Month: April 2011

Looking For A Job?

Posted on April 11, 2011

Jobs offered OPW – Apr 11 – We've updated the iDating industry job listings again. Here are some sample job listings that we thought were interesting:

WhiteLabelDating
   Customer Retention Representative / UK, Windsor office
   Customer Care Executive / UK, Windsor office
   Customer Care Team Leader / UK, Windsor office
     
DatingStartsHere
   Affiliate Manager, Dating Aggregator / USA – VA, Reston

OculusAI
   System Developer (description in Swedish) / Sweden – Stockholm

Global Personals USA (Webdate, Fling, WealthyMen)
   Internet Affiliate Sales Managers / Online Buyers 
More info: http://www.globalpersonalsmedia.com/careers.html

AreYouInterested (SNAP Interactive)
   Product Manager
More info: http://www.snap-interactive.com/jobs.htm

Be2
   Online Marketing Manager "Campaigns"
   Medical Product Manager / Germany – Berlin or Munich
   Online Product Manager / Product Owner
More info: http://corporate.be2.com/jobs, contact: jobs@be2.com

Catholic Match
    Customer Service Position
More info: http://www.goacolyte.com/company/jobs.shtml
Cupid Media  
   Online Marketing Assistant (Graduate Position)
   Web Site Translators and Localizers
   Bilingual Customer Service Representatives and Translators
More info: http://www.cupidmedia.com/Career.cfm

eDarling.de
   Customer Care Agent (French or German speaking)
More info: http://www.edarling.de/jobs

eHarmony
   Country Manager / JP – 13-Minato-Ku
   Sr. Product Manager, Mobile / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Marketing Communications Writer / Brazil – Sao Paolo
   Marketing Manager / Brazil – Sao Paolo
   Finance/Office Manager / Brazil – Sao Paolo
   Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis / USA – CA, Santa Monica
  
FriendFinder Networks
   QA Lead / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Project Manager / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Fraud Manager / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   Senior Financial Analyst / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
     
FriendScout24 (description in German)
   User Experience Manager / Germany – Munchen
   Senior Pricing Analyst / Germany – Munchen
     
Lavalife
   Media Buyer
   Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Specialist
More info: corp.lavalife.com/web/corp/careers

Match.com, Chemistry.com, People Media
   MBA Finance Intern (Summer) / USA – TX, Dallas
   VP Marketing & Business Development / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   VP Public Relations and Communications / USA – NY, New York & TX, Dallas
   Reporting Analyst / USA – TX, Dallas
   Billing Analyst / USA – TX, Dallas
   Senior Manager, Strategy & Analysis – People Media / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   Creative Director / USA – TX, Dallas
   Accounts Payable Coordinator / USA – TX, Dallas
   Associate Manager, Online Marketing / USA – TX, Dallas
   Product Manager – People Media / USA – CA, Los Angeles
  
Online-Buddies
   Business Development Manager / USA – MA, Cambridge
   Director of Systems Operations / USA – MA, Cambridge
   Product Manager / USA – MA, Cambridge
  
Shaadi
    Customer Relations Officer / India – Mumbai
   SEO Expert / India – Mumbai
  
Smartdate
   COO / France – Paris
   Product Manager – CRM / France – Paris
More info: http://jobs.smartdate.com/

Spark Networks
   Director of Acquisition Marketing / USA – CA, Beverly Hills and UT, Provo
   Call Center Representative / USA – UT, Provo
   Online Media Buyer / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
   Account Manager / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
  
SpeedDate
   Lead Product Manager / Director of Product
   Social Marketing Manager
   Marketing Coordinator
   Sr. Manager / Director of Marketing – Display
To learn more, email: jobs@speeddate.com

WooMe       
   Site Operations Manager / USA – Los Angeles
   Community Manager
   Site Operations Analyst / USA – San Francisco
More info: http://www.woome.com/woome/jobs/#sysadmin

Zoosk
   Marketing Manager – Google Content Network Specialist / USA – CA, San Francisco
   Marketing Associate – Facebook Specialist / USA – CA, San Francisco
   Product Manager / USA – CA, San Francisco
More info: http://www.zoosk.com/jobs.php?from=footer

For the full listing, go here.

Do you have an idating job offer which is not included? Please, send the details (company, job title, location, link to details) to petra@courtlandbrooks.com and we will add your offer to the list.

Cupid Placings Raise £12m

Posted on April 11, 2011

Cupidplc logo STOCKMARKET WIRE – Apr 11 – Cupid has raised £12M through a placing of ordinary shares with new and existing institutional investors. Cupid said £5M was raised via a placing of ~4.5M new ordinary shares and £7M through a placing of ~6.4M existing ordinary shares held by founders Bill Dobbie and Max Polyakov (through Opalta Limited) all at 110p a piece. Following the placing, CEO Dobbie and business development director Polyakov will hold 24,7% and 23.1% respectively of the enlarged issued share capital.

See full article at Stockmarket Wire

See all posts on Cupid plc

Best Industries 2011: Online Dating And Matchmaking

Posted on April 11, 2011

Cyberheart INC – Apr 11 - As the social stigma about online dating vanishes, industry-wide profits are soaring. The online dating and matchmaking industry grew 2.3% between 2008 and 2011, with 2.8% more growth expected annually through 2016, according to IBISWorld. The number of people employed in the field is expected to increase from 15,606 in 2011 to~17,000 by 2016.

By the Numbers:
19.5 - Annual profit percentage for an online dating company, according to IBISWorld
14,427 – Number of online dating and matchmaking enterprises in the United States in 2011
15,621 – Number of enterprises expected to exist in 2016
18,285 – Number of people expected to be employed in the field in 2016
2.8% – Projected annual revenue increase for the online dating and matchmaking industry from 2011 through 1016

by Tim Donnelly
See full article at Inc

eHarmony Hits 40 Million Registrants

Posted on April 11, 2011

EHARMONY BLOG – Apr 9 – Congratulations to eHarmony on hitting this milestone. It took them 10 years, 7 months, 19 days. This figure of course includes the successful couples, the repeat registrants, the now-married, scammer accounts, and real actual paying members.

The full article was originally published at eHarmony blog, but is no longer available.

See all posts on eHarmony

Companionship Is Key To Happy Marriage

Posted on April 11, 2011

Bharatmatrimony logo PRESS RELEASE – Apr 9 – BharatMatrimony has announced the result of their online survey on Changing Trends in Marriages which was conducted on the fall of Matrimony Day 14th April. ~55% of the nearly 5200 people who took part in the survey voted companionship as the most important ingredient for a successful marriage. Only 19% believed that economic stability was more important for a successful marriage; physical intimacy came third with 10.3%. 5% felt that it was necessary to have children for a marriage to be successful.

See full article at Business Standard

See all posts on BharatMatrimony

iDating Industry Job Offers (April 2011)

Posted on April 11, 2011

WhiteLabelDating
   Cold Fusion Developer / UK, Windsor office
   Software Engineers / UK, Windsor office, remote working considered
   Ruby on Rails Developer / UK, Windsor office
   Customer Retention Representative / UK, Windsor office
   Customer Care Executive / UK, Windsor office
   Customer Care Team Leader / UK, Windsor office
   Part time Customer Retention Representative / UK, Windsor office
  
DatingStartsHere
   Affiliate Manager, Dating Aggregator / USA – VA, Reston

OculusAI
   System Developer (description in Swedish) / Sweden – Stockholm

Global Personals USA (Webdate, Fling, WealthyMen)
   MySQL Database Administrators / USA – FL, Miami
   Strongmail Engineer/Administrators / USA – FL, Miami
   PHP/LAMP Programmers
   Internet Graphic Designers
   Linux Systems Administrators
   Internet Affiliate Sales Managers / Online Buyers
 
More info: http://www.globalpersonalsmedia.com/careers.html

AreYouInterested (SNAP Interactive)
   iPhone / iOS Developer
   Product Manager
   UI Designer
   PHP / MySQL Developer to Focus on Email Analysis, Optimization & Deliverability
   Senior Designer
   QA Engineer
   Senior Front-End Developer
   Systems Administrator (Sysadmin)
   Senior Web / iPhone / Mobile App Designer
   Talented PHP / MySQL Developer (Multiple Openings)

More info: http://www.snap-interactive.com/jobs.htm

Be2
   Java Backend Developer / Slovakia – Bratislava
   iOS-Developer / Germany – Berlin
   Online Marketing Manager “Campaigns”
   Sales Manager
   Medical Product Manager / Germany – Berlin or Munich
   Online Product Manager / Product Owner

More info: http://corporate.be2.com/jobs, contact: jobs@be2.com

Bharat Matrimony
   Telemarketing Executive
  
More info: http://www.clickjobs.com/MicroSite/BharatMatrimony/

buzzArab.com
   Arabic Advice Specialist Volunteer
   English Advice Specialist Volunteer
   Quality Control Volunteer / Egypt – Cairo

More info: http://www.buzzarab.com/content/jobs.php

Catholic Match
    Customer Service Position

More info: http://www.goacolyte.com/company/jobs.shtml

ClickTonight
   Web Developer / UK – London
   Party Planner – part time / UK – London

Cupid Media
   Senior Cold Fusion / SQL Developer
   Junior Cold Fusion / SQL Developer
   Online Marketing Assistant (Graduate Position)
   Web Site Translators and Localizers
   Bilingual Customer Service Representatives and Translators
   MS SQL Developer / Data Warehouse Developer (6 months contract)

More info: http://www.cupidmedia.com/Career.cfm

eDarling.de
   Customer Care Agent (French or German speaking)
   Databank Developer / Datawarehouse Developer
   Customer Care Agen (native Russian speaker)
   Various Internships 

More info: http://www.edarling.de/jobs

eHarmony
   QA Engineer II (Mobile) / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Research Interviewer (Part Time) / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Mobile / Web User Experience Designer / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Country Manager / JP – 13-Minato-Ku
   Java Engineer (New Grad) / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Sr. Product Manager, Mobile / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Marketing Communications Writer / Brazil – Sao Paolo
   Marketing Manager / Brazil – Sao Paolo
   Finance/Office Manager / Brazil – Sao Paolo
   Senior Java Engineer / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Senior Java Engineer (Matching) / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Sr. Network Engineer / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Receptionist / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Machine Learning Engineer / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Manager, Financial Planning & Analysis / USA – CA, Santa Monica
   Software Engineer (Matching) / USA – CA, Santa Monica
  
ElitePartner.de
   Junior Software-Architekt / Germany
   Software-Architekt Java
   Various Internships
  
FriendFinder Networks
   Front End Developer / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Jr. Web Developer / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Software Engineer / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Senior Software Engineer / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Senior Perl Developer / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Senior Web Developer / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   QA Lead / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Perl Programmer / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Project Manager / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Customer Service Tier 2 Representative (Russian Speaking) / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   Fraud Manager / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   Senior Financial Analyst / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Senior ActionScript Game Developer / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
   Customer Service – Tier2 – Romanian Speaking / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   Web Development Intern / USA – CA, Sunnyvale
     
FriendScout24 (description in German)
   Software Developer m/w / Germany – Munchen
   IT-Project Manager / Germany – Munchen
   Junior Software Developer (Frontend) / Germany – Munchen
   User Experience Manager / Germany – Munchen
   Senior Pricing Analyst / Germany – Munchen
     
Gaydar
   Web User Interface Developer
   Customer Relations Officers
  
HowAboutWe
    Ruby on Rails Engineer
   iOS Software Engineer
  
More info: http://www.howaboutwe.com/jobs, email: jobs@howaboutwe.com

JWed (& Frumster.com)
   Web Developer (PHP/LAMP) / USA – NY, New York

KissNoFrog
    Dialogmarketing / Werbetexter
   Various internships

More info: http://www.kissnofrog.com/info/jobs

Lavalife
   Media Buyer
   Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Specialist
   Ruby on Rails Developer

