Internet Dating – Evaluating Dating Sites
Rody Isidore asked:
You’ve decided you want to try Internet dating and you’re a little overwhelmed by all the sites that are available. You’re nervous enough about this without added stress and doubts. Some articles you’ve read say sites don’t matter, profiles do. Some articles say only high priced sites are good. Some articles say number of customers is the only true indicator of a good Internet dating site. It’s all very confusing!
So let’s get down to basics. If you’re going to compare sites, what things really do matter?
Number and Density of Subscribers
Face it, it could be the slickest site in the world, but if it only has a hundred subscribers in North Dakota, it’s probably not going to be too useful for you. As a reference, the biggest name in Internet dating is Match.com, and they have 25 million active subscribers! MatchMaker.com has 8 million active users worldwide and boasts 50,000 new subscribers each week. With numbers like that, the odds of finding someone are pretty good.
Another question to ask about the numbers is are they primarily comprised of men or women? Ideally it’ll be about fifty-fifty, but it’s worth checking out. You don’t want to be a male looking for a female and find yourself on a site with 7 million other men and only 1 million women!
Confidentiality
Whatever site you select, you want to be very sure they’re not sharing your personal data with anyone. Not with other clients and not with other services. Not only do you not want crazy amounts of spam from a host of sites you’ve never heard of, you have to be safety conscious. It’s okay for you to release your personal information when you’re feeling comfortable (although even then it’s recommended to release it in stages) but it’s NEVER okay for the service to release it, to anyone. This should be spelled out clearly in their policies. If it isn’t, find another site.
Guarantees
If there’s a charge for the service, and for the more comprehensive Internet dating sites there probably is, then there should be some kind of guarantee. It’s probably not a money-back guarantee, but it should be an extended subscription or enhanced listing if you haven’t met anyone after a specified amount of time. This may not be a huge issue for you, but it’s worth knowing before you commit to a contract of any kind.
Ease of Navigation / Support
It doesn’t matter if it’s the hottest, most coveted site around if you can’t figure out how to navigate through it. Don’t drive yourself crazy using a site that isn’t intuitive!
Reviews
Do a search on the site itself. See what reviews are out there about it, and how it rates. Most likely there will be a few bad reviews – you can’t please everyone every time – but see what they’re for. If they’re just disgruntled people who would never be happy, so be it. But if they’re real concerns about scams or safety, find another site.
After you’ve looked at some of these factors, try a couple sites for free. See what you like and don’t like before you commit to a contract. And remember, you get out of Internet dating what you put into it – so be open and honest and willing to try!
You’ve decided you want to try Internet dating and you’re a little overwhelmed by all the sites that are available. You’re nervous enough about this without added stress and doubts. Some articles you’ve read say sites don’t matter, profiles do. Some articles say only high priced sites are good. Some articles say number of customers is the only true indicator of a good Internet dating site. It’s all very confusing!
So let’s get down to basics. If you’re going to compare sites, what things really do matter?
Number and Density of Subscribers
Face it, it could be the slickest site in the world, but if it only has a hundred subscribers in North Dakota, it’s probably not going to be too useful for you. As a reference, the biggest name in Internet dating is Match.com, and they have 25 million active subscribers! MatchMaker.com has 8 million active users worldwide and boasts 50,000 new subscribers each week. With numbers like that, the odds of finding someone are pretty good.
Another question to ask about the numbers is are they primarily comprised of men or women? Ideally it’ll be about fifty-fifty, but it’s worth checking out. You don’t want to be a male looking for a female and find yourself on a site with 7 million other men and only 1 million women!
Confidentiality
Whatever site you select, you want to be very sure they’re not sharing your personal data with anyone. Not with other clients and not with other services. Not only do you not want crazy amounts of spam from a host of sites you’ve never heard of, you have to be safety conscious. It’s okay for you to release your personal information when you’re feeling comfortable (although even then it’s recommended to release it in stages) but it’s NEVER okay for the service to release it, to anyone. This should be spelled out clearly in their policies. If it isn’t, find another site.
Guarantees
If there’s a charge for the service, and for the more comprehensive Internet dating sites there probably is, then there should be some kind of guarantee. It’s probably not a money-back guarantee, but it should be an extended subscription or enhanced listing if you haven’t met anyone after a specified amount of time. This may not be a huge issue for you, but it’s worth knowing before you commit to a contract of any kind.
Ease of Navigation / Support
It doesn’t matter if it’s the hottest, most coveted site around if you can’t figure out how to navigate through it. Don’t drive yourself crazy using a site that isn’t intuitive!
Reviews
Do a search on the site itself. See what reviews are out there about it, and how it rates. Most likely there will be a few bad reviews – you can’t please everyone every time – but see what they’re for. If they’re just disgruntled people who would never be happy, so be it. But if they’re real concerns about scams or safety, find another site.
After you’ve looked at some of these factors, try a couple sites for free. See what you like and don’t like before you commit to a contract. And remember, you get out of Internet dating what you put into it – so be open and honest and willing to try!
Tags: Dating Sites, Density, Stress
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