I own a website that caters to a very niche gay dating area and am just curious as to what strategies other dating site owners have used to increase their revenues.
List strategies you had in attracting affiliates, traffic, etc. Do you use Google AdWords? MSN AdCenter?
Let’s make this an ongoing thread.
Also, anyone know of any dating site webmaster forums? Thanks.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
By the way, I’d be appreciative if any of you could critique my dating site landing page.
Thanks.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
I would be carefull about making specific claims about named websites, they may take offence.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
[QUOTE=bboy121;85614]By the way, I’d be appreciative if any of you could critique my dating site landing page.
Thanks.[/QUOTE]
My first observation about your landing page is that most of the images aren’t cropped to aspect ratio. They’re squished. That wouldn’t do much for attracting customers and looks rather unprofessional.
Secondly, nothing jumps out at you as far as being alluring to a customer. I don’t own a dating site, but I own several sites that rely on visual marketing techniques (both mainstream as well as adult), and visual stimulation, as well as text, is pertinent when trying to sell something. You could use some good images of couples together on that landing page I believe.
Thirdly, the text font should either be a bit larger, or stand out more. I had no inclination to read it when I first got to the page. Enlarging a few key phrases could be a good tactic. Grab the surfers’ attention immediately. I would think that selling memberships (even free trial versions), is pretty tough on a dating site. With so many out there, people want to see something alluring and irresistible romantically etc. Something unique.
Best of luck with your site. There’s my 2 cents worth. Love it or hate it. lol
Re: Dating website owners-come here
No, no offense taken. I actually have made a fair amount of money from the site, because it’s a very specific niche. However, I am not seeing the type of conversions I want to, so your advice is much appreciated. I will work on it a bit and improve the look. Thanks.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
I’d unload it on ebay or somewhere and try to get a couple of hundred bucks… but if you REALLY want to keep it, you definitely need some sort of tour. On the join page the number one reason you have listed for them to join is that it doesn’t cost them very much. As an owner of a somewhat successful gay social network I can tell you that they don’t want to pay for anything so that’s not a good bullet point.
The subsequent reasons for them to join are equally off-setting. Like “continue to receive emails even after you cancel”
I totally get that you’re saying that they can get emails even when they’re no longer paying but it looks a lot like “I’ll bug you even after you leave.”
And “no fake ads” is just a lie. No way to guard against that. Fakes will join your sites, you don’t have to create them yourself.
You also say things like “On this site you will find articles, a discussion forum, and last but not least a classifieds section similar to Craigslist”
In that sentence you do a couple of no-no’s. One, you mention a competing commercial site by name that you probably don’t own. Second you limit your site to 3 basic features, none of which should cost money.
Why not open the site up for free and charge once there are features and a member base worth paying for?
Re: Dating website owners-come here
How do you compete with the larger dating sites? I can’t see any features that they don’t already offer.
The site mainly going on about being better than Craigslist, which can end you up in trouble. That’s legally bound to be iffy as you have no way of proving your claims. Craigslist could get at you for slander or using their name. You really can’t use someone else’s brand or name to market your own product.
The rest you offer is very random. Articles about being gay (??), possible parties or events and some concierge service… None of which there are examples or previews to see. Where are the pictures or press releases from your events? Or what about the concierge services, what exactly does it mean? AND more importantly, they all talk about things in the future… that you WILL offer… not that you actually have any of it.
The site feels very amateurish and not very well designed, pictures are not quite right and out of proportion. By the way you seem to have “borrowed” photos from different places, do you actually have the right to publish them on your site? One seems to be from CorbinFisher. The design itself if very basic, the layout just odd and the tour is laughable, specially if you compare with any of the big dating sites which offer completely transparent tours were you can preview every detail of the site.
Had your site been completely free then fair enough, but you’re asking people to pay for a lesser service than just about any other dating site out there.
Sorry if I seem harsh but I think you time is invested better elsewhere, you have no chance in hell to be successful with this site in it’s current state.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
What software are you using?
[QUOTE=bboy121;85614]By the way, I’d be appreciative if any of you could critique my dating site landing page.
Thanks.[/QUOTE]
Re: Dating website owners-come here
The site looks unfinished and isn’t something I’d pay for.
I quite like the blue area, but then it’s sitting on a boring grey. Maybe use that same grey background, but pick a light blue colour.
Your Facebook and Twitter buttons are two big.
You’ve stolen pics from other sites. You need to remove those, especially the Corbin Fisher one, they will sue you. Take it down now.
A product should stand on its own merits and benefits. If your marketing strategy is simply to put down another product, you’re not coming from a place of strength. Imagine if General Motors tried to sell you a car by simply saying how much better it was than the comparable Toyota product. I don’t want to hear about Toyota, I want to hear about why you think the General Motors car is so great.
And this is exactly the kind of stuff I was talking about in the other thread when I said that people won’t pay for profile sites. Yes, there are Manhunts out there making buckets of cash, but there are so many sites out there like this that are struggling to get their piece of the pie. Why should I join your site when I could join Manhunt and get access to thousands of men, and still have discretion if I want it.
And if you want me to cater a private affair, then your website your should like you pay attention to every single detail. This one needs work. And for a site that’s promising discretion, stealing photos is just looking for a shitstorm of controversy to land on your doorstep. That’s not being discrete.
Sorry if I’m being harsh, but I think you need to hear this.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
i’d listen to RDude. you’ll see much better conversions with properly cropped pics, pics that “speak” to your surfers, and for that matter a page that looks better in a bigger sized screen. the font is going to be small for older viewers, too.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
This has been a wealth of information and I greatly appreciate it. Thanks so much.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
Thanks to the comments on this forum, I have decided to COMPLETELY revamp my site. I have spent all day looking for dating scripts which are affordable (and most of them, I have learned, are either very buggy or run by scam artists).
I want to thank you all for your honest feedback. I thought my site looked great, but that goes to show what I know LOL
Re: Dating website owners-come here
I think a key to having a successful site will be to find a good solid script you can build on. It’s very difficult to change that later when you have lots of members. By the way, I know there was a opensource Facebook clone being worked at. Maybe look at some type of clone or opensource version like that.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
eg. http://elgg.org/ or even drupal
Two that come to mind that have a great community and support. However, you’ll find after or if your membership grows you have to look at hiring java programmers…and looking at application platforms such as Grails. Because php won’t cut it after few thousands of members. You could also move to a white label solution as well. DatingFactory has an excellent white label program.
Re: Dating website owners-come here
And whatever you do, resist the urge to create a new site that uses the words “face” or “book.” I think I read somewhere that Facebook just patented the word “face.” There’s a new site out called Bearbook. I don’t expect it to last very long. As soon as the Facebook people catch wind of it, I imagine Bearbook will get a cease and desist, and they’ll be scrambling to come up with a new name for their site.
And for a profile site, I’d also avoid using the words “hunt” or “411.” Piggy backing on someone else’s brand is never a good idea.