More info: corp.lavalife.com/web/corp/careers

Match.com, Chemistry.com, People Media
   Designer, Visual / USA – TX, Dallas
   Sr Application Engineer (C#, .net, SQL) – PeopleMedia / USA – TX, Dallas
   MBA Finance Intern (Summer) / USA – TX, Dallas
   User Interface Engineer (HTML, CSS, Javascript) / USA – TX, Dallas
   VP Marketing & Business Development / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   VP Public Relations and Communications / USA – NY, New York & TX, Dallas
   Manager, Analytics (Analytics, SQL) / USA – TX, Dallas
   Reporting Analyst / USA – TX, Dallas
   Billing Analyst / USA – TX, Dallas
   Business Inteligence Analyst (SQL, SSIS, SSAS) / USA – TX, Dallas
   Senior Manager, Strategy & Analysis – People Media / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   Manager, Product Strategy and Analysis – People Media / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   Associate Designer, Visual / USA – TX, Dallas
   Creative Director / USA – TX, Dallas
   Sr. Database Engineer (SQL Server Developer, T-SQL) / USA – TX, Dallas
   Accounts Payable Coordinator / USA – TX, Dallas
   Associate Manager, Online Marketing / USA – TX, Dallas
   Email Marketing Manager / USA – TX, Dallas
   Product Manager – People Media / USA – CA, Los Angeles
   Senior Engineer, QA / USA – TX, Dallas
   Application Engineer / USA – TX, Dallas
   Associate User Interface Engineer (HTML, CSS, Javascript) / USA – TX, Dallas
   Senior Application Mobile – Android / USA – TX, Dallas
  
More info: http://www.match.com/cp/careers/CurrentOpenings.html  

MyPartner
   Senior Ad Sales Manager

Online-Buddies
   Bilingual Customer Service Representative
   Quality Assurance Engineer
   Business Development Manager / USA – MA, Cambridge
   Director of Systems Operations / USA – MA, Cambridge
   Product Manager / USA – MA, Cambridge
   Senior Systems Administrator / USA – MA, Cambridge
   PHP Developer / USA – MA, Cambridge
   Senior Java JSP Developer / USA – MA, Cambridge
   UI Engineer / USA – MA, Cambridge
  
Shaadi
    Customer Relations Officer / India – Mumbai
   Web Developer / India – Mumbai
   Software Engineer / India – Mumbai
   Senior Software Engineer / India – Mumbai
   SEO Expert / India – Mumbai
   Telecalling Operator / India – Mumbai

Smartdate
   COO / France – Paris
   Product Manager – CRM / France – Paris
   Senior Engineer / France – Paris
   New Wave System Admin / France – Paris
   Web Analyst (Intern) / France – Paris
   Community Manager (Intern) / France – Paris

More info: http://jobs.smartdate.com/

Spark Networks
   HurryDate Host
   Director of Acquisition Marketing / USA – CA, Beverly Hills and UT, Provo
   Corporate Systems Administrator / USA – UT, Provo
   Systems Administrators / USA – UT, Provo
   Call Center Representative / USA – UT, Provo
   HurryDate Intern / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
   QA Engineer – Contractor / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
   Online Media Buyer / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
   Account Manager / USA – CA, Beverly Hills
   PR Intern / USA – CA, Beverly Hills

SpeedDate
   Lead Product Manager / Director of Product
   Affiliate Marketing Manager
   Social Marketing Manager
   Marketing Coordinator
   Sr. Manager / Director of Marketing – Display
   Senior Analyst / Manager
   iOS Developer
   Software Engineer

To learn more, email: jobs@speeddate.com

WooMe       
   System Admin / UK – London, USA – Los Angeles
   Site Operations Manager / USA – Los Angeles
   Community Manager
   Site Operations Analyst / USA – San Francisco
   Marketing Intern / USA – Los Angeles
   Web Programmer / USA – West Coast or UK – London
   Senior Python Developer / UK – London

More info: http://www.woome.com/woome/jobs/#sysadmin

World Singles
   Cold Fusion Developer / USA – CA, Aliso Viejo
   Cold Fusion Intern / USA – CA, Aliso Viejo

