Dating Tips | Dating Service.com » News & Views http://www.dating-service.com/blog Advice and Tips for Online Dating Tue, 31 Aug 2010 16:26:56 +0000 en hourly 1 Urban Social Events Take Off http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1123/urban-social-events-take-off/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1123/urban-social-events-take-off/#comments Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:12:12 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1123

One of the challenges of online dating is actually getting out there to meet other singles. The pressures that come with having to meet face to face, one on one, can be huge and for many singles it’s intimidating enough to make them think twice about online dating.

Now there’s a good solution that brings together the best of online dating with the best of getting out there to meet other people. Urban Social is an online dating company that offers traditional online services, but also expands its reach into local areas by partnering with other companies to create in-person events and activities. This is not necessarily a brand new approach; other online dating services have tried to offer events and gatherings as part of their services.

What makes the Urban Social approach different is that they are not actually putting on the events themselves but rather working with third parties who do the actual event planning and execution. It’s a partnership model that works well, especially in smaller markets where the local partner knows what will be popular and cost effective for that area. All they have to do is set themselves up with Urban Social, put together an event outline for Urban Social to approve, and then Urban Social partners with them to promote and support the event.

So whether you’re a single looking for interesting events and activities in your area or someone who would like to create a singles event for your community, take a look at Urban Social. You just might find something exciting to really take off!

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]]> http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1123/urban-social-events-take-off/feed/ 0 Business Cards Get Personal http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1120/business-cards-get-personal/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1120/business-cards-get-personal/#comments Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:03:25 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1120

Business cards are a standard “tool of the trade” in the business world, an accepted and expected way of sharing contact information with someone else. In the online dating world, though, connecting and sharing contact information with someone else has been limited to whatever electronic tools the online dating site provides to its members.

Now a new and innovative approach is combining the easy and effectiveness of business cards with the privacy and convenience of online dating. It’s a hybrid approach used by online dating sites like Cheekd.com to give their users the flexibility to make contact with someone in person but still have the privacy protection of the online site.

Here’s how it works: your monthly subscription to the dating site includes a set of business-type cards printed with a greeting and a special code that allows the recipient to log in to the site and connect with you. The cards make it easy to make contact with someone you might see across the room without having to go over and try to make contact with them face to face.

Online singles love this option. They can slip a card to someone unobtrusively, or even send a friend over to deliver it to someone of interest. It’s sort of like passing notes in second grade, but with a far more mature and adult focus. For the recipient it’s a great way to know they’ve been “spotted” and gives them the privacy and protection of making that first contact online as well.

It’s like business cards for personals, and it’s an idea that is rapidly becoming popular for very good reasons!

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]]> http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1120/business-cards-get-personal/feed/ 1 Moon Over Miami http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1117/moon-over-miami/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1117/moon-over-miami/#comments Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:43:42 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1117

Summer time is in high gear, and that means plenty of opportunities to get “out and about” to meet other singles. Online dating services are of course a great way to meet up with someone whose interests match with your own, but there will always be a role for in person, face to face interactions when it comes to the dating world.

That’s why Match.com conducted its annual Singles Summer Travel Survey to find the very best places for singles to travel this year if they want to find lots of opportunities to meet other singles.

And this year’s winner? Miami, Florida, of course! Who wouldn’t want to take a summer trip to this beautiful city which is also home to some of the most beautiful beaches to be found anywhere?

In fact, it is the availability of beautiful beaches that most singles say is one of the major deciding factors in their choosing of a summer vacation destination. A great beach is a “must have” for over 70% of the singles who responded to the survey, with a great swimming pool coming in a distant second with about 43% of the singles saying it was a “must have” for them.

If you can’t make it to Miami this year, though, take heart because there are a number of other great beach destinations that are also top picks for singles. These include Manhattan Beach, California; Waikiki Beach, Hawaii; and South Padre Island, Texas. So wherever you might be, there’s a great beach near you for meeting and connecting with other singles this summer!

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]]> http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1117/moon-over-miami/feed/ 0 Yahoo Personals Admits Defeat http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1110/yahoo-personals-admits-defeat/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1110/yahoo-personals-admits-defeat/#comments Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:36:39 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1110

In a move that has surprised very few people in the online dating world, Yahoo Personals has admitted defeat and given up on running its own dating service online. After being one of the earliest online dating providers, Yahoo led the marketplace for a long time but over the last few years has had a huge amount of trouble competing with its larger competitors such as eHarmony.com and Match.com.

And so it’s goodbye to Yahoo Personals and hello to Match.com. The larger and more popular Match.com will absorb Yahoo Personals members and transfer their accounts to their service. Yahoo isn’t getting out of the online dating business entirely, though; they will still earn commissions from signing up new Match.com members via Yahoo channels.

What does this mean for singles? For the most part it should only affect those who are Yahoo Personals members, but not necessarily in a negative way. They will transition to Match.com and be able to take advantage of that site’s features and benefits. Some experts who watch the online dating marketplace think the loss of Yahoo Personals is a sign that only the very big will survive long term, but most others think it is not that dire of a situation. The reality is that there is still going to be plenty of opportunity on the web for other online dating sites to launch and prosper, especially those that focus on niche categories with highly specialized services.

