OPW – May 27 - Contact Wes Perkins if you are interested in any of the online dating domains listed below:
BlackMatch.com (Eur 89K)
GreenDating.com (Eur 47K)
RichDating.com (Eur 67K)
10% discount if all three are bought as a package, 5% discount if two out of three are bought as a package.
Also PURRsonals.com ($100,000) and Animalmagnetism.com ($90,000) are for sale from Sonny Crane.
Got a domain or site to sell? Send 'em our way and we'll list them for free.
OPW INTERVIEW – May 27 – Karinna Kittles-Karsten is The Love Educator. She’s a former model, has authored the books Intimate Wisdom: The Sacred Art of Love, as well as hosting and producing the DVD Sacred Love-Making. Single women are inordinate consumers of relationship content. Karinna is a producer of such content. I thought I’d help introduce you, the dating industry, to her. – Mark Brooks
What is your background?
I am a seeker, artist, educator and entrepreneur in the field of love and intimacy. It’s been a lifelong passion of mine to discover and study global wisdom on love, sex and intimacy. Because of this, I’ve traveled all over the world. I was fascinated by how couples and singles relate to one another in different cultures. Their similarities and differences were also very interesting.
Tell us more about SacredLove.
SacredLove.com has a unique offering in the online dating and relationship enhancement space. It supports you before, during and after finding the right partner.
You have a love spa. How does the love spa work?
We offer dating and intimacy tools that singles and couples can access 24 hours a day to improve their relationship experience through our one of a kind love spa membership.
What are the tools?
We have an audio/visual menu that includes selections to boost your self confidence and body image. The selections teach you how to communicate to increase your dating success as well as your ability to get close to someone. We also have a visual menu that plays selections to increase your sexual intimacy skill.
You have multiple membership offerings. Can you walk us through your offers?
For starters we offer traditional online dating where you can create a profile and look for love online. In addition to online dating, we of course offer the love spa. We also have a web TV channel membership called Empowered Relationships TV that features inspiring date night programming.
In conjunction with our membership plans, we also have the couple’s connection feature which is like Facebook for couples. Another one of the special features we offer here is our mobile connection provided by our partnership with messmo.
Are the couples communicating with other couples?
Couple’s connection works in two ways. A couple can have a private profile in which they would interact amongst themselves but if they want to meet other couples online and become friends, they can open up their profile and meet other couples on the platform.
It sounds like you’re covering a wide range of the relationship continuum. How about conflict resolution? Is there anything in your services that will help couples get back together?
Absolutely. In the love spa you’ll find selections on how to resolve conflict, how to get through life’s challenges and how to become intimate again.
How are you promoting the site at this stage? How are you using social media?
We’re using Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to engage our customers that are highly involved in social media. This step is in the process of being implemented as we speak. We are also open to relationship oriented dating sites approaching us to discuss using our services for their members as an extended engagement.
How would that work?
On traditional dating sites you might find a dating coach offering, which is usually a blog or articles with dating tips and perhaps some one on one advice. But at Sacred Love, we focus on connecting people. So in an arrangement we would provide content for bringing people together and helping singles to date more successfully.
This is a great opportunity for the online dating space to engage. Why would you have a million or more members and then let them go somewhere else? There is a real need in the online dating space to foster love, intimacy as well as create ongoing engagement.
SMART COMPANY – May 26 - eHarmony is one of the global industry leaders, with revenue estimated at ~$250M and more than 30M registered users worldwide. Today we're talking to VP of international marketing, Sean Cornwell, about the keys to customer acquisition, the balance between quantity and quality in the dating world and why Australian married couples are happier than couples overseas.
Q: When you started here and how big your presence is?
A: We launched the site in November 2007. And now we are one of the largest online dating services in Australia. We have ~650,000 registrants.
A: Users only receive matches that are compatible with them.
Q: Are there instances where someone who's got a unique personality might go for a little while without getting any matches?
A: In Australia that's unlikely. We certainly have a very strong and healthy matching pool.
Q: Tell us a bit about the business model.
A: We're a subscription business so we're not free.
Q: In some ways you don't want to retain customers for too long because you hope they've found a terrific much, but if it doesn't quite work out for them I guess you want to keep them on the site. How do you get that balance right?
A: We're all about helping people to find a long-term relationship, hopefully to help them find "the one" as it were and it's like anything else, you know the more you put into eHarmony, the more you get out of it.
Q: What works from a customer acquisition point of view?
A: We're always testing new marketing channels, new techniques, new tactics and so forth. We use TV, we use radio, we use all sorts of online channels and so forth.
Q: Have you noticed any differences in the Australian market to some of the other places that you're in?
A: Australia is no different to other markets, English speaking or non-English speaking. There are certain differences in the media markets. There are also subtleties and differences between each market in each culture that have certain things that they tend to value more strongly than others. One of the interesting things that we have discovered through eHarmony Labs, is around Australian couples. When we've compared them to the US or the UK, overall Australia's married couples are the happiest with their marriages. They tend to put in more effort.
Q: Has the rise of social networking helped or hindered you guys?
