Joe Tracy over at Online Dating Magazine has launched the Online Dating Banner Exchange.
Swapping banners is a good idea for tier 2 and 3 dating sites, and I think Joe is on to something. For the major players, ad buys are the logical way to go. Creating a specific online-dating category in an ad network and offering it to advertisers along with some level of targeting is something the industry has resisted, mainly due to the perceived complexity and cost to get into the game. A company with a robust ad server in place is more likely to join the network than a site with rudimentary, or no ad server in place. Ad networking have dating categories, but usually these are not as targeted as advertisers would like. I think “singles” would be a better name for the category. I’ve spoken to several advertisers and dating sites who say they would embrace the idea. All it takes now is an enterprising company to connect the dots.
