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Lately I have felt that just about everything that can be said about the major players in the online dating industry has been said, either here, in the MMS (mainstream media) or on other blogs.
To that end, I’ve decided to cancel my Match, Yahoo and other mainstream dating site subscriptions. Instead, I will subscribe to the handful of niche sites I feel are leading the industry in terms of feature innovation, marketing execution, long-term vision and customer service. I’ll subscribe to a few social networking sites as well. After all, online dating is a facet social networking and the two continue to merge.
My profile has been on Match and Yahoo for at least four years now. If the dating industry had frequent flyer miles I’d be traveling first class all the way. Funny how I don’t feel that way on most dating sites.
I’ll most likely re-subscribe to the major sites at some point, one at a time though. Hopefully open profiles and the like will become popular enough that I can have one profile on many different sites. For now, it’s time to explore what else is out there.
Category:Dating Sites, Niche Tags: Dating-Site - NicheBlog reactions
4 responses so far ↓
1
Sam Moorcroft, ChristianCafe.com (Check me out!)
// Sep 3, 2005 at 10:36 am
Well said! We niche players don’t get enough coverage!
Everyone focuses on these giant sites like Spark. They have what, 15+ x the revenue we do? Yet, our EBITDA earnings last quarter were almost as high as their’s! What is going on??
I suspect other niche sites are doing a lot better than these “major” sites, too.
Members of niche sites like them precisely because they are niche; you don’t have to wade through all these profiles, wondering if ann123 or joe456 has the same background as you (Christian, in our case). You are half way there already.
Mind you, Spark’s strength is supposed to be niche. How come they have such low earnings, then, relative to their revenue? Buying money-losing niche sites is no doubt part of the problem. Having a huge generic money-loser site doesn’t help, either.
2
Margo (Check me out!)
// Sep 6, 2005 at 3:38 pm
How long have you been a member of these sites? Have you met anyone at all that youre interested in? Im such a skeptic when it comes to online dating. Id like to know what you think the positives are of this. Dont you believe that love will happen when it is meant too?
There are many articles on love, relationships, and online dating on associatedcontent.com. Most of them are insightful. Read some and let me know what you think.
3
Brian O'Neill (Check me out!)
// Sep 7, 2005 at 7:00 am
Hi Margo
‘Dont you believe that love will happen when it is meant too?’
This is a common myth. Does an athlete sit around and hope to win medals, or do they get out and train for them? Do people come up to you in the street and offer you dream jobs, or do you have to work hard to get to the top? Other areas of your life do not change by themselves so why do you think that this should be the case for relationships? Like everything in life, you need to put in the effort to get the results.
Online dating works for a lot of people.
4
Matt (Check me out!)
// Sep 8, 2005 at 8:27 pm
Which dating sites do you link lead the niche market?
I really liked the psychographic Spring Street had going, but now I want a refund for the 27 credits I just purchased and lost from the FriendFinder buy out.
Matt
http://www.ItsJustCoffee.com
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