If you are seriously interested in entering the online dating industry then you should visit the next iDate event in Los Angeles and stop for a chat.
The iDate events give you the opportunity to meet others in the industry and understand a bit more about how the industry works and what you need to do to be successful.
There is still so much scope in this industry and there are new sites being launched daily tapping into yet more unfulfilled niches, meaning there are still endless opportunities for newcomers. This is particularly true if you already have an existing source of traffic that you feel you aren’t monetizing to the max.
If you are going to attend, we look forward to seeing you there.
More info on iDate 2010 Beverley Hills can be found at: http://www.idate2009.com/innerpage-la.php.
If you want to pre-arrange a meeting then add a comment to this blog.
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
What role will Social Media play in your business?
Social Networking sites have such a crucial role to play in the future of online businesses that it is now when you should be taking notice and looking at how you can use social media in your business. Whether it is just to create a facebook page for your company or interacting with your customers through twitter, the time has come to get started.
If regular interaction with your customers is likely to improve your business in anyway then twitter could be the way to tackle this. Check out my comments on Social Media sites below.
Facebook
There are several ways in which Facebook can be used within your business. Because of the huge, seriously active audience on the site, a page on your company and/or services is a great starting point and as long as you go about it correctly, this can really start to increase awareness of your brand.
In addition to a permanent presence on Facebook there are some fantastic advertising opportunities. Because of the nature of the site it is possible to do highly targeted advertising campaigns. This can be very effective if you are running a niche dating site, which is maybe aimed at a specific age group.
Twitter
The popularity of Twitter has really taken the Social Media world by storm. This simple online tool which allows you to let people know what you are up to in 140 characters or less is just pure genius in its simplicity. For some businesses it could just be what you need to get your name in front of your customers more often. You can keep customers updated on new products, special offers or even just changes within the company.
Some of the most impressive examples of brands using Twitter to keep in touch with their customers include Starbucks (http://twitter.com/starbucks) who have almost 1 million followers and Zappos (http://twitter.com/zappos) with 1.7 million followers. These guys have such a loyal customer base and impressive customer relations that it probably wasn’t too huge a task to reach those numbers.
Other Social Networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo, which seem to have lost ground to the ones mentioned above can also offer up great opportunities for brand exposure and customer interaction. I may cover these another day.
Feel free to comment
If regular interaction with your customers is likely to improve your business in anyway then twitter could be the way to tackle this. Check out my comments on Social Media sites below.
There are several ways in which Facebook can be used within your business. Because of the huge, seriously active audience on the site, a page on your company and/or services is a great starting point and as long as you go about it correctly, this can really start to increase awareness of your brand.
In addition to a permanent presence on Facebook there are some fantastic advertising opportunities. Because of the nature of the site it is possible to do highly targeted advertising campaigns. This can be very effective if you are running a niche dating site, which is maybe aimed at a specific age group.
The popularity of Twitter has really taken the Social Media world by storm. This simple online tool which allows you to let people know what you are up to in 140 characters or less is just pure genius in its simplicity. For some businesses it could just be what you need to get your name in front of your customers more often. You can keep customers updated on new products, special offers or even just changes within the company.
Some of the most impressive examples of brands using Twitter to keep in touch with their customers include Starbucks (http://twitter.com/starbucks) who have almost 1 million followers and Zappos (http://twitter.com/zappos) with 1.7 million followers. These guys have such a loyal customer base and impressive customer relations that it probably wasn’t too huge a task to reach those numbers.
Other Social Networking sites such as MySpace and Bebo, which seem to have lost ground to the ones mentioned above can also offer up great opportunities for brand exposure and customer interaction. I may cover these another day.
Feel free to comment
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
Not all white label dating providers are created equal
If you are really serious about setting up a dating site and you are in the process of comparing the providers offering a white label dating solution, make sure you are armed with all the facts before making your decision.
What size of database do they have?
It is important that the members you bring to your site are able to find people ‘near them’. If they don’t they will leave your site.
- Easy Date has 15 million
Which countries do they operate in?
You will want to consider your expansion options, so make sure your white label dating provider covers other countries so you have the possibility to expand your portfolio.
- Easy Date operates in UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Spain, Sweden – and continue to expand the countries available to white label partners.
What is their track record like?
Have the white label provider any visible evidence of success either for themselves or for their white label partners? This is important because it will show whether their platform has demonstrated the potential to create a profitable, scalable business.
- There are 7 dating sites in the UK Top 50 (source: Hitwise March 2010) operating on Easy Date’s platform - that’s 14% of the countries most popular dating sites.
Good luck with your venture…
What size of database do they have?
It is important that the members you bring to your site are able to find people ‘near them’. If they don’t they will leave your site.
- Easy Date has 15 million
Which countries do they operate in?
You will want to consider your expansion options, so make sure your white label dating provider covers other countries so you have the possibility to expand your portfolio.
- Easy Date operates in UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Spain, Sweden – and continue to expand the countries available to white label partners.
What is their track record like?
Have the white label provider any visible evidence of success either for themselves or for their white label partners? This is important because it will show whether their platform has demonstrated the potential to create a profitable, scalable business.
- There are 7 dating sites in the UK Top 50 (source: Hitwise March 2010) operating on Easy Date’s platform - that’s 14% of the countries most popular dating sites.
Good luck with your venture…
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
Traditional or Casual?
The traditional and casual dating audiences have gradually come closer together as many sites that are considered as being casual are accepted into the mainstream. Mostly because this is a better fit for real life and realists have concluded that we do not go out actively looking for a husband or wife as soon as we turn 21.
What we really want is to continue having fun with our friends and at the same time to make new friends and have a lot of fun along the way.