More info: http://worldsingles.com/ws2010/careers/

Zoosk
   Marketing Manager – Google Content Network Specialist / USA – CA, San Francisco
   Software Engineer – Back-End Systems / USA – CA, San Francisco
   Marketing Associate – Facebook Specialist / USA – CA, San Francisco
   Product Manager / USA – CA, San Francisco
   Junior Software Engineer / USA – CA, San Francisco
   Software Engineer / USA – CA, San Francisco
   Software Engineer – Mobile (iPhone) / USA – CA, San Francisco
   Software Engineer in Test – White Box / USA – CA, San Francisco
  
More info: http://www.zoosk.com/jobs.php?from=footer

New Dating Site Is Indistinguishable From Prostitution

Posted on April 8, 2011

Whatsyourprice logo GAWKER – Apr 7 – "WhatsYourPrice.com is like eBay for dating," says the site's founder, Brandon Wade. "When you see a hot single you want to date, just make an offer and buy the first date." Wade is also the genius behind sugar daddy dating service SeekingArrangement.com. Obviously, the first question about WhatsYourPrice.com is "How is this not prostitution or escorting?" "This is all about paying for the first date. There is absolutely no sex involved, and except perhaps the chance of sex at some point in the future if you are able to successfully charm and seduce", said the site's spokesperson.

by Adrian Chen
The full article was originally published at Gawker, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: I prefer the HowAboutWe concept. Imaginative dating ideas driving connections. But WhatsYourPrice has a niche. Guys who have money, and want to cut to the chase. A date, and less tappity tap online.

See all posts on SeekingArrangement

Check Out Your Competition, For Free

Posted on April 7, 2011

Quantcast logo CB BLOG – Apr 6 – Quantcast is a web analytics service that competes with the likes of Compete.com, Hitwise and to some extent comScore. Quantcast also allows sites to volunteer to have their data pulled directly. So sites can elect to give Quantcast the keys to their server metrics. The following dating sites are quantified:

Speeddate
OkCupid
eHarmony
Zoosk

Quantcast offers the following reports:
1. Traffic report – cookies, impressions, page views
2. Demographics report – gender, age, children per household, education status and income levels.
3. Audience Also Likes – what properties people also engage with
4. Traffic Frequency – addicts vs regulars vs passers by
5. Business Data – do people visit from home or work?

Based on those reports we can say that 57% of US eHarmony visitors are females. eHarmony attracts people 35 +, mainly Caucasian with no kids. 1% of eHarmony's audience visit the site daily and account for 35% of all visits. 37% are regulars and account for 48% of all eHarmony visits.

See full article at CourtlandBrooks Blog

Paul Larsen, Managing Partner At Paul Larsen Consulting

Posted on April 7, 2011

Paullarsenconsulting logo OPW INTERVIEW – Apr 7 – Paul Larsen of Paul Larsen Consulting helps recurring “Card Not Present “ merchants increase revenue.

Anne Holland referred me to Paul and told me he was a wizard with payment processors.  So I thought I’d interview him for you. – Mark Brooks

You have quite an unusual focus with your consultancy. Tell us more. What do you do, Paul?
Primarily, we help subscription merchants meet and overcome customer churn caused by credit card problems. We help them hold onto their customers and we do a few other things along the way – reduce fraud, reduce chargebacks, help them become PCI compliant and help them lower fees.

More specifically I understand your sub specialty is working with card not present.
Yes, we work almost exclusively with what we call card not present, recurring or subscription merchants.

What is your background Paul? How did you get to be doing what you’re doing now?
We were on the merchant side ourselves for 13 years. We helped build and develop the system and the policies and procedures for what came to be the world’s largest magazine subscription company from 1994 to 2003).

That company was called Synapse and was purchased by Time Warner and today is a division of Time, Inc. But it was during that time when we incubated and developed many of the best practices that we were able to bring to bear for more effective performance in credit card processing over time.

