Online dating websites, like many things on the Internet, are
usually run as businesses - organisations, or individuals, provide a
service and take a fee for that service. Fair enough. But what about
those sites that don't charge fees? Can they really provide the same
quality of service as the bigger companies?
First of all, let's think about what
"free"
actually means. For one thing, a huge amount of dating site advertising
claims that their particular site is free, but when you sign up, they
very quickly direct you to an upgrade page. Usually, of course,
eagle-eyed readers will notice the tell-tale phrases that should give
the game away:
- Free-to-join!
- Free to search!
- Review your matches for free!
All of which mean that you will, at some point, have to pay if you want to use their facilities.
Some sites though, will go so far as to declare that they are
"completely free" or have
"no hidden charges"
and then when you've signed up and looked at a few profiles and want to
make contact with someone, you'll get a little message pointing out
that to send emails you do actually have to be a fee-paying member.
Thankfully, these unscrupulous renegades are in the minority, so for the
sake of clarity let's assume that when we talk about free dating sites,
we do mean completely free of any charges whatsoever. Okay.
Quality Dating
So
how can a free dating site provide good quality service? Probably the
only way they're going to be able to do that successfully, is if they
have money coming in to support their technical needs, web-hosting and
server costs, not to mention staffing. There are some sites that are run
by enthusiastic individuals who simply build dating websites to fill a
particular niche that interests them, and these tend to be quite small
with hundreds or thousands, rather than million, of members.
Women Behind Bars,
for example (although not completely free) is run by a chap who is
clearly trying to offer a service for American women in jail who have no
other way of building relationships with men on the outside.
Such
small enterprises, because they are often run on a part-time basis, can
be poorly organised, have very simple design and navigation tools and
in some cases, are only updated two or three times a month. So, leaving
the small fry aside, how do the rest of the free sites make money?
Affiliate Advertising
There's
a huge market for advertising goods and services on the Internet, and
in recent years a great many companies have emerged who coordinate
affiliate advertising. How does this work? Well, let's say that wee
Angus McTartan has a website about Scottish traditional dress and
culture. He can approach companies like
Commission Junction and
Affiliate Windows and
apply to join the campaigns of several advertisers whose products or
services relate to his particular niche. Angus can then display adverts
on his own site, with links back to those organisations, so when
customers click on one of his ads, or sign up for a product or service, a
small percentage of the earnings will arrive on his proverbial doormat.
He can also sign up with individual companies who may not need the
services of a huge company to organise their adverts.
The
successful free dating sites then, make money by displaying adverts on
their sites. The style of these can range from the quite subtle to the
luridly over-the-top, and in some cases interfere with the layout of the
website. preventing would-be daters from getting the most out of their
online experience. Obviously the more visitors a site has, the greater
chance there is that people will click on the ads, so it's in the
interests of the owner to create a user-friendly experience, with plenty
to see and do, as well as plenty of good quality profiles.
The
effectiveness of any dating site is reliant on having enough profiles to
keep new members interested. So if you're interested in a free dating
site, where's the best place to look?
Here's a selection of some of my favourite free dating sites to get you started:
Meet Your Greens:
niche site for vegetarians, earth mothers and anyone interested in
saving the planet. Actually you don't need to be a badge-wearing
eco-warrior to join, but with a strong community feel, you'll maybe get a
more fulfilling experience here than with many of its competitors.
Honey Contacts:
This one is for Russian daters and has a clear layout and good quality
profile photos. Not much point joining if you don't live in Russia, but a
very nice site anyway.
Zyngle: relatively new
addition to the matchmaking scene that has a refreshing design and is
easy to use. It's also free from all the paraphernalia that most dating
sites tag on to keep people coming back, and means that dating is top of
the agenda.
Oasis: these guys have been around
for quite a while and with more than nine million members, are at the
top of their game. It's also pretty busy and at any one time you'll find
several thousand members online.
Smooch: This
one isn't completely free, as there as extras to be had by upgrading,
but you can certainly use it very successfully without paying a penny.
Whichever
one you go for, bear in mind the small print: as always, if you don't
read it, you might find you've signed up for something a little bit
different to what you expected. As Sergeant Phil Esterhaus used to say
"let's be careful out there."