A: I'm not sure that we have a clear answer on that. I'd say probably with the 25 to 30 age group, there is a greater comfort through finding potential dates through networks like Facebook and the like. But then again it's much more around the casual end of the spectrum rather than serious long-term relationships.
The full article was originally published at Smart Company, but is no longer available.
EHARMONY BLOG – May 25 - Apparently Down to Earth, the free version of the Match.com, now redirects to their newly acquired company, Singlesnet.
The full article was originally published at eHarmony Blog, but is no longer available.
See all posts on Match.com
See all posts on Singlesnet
See all posts on DownToEarth / Stir.com
MASHABLE – May 25 – OkCupid sent an e-mail to some of its users
nforming them that they’ve been placed in the top half of users in
terms of attractiveness by its algorithms. As a result of the
categorization, the attractive users will be more likely to see one
another in match searches, while the users who are in the lower tier
will not see a change. The e-mail specified that the determinations
were made through analysis of clicks on users’ photos and reactions in
the Quiver and QuickMatch features. Those two tools ask users to
quickly respond positively or negatively to photos accompanied by
segments of profile text. FULL ARTICLE @ MASHABLE
MARKET WIRE – May 25 - JDate announced the official beta launch of JDate Mobile, a mobile application compatible with any web-enabled phone in the world. Unlike most other mobile apps, JDate Mobile works not only on iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices, but across all mobile platforms, regardless of handset model or carrier.
The full article was originally published at Fox Business, but is no longer available.
WSJ – May 25 - Patti Stanger is the owner of The Millionaire's Club, an elite matchmaking service based in L.A. She also hosts Bravo's reality show "The Millionaire Matchmaker."
Q: Your first real job in matchmaking was at Great Expectations, the oldest dating service in the U.S. What do you consider your first professional match?
A: I dated a guy and he liked me but I didn't like him. He said to me, "If I give you $10,000, will you find me my wife because I want someone like you?" And within a year, he got married.
Q: Why did you stay in the corporate world so long?
A: I was a VP of marketing. I was always a corporate Fortune 500 girl. I had to realize matchmaking was a business. Silicon Valley was booming with millionaires coming every weekend trying to get their "hottie patottie" and find their future wife. They didn't know how to date, they didn't know how to talk to girls.
Q: So, your job isn't just about matching people up for dates or relationships?
A: Coaching is three-quarters of what we do in matchmaking.
Q: How is your club different than other dating services?
A: We offer unlimited dating because the process is never-ending.
Q: How much do clients pay for your services? How are they chosen?
A: Fees range from a base membership of $40,000 for a year of unlimited dating throughout the U.S. and Canada to a VIP or Diamond Membership, which runs from $150,000 to $200,000.
Q: Why don't the potential dates have to have money?
A: Successful men want to always take care of their women financially.
Q: How do you stay in business, considering love is so unpredictable and can go sour?
A: I have a great track record, and I have never been sued. If I can't find someone for someone, I refer them out. I have an affiliate division of matchmakers all over the world that I work with.
Q: If you weren't a matchmaker, what would you be?
A: I'd be a chef.
FULL ARTICLE @ WSJ
MARKET WATCH – May 24 – Spark.com, the new online dating site for singles looking for serious relationships and created by the same people behind JDate.com and ChristianMingle.com, will offer a free one-month subscription to all former Yahoo Personals members who were automatically funneled into Match.com as a result of Yahoo's agreement to have Match.com power the site formerly known as Yahoo Personals.
The full article was originally published at MarketWatch, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: Jilted Yahoo! Personals members are welcomed by ChristianCafe.com as well.
OPW – May 25 – I just love gritty, characterful people who speak their mind. This video is quite hilarious and completely out of control. Carol Bartz gave Mike Arrington a lambasting at TechCrunch Disrupt and told him to F*&off! Unfortunately, this kind of forthrightness, while perhaps in some form of context at the conference, will now go viral and polarize executives and investors. Some will laugh and agree. Others will not forgive her loss of control. How long do you think Carol will remain as CEO of Yahoo? Your comments please.
PR NEWSWIRE – May 24 – Match.com will become the exclusive online dating site on Yahoo!. Yahoo! Personals users will have the opportunity to move to a new co-branded Match.com experience, "Match.com on Yahoo!" where they will combine with the Match.com community. The Match.com on Yahoo! service is available starting today.
The full article was originally published at Match Media Room, but is no longer available.
Mark Brooks: The writing was on the wall for Yahoo Personals USA when Yahoo Personals UK partnered with Match.com to power the UK service in June 2006. IAC's Barry Diller showed interest in Yahoo in April 2009. Then sold Match Europe to Meetic for a 27% stake in Meetic. IAC will likely buy Meetic, in time. We surmised Match would either be buying Singlesnet or Yahoo Personals back in February. They bought Singlesnet. Here's a link to the transition options for existing Yahoo Personals users. Users can transition their profile and membership over, or cancel and get a prorated refund, or continue using the service through July 21st when Y! Personals officially shuts down. Users will still be able to move their profiles over to Match through Jan 19th, 2011.