Q: Please introduce DIY-Dating to our readers. Who are your customers?

A: DIY-Dating provides a white label template-based service that enables anyone with internet access to create their own commercial dating and adult personals web sites for free.

We are one of the most established providers in the industry and provide services for a vast number of affiliate webmasters globally. DIY-Dating has been active since 2001 and the company has well over 10 years experience in the online dating industry.

We provide webmasters with all of the relevant tools required to create a fully functioning site that plugs in to our huge database of active contacts. This means that all web sites that are created using DIY-Dating are populated with members from day one, it is a great advantage over creating a new site from scratch that is unpopulated as it offers new members an incentive to sign up.

Webmasters can create fully featured Dating and Adult contacts sites with a wide array of Niche options.

We believe our system is the most flexible of its kind as it enables webmasters to completely customise the look and feel of their site at HTML code level. This allows for greater levels of integration with existing sites and brands.
Webmasters can use their own domain name or they can opt to use one of our free sub-domains.
We also offer a broad range of exciting pre-designed templates that offer an excellent starting point for less experienced webmasters.
Webmasters can integrate external promotions into their sites such as non-intrusive banners and adverts such as adsense to create an extra tier of revenue potential.

Our clients are offered the highest commission levels in the industry of up to 86% on initial transaction and up to 82% on recurring payments.
Our revenue share is straightforward and transparent compared with many of our competitors.
Best of all, we pay all processing fees including sales tax out of our commission share and not the webmasters.

We take care of membership approvals, general administration and all transaction processing duties.
This enables our affiliates to concentrate on marketing their sites and generating profit.

There are two types of customer relationships, one with affiliate webmasters that use our systems to create their own network of dating and adult contacts web sites.
The other is with the actual members that join the sites created by our affiliates.

DIY-Dating is a friendly company that is always open to suggestions and feedback from our customers and affiliates.

Q: It seems that in the UK there are more dating sites per-capita than elsewhere, do you know any reason why?

A: The UK is very net savvy and is at the forefront of web design and development, probably punching above its weight. The nation also has a passion for entrepreneurialism and this, coupled with the fact that we are becoming ever more liberal and open minded, is creating both a healthy supply and demand to the online dating and adult personals sector.
We are obviously adding to this statistic as we have many new sites being created on a daily basis.

Q: Several reports indicate that the current recession is only increasing the number of dating visitors. Do you agree with these statements?

A: It is understandable why demand for dating and adult personals would grow during such times as people will be looking for fun without having to leave the house (too often) and spend their money. Online personals sites offer value for money, fun, excitement, escapism and sense of community so it is easy to see why the appeal still grows during tougher times.
In times when people are looking for new ways to generate extra income, businesses like ours tend to flourish as we offer a realistic avenue for making a supplemental or even main income.

Q: What’s your forecast for the online dating industry in 2009?

A: As the state of the global economy is so unpredictable at the moment it is very difficult to predict.
If the economic climate worsens in 2009, then it is going to affect all industries. It is human nature to search for a partner, or partners, and this will make sure that the industry continues to do well.
When things improve, which is being predicted in the UK for mid to late 2009, we expect to see the industry continue to grow at a rate consistent with the past few years.

Q: How can webmasters join your white label system?

A: It is extremely easy to get up and running with us. Go to http://www.diydating.com/createaccount.php and follow the sign-up process. You can have a site up and running within minutes.

Q: You wrote two books about dating in the Internet. Who should read them and how they will benefit?

A:I wrote my first book “Love Sex Lies and the Internet mouse trap” because I was looking to see what had changed in society over the last 15 years with reference to why there are so many singles now, and how our lives are affected by the type of partner we were seeking and where on earth did we find them.

This lead me to researching all aspects of being single and internet dating was where I discovered “the single scene” is now. This was not the case when I was the Director of a Dating Agency back in 199…(smiling here). The internet for dating was not something we even knew about, let alone used to find the one we were seeking. Wish it was - would have made my job a lot easier - I am now a huge supporter of online dating. But, this book is not a book for those who can be easily offended. It is a no-holds-barred look at the online worlds of dating. It is done with respect, but it does cover all aspects of communicating on sites.

I was so fascinated by what had changed since I was in the Matchmaking Industry, that I decided to thoroughly research this subject. As I started in one area - it lead me to another. I realized pretty quickly that in order to give a balanced picture of the singles lifestyle and the dating industry I needed to research all aspects of it - not just mainstream dating but cultural, gay, adult, transgender and of course the romance, prostitution and child sex offender scams.

It took just over 3 and a half years of full-time research to interview, cross reference and document. It is written in part from my own experiences and those of the thousands of people I interviewed. Hopefully, with sincerity, balance and humour. I wrote this book for everyone who is looking to communicate on any online sites. It was an amazing journey and I am very grateful for the trust and input from everyone who allowed me to interview them. I am very involved in what’s happening in the industry and still set time aside daily to research.

My second book “Finding “The One” - a powerful step-by-step guide to making online dating work for you” was written as a guide for anyone dating online. I discovered in my research that there was a huge problem with the way people communicate online. This leads to disgruntled members and dating sites being given a bad name because of unsatisfied customers. This I found to be a little unfair. As a former matchmaker I know just how difficult it is to match a clients expectations.

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Q: We know that Single Christian Network is one of the oldest dating sites. Please tell us a bit more about your history.

A: I wish I could say I had the most altruistic motives for starting Single Christian Network (www.singlec.com). In reality it just happened.

I was an out of work computer programmer. My dad published a singles newspaper for Christians. He wanted to create a computer matching program for them and gave me a call. I needed the money. I agreed to write his program.
What happened is that it worked too well. He got overloaded with trying to publish his newspaper and run the matching program at the same time. Instead of paying me for the work, he asked me to take it over. I did. The rest is history. It was called Christian Computer Match back then.

