Free dating sites have had a good run the past few years. Everyone starting a free dating site jumped, and continues to jump, on the free dating bandwagon. Meanwhile, top paid dating sites are making hundreds of millions of dollars, while free dating site are scraping to get by. According to various reports, the current online ad market has undercut revenues significantly. What’s a free dating site to do?
If you’re PlentyofFish, you start charging for premium memberships. Markus, founder of PlentyofFish, just wrote me to say PlentyofFish charges for premium services. Before your head explodes, realize that existing site features will remain free.
In the next serval days I’ll be releasing a paid feature on plentyoffish. With this optional upgrade you can signal to the community that you are serious about meeting someone. This upgrade will last either 3, 6 or 12 months.
1. On paid dating sites most buys are impulse and in the signup process. Paid sites monetize on Impulse, plentyoffish is going to monetize on user intent. I believe we will have far more members that are serious than paid sites. Its one thing to be tricked into paying (paid sites), its another to go out of your way and pay for something.
2. There will be no addtional features and funcationality for users, this upgrade will be strictly to signal intent to the community.
3. There will be no changes to existing users or new users. The site will continue to work as it always has, except some members can now choose to stand out more.
I’ve always told free dating sites that they need to diversify their revenue by offering a paid level of service, or some other revenue stream. And here we have it, the largest free dating site in the world is now going to be charging for “Serious Member Profile Upgrades.”
Granted, Markus has been fairly transparent about his desire to further monetize his members, going as far as to mention the thought of turning PlentyofFish into a social network (where is that link, his blog search stinks). He had to start charging, especially in this ad market.
But just what is a serious member? Turns out it’s someone who has a Serious Member star on their PlentyOfFish profile. Now we get to see just how serious the singles are on PlentyofFish. Leave a comment with you guess as to what percentage of users actually end up paying for the shiny badge.
PlentyofFish can be described as mid-market casual. These are people who for the most part refuse to pay for for online dating. Either they don’t have the money, are cheap, or are ignoring the idea that using a subscription fee as a filter is as close to narrowing down your search to serious daters as you’re going to find. Casual daters simply don’t like to pay for the privilege of meeting other casual daters.
Interesting that until now Markus has always said that being free kept him from various lawsuits, most of which are part and parcel of running a dating sites. That’s why he didn’t go for paid virtual goods or background checks and identity verification.
PlentyofFish is not known for it’s nuanced marketing. I bet the upsell process will be “Pay $20 and date better people” or something simple like that. And you know what? It will probably work, although to what extent nobody, including Markus, knows.
It will be interesting to see how the payment process is integrated into the site and what vendor got the deal.
All the hype and hyperbole about free dating sites killing off paid dating rings just as hollow now as it did in 2006. Nobody talks about the four dimensions, free, paid, casual and serious. When you plot dating sites on this grid, you start to see where the money is, and where it’s going. Pure free is going away, just watch. The model I’ve been pushing for years is a blend of VIP services, ads and whatever else is hot in terms of bolt-on services and pay-to-play functionality. And we haven’t even begun to talk about the casual dating apps on Facebook, which are free for the most part and absolutely dwarf the majority of free dating sites.
Free dating sites need to consider adding paid VIP levels of service, or other paid features, *in addition to* the 10′s of millions of pageviews necessary to run a successful ad-supported site. Contact me if you want to learn how I can help you get there.
Please Digg, share, social bookmark, favorite on Facebook, etc. Interested to see how viral the story gets before the mainstream media gets ahold of it.
No related posts.
{ 74 comments… read them below or add one }
← Previous Comments
I KNEW MArcus was a fink like his last nake. The guy is nothing but greedy as his moderators are crazy.
Thisi si a site for toal losers. only a FOOL would pay for the abuse on this site.
I wish this site would just DIE along with its owner
I find no pleasure in the fact of losing a great site. but yes as soon as there are extra features for the upgrade, everything is no longer 100% free.
He could have simply instituted a donation option like many “free software” devolopers have.
some qoutes off his site, which he should change i guess,,
http://www.plentyoffish.com/about_facts.aspx
“We are Different
Plentyoffish.com is a 100% FREE online dating site, and is constantly improving based on your feedback. You will notice everything on this online dating site is done so that you can quickly meet people you have personally selected. Also, we are the only major dating site that allows our single users to block messages from whole groups of other users they aren’t interested in. No other dating site does this. They wouldn’t restrict matching groups because that restricts their chances of making money from you. Money? Who Cares I am well aware that Plentyoffish.com could make millions of dollars per month as a subscription service. However, this dating site wasn’t created to mine user’s pocketbooks. Plentyoffish.com is here to make a difference and help people find “the one”. It was created by members spreading the word about it, and is FOR the members. ”
“What is the PlentyofFish mission?
