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.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dating Ad Network together with Date.com and Omnidate.com has hosted the first Toronto Internet Dating Industry Party for the owners and executives of the Internet Personals and Social Networking companies.

The event was held last Tuesday on November 25, 2008.

The party was a huge success and was attended by 27 representatives of 15 dating technology companies, including:

• Date.com
• OmniDate Inc.
• Dating Ad Network
• Lavalife Corp.
• Epic Advertising
• Canoe / Reseau Contact
• ChristianCafe.com
• Cupid.com
• Talkster
• Impact Mobile
• Randodate.com
• WorldFriends Networks
• Personality Pro
• Dating Essentials

You can see some photos from the event and sign up for notification about the next Toronto Internet Dating Industry Party here:
http://www.torontodatingsocial.com

A recent article in Media Life Magazine unveils some interesting facts & figures regarding current worldwide economic crisis and how does it affect online dating business.

In fact, it does affect it, but not as one would expect.

Executives from Avalanche LLC (Date.com & Matchmaker.com), Christian Connection and PerfectMatch.com are all stating that their business is going nowhere but up. Here are some of their quotes:

“It’s hard to know exactly why the numbers are going up, but yes, I feel that this surge is related to the recent worldwide economic crisis. […] We feel that our business model is tested, and online dating is one of the few industries that is recession proof,” – Meir Strahlberg, Avalanche CEO.

“We have found that in the last three months, in September, October, November, that we have had a real jump in the numbers of people subscribing for membership,” – Jackie Elton, founder and managing director of Christian Connection.

Read the full article here

Source: Media Life Magazine

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.

Read the rest of this entry »