Of course this doesn’t mean that there is no room for traditional dating sites.. actually quite the opposite. They compliment each other very well and because of this reason it could actually be worthwhile creating both a traditional and a casual dating site and use the opportunity to cross promote your sites.
It is generally well known that casual dating sites can provide a higher income, mostly because they can convert better and the Average Revenue Per User can be higher. However, this doesn’t always need to be the case and it is very much dependent upon your source of traffic.
My advice would be to launch both a traditional and casual dating site and cross market them to get increased ARPU. What have you got to lose?
What we really want is to continue having fun with our friends and at the same time to make new friends and have a lot of fun along the way.
Of course this doesn’t mean that there is no room for traditional dating sites.. actually quite the opposite. They compliment each other very well and because of this reason it could actually be worthwhile creating both a traditional and a casual dating site and use the opportunity to cross promote your sites.
It is generally well known that casual dating sites can provide a higher income, mostly because they can convert better and the Average Revenue Per User can be higher. However, this doesn’t always need to be the case and it is very much dependent upon your source of traffic.
My advice would be to launch both a traditional and casual dating site and cross market them to get increased ARPU. What have you got to lose?
Consolidation is the key
As you may have read, EasyDate has just acquired the online dating portfolio of Allegran, which was property of Associated Northcliffe Digital. This strategic move has now rocketed our growth and gives us a very substantial market share in the UK.
It is always worth looking at acquisitions as an excellent way of accelerating your growth. Even if you are a smaller company, looking to grow rapidly, there are always acquisition opportunities out there. It is just a matter of finding them or making sure they find you.
Our most recent acquisition brings the popular LoopyLove, GirlsDateforFree, QuickFlirt, MatureDating.co.uk and DatingforParents into our portfolio.
It is always worth looking at acquisitions as an excellent way of accelerating your growth. Even if you are a smaller company, looking to grow rapidly, there are always acquisition opportunities out there. It is just a matter of finding them or making sure they find you.
Our most recent acquisition brings the popular LoopyLove, GirlsDateforFree, QuickFlirt, MatureDating.co.uk and DatingforParents into our portfolio.
Friday, 26 March 2010
Size doesn’t matter… well most of the time
One of the greatest opportunities you have in the online dating world is the possibility of expanding your service internationally. In many cases this can be a very lucrative venture, particularly if you are able to fill a niche that either doesn’t already exist or is poorly represented in the country you are entering.
Even a small dating site within a specific niche can be very lucrative. So size doesn’t necessarily matter. It can be all about quality instead of quantity. Even just by expanding to the English speaking world you will open up a wealth of new opportunities without the need to concern yourself with language issues or other barriers of entry.
USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland are all very open to online dating and growing almost as well as Europe is. So there are a lot of opportunities to explore niches in these countries.
The opportunities are there. Take them now while the market is still strong.
Even a small dating site within a specific niche can be very lucrative. So size doesn’t necessarily matter. It can be all about quality instead of quantity. Even just by expanding to the English speaking world you will open up a wealth of new opportunities without the need to concern yourself with language issues or other barriers of entry.
USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland are all very open to online dating and growing almost as well as Europe is. So there are a lot of opportunities to explore niches in these countries.
The opportunities are there. Take them now while the market is still strong.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Invest in a good domain
Buying a domain name is an investment that will rarely lose you money. Of course there are exceptions to this, but in general a good domain name will hold its value quite well and sometimes even grow in value, particularly if you have built a site which has attracted a reasonable amount of traffic.
There are a number of factors that will determine whether a domain name is of any value or whether it will work well for you. So, it is important to determine which of these factors are of importance to you and your site project.
You may decide that a good keyword domain will limit your marketing spend as it will attract organic traffic. This approach doesn’t suit everyone.
How many people would use google if it was called mostrelevantsearchengine.com? OK, so maybe not such a good example. But you get the idea. Sometimes building a brand is your goal and so a memorable brand name will carry much more value. Sites such as Facebook.com, Bebo.com, Twitter.com are all good examples of branded sites whose names do not necessarily describe their purpose, but who have attracted such high volumes of traffic that the domains themselves probably hold a very high price tag.
By building volume of traffic to your domain you also increase the value of similar domains, misspellings and country specific domains. This is mostly because they will pick up some traffic from users seeking out your service. So, it is worthwhile buying up all possible variations to avoid paying a premium further down the line. This is particularly relevant if you are building up a brand.
A dating site can run pretty well on a keyword domain if you can manage to get a reasonable organic search placement. This is particularly relevant to niche dating sites. But, really, there is no replacement for a good memorable brand.
Check out the domain auctions at http://www.buydomains.com and www.sedo.com.
There are a number of factors that will determine whether a domain name is of any value or whether it will work well for you. So, it is important to determine which of these factors are of importance to you and your site project.
You may decide that a good keyword domain will limit your marketing spend as it will attract organic traffic. This approach doesn’t suit everyone.
How many people would use google if it was called mostrelevantsearchengine.com? OK, so maybe not such a good example. But you get the idea. Sometimes building a brand is your goal and so a memorable brand name will carry much more value. Sites such as Facebook.com, Bebo.com, Twitter.com are all good examples of branded sites whose names do not necessarily describe their purpose, but who have attracted such high volumes of traffic that the domains themselves probably hold a very high price tag.
By building volume of traffic to your domain you also increase the value of similar domains, misspellings and country specific domains. This is mostly because they will pick up some traffic from users seeking out your service. So, it is worthwhile buying up all possible variations to avoid paying a premium further down the line. This is particularly relevant if you are building up a brand.
A dating site can run pretty well on a keyword domain if you can manage to get a reasonable organic search placement. This is particularly relevant to niche dating sites. But, really, there is no replacement for a good memorable brand.
Check out the domain auctions at http://www.buydomains.com and www.sedo.com.
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