The PlentyofFish mission is to cut the crap and do the work for singles who want to meet without shelling out hundreds of dollars for services that should be free.”
“Why doesn’t PlentyofFish charge a membership fee?
It’s not necessary. We’re supported by advertising revenue. ”
“What are Reasons for the PlentyofFish rise to success?
PlentyofFish is the only top 10 dating site dedicated to remaining completely free. You CANNOT spend money on PlentyofFish. Also, PlentyofFish does effective matchmaking without asking 436 questions! The PlentyofFish site is automated with personality based matchmaking based, not on what people say they want, but rather on what they indicate they want through their search behavior.”
notice he says “completely” free, this is a lie now and he needs to upgrade all his things , otherwise isnt that false advertising?
this is an interesting read http://www.inc.com/magazine/20090101/and-the-money-comes-rolling-in.html
hey markus if you wanna make more more money why not get off your ass and work more than an hour a day buddy.
a qoute form above article
“I don’t listen to the users,” he says. “The people who suggest things are the vocal minority who have stupid ideas that only apply to their little niches.”
James,
Please note what you quoted is actually false and if it’s still up that makes it interesting as he is aware of it:
We are Different
Plentyoffish.com is a 100% FREE online dating site, and is constantly improving based on your feedback. You will notice everything on this online dating site is done so that you can quickly meet people you have personally selected. Also, we are the only major dating site that allows our single users to block messages from whole groups of other users they aren’t interested in. No other dating site does this. They wouldn’t restrict matching groups because that restricts their chances of making money from you. Money? Who Cares I am well aware that Plentyoffish.com could make millions of dollars per month as a subscription service. However, this dating site wasn’t created to mine user’s pocketbooks. Plentyoffish.com is here to make a difference and help people find “the oneâ€. It was created by members spreading the word about it, and is FOR the members. â€
Now, go to this link and you’ll see that MyDatery.Com also allows blocking of groups of individuals based upon a whole lot more than Markus allows to be filtered for. It’s actually pretty simple to do, just a php file and some SQL runs real quick. I would not be surprised to learn that others have also managed to use similiar filters that POF & MyDatery.Com use on their sites. That one is simply a no-brainer. But MyDatery.Com goes further, by actually using the filtering system which pays attention to your habits to match you up with others who have similiar habits. The more you use the site, the better it is able to provide matches.
If you are looking for a long term relationship, you should have the option of stating this. While some free dating sites give you these options, others do not. Make sure the one you choose has the options that you need. If you are looking for a way to screen out smokers or those who are heavy drinkers, make sure that you find a free internet dating site that has options that you need to make sure the experience is pleasant.
[...] of discussion surrounding Plenty of Fish charging for special profile bling. There is even a video comment (more please). Much discussion surrounding the legality of [...]
OH! You’re my new favorite blogger fyi
@ John, thanks for the link, I joined up there
and yes if you look all over POF especially the sign up area it speaks only of how it is “completely ” free, it has no mention of if you want to be seen as serious you need to fork out some cash lol.
Very false. But his TOS has been sneakily updated to say some features may cost money. Very low and dishonest way to run a business.
you can see here on his TOS http://www.plentyoffish.com/terms.aspx
“FEE FOR SERVICES
In addition to the free services provided on the Plentyoffish.com Web site, certain services are offered which require payment for service. Where payment is required, the following additional terms and conditions will apply ”
Now I would love to know how he can call his site 100% and “completely” free
And have asked this in his forums only to find my posts deleted by his moderators. Time and time again
One thing I’ve always wondered about POF, perhaps someone can answer. If you open the site on Firefox, you will notice that the page refreshes every 10 seconds. Now, what I’ve always wondered is if a user is on a page for 30 seconds and in that time, the page refreshes twice, wouldn’t that be counted as 3 page views? Thus, wouldn’t monthly page views be drastically inflated. Now then, if the owner of that site is selling ads based on CPM . . . Things that make you go hmmm.
Thank you for the chance to show you a new way of doing it and helping the site grow.
The answer to your question Interested Observer is no, it does not count as 3 pageviews. Let me try to explain this, as best as I can to everyone.
Within the Social Scripting Industry, we use a coding called AJAX, which allows us to refresh the page between browser/server to give the member the most up to date information. For example, let’s say your looking at a page with REAL-TIME stock information, then you don’t want to even wait the mere second or 2 it would take to refresh & load the page again, as the information would no longer be real-time by the time you received it. So, we set the scripting programs to update every so often to the individual browser and give you most exact REAL-TIME stock information that the site can provide, only when this refresh happens it only seeks out and changes the information which has changed on the page. It does not actually reload the entire page.