Now I understand you’ve worked with the Internet dating industry in the past. Who have you worked with?
We’ve worked with Match.com, Spark Networks, ChristianCafe.com, Speeddate, True.com.  Those are just a few of the dating companies that we have worked with – and a number of those we continue to work with today.

What have you helped them achieve?
Primarily higher retention rates and that’s really why we exist. We want to be able to help them overcome the challenges of credit card breakage and thereby help improve their retention rate. And again, we also help them reduce fraud and chargebacks. We help them lower their fees through more incisive processing and more integral partnerships with their processors.

What are the most common problems you encounter specific to the Internet dating industry?
The problems are mostly generated by what we call environmental events. 72 million credit and debit cards were reissued last year. That’s 28% of all consumers receiving a replacement card. Banks are flipping portfolios in the United States quite a bit. Last year SunTrust flipped its entire debit portfolio of 6MM cards from Visa to MasterCard and this year Sovereign Bank is doing the same thing. Any time you hear a news headline about  cards being re-issued you know that’s not good for a subscription company.

Greater than 1 in 5 Americans are missing a credit card payment each year and with the economy being what it is, credit has been reduced and so credit limits are challenged. All credit cards around the world are reissued every 3 years or so and that’s a significant problem for subscription merchants.

Now, of course, the latest is the invasion of prepaid cards into the subscription industry. That is challenging because most of them are not reloadable and so therefore there is not much lifetime value attributable to a customer who begins a relationship with a dating merchant on a prepaid card.

Are you a fan of prepaid cards?
Personally I am. I like to receive them and use them but I would say most merchants these days are being crushed by it. They have maybe a lower priced intro offer, under $25, under $30 and the demography thereafter has lots of prepaid cards. They use it on the initial sale and then, of course, there won’t be any successful recurring charge because their prepaid card has been spent. The average value on a non-reloadable gift card is $33.

But we help merchants understand what to do in order to minimize the consequences of these events. Our goal is to move our clients, especially our dating clients to a position of strength corporately because of their credit card process and not despite it.

What would you say would be the biggest opportunity that you think the Internet dating industry is missing out on when it comes to payment processing?
So I could go blue sky here and talk about mobile payments and other trendy things. With mobile payments, especially in the United States and the UK, people are still trying to figure out what that means and how to take advantage of it. But really, the biggest opportunity is the optimized utilization of the best practices that have been made available to help subscription merchants overcome the challenges related to fraud, re-issuance, delinquency, credit limits, etc. There’s a lot of blocking and tackling involved but it’s surely worth it.

How can people work with you and what do you charge?
We work with companies in 2 different ways. There are organizations that have fully engaged staff in-house that is charged with paying attention to this and making sure credit card processing is optimized. Those companies often reach out to us and just simply ask for an audit of best practice usage. Match.com is one of those companies.

The other way is an approach that is more relationship oriented. We begin almost every relationship with an audit so we can see what they’re doing. Right then we understand what they can improve. Most companies will need some ongoing attention to implement best practices and sharpen the ones they have.

Let me pose a scenario for you. Say if I was running an Internet dating company based in the USA that had revenues of $20 million a year. What roughly would you want to charge me as an upfront and then as a retainer if we’re looking at a 2 year agreement?
We usually charge around $5,000 for the audit and then for our active involvement with customers we charge under $2,000 a month.

We’re very active in our relationships with customers. We help them either utilize and interpret reports that their processors make available or build their own reports internally that give them a clearer idea about how they are performing.

3.5 Women to Every Man Cheating Online

Posted on April 5, 2011

Illicitencounters logo new PR WEB – Apr 5 – New research from IllicitEncounters.com shows that, for every husband pursuing affairs online, there are more than three wives. The research also showed that women spent considerably more time than men as a member of the site, staying active for just over a year. Male members are typically active for just over 6 months. IllicitEncounters.com, who conducted the research, say the figure marks a clear shift in the demographics of British affairs. IllicitEncounters.com has been running since 2003, and now has ~570,000 members across the UK & Ireland.

See full article at PR Web

See all posts on IllicitEncounters