Disrupt the Dating Space

In the Internet space, the word “Disrupt” has been around for a few years. I can remember hearing the word in its current form back when cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies were being introduced. New technologies designed to disrupt this or disrupt that and for the most part the word has lived up to its definition. So now it’s time to disrupt the dating space and in this blog post I’m going to show you how to disrupt the dating space you’re looking to enter by doing a few new creative things that the dating space doesn’t currently have or do and in doing this will help your new niche market dating space stand out from others.

Record Those Podcasts!

If you haven’t noticed I have been recording dating podcasts for the last two months. These podcasts are designed to help you navigate the niche market dating space. I’ve been in the online dating business for over 25 years and selling dating software and running dating sites for almost 20 years. All of that knowledge is pushed out to you the customer in hopes that you can take these tips and use them to make your niche dating site more successful.

Recording a podcast is extremely easy. If you’re tight on a budget then all you need is your mobile phone and your computer. Below are the items you can use to start a podcast that will cost you nothing provided you have a phone and a computer.

• Cell Phone
• Computer
• DaVinci Resolve (Free Video Editing Software)
• YouTube Account
• BuzzSprout.com (Free Podcast Hosting)

First you need a topic. If you’re in the wine dating space then obviously you have knowledge of the wine space. That’s what you want to talk about and how it relates to dating. Maybe you’re a wine buff that knows all about wine. You can spend hours talking about wine on your podcasts and always bring it back to the dating site that you own. If you’re running a wine lovers style dating site then your listeners will want to hear about wine and dating. Remember, it’s why they’re there.

On your cell phone launch your photo app and then turn it to the video recording part. Set your phone down on the desk and start recording. The idea here is to just record your voice. It will record video but you’ll be removing that with DaVinci Resolve, a free video editing software that lets you import your mp4 file from your phone and remove the video then export the file for uploading to YouTube, BuzzSprout and other platforms.

Once you have your episode mp4 you can upload it to YouTube to create a video podcast and then upload it to BuzzSprout. After uploