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With so many Dating
Services popping up all over the Internet,
it can sometimes be a bit daunting and confusing
when it comes to deciding on which Dating Service
to join.
To make things a bit easier, I have compiled
a list of points that you can refer to, which
will help you choose the right Dating Service
for you.
- Choose reputable, well established Dating
Services that have been around for at least
a few years. The longer the better. Check out
their about us page, most sites have them, and
this will give you a general idea of the company
and how long they have been online.
- A few of the major Dating Services are
Match.com, Udate.com, DatingDirect.com : Lavalife.com
: One and Only & Friendfinder, and they
have been around for a good few years.
- Make sure that you can browse some of the
profiles before you pay to join, otherwise how
do you know whether the site is going to be
suitable, if you can't see anyone or anything
on it.
(Don't part with any
of your hard earned cash before
you've had a good look around)
- Before you view the profiles you will find
that some Dating Services may ask you to register,
others may just give you a free search without
registering.
- There are plenty of FREE Dating Services where
you can list your profile, however, remember
that FREE will not necessarily give you a top
quality service, and has a greater chance of
being filled with people who post dummy/fake
ads and profiles.
- You may want to consider joining Dating Services
that offer onsite messaging and e-mail services,
that way you can communicate using an e-mail
address provided by those Dating Services, instead
of using your personal one.
- Consider International Dating Services, you
will often find that they have the greatest
number of profiles to browse through.
- Most Dating Services will provide access
to an FAQ page. It's often very useful to have
a read through any of the questions which are
commonly asked by other users, they normally
provide most of the answers you are looking
for. If they don't, make sure you can find an
e-mail address or contact form where you can
contact the Dating Services concerned - to address
your questions.
- A great tool to download is the Alexa
Toolbar. Alexa ranks websites on a scale
of :- 1 - being the most visited/popular, up
to the millions (fewer visitors). The lower
the number on Alexa the more visitors they get.
Currently the most visited website of Alexa
Toolbar Users, is Yahoo - with a ranking
of 1. (That's a huge amount of traffic) This
will give you a good idea of how much traffic
a site gets and how popular they are. (For Dating
Sites you should be looking for an Alexa Ranking
of about 100,000 or less)
- Make sure that any of the Dating Services
you join offer secure payment methods and also
check to see how often you will be charged.
Also remember to take a look at what kind of
payment methods they accept - credit cards,
cheque, cash etc...
- Consider joining multiple Dating Services.
Most of them are FREE to post your profile and
photo, and you only pay when you want to contact
someone. Have a look at what other services
they offer, such as - Voicemail, Chat Rooms,
Photo Chat and Instant Messaging etc...
- Make sure you like the way the whole site
works.
Is it easy to use?
Can you amend your profile easily?
Do they offer good search facilities?
- Check out each sites privacy policy. If they
don't display one or you can't find one, then
try another site. You will find that most leading
Internet Dating Services will provide one.
- If at anytime you decide to leave a Dating
Service, remember to inform them through the
proper channels. The last thing you need is
to be continually re-billed for a dating service
that you no longer use - simply because you
forgot to cancel your subscription. (Keep a
record of any payments/emails in case you need
to claim a refund)
Remember, Internet Dating Services are fun and
secure and give you a great introduction to the
world of Dating. You can also gain a wealth of
experience and new skills, and if you're not looking
for your "Soul Mate" just yet - it gives
you the opportunity to make plenty of new friends.
Check out the articles on dating
safely and chatroom
dating - they also contain valuable advice
and things you should know before you get started,
if you haven't already.
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