Month: November 2009

Affiliate Convention – Los Angeles, Dec 3 – 4 2009

Posted on November 16, 2009

Affiliate convention logo new OPW – Nov 16 -  The Affiliate Convention is
taking place December 3 – 4, 2009 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in
Los Angeles. It is a business conference & expo event on affiliate
marketing and advertising methods. For affiliates, registration to the
event is free.

Mark Brooks: This event is produced by Marc Lesnick, who also runs the Internet Dating Conference, and the good people at Webmaster Radio. The event competes with The Affiliate Summit. The key difference between the two is that affiliates get in free to the Affiliate Convention. Makes sense. (Full Disclosure: The Internet Dating Conference is a client of Courtland Brooks)

Call Of The Cougar

Posted on November 16, 2009

Cougarlife logo OTTAWA CITIZEN – Nov 14 – Since its launch last February, CougarLife has attracted ~ 300,000 members and, according to Noel Biderman, co-owner and president of the online dating network Avid Life Media, "we're poised to make millions. I don't think we've ever launched anything with this much traction this soon." The website has more young men registered than women (52% compared to 48%) predominantly because, says Biderman, older women have been slower to accept their new role as desirable beings than young men have been to "pounce on the idea of being with an older woman."

The full article was originally published at Ottawa Citizen, but is no longer available.

See all posts on CougarLife

Cheating Makes “Better Partners”

Posted on November 16, 2009

Noel-biderman CTV.CA – Nov 14 - Cheating can lead to an improved relationship, says Noel
Biderman, the founder of AshleyMadison.com, a dating site that boasts
the tagline, "Life is Short. Have an Affair." Ashley Madison has grown
rapidly in the last seven years, to ~4M users, and now Biderman has
written a book "Cheaters Prosper: How Infidelity Will Save the Modern
Marriage." "If you look at the culture in France, or in Japan,
infidelity rates are extremely high there, yet divorce rates are
extremely low", said Biderman.  Dr. Carole Lieberman, a psychiatrist
and author of "Bad Boys: Why We Love Them, How to Live with Them and
When to Leave Them", disagrees that cheating strengthens
relationships. Cheating "can make a dull marriage more exciting but in
the end, most marriages suffer terribly from cheating and ultimately
break apart because of the loss of respect and trust", she said. FULL ARTICLE @ CTV.CA

See all posts on AshleyMadison

In Cougar Territory, Cubs Take The Lead

Posted on November 16, 2009

Nytimes cougar article picture NY TIMES – Nov 14 - A recent study by British online dating service Parship, said 20% of men in their 20s and 22% of men in their 30s would date an older woman. Over the last year, Amber Soletti, a founder of OnSpeedDating.com, has been playing host monthly to “Cougar/Boy Toy” speed-dating events. Ms. Soletti said the lure for the men is that older women are more sophisticated and more sexually experienced. Barry A. Farber, a psychotherapist said “dating an older woman may free the man from the pressures of the ‘baby hunger’ that a relationship with a younger woman might bring.” An older woman, he added, “may well take him more seriously than a woman his own age and will overlook the relatively small flaws.” FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

See all posts on Parship

Forced To Be Fat

Posted on November 15, 2009

Forced-fat-camp MARIE CLAIRE – Nov 15 – Is skinny really beautiful? Not in Mauritania, in Western Africa, where big is beautiful and stretch marks are sexy, young girls are brutally force-fed a diet of up to 16,000 calories a day–more than four times that of a male bodybuilder–to prepare them for marriage.

Rolling layers of fat are the height of sexiness.  Big women are back in vogue. The ultimate sign of beauty, however, is silvery stretch marks on the arms. [Two Mauritanians] inspect a photo of a bikini-clad model in a glossy magazine from neighboring Morocco. "She looks ill," they agree, clicking their tongues at her jutting hips and clavicles. Then they turn to an article about liposuction, and laugh so hard the walls seem to shake."

The full article was originally published at Marie Claire, but is no longer available.

Online Dating Giants Learn From Pick-up Artists

Posted on November 13, 2009

Lovesystems logo THE ECONOMIST – Nov 5 – Love Systems is an American firm that charges up to £3,000 ($5,000) for courses on how to pick-up women. Online dating firms such as eHarmony and eLove have also picked up on the need for dating coach services, though not on the same scale. Mark Brooks, an online-dating consultant, says, “You can meet the best people in the world and still screw it up because you don't know how to date. People need help, guidance, style counselling… feedback when a date goes wrong.” The National Dating Advice Line was launched last month and offers instant guidance from dating “experts” at £1.50 a minute. The British dating market is valued at nearly £100m, with 8% of Britons using online dating sites, compared to an average of 4% in the rest of Europe. However, the roughly 5 million visitors to British dating sites in September are a hard target. Visitor numbers in Britain fall well short of those in America. Mark Brooks believes this is because Britons are more sceptical than their transatlantic cousins. He regularly warns that overblown promises of true love are likely to repel rather than attract. FULL ARTICLE @ THE ECONOMIST

See all posts on eHarmony 
See all posts on eLove

Nielsen Internet Dating Rankings From October

Posted on November 13, 2009

Nielsen online logo nove OPW – Nov 13 – October’s unique audience rankings from Nielsen indicate that C-date is continuing to flirt its way into the hearts of daters across Europe. The casual dating site maintained its #1 position in Spain with a unique audience score of 449k. However, C-date also grabbed third place in both France (1,195k) and Switzerland (55k) after not making the top three in either country during September.

In the U.K., free dating site PlentyofFish remained #1 in October with a unique audience ranking of 543k. FriendsReunitedDating moved up a spot to #2 with a score of 514k, while the Match.com Network at 452k was able to bump DatingDirect out of the top three.

GenePartner, ScientificMatch.com Offer DNA Matchmaking

Posted on November 13, 2009

Couple dna testing ASSOCIATED PRESS – Nov 12 – Two genetic testing companies are offering matchmaking based on DNA tests for biological compatibility. The sample is acquired through a simple cheek swab for both companies. Various genetic characteristics are compared for compatibility. GenePartner has tested more than 1,000 people at $99 each. The validity of such compatibility tests has yet to be proven.

The full article was originally published at Associated Press, but is no longer available.

See all posts on GenePartner
See all posts on ScientificMatch

Internet Dating Industry Weekly News Nov 19th, 2009 – 4 mins

Posted on November 13, 2009

This is the news for the week of November 6th through November 12th, 2009. We hope you enjoy the new weekly news format. Here is the news we covered for this week:

  • October Online Dating Rankings from Hitwise
  • Earnings Reports from Spark Networks and Meetic
  • Number of Senior Online Daters on the Rise
  • Interview with Steve Odom, founder of Gelato

PhoneFling Mobile Dating Survey

Posted on November 12, 2009

Phonefling logo FREE MOBILE DATING BLOG – Nov 11 – PhoneFling.com has posted the results of their nationwide survey on attitudes about flirting and finding love in a Web 2.0 world. Intelitech polled its 275,000 PhoneFling and PhoneShag members.

  • 86% have known someone that used an online dating site

  • 70.4% have known someone that took the interaction offline and met their date in person

  • 43.6% have even known someone that entered into a long-term relationship with someone after finding them through an online dating site

The full article was originally published at Free Mobile Dating Blog, but is no longer available.