So goodbye, Yahoo Personals, it was nice knowing you!

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]]> http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1110/yahoo-personals-admits-defeat/feed/ 0 Yahoo Partners With Match.com http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1105/yahoo-partners-with-match-com/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1105/yahoo-partners-with-match-com/#comments Sat, 29 May 2010 05:34:28 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1105

If you use Yahoo Personals, you’re in for a great surprise. Effective immediately, Yahoo Personals is now powered by Match.com. The name has even been changed to Match.com on Yahoo. You can migrate your Yahoo Personals account over immediately, or wait a while, but why wait? Match.com is one of the leading online dating services, and Yahoo customers are getting more bang for their buck by going to Match.com.

By bringing Yahoo Personals into Match.com, both sets of customers immediately have access to thousands more matches. And, now, Yahoo customers will have the benefit of Match.com’s unparalleled matching system, so the matches you do receive should be even better suited to you.
Yahoo has truly been an online leader since they began providing web services in 1994. This company that began as a hobby for two buddies has grown into one of the most recognized names on the web. In fact, more people call Yahoo home (for their home page) than any other page on the web. Yahoo’s goal has always been to satisfy their customers with the best services and to make their site “one stop shopping” for all their online needs, including searching the web, reading the news, playing games, shopping, finding a job and access to emails.

With this partnership, Yahoo is providing their customers with access to the very best the web has to offer in dating, right from the Yahoo site. Yahoo Personals customers are getting the best of both worlds; access to the leading online dating site, but through tried and true Yahoo.
Match.com has been on the web since 1995, and has helped thousands of couples meet and fall in love. They offer dating sites in 25 countries and eight languages across five continents.

For Yahoo customers, the switch will be seamless. After the two month transition period, the link to Yahoo personals will be replaced by a link to Match.com, who will be the only dating site linked to Yahoo. Your account can be transitioned to Match.com with no hassle, and you’ll immediately begin enjoying all of Match.com’s great benefits, including the much larger database of matches. You’re sure to find far more matches, since Match.com is the number one US dating site.

Match.com offers mobile access, daily personalized matches and fantastic search tools. They offer unique search abilities, like “reverse match”, which shows you people who are looking for someone like you, and special sections for people who are divorced or looking for someone of a particular religion. Their service is easy to navigate, so Yahoo customers won’t feel like they have to “relearn” how to use the dating site. And, Match.com offers a guarantee like no other dating site. If you don’t find love in six months, your next six months on the site are free.

This new partnership between Yahoo and Match.com will be good for existing Match.com clients, too. Yahoo Personals has 2.4 million subscribers, so existing Match.com customers are going to be getting a lot more matches, too.

All in all, this is certain to be a win-win situation for Yahoo customers and Match.com customers. More members mean more matches. More features and better searching means that the matches you receive are really well suited to exactly what you seek in a partner. And, access to all of this right through your existing Yahoo page means that finding your true love just got better- and easier.

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]]> http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1105/yahoo-partners-with-match-com/feed/ 0 Speed Dating For Venture Capitalists http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1100/speed-dating-for-venture-capitalists/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1100/speed-dating-for-venture-capitalists/#comments Sat, 22 May 2010 09:07:16 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1100

Speed dating: It’s not just for singles anymore.

Taking a page from its social dating network, Zoosk is launching a new approach to speed dating that is designed especially to help entrepreneurs and startup companies make contact with and match up with venture capitalists willing to invest their money. This new concept debuted in San Francisco in early May at the Web 2.0 Expo, and the idea behind it is both unique and potentially a gold mine.

The approach is simple. Startup companies register with Zoosk for the event, during which they will have the chance to “speed date” with several venture capitalists just as singles do during speed dating events. Each startup is guaranteed to receive at least three minutes of uninterrupted, undivided attention from the venture capitalists in the hope of capturing their interest enough to convince them to pursue potential funding agreements in more detail.

Is it going to work? We’ll have to wait and see what kind of results come out of it, but early indications are this unique approach to matching startups and venture capitalists was extremely popular. If nothing else it’s a clever way to latch on to the online dating model of operation and put it to use in an entirely different way. And who knows, maybe the event will produce a profitable “match made in heaven”!

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]]> http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1100/speed-dating-for-venture-capitalists/feed/ 0 Matrimonial Matchmaking Goes Online http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1093/matrimonial-matchmaking-goes-online/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1093/matrimonial-matchmaking-goes-online/#comments Sun, 16 May 2010 12:17:15 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1093

Matchmaking has a long history in many cultures, especially in South Asia, where parents traditionally handled all of the matchmaking duties for their children. Parents actively searched for an advantageous match for their child, then negotiated with other parents in an effort to secure a marriage agreement. The children, both boys and girls, typically had little or no say in the matter.

