Online Dating Insider

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Online Dating Insider delivers cutting-edge insight and commentary on all aspects of the online dating industry. Topics include industry news, site reviews, emerging trends, analysis of dating site features, discussion about safety safety, finance and other issues important to the online dating market. Don't miss our Tools & Services directory, useful to anyone running dating or social networking sites. Subscribe to the RSS feed (you can subscribe via email as well). Your comments and suggestions for stories are welcomed.

I perform consulting and advisory services for dating sites as Digicraft Consulting. I’ve worked with many large and small dating sites to help them with the following:

• Feasibility studies
• Build vs. buy
• Hosted solution or built in-house?
• Drive more traffic
• Increase conversion rates
• Free or paid subscription
• Service differentiators
• Marketing strategy
• New features (VOIP, chat, mobile, games, anonymous calling)
• Comprehensive site evaluations
• Feasibility studies
• Customized customer-defined projects

Types of Engagements
Seeking insights into how to grow your membership, improve your conversion rates or improve the usability of your dating site or social networking service? Engagements range from a few weeks to a quarter or more.

Site Evaluation
About to launch a new dating site, or planning on a refresh of your existing design? Order a comprehensive site evaluation and you will receive a detailed report about what’s working on your site, and what isn’t, along with an action plan to keep your visitors happy and your site performing well.

Phone Consultations
A series of hour-long advisory calls starting at $150 is an economical way to solve the problem thats right in front of you. In preparation, you send a list of questions prior to the call. You get the benefit my years of experience in a condensed a la carte format where you can purchase as much time and expertise as you need. Affordable advice immediately, no long term consulting arrangements, contracts or hassle. Get the information you need, when you need it.

Clients & Testimonials
I have worked with dating sites and social networks ranging from startups to some of the most established and well-respected brands.

to learn more about my consulting services, visit my main blog, The Progress Bar.

	Developed blog for Dr. Helen Fisher, developer of Chemistry’s Personality Profiling system. Created buzz and interaction between Chemistry.com, it’s members, singles and the media.
	An initial site evaluation led to significant changes to the website, including design elements, copy and messaging.
	Co-created unique profile system, the first service to feature different profiles for men and women.
	Performed feature and pricing evaluation, advised on background check and anonymous calling service due diligence and selection.
	Provided research, analysis and definitive recommendations to develop the business plan to a final presentation stage suitable for formal presentation to venture capitalists.
	Supported Trufina market selection, website messaging analysis and marketing activities.
	Performed extensive site evaluation, including usability, navigation, messaging and member communication analysis and recommendations.

Testimonials

Dave has incredible insight into the online dating industry and into social networking. We look at our website, date.com, everyday, and we often loose sight of the big picture. Dave has helped us see the entire forest and not just focus on the trees. I recommend Dave to anyone thinking about entering this business, and his insight can help even the largest, most established companies.

- Meir Strahlberg, CEO Date.com

David was a huge help to me when I was creating my online dating site. I was new to the online dating industry and it was helpful to get an insider’s viewpoint regarding the types of questions to put in the profiles, fields and pages needed, as well as guidance on how to make the site more user friendly. I highly recommend him.

- Elena Albamonte, Lawyers in Love

David publishes *the* blog of the online dating industry. His writing has helped me tremendously during the planning and launch of my new company, IncrediblInc!

-Maximilian Niederhofer

Learn more about DIGICRAFT consulting services then Contact me to discuss your particular needs.

Much of my work in the online dating industry involves working with startups looking for a way to leapfrog their way into a market-leading position in a particular niche. Other times it’s developing new growth strategies for established sites that are looking to crack the top 10, or struggling to stay there.I’ve spoken with many startups consisting of a single person with an idea and the drive and ambition to see their vision realized. The one thing almost every one of these people lack is funding. It’s near impossible to raise VC for a startup dating site these days, the risk factor is off the charts. This leaves most people to hatch their idea and work on the site when they come home from work and on weekends. A select few are able raise angel financing from friends and family to work full time on their labor of love.A typical call from a dating site startup goes something like this:

I paid a developer a lot of money for a site and the developer has become unresponsive to my ongoing needs. I’m not sure how much to spend on marketing, or where to spend it. I don’t have a strategic plan for moving forward, and I feel overwhelmed thinking of everything I have to accomplish in order to launch, let alone achieve profitability.

They can’t launch with a 1/2-finished site, or worse, launch with a broken site that doesn’t meet the minimum requirements of today’s online daters. They have a To Do list as long as their arm and not enough time in the day to get things done. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Or, as is often the case, the caller has a live site not getting the traction they expected after three, six or even nine months. The person has usually burned through what they consider a significant amount of capital and earned a lot of grey hairs for their efforts. This is especially frustrating, they have earned their startup battle scars and need a fresh strategy for getting out of the red.

Consulting services are structured to reflect the where the company is in it’s life-cycle; startup, crossing the chasm, mainstream adoption to exit strategies.

Typical startups have a different problem set than established players. The new consulting arrangement will cover issues common to all dating site startups. Generally things will start out broad in scope, further refinement of the focus of the engagement occurs naturally as familiarity and understanding grows between us.

Learn more about DIGICRAFT consulting services then Contact me to discuss your particular needs.