starting and promoting a dating site

Discussion in 'General Marketing' started by mnymkr, Dec 4, 2006.

  1. #1
    is this a good idea. I have a good name and i have found some software I am comfortable with.

    my friend and i in orlanda want to make a quality site where it is moderated for no spam or adult fake links.....

    is this practical or is the market saturated.
     
    mnymkr, Dec 4, 2006 IP
  2. Austars

    Austars Active Member

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    #2
    Perhaps if you catered to some sort of niche like a local site or something. I don't really think you could end up with a huge national dating site, though.
     
    Austars, Dec 4, 2006 IP
  3. CaptainB

    CaptainB Peon

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    #3
    The market is very saturated. It's got to be a niche site.
     
    CaptainB, Dec 4, 2006 IP
  4. openfire

    openfire Peon

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    #4
    I disagree. You could go national, it would just require a lot more work, desire, creativeness and drive.

    Sure it would be easier to go niche, but hey, who says it's impossible to succeed in a crowded market?

    The market is only crowded because there is a HUGE demand. What you want is a cut of the pie. And that's a pretty HUGE pie.
     
    openfire, Dec 4, 2006 IP
  5. feelexit

    feelexit Peon

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    #5
    i wll start from local then gets to nation wide.
     
    feelexit, Dec 4, 2006 IP
  6. rzvagelsky

    rzvagelsky Well-Known Member

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    #6
    its a very tough market to compete in...good luck!
     
    rzvagelsky, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  7. enrage

    enrage Member

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    #7
    Start local, if you're still in education get people to join and spread the word around your school. Start small, offer some services larger established sites may charge for, for free and hopefully slowly word will begin to spread.
    I imagine it would take a lot of promotion and effort though, it isn't a hopeless idea. But it will involve a lot of hard work, and for a long time very little gain.
     
    enrage, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  8. hhheng

    hhheng Banned

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    #8
    If you have some good ideas or content which your competitors don't have, you will be successful. Can't you see AMD keep bitting Intel's market now. but as the above said, the market is almost saturated, you shall be very careful.
     
    hhheng, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  9. 010081

    010081 Banned

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    #9
    get you all friends there.and say your friends to help you by inviting other members that they are signuped with ,i mean you hi5 members,myspace members and all other dating sites.i did the same way.
     
    010081, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  10. mnymkr

    mnymkr Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Well we are very interested in it. We don't have a Dr Phil but we do have some knowledgeable folks.

    The premise it to really work on having quality profiles and people. No Spam type stuff.

    We have toyed with some good names.

    The main thing is that we are passionate about it. We want to do something quality.
     
    mnymkr, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  11. jaree

    jaree Well-Known Member

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    #11
    That is possible, actually nothing is impossible but not easy either. If i was you i would buy some existing site databases or email lists targeted to online Dating (You can find good databases and email addresses on ebay) Use them to initially promote the site and get some loyal users. When you have enough users to attract others it will be almost on auto pilot. The only difficult part is starting the project ;) :D
     
    jaree, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  12. mnymkr

    mnymkr Well-Known Member

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    #12
    I've never thought about the database thing. So is this like fake members?
     
    mnymkr, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  13. toby

    toby Notable Member

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    #13
    I would say go ahead man. People are interested in this kind of services. Make sure you have proper planned such as targetted audience, how are you going to promote it i.e. via radio, newspaper and other many things.

    Good luck!
     
    toby, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  14. jaree

    jaree Well-Known Member

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    #14
    Its not fake it is just members database copied from other site. Like Members email and full profile. That is just to help kick start things because no one would want to spend time on a website that has 2 profiles and both of them male :D. You know what i mean. Its just to attract visitors and to make them open an account. After you get enough members you can decide weather to keep that database or delete it.
     
    jaree, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  15. rzvagelsky

    rzvagelsky Well-Known Member

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    #15
    how are you planning to set yourself apart from the larger dating sites though...besides the quality profiles?
     
    rzvagelsky, Dec 5, 2006 IP
  16. Avishai

    Avishai Peon

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    #16
    My advice? A niche site.

    You should ask yourself why would people join your new small service when they can join huge free services like 'Plenty of Fish" or OkCupid.
    No reason - right?

    In order to have a decent chance in this market, you're gonna need tons of money for SEO & link development.
    Beating the big dating services on Google & Yahoo requires extremely deep pockets.

    Niche dating is a still a big market.
    It's easier to build high quality sites that will give a decent fight to the existing services and it will cost less to promote them.

    Just don't make the mistake of buying some cheap dating script and thinking that the crowd will come in masses.
    It won't.

    Generating organic dating traffic is not easy (but again, it's more doable with a niche than with a general site).

    Here are my tips:

    Research the market and mark the less crowded niches.

    Build a killer site.
    If your site looks bad, compared to other players in your niche (and in general) - you're not gonna do it.

    Stay away from low cost scripts.

    Start as a free service and invest all your efforts in creating a huge user base.
    People like to sign up with services that offer a high chance of meeting a match.
    A small site won't do it.

    Be prepared for a long marathon - not a sprint.


    Good luck.
     
    Avishai, Dec 5, 2006 IP
    CaptainB likes this.