Comments on: Specialist dating sites â€“ does finding a niche risk losing the perfect partner?

By: Mrpalooza

Mrpalooza — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:20:12 +0000

Mark, the commenter above me, is exactly right. Niche dating sites help people to focus. Although, people need to know who they are before they know what they are looking for and obviously the 2 parties involved, first and foremost need to bring honesty to the table.

By: Mark Brooks

Mark Brooks — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:41:08 +0000

Singles have more choice now than at any other time in history. Just dial in what you’re looking for and you can find it on Match or Yahoo Personals or Plentyoffish (Full Disclosure: POF is a client of CourtlandBrooks.com). So why do people need niche dating sites? People are realising that they can limit their dating circles to make themselves visible only to people who meet their more specific overarching need. That need could be to meet someone, Jewish, or Gay, or Black. Religious, sexual and race oriented niches are the largest. Namely, JDate, Manhunt and BlackPeopleMeet. (Full Disclosure: Manhunt is a former client of CourtlandBrooks.com).

Ultimately, singles often have a particular ‘thing’ that they are looking for above all else. That thing could one of many things, and there’s probably a niche that serves their needs. There are around 1300 dating sites according to Hitwise. We counted through them in 2008 for this NY Times article.
http://onlinepersonalswatch.typepad.com/news/2008/04/lets-say-you-wa.html
and found that 44% of them were niche dating sites. The top niche dating sites were gaining a bit more market share than non-niche sites, we found, for this Techcrunch article last year. http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/04/24/niche-dating-sites-grow-steadily-as-mainstream-ones-flail/

Niche dating sites do indeed encourage people to focus. I’d recommend end users consider being on a generic site AND being on a niche site at the same time. Unless its a showstopper for them not to date someone who is Jewish, or gay, or black, etc.

By: Kristen

Kristen — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:17:34 +0000

I never tried online dating before, but I think there is something to be said for it. I think to often when we initially see someone we judge them to be right or wrong for us based on looks. Maybe it would be nice to truly get to know someone, their hobbies, favorite foods, and personality before you see them and form preconceptions. I found a book that gives great advice on dating once you get to the "in-person" part. It's called Why I Love Men: The Joys of Dating. This book was inspiring, funny and full of tips that will improve your dating life.

By: casualencounters.com/blog/

casualencounters.com/blog/ — Mon, 18 May 2009 22:12:04 +0000

The problem is that people run around thinking that they know what they want, but they don’t. And we do!