Category: Matchdoctor

Single Shot: How To Be A Cheap Date

Posted on October 10, 2008

Cheapdate_seattle_pi_article SEATLE PI — Oct 10 — Dating in the New Improved Depression means learning to make do with the simple things in life, the things we've been blathering about for 30 years: long walks on the beach, snuggling in front of a fire and enjoying The Sunday New York Times. Free personal sites are one of the hottest new trends in online dating, according to Mark Brooks, editor of Onlinepersonalswatch.com. The top three contenders, as ranked by Hitwise, are Plentyoffish, DateHookup and OkCupid, but there are many more, including HOT or NOT, Webdate, Matchdoctor, Bookofmatches and Smooch.

The full article was originally published at Seattle PI, but is no longer available.

See all posts on PlentyofFish    See all posts on Webdate
See all posts on DateHookup    See all posts on Matchdoctor
See all posts on OkCupid          See all posts on BookofMatches
See all posts on HotorNot         See all posts on Smooch

Internet Playing Middleman In Romancing

Posted on March 7, 2008

Couple_internet_playing INDIA TIMES — Mar 7 — Indian online dating revenue were $30 million in 2006 showing a growth rate of 50% year-on-year. Internet usage for online dating has increased from 9% in 2006 to 37% in 2007. In India, where up to 90% of all marriages are arranged, domestic online dating companies are racking up some impressive numbers. In US the online dating revenue was $900 million in 2007, and growing more than 70% year-on-year, according to Jupiter Research. The growth of various free dating sites like OkCupid, Matchdoctor.com, Bookofmatches, Smooth.com and CrazyBlindDate.com have driven the trend of online dating. The concept of virtual dating is gaining popularity, where sites like Mate4all.com or OmniDate.com are offering users the chance to date with the help of avatars in a place that resembles the real environment. Another promising technology is 'iovation' which helps online firms prevent fraudulent activities. FULL ARTICLE @ INDIA TIMES

The Hottest Trends In Online Dating

Posted on February 10, 2008

Mark NETWORK WORLD — Feb 7 — No one knows online dating better than Mark Brooks, editor of OnlinePersonalsWatch.com. Brooks is a modern-day Cyrano — he's a consultant to many of the Web's largest online dating sites as well as traditional matchmaking services. Network World interviewed Brooks about the hottest trends in online dating.

Q:How many online dating services are there?
MB: Hitwise has estimated there are 800-plus. I think that's about right for the U.S. A lot of them are affiliate sites that are driving traffic to the main dating sites.

Q: How has online dating affected traditional matchmaking services?
MB: Internet dating has warmed an entire generation of users to the prospect of getting help in dating and paying for that help.

Q: What new technologies are you are seeing in online dating?
MB: One of the biggest innovations is avatar-based instant messaging. One site that's pioneering the use of avatars is OmniDate.com. Another emerging technology is iovation, which helps online dating sites battle fraud. With iovation's Reputation Manager, one dating site can flag a person as abusive and throw them out and then let other sites in the online dating community know about it.

Q: How has online dating technology changed in recent years?
MB: Actually, online dating is in about the same place that it has been in for the last three years. One of the things I'd like to see is more technology being applied to personality profiling. In this area there are four companies worth mentioning: Perfectmatch.com; eHarmony.com; Chemistry.com; and True.com.

Q: Have social networkings like Facebook and MySpace cut into online dating traffic?
MB: The numbers show that less people are coming to Internet dating sites. According to ComScore the number of people who came to Internet dating sites in December 2007 was down 10% over the prior year. But I don't think it's the end of online dating. I think the lookilous have gone away.

Q:What are the hottest trends in online dating?
MB: One is the rise in Baby Boomers and also rise of free dating sites, such as Plentyoffish.com, DateHookup.com, OkCupid.com, Matchdoctor.com, Bookofmatches.com, Smooch.com and CrazyBlindDate.com.

Q: What do you see as the future of online dating?
MB: It's difficult to enter the market and be a large generic dating site at this stage. The only thing you can build today is a niche dating site, and even niches are hard to build. That's why we're seeing the rise of a bunch of companies that offer white-label dating services. One of these companies is Whitelabeldating.com.

Full article @ NetworkWorld

Paid Dating Sites Discover Local Spam

Posted on December 6, 2006

THE PARADIGM SHIFT BLOG — Dec 5 — Paid dating sites have now all adopted the strategy I created 3 years ago and taken it to the extreme. Check out google searches like garrison dating. Date.com  Matchmaker.com take the top spots. Followed by match.com, AmericanSingles, Meetic and Match.com UK.  Matchdoctor and others have started retooling their entire sites to try and rank high for local queries. Its like everyone just caught on in the last couple of months.

The full article was originally published at The Paradigm Shift, but is no longer available.

Another Free Dating Site – Datopia

Posted on October 11, 2006

Datopia_logo_1PR WEB — Oct 11 — The Heart2Heart Network, a leading provider of targeted online dating services, today announced the launch of its free, all-access dating community, Datopia.

The full article was originally published at PR Web, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Ever since Markus Frind showed off his $900k check for January and February from Google Adsense I've seen free dating site after free dating site launch. I've added a top 3 ranking for the free dating sites on the right bar. Plentyoffish is way ahead. OKCupid and Matchdoctor are doing well also. It falls off significantly from their.

Free Sites vs American Singles, Social Networks

Posted on June 26, 2006

Logo_plentyoffishOPW — June 26 — Here's a little graph of Plentyoffish vs OKCupid vs Matchdoctor vs American Singles fyi. Plentyoffish is powering away. Here's Myspace vs Friendster vs Hi5 vs Facebook.

Mark Brooks: Crazy outta control! Myspace is taking over the internet.

Matchdoctor.com: Online Dating Meets Social Networking

Posted on March 3, 2006

MatchdoctorPR NEWSWIRE — Mar 1 — Online Singles, LLC (www.matchdoctor.com) is combining social networking with online dating. Friend networks, tagging, blogging, photo albums, and forums features allow people to connect with other people in different ways beyond traditional user search engines. "Our goal at Matchdoctor.com is to take…social networking and its features and make it dating-centric," said Luke Kalish, President. 

Matchdoctor.com: Online Dating Meets Social Networking

Posted on March 3, 2006

MatchdoctorPR NEWSWIRE — Mar 1 — Online Singles, LLC (www.matchdoctor.com) is combining social networking with online dating. Friend networks, tagging, blogging, photo albums, and forums features allow people to connect with other people in different ways beyond traditional user search engines. "Our goal at Matchdoctor.com is to take…social networking and its features and make it dating-centric," said Luke Kalish, President. 

Online Dating has its Ups, Downs

Posted on October 30, 2005

U-WIRE — Oct 13 — The online dating craze has become a popular alternative for singles around the world; matchdoctor.com, plentyoffish.com and cupidjunction.com. However, uncertainty can still linger for some.  "Many of them (the sites) concentrate on 'compatibility,' but there's so much more to dating that 'compatibility' can't solve," Travis said. "Plus, people lie and the absence of body language and facial expression can make it easier to do that." Match.com promises to teach singles "how to find the right person in 90 days."  Others, like Yahoo! Personals, allow seven-day trials for visitors who sign up beforehand.

The full article was originally published at Daily Colonial, but is no longer available.

Mark Brooks: Webdate.com is betting on webcam based 'webdating' to allow users to go on their first internet date online.