Choosing a Dating Service: Quick Summary

Target Audience

• Make sure the dating site is aimed at “your kind of people”.
• Try to get a feel for the mood of the users on the site.
• Are there enough members that come from your own location?
• Is the general age range of the members suited to you.

Number of Members

• The more members there are, the greater the selection there is for to you to choose from.
• Keep in mind that not all the users will be currently active.

Subscription Costs

• There’s no such thing as a completely free good dating service.
• Subscription costs are normally extremely good value for money.
• Try it for a month, and if you don’t like it, drop it!
• Remember that these small charges allow the dating site to grow, along with your enjoyment.

Free Trial Periods

• All good sites will offer a free trial period.
• Make use of these trial periods on as many sites as possible.
• You have nothing to lose by using a free trial!

Communication Features

• These include: mail, chat rooms, voice, video / webcam and mobile phones.
• Just because you don’t own a webcam or microphone yet, it doesn’t mean you won’t be tempted to get one in the future.
• You don’t need any of the above equipment to watch and listen to other members anyway!

Search Features

• Don’t rule out match making features, they’re often very good.
• If you don’t have a lot of time or you don’t have much luck in your own selections, then make sure the site you choose supports some form of match-making.

Offline Events

• Some of the larger sites will organise offline events for people to get together.
• These are always great fun and the right setting for meeting new people.
• They’re also perfect for moving your online relationships to offline, in safety.
• Again, you may not be too bothered about all this now, but always plan for the future!