The online dating industry has seen a fantastic upsurge in the popularity of niche dating sites and this can only be a good thing. It is good because it provides an increase in the uptake of online dating services and as such benefits the whole industry.
Think about it… a consumer performs a search for a dating site and maybe tags on some terms that show he is interested in finding people in a specific location or who fit into a particular ethnic group. So, when he/she finds a dating site that is geared exactly towards his/her needs then the likeliness of becoming a member is increased dramatically. And so exists the greatest benefit of niche dating sites… high conversion rates.
This is one of the examples that I mentioned in a previous blog, where numbers really matter. In order to fulfil the needs of the average online dater you need to show them as many members as possible who are within the group that he/she has searched for.
With specific niche sites you don’t even need huge visitor numbers to give yourself a reasonable income, because it will just convert like mad.
Geographic niches offer a huge advantage for online daters as they can narrow down their search to people they really are more likely to meet up with. So, for them the benefit is clear. If they live in New York and as such can be confident that they are not going to find members who are a 3 hour flight away, they’ll be happier to use the site, spend time on the site and get in touch with other members. And when that happens… everybody’s a winner.
The same can be said for niches based on ethnic origin or religion. We have seen the traffic rankings within the dating industry, show a great increase in those visiting sites offering such specific groupings. And because these niche markets aren’t saturated, there are a lot of opportunities for new players to enter. Particularly if you already have access to a niche audience who would be highly likely to take up a dating site membership. Strike while the iron’s hot I say.
So if you really do want to take advantage of this growing market, choose your niche(s) according to: your own knowledge (maybe of a specific city/region), your existing traffic or audience, research results (possibly by exploring google trends and identifying high volume long tail search terms).
Will 2010 be the year of the niche? We’re willing to invest in that possibility so you don’t have to. Set up a free niche dating site on our platform and get your share of this rather delicious pie.
Hey Max
ReplyDeleteFor a while I have been thinking of setting up an online dating site but I'm not sure the best approach to setup the site structure.
I'm in favour of niches but I would want to cover several niches; that would mean several domains to manage and maintain and more expensive. As an alternative I was thinking of having one domain - say, mybigdatingsite.com and having niches in subdomains such as christiandating.mybigdatingsite.com. I want to do this purely for financial reasons.
The problem is I'm not sure if this approach would make the site appear too general as opposed the "tight knit" a niche site may offer.
Also, it seems that the "general" online dating scene is pretty crowded and may not be as easy to penetrate as several smaller sites serving particular niches.
Do you have any thoughts on the merits of either approach?
thank you
Lee
Lee,
ReplyDeleteI think the answer will be determined by what your goals are.
If you are looking to build up a real portfolio of sites, each with its own branding and identity then it is important that they all sit on their own domain.
However, if you wish to build up a single brand, with separate communities/groups then a sub domain setup could work well for you.
I personally believe that branding is so seriously important that whatever you decide should revolve around building up your brands. It is just so much easier to give individual brands the look and feel that suits its target audience.
It is easy to manage multiple sites on our platform, so don't worry too much about that, and if you use a good reputable domain name registrar then you should also have options such as autorenewal etc. so that managing your domain portfolio becomes a fairly small task.
Good luck with your enterprise.
Max
I definitely agree with Max. I would rather build each brand separately so that I can give them each their own look and feel for that niche. Go with a great WL company like ED ltd. and it shouldnt be that difficult to manage.
ReplyDeleteNora