Now, as far as POF is concerned, he maintains no data for the AJAX coding to change, yet he still runs it on the site. If you look at your Yahoo Mail Account, you will notice the browser keeps refreshing so often without reloading the entire page, MSN does this and so do several other sites. I also do this with MyDatery.Com for the purpose of obtaining member habit data (which we use in our matching algorythm only) and this may be something that Markus is working on currently.
As far as webstat programs go (such as Google Analytics, Web CEO and others) they have been designed to recognize this type of page coding and only check actual page loads that occur by members clicking. If this was 3 page views in 30 seconds you would see 3 different ads in the same 30 seconds as POF runs heavily on Google Adsense currently.
@John McGrew – Thanks for the answer.
This is a 100% Free Dating Service – NO Charges EVER.
If you people were not all flakes and prostitutes, you would all form a class action suit now and go for that 10M while you can. ‘Sted of plainin about it, or (alternatively) plugging it so as to look politically correct in hopes of furthering your POF dating.
the reply from moderator ” trappedonbayst”
That’s correct, no charges to use the same features needed to make contact and email with another user – unlike a paid site where it is NECESSARY to pay to converse with another member.
If you want to pay to be perceived as serious or whatever , that’s up to you. Otherwise create a good profile to show your intent to similar minded people.
Some people feel they need it, some don’t – pick your audience or go troll under some other bridge.
Class action? – taking advice from this Lawyer?
my thoughts…
im sorry but his site stats really clear EVERYTHING IS FREE!! this should include the upgrade, if i choose to make my profile yellow then this option should be there for me free! as well as if i dont want ads on my page .
this guy trappedonbayst is a real tool, i dont know how he is a moderator hes a fuckin idiot that needs his face kicked in
Interesting thoughts! Have you seen such a grid published: Free, Pay, Serious, Casual? Let me know!
I use it as part of my consulting practice, maybe I’ll publish it.
So now free dating services charge you too! Nice.
I dont know about ya’ll, but I have met a lot of good friends on this site, and my fiance, so if you want to slander anybody, stand in front of the mirror. You’re remarks are baseless and unfounded. Go do some research and go jack off in your lonely corner. Idiot…
what gave you individuals the impression that markus is in north america,he is no where near this region and you would be surprised where he runs his organization from.he claims to have started this site because he hates seeing customers getting ripped off by the bigger companies that charge,yet he will accept these scumbags to advertise on pof for millions each year and does very little to protect anyone by hiding under a private club tag.it is common knowledge they read your e-mails,track your ip and will delete your profile if you complain against the pathetic moderators or their friends.they never do anything about the under-age girls,prostitutes,men posing as women,racism,lack of freedom of speech and serious constitutional infractions regarding wrongful removal of individuals-they also indicate how successful members are,when in fact they never explore the number of people that have been conned/beaten/used/assaulted/raped due to no checks whatsoever and there is absolutely no way to contact any type of customer service.
trappedonbayst is the biggest asshole on there,a 50 year old man who claims to be an it specialist who is so insecure he needs to be a moderator on a free site in order to get dates/laid and try posting anything that insults the worms on his favorites list.i agree with most here,look at the guy-cameras strapped around his neck like a fag trying to look like a famous journalist then taking photos of himself with his cellphone by reflecting off a car window and banning people that make good points calling them trolls.this guy is absolute piece of garbage and more than a few people want to meet him face to face.
the majority of people using this service are also very sick individuals,just try meeting about 10 and see what results you get,an absolute joke and something that should not be allowed-
John Doe… YOU the Man!! :)
POF is giving out serious members to women. So how can you tell who actually paid for serious membership or not? Are they really that serious if they didn’t pay for it? So it is creating a false illusion. They are doing this hoping others will upgrade to serious member.
It is defeating what a serious member is. A person who actually paid to get the membership. This person can be more serious if they paid.
For the community this feature or whatever it is a complete failure they would have been better off offering a donation option or get extra features.
It is my understanding that in order to receive a Serious Member badge you are required to take the personality test. Not sure if they are giving them out for free w/o having to take the test. That certainly would defeat the purpose.
If the new features are really worth it, people will pay for it…if not they will move on to something better/cheaper (free).
Mark
Now a days people are looking for free dating websites on the internet and there are lots of competitive websites there. My understanding is that with paid membership POF traffic will go down, lets see
← Previous Comments
{ 8 trackbacks }