Dating Site Basics
What makes a dating site a good dating site and what are the basics that you need to run a successful dating site? In this post I’ll dive into the dating site basics that you need to know to run a professional and successful dating site.
Build It And They Will Come… NOT!
The old saying that if you build it they will come might have worked for the movie Field of Dreams but in reality, it couldn’t be further from the truth. The reason is that if you build it, how will they know where it is or what it’s about? They won’t. You have to work it. Not like a runway model but like grow your dating site and put the work into it. 🙂
Starting a dating site is easier than you think. You first have to have a desire then create a niche idea. The dating software will come into play next. Once you have your dating site up and running and set up how you want it then the work starts.
Here are a few tips that you need to have in order to have less headaches running your dating site. Of course if you have questions about these then let me know.
- Profile questions setup.
- Images replaced to fit your niche.
- Text changed to fit your niche.
- Understanding Free versus Paid. Keep it free until a sold profile base is built up.
- Ensure daily backups with 14 to 30 day retention.
- Social media accounts setup for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn (Company Page) and Instagram.
- Don’t focus on features or bells and whistles. More on that below.
Those are just a few things you need to keep in your head while you’re building up your site.
When it comes to features or bells and whistles, you need to forgo that because as long as you have the basic dating site features then all you need is the content to make it grow and in dating, content are your profiles. Case in point, go register and login to FarmersOnly.com (Our customer) and what do you see? An older interface they never changed and no new features. This means that if you have the niche and you have the profiles, everything else will fall into place and forget about adding fake profiles to your site. Members are keen on this and will call you out for it. Do it the right way and be honest and transparent.
Never Giving Up
A dating site is just like any other business. You have to market it, grow it, nurture it and be in front of it. Sadly, most dating site owners give up only after about 3 months because the growth isn’t happening for them. Why is this? Because building a dating profile base takes time. The amount of time it takes depends on your efforts.
How much money can you make? Each dating site is different but over the last 20 years I’ve run my own dating sites and I can tell you that if you stick to it, on average you can see somewhere between $3000 and $30,000 dollars per month for a niche dating site. Obviously the more members you have the more money you will make.
So when does this happen? It won’t happen overnight. It take take a few years to get to $30,000 a month and I have plenty of customers who have put in the time and effort and are now reaping those rewards. If you focus and follow my instructions you can get there quicker than you think. Just think of where you would be a year from now if you started today? Don’t be a year down the road thinking you should have started one. Get it going today and a year from now, if you put in the effort, you’ll see your dating site paying dividends.
Now every dating site is different with the money it makes. The key thing to remember here is your niche. You want a niche that is not saturated.
Other Basic Tips For Success
One very important thing to remember with your dating site is not to hide behind your domain. A lot of dating sites do that and don’t do well because it appears they have something to hide. Be in front of your dating site. Get that YouTube going and create a video with you in front of the camera telling your visitors and members why you created your dating site. Doing so will get you more registrations because at the end of the day those registrations are leads and in the eCommerce world, the lead is golden for that is who could eventually go on to pay for a membership on your dating site.
Don’t bury your contact information and always be accessible. People will want to contact you so be available and be quick to reply. Don’t wait days to reply. If you can, reply within a few minutes. People like that instant gratification.
Don’t be shy about adding a live video chat. You can see an example of that here on iDateMedia.com. It’s provided by Tawk.to and they offer a free version. Free is good right? Right!
In Closing
I hope these tips and steps for creating some dating site basics have been helpful. I pour over 20 years of online dating into the blogs that I create with the sole purpose of helping you be successful with your niche market dating site.
If you have any questions, please contact me. Be sure to check out my Dating Site Consultancy Service.
More Dating Site Basic FAQ’s
Is it hard to start a dating site?
No, in fact it's really easy. You just need a desire to start a dating site and an idea for it. Don't have an idea? We can help you create one around your hobbies and interestes.
How long does it take to make money with a dating site?
If you put the work into it and you have an untapped niche then it can take around 3 to 6 months to start getting traction and that's an average time to see some revenue come it. Results may very based on many factors.
Is the dating space saturated?
The generic dating space is saturated which is why people are leaning more towards niche market dating sites that fit their passions and interests. That's where the money is now in dating.