What I did was put ads in singles newspapers all over the country. I posted full pages ads in some of them. The ad was an actual application. A new member would fill out the application and mail it in. I would key that information into the computer and once a month I would mail out matches to all the subscribers. Remember now — this is before the internet. I didn’t even have an email address back then. Everything was postal mail.
Once a month I would run the matching program, print thousands of matching reports and spend the weekend printing, folding, stuffing and licking envelopes. It wasn’t the funnest job in the world. My house was filled with envelopes, paper, stamps and lots of neighbor kids helping fold and stuff.

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OmniDate Inc. offers solution, which creates simulated dating environments where two people go on a virtual date: they select environment, their avatars and start to communicate.

As the company is also based in Toronto, we decided to meet and talk with Ravit Abelman, who is a cofounder of Omnidate.com. Below is a short summary of what we’ve learnt about OmniDate.

Q: How would you describe your project?

A: OmniDate has created a virtual dating application for dating sites. We help dating sites extend their model of member interaction to virtual dating with minimal investment. Allowing singles to meet in a virtual café is a fantastic way to dramatically improve user experience. Online daters, particularly women, love virtual dating because they can get to know each other in a fun and safe environment before meeting in person. Looking at it strictly from the business perspective, our application allows dating sites increase their conversion and retention rates.

Q: Why did you find OmniDate?

A: We saw a big gap in the online dating. Although there is no shortage of available singles, for some reason the success rate is minuscule.
It appears that people have a hard time getting to know the person behind the profile and meeting in real life. It is particularly difficult for women, who are concerned about safety issues. Under the current model, people search through millions of profiles and communicate with each other primarily through email, which is not an ideal way to getting to know someone. Not surprisingly, when people do meet in real life, the most common reaction is disappointment, especially among women. An average dater cancels her account after 3 month, not because she has found someone, but because she got exhausted and frustrated.
In contrast, virtual dating is a fun and safe way to get to know each other online before meeting in person. It helps establish commonalities in a safe, non intrusive way and reduces the awkwardness of the first date. There is actually research by Harvard and MIT that shows how virtual dating leads to better in-person dates.

Q: Tell us more about the technology and research behind OmniDate.

A: We simulate a dating environment online through 3D avatars, chat, games, and music. The application is 100% web-based and does not require end-users to install any additional software. It is built to easily integrate into any dating site and create a seamless experience for the end-user.
In terms of stats, an average virtual date lasts approximately half hour, and 15% of virtual dates continue for over 2 hours. We are also seeing a very high repeat use rate. This approach to dating has a great degree of appeal among online daters, particularly women – 60% of registrations on our test site are women. This is in sharp contrast to webcam dating, where according to a recent survey, most women who tried webcam dating said they’d never use it again.

Q: How do you see your technology helping dating sites?

A: OmniDate is a business tool. It helps dating sites improve their profit margins by increasing direct interaction between members. Virtual dating creates member activity, and results in higher conversion and retention rates.
Let me give you a sense for the magnitude of impact on profits. Even seemingly small improvements in conversion rates and retention translate into substantial gains for dating sites. For example, for an average dating site, an improvement in conversion rates by 3% OR an increase in retention by 3 weeks would roughly double profits for an average dating site.

Q: Please share your outlook on the future of online dating. Where is the industry heading to?

A: Last year, Scientific American published a big article on online dating, which concluded with a prediction of where online dating is heading. It said that the next step in online dating is virtual dating. I am in total agreement.
We are experiencing a major shift toward the use of avatars and virtual worlds. It used to be that only kids played with this stuff. Today people of all ages are enjoying virtual worlds, and even companies and universities are using these tools. Virtual worlds have over 300 Million registered users, and it is projected that 80% of all active Internet users will have a virtual identity by the end of 2011.
We think virtual experience fits perfectly into online dating. I believe that in a year or two, dating sites that do not offer virtual dating will be seen as outdated. By the way, since we released our beta earlier this year, a number of media, such as NBC, CBC and E! Entertainment, have also described our product as the future of online dating.

Are you working in the online dating business? Interested in interview? Submit your interview inquiries here.

The roots of Boonex are deep enough to call this company one of the pioneers of dating communities market. Here is an exclusive insight for the readers of Dating Ad Network blog on Boonex’s present and future products.

Q: What Boonex offers for dating communities?

A: BoonEx main product - Dolphin Smart Community Builder evolved from aeDating - a commercial dating website platform which was wildly popular for building dating and matchmaking sites. Dolphin has become a much more powerful solution but retained all dating-related functionality and improved it. Now you can grab a free copy of Dolphin and create a dating site of your own in no time. Moreover, you can always use social-networking tools to improve the site traffic, popularity and customer interaction.

Dating sites get more money, social networks get more “clicks” - with Dolphin you get both.

BoonEx products provide an all-inclusive opportunity to create a unique dating site with advanced audio/video communication tools, configurable profiles, couple-profiles support and matchmaking engine.

We strongly believe that Dolphin is the world’s best platform for online dating website deployment and you can easily give it a try by installing a free (ad-supported) version. The best part though is that we have a dynamic development team that makes Dolphin better and better every year keeping our customer highly competitive in the Web 2.0 market.

Q: What is the advantage of your solutions?

A: The major advantage is the real community behind our products. Over 30,000 webmasters around the world use BoonEx software and they help each other through BoonEx Unity - free professional support community for BoonEx software users. BoonEx Unity provides discussion and collaboration venues and is a marketplace for extensions, plugins, templates, and language packs. What you see as a default Dolphin installation is just a tip of the iceberg – this professional support community is the main force.

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