 2008, when we saw press releases from dating sites like Match.com, eHarmony and Perfectmatch. This was when they talked about the recession and the increased growth they received.

For more information on the dating sites mentioned in this post, read our eHarmony review and our OkCupid review.

I just received an email from eHarmony's new Compatible Partners gay dating site which is due to launch any day now. They wanting me to reconfirm my initial email registration. While I don't fall in the category of someone looking for a long-term committed same sex relationship, we do plan on creating a review for the service. It will be interesting to see what changes (if any) eHarmony will do to their existing profile, communication process and matching formula to fit it more in line with a gay relationship. It has been reported that eHarmony will not be changing how the matching system works, at least initially.

Remember for the first 10,000 singles who signup to Compatible Partners, they will receive a free membership. Visit Compatiible Partners.

The unofficial eHarmony Blog noticed that eHarmony just launched The Divorced Mom's Guide to Dating. It expands on the popular free eHarmony Advice website to include topics and articles related to experiences and issues divorced Mom's may face when trying to date again. Currently on the site, popular articles include, How to Never Date Another Version of Your Ex and What to Tell Your Kids About Your Dating Life.

I just have one question, what are divorced Dad's suppose to do? Maybe eHarmony should of called the new resource site The Divorced Parent's Guide to Dating. Since, for the most part, the advice on the site is just as applicable if you are a Mom or a Dad.

if you are a single or divorced Mom or Dad visit a Divorced Mom's Guide to Dating (divorcedmoms.eharmony.com). If you are interested in finding out more about the eHarmony dating site, read our eHarmony review.

According to Steve Penner, if you are a man in your 40's it is fairly easy to increase the number of single woman you can meet online through dating sites. He said not only should you just be yourself, but you should open yourself up to meeting woman close to your own age. A lot of men over the age of 45 want to meet a single woman who is 10 or even 20 years younger than them. If this is a strong preference for them it can greatly reduce your chances of meeting any woman, plus it places you in direct competition with much younger men. Steve goes on and stresses:

The fact is that today's 50-year-old single woman is not "your father's 50-year-old woman." To use another worn out expression "50 is the new 35." Have you guys noticed what many 50-year-old women look like these days?

Improved diet and fitness workouts have kept them in much better shape than women of a similar age from previous generations. Many if not most of these women also have careers, which further motivate them to lead a healthy lifestyle and to look good in the work place.

If you think keeping your ideal matches age range near your age, imagine setting your age range to 5 years above your age. Doing this will give you a large number of quality woman to choose from and increase your chances exponentially of meeting the right woman for you.

Visit Seacoast Online for the full article.

Match.com has done a number of smart moves lately to keep members using their dating site. On Tuesday, Match.com launched a free application on the Apple App Store for the iPhone and the iTouch. Members now can use most of the features available on the website, on their iPhone. This includes, viewing and editing of your profile (including taking a picture), viewing other members profiles and, sending and receiving messages. New to Match.com as well is the built-in location-based technology available through the iPhone and iTouch. This is an opt-in feature that gives members the ability to see other members near their current location on a graphic map. This feature uses the iPhone's built in GPS and the iTouch's wireless internet connection IP address location.

Note: Unfortunately the source to the video and/or image which once was displayed here has since been removed by the authors for an unknown reason.

Match.com has another service which is similar to the iPhone App called MatchMobile. It was launched in 2007 and is designed to allow members to access Match.com with most cell phones. This product uses a mobile web interface and has similar features as the Match iPhone Application, except without the location based technology. Match.com also charges $4.99 for 6 months use of MatchMobile. Since the iPhone App is free, I wonder if MatchMobile will soon be offered for free as well?

Over the last year a few dating sites have created location based dating and they must be cringing now with the news that Match.com has stepped up to the plate relatively early to offer this type of service.

Check out the press release for more information and read our Match.com review for an overview of this dating site.

Starting tomorrow, Thursday, March 26 and until Sunday, March 29, 2009, eHarmony is planning a Free Communication Weekend. This means trial members of eHarmony will not only be able to review their matches for free but communicate with them as well. The Guided Communication process is included in the free weekend but FastTrack communication is not. The major difference between the two types is, FastTrack allows email communication right away, while Guided Communication has four stages of questions and answers before you can communicate with directly with email.

This is Free Communication Weekend number 16 for eHarmony. Usually these free weekends go from Friday to Monday but, eHarmony has switched things up a bit and has this free weekend starting Thursday and ending Sunday. They also usually do free communication weekends only on holidays, so the news of this one came as a bit of surprise.

Read our eHarmony review for more information on this matchmaking dating site. Remember, eHarmony is very popular because of their detailed profile and automated matching system. If you are looking for a dating site that allows you to search for your own matches, then eHarmony may not be the service for you.