Dating sites are difficult because of the chicken/egg philosophy. You need members to bring more members. If someone comes to the site and sees little activity then they will leave. If I started a dating site I would fill it with virtual people which you can generate. Give them names, personalities, photos etc... of course make them good looking. A community like this needs a jump start to get it going, without it you will really struggle to get real signups and activity. I would concentrate on that, and then work on traffic.
I have done that myself, leave a site as not much on it. However where do you get the pictures of the virtual people??????
Ruby - I think you're correct that it is chicken and egg BUT a lot of dating sites have ending up with a bad reputation for doing this thing. I would personally offer the first say 100 people a good incentive to join, so a few months free access, then even though there are little if any people in there, there is no reason not to join to at least see what it is like, as it is free. Is the site a targetted niche of people or just anyone anywhere? If it is anyone anywhere then (not to be too negative) I would give up now, it is impossible to do this, if it is location and/or niche specific then go for it.
Oh yes I never said there wasn't a risk creating "fake" profiles, of course there is. I wouldn't go overboard with it but a dating site needs to be happening, it needs a lot of activity etc... it needs to be done in moderation! Partner that idea with incentives for people to join. Perhaps an angle would be to give away free memberships for the first 6 months to build a critical mass. Partnering with other complementary services/products might also be a way to attract members.
It will be free to join. Thing is getting it to the people to see it. How would you advertise it on Myspace???
Well if its free theres a good incentive to begin with. You do need some sort of critical mass however before it really takes off. Try MySpace bulletins, check out http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=90 There's plenty of people in there offering such services.
Why are you launching a dating site? What can you provide that no other dating site currently provides?