While this kind of parental marriage arrangement is far less common than it was even twenty years ago, there is still a strong cultural sentiment that parents want and need to be actively involved in finding their child a mate. Seeking to fill this void online, Shaadi.com has become the “go to” matrimonial matchmaking website for parents and singles from countries where this kind of traditional matchmaking is still considered the best approach.

Shaadi.com International, and Shaadi.co.in the dedicated website for those living in India, give parents and their children the opportunity to post profiles online and then use their matchmaking tools to find potential mates. Many parents actually take on primary responsibility for creating a profile, posting it, and responding to inquiries, much like it used to be before the internet. Their children, though, are often taking a more active role as well, helping their parents to create a profile they feel comfortable and confident using.

So what’s the future look like for matrimonial matchmaking websites? It’s very bright indeed, if the experience of Shaadi.com is any indication. This approach is the fastest growing segment of the online dating world and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

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]]> http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1093/matrimonial-matchmaking-goes-online/feed/ 1 A New Approach To Facebook Matchmaking http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1089/a-new-approach-to-facebook-matchmaking/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1089/a-new-approach-to-facebook-matchmaking/#comments Sat, 15 May 2010 07:54:56 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1089

There’s a new player in the arena of matchmaking and connecting singles using Facebook. Littlehint is a startup company that claims to have a new and better way of collecting your Facebook friends, sorting them according to which ones might be best matched for dating, and then making it easy for those folks to connect with each other.

If it sounds a bit like Thread.com you’re right because the basic idea is the same. What’s different, though, is the Littlehint is setting itself up with more detailed questions to answer as part of your profile and is also working feverishly to allow users to submit their DNA profiles as well. DNA matching for singles is the hottest, newest, and most unproven method of matchmaking in the business right now so it’s not clear if this is really a selling point for Littlehint or not.

The way Littlehint describes its process is that they ask a series of questions to determine your sociological characteristics, assess your personality and psychological tendencies, and then use a function called “degrees of separation” to connect you with friends via your Facebook page. The catch? Your friends need to fill out a Littlehint profile, too, for the whole thing to work.

Is this the wave of the dating future? Who knows. But one thing is for certain, we’re going to be seeing more of these types of online dating tools so you need to stay as up to date as possible if you want to make the most of online dating opportunities.

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]]> http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1089/a-new-approach-to-facebook-matchmaking/feed/ 0 Maryland Targets Unfair Pricing Schemes http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1052/maryland-targets-unfair-pricing-schemes/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1052/maryland-targets-unfair-pricing-schemes/#comments Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:54:38 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1052

The world of online dating has its major, reputable operators, but also a whole array of not-so-reputable operators as well. One of the most common scams we see in online dating is the offering of different pricing schemes to different categories of people.

For instance, a site might offer a lower price to women within a certain age group, or perhaps a discount for men who fall within a certain category of age, location, or other vital statistics. They do this in an effort to attract certain kinds of people to their online services but according to a new law making its way through the State of Maryland government these types of pricing schemes are unfair and misleading.

Under the proposed new law the use of gender-specific pricing schemes will become illegal. What is not so clear at the moment is whether this law will apply only to those online dating members who live in Maryland or whether it will apply to any online dating service that does any business at all in Maryland. Under this latter scenario potentially every online dating service will have to abide by the law simply because they may have some members who live in Maryland.

I don’t know, this sounds like a good idea at first because goodness knows there are plenty of online dating sites that love to mess around with their pricing schemes. But really, is it realistic to expect a law in just one state, Maryland, to apply to all online dating sites out there?

What do you think?

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]]> http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1052/maryland-targets-unfair-pricing-schemes/feed/ 0 Really, How Successful Is Online Dating? http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1049/really-how-successful-is-online-dating/ http://www.dating-service.com/blog/1049/really-how-successful-is-online-dating/#comments Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:13:05 +0000 Alison http://www.dating-service.com/blog/?p=1049

Thousands of happy couples. Thousands of marriages. The highest success rate online. These are just a few of the claims we are constantly hearing from online dating sites, both the major ones and the smaller, more specialized ones. But really, how successful is online dating? Can you trust and believe in what these sites are telling you?

The answer is a very murky “yes” and “no”. The reality is that online dating sites generally rely on self-reporting of happy couples and marriages, which means they need their members to submit comments, letters, and other input sharing their own experiences. And while there are indeed many success stories from online dating this kind of self-reporting is by no means scientific or reliable.

So what is a single person to do? Is it worth looking at the so-called success rates promoted by online dating sites when deciding which one (or ones) to join and participate in? The answer to that one is really up to you, but in general you should take these kinds of claims with a grain of salt.

In the real world of online dating you’re going to have to expect to have a lot of not-so-great dates as you move along the path toward finding someone really special. That, it turns out, is the real meaning of “success” in online dating, the willingness to persevere, keep going, and working toward whatever dating goal you set for yourself. It probably isn’t going to happen overnight, and it may even take several years in some cases. But if you stick with it and have realistic goals you’re likely to have a great deal of fun along the way.

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