M NET — July 25 — Online dating service ChatDate is introducing video and voice into the mix using VoIP technology. The VoIP platform offers a 'video service so customers can chat through web cams. After nine weeks, CHATdate signed up 400 users. The service is currently free, may charge depending on advertising revenue. Video offers a one-on-one virtual date without leaving home.
The full article was originally published at M Net, but is no longer available.
QUANTCAST — July 24 — Quantcast released findings on what it calls "The Facebook Effect." In an analysis of leading Quantified* Publishers, Quantcast found a common dramatic increase in traffic for those publishers that have built and deployed widgets ("applications") on the Facebook platform. Slide tripled traffic; U.S. daily unique visitors from 312,000 to 1.1 million, an increase of 265%; global daily unique visitors from 753,000 to 2.3 million, an increase of 207%. HOTorNOT doubled Web site traffic; U.S. daily unique visitors from 182,000 to 350,000, an increase of 98%.; global daily unique visitors from 289,000 to 722,000, an increase of 152%. RockYou tripled Web site traffic; U.S. daily unique visitors from 145,000 to 521,000, an increase of 228%; global unique visitors from 286,000 to 1.3 million, an increase of 339%.
OPW — July 26 — I'm hosting a dinner at Tarragon, in Sunnyvale at 140 South Murphy Ave (Map), on Tuesday 31st July for affiliates. Show up 7pm for drinks, ~8pm for dinner. Please RSVP to mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com. See AffiliateDinner.com for other listings. This affiliate dinner will be focused on dating affiliates, but all affiliates are welcome. – Mark Brooks
DM NEWS — July 24 – Lavalife launched a direct response television spot created by Northern Lights Direct Response Television for Lavalife Voice service. Lavalife has experimented with 30- and 60-sencond spots and found the 30-second spot is the most efficient in cost per metrics. The new commercial, titled "Called Met," focuses on customers calling Lavalife Voice and meeting other singles shortly after. Airing in English and French, the spot is running throughout North America on syndicated and local spots.
The full article was originally published at DM News, but is no longer available.
OPW INTERVIEW — July 24, 2007 — Kevin Greene runs Ireland's AnotherFriend.com and is a regular attendee at the European internet dating conference. He has based his company in Poland, and is planning a Polish dating site, amongst other things. – Mark Brooks
What is the founding story of AnotherFriend.com?
Over seven years ago, I was working as a freelance web developer and tended to move around quite a bit. I was doing a lot of internal work, like intranets, and needed a showcase for my talents. At the time, there were only a handful of websites making money and online dating was one of them. So, AnotherFriend.com was born on New Years Eve, 2000.
We only got really serious about it, though, in the last three to four years. Now we're the No.1 online dating service in Ireland – probably four to five times larger than our nearest competitor.
What would you say are the main differences between the UK and Irish online dating markets? Who are you competitors?
The UK market is probably a year or two ahead of us. Consumers there are definitely more accepting of online dating. When we first started, very few people in Ireland were willing to put their photos online. That's changing slowly, for sure, but it's not there yet. About 85% of our membership base is from Ireland. We also get quite a lot of members from the US and UK, and have had a few of the marriages between Americans and Irish people. But our core focus is Ireland.
To maintain our dominant market position, we use various marketing strategies. Online marketing certainly works for us and Google is fantastic for that. We've also partnered with a few other websites and a number of newspapers in Ireland, such as The Irish Examiner and The Irish Times, since 2004. Also PR, member events, viral marketing and member testimonials have played their part.
Because Ireland's population is quiet small, the market is not as attractive for competitors as is the larger UK market. However, we have seen the Irish market filling up with competitors over the last year or so. Our nearest competitors are MaybeFriends.com (owned by Scottish Radio Holdings) and MeetingPoint.ie (Owned by Independent Newspapers). We are one of the few indigenous independently managed sites. Bebo hasn't really impacted our business because it tends to cater to the younger age group (the 15-23 year olds). Our site is aimed at the main serious dating age group – the 28-48 year olds.
What have you been up to lately?
This year, we launched a new niche site, http://www.SingleParents.ie aimed at the growing single parents population in Ireland. While running AnotherFriend.com, we noticed there were a lot of single parents on it and figured there was a big demand for a site that catered to them and their situations. Now, there's no need to wait until one is in a relationship to say, "Oh yeah, by the way, I have a child." Everything can be out in the open right from the start. Members have found this to be a great benefit.
We've also recently partnered with Pluto Life Mobile. AnotherFriend.com members who subscribe to the service now can view other members via their mobile phones. At the moment, they can only view very, very short profiles that are purely for SMS. We are looking at adding photos and more stuff later on. We need to do more work on this and it might be another year or two before Online dating gets popular, but we aim to have the technology in place.
We've also partnered with Vivox, a Voice Over IP (VOIP) company, that combines instant messenger with voice. This will allow people to do speed dating either through a phone or computer. Several people can go into a "room" and talk to each other for a specified amount of time before being switched to the next person. I think from a revenue point of view this will be quite good. They also have "bar stools", which are five people going into a room and chatting away via phone or instant messenger. All the while, we can micro bill and generate extra revenue. We'll release this hopefully within the next three or four months.
Are you planning to launch any new sites?
Yeah, we actually moved our development over to Poland and, as a result, are really looking at the Polish market. We've recently launched http://www.nightlife.pl but it will be a few years before any money can be made, but there are 38 million Polish citizens and I think that market can be quite lucrative in a few years. We've also launched ProfileApproval.com, which is more of a B2B service for other online dating sites. It's a way for them to outsource the approving of profiles, photos, etc.
What are your thoughts on being acquired?
Actually, six months ago we probably had no planned exit strategy – we were quite happy with building the business, which is growing rapidly. Over the last few months, though, we've been approached by a number of different people, so it certainly is something we would consider now. We pretty much have the whole dating market in Ireland tied up. So, if anyone was looking for a starting point, we certainly would be a very good one. I'd say we're worth between 6 million and 10 million Euros. We're talking to a couple of people but we're still growing rapidly and are very happy with the business, so we are not in any hurry to sell.
GREEN OPTIONS — July 20 — When your online dating profile includes terms like "sexy conservationist" or "romantic recycler" chances are you're an ecosexual. With increasing numbers of singles looking to hook up with other like-minded greenies a host of places popping up for ecosexuals. Sites include: Green Passions, Vegan Passions and Earth Wise Singles. There are over 150 meet-up groups categorized under "environment" in the U.S. ranging from general green interests to specifics like biodiesel or energy.
PRESS RELEASE — July 20 — July 20 — EasyDate, announces a new web site for flirty people around the world. www.benaughty.com is now live, giving singles the opportunity to chat, flirt and meet like-minded people who find long-term oriented sites too formal and marriage-oriented. All visitors can join EasyDate's new website for free. This site accepts international sign-ups from all singles.
The full article was originally published at PR Inside, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: The updated white label services spreadsheet is available today. Email me at mark@onlinepersonalswatch.com for your copy.
SEATTLE PI — July 20 — Perhaps you've heard of Sugardaddie.com or wealthymen.com? They are exactly what they sound like: online dating sites for rich, successful men to meet hot, young trophy women. For women, there is something you are going to have to give up. But I also believe if both parties are clear on the arrangement, it's okay for rich older men to marry pretty young things for sex and obedience who are in turn marrying them for their money.
iDATE MESSAGE BOARDS — JULY 22 — Marc Lesnick runs the internet dating conferences. "Last Friday there was another company that ran an event in the UK. They cancelled and didn't bother telling anyone. They certianly didn't tell me. I pre-registered and flew to London on July 20 and went to the location at 9 Adam Street. *There was no event.* They didn't even change their website. There have now been 3 conferences, each run by different companies that have canceled. As an organizer, it upsets me. This shakes confidence in those inside and outside the industry. My policy is simple: I do not cancel iDate or SNC conferences. If you see an event listed, we have it."
Mark Brooks: Remember the SITRAS conference? They took in a lot of money and then bailed last minute? Marc has been running the internet dating conferences since 2004. He's been solid as a rock with every conference that he's run.
FINANCIAL POST — July 20 — Markus Frind runs one of North America's most popular dating Web sites, taking in millions of dollars a year, and he does by himself from his 900-square-foot apartment. Plentyoffish.com runs itself. A free service, it was the 82nd most-visited site in the United States last month, according to Hitwise. It ranks third in U.S., ahead of Match.com and eHarmony. Because plentyoffish.com generates more than 400 million page views per month in Canada alone, he wants to switch to banner ads to expose more users to more ads, and make more money.
The full article was originally published at Financial Post, but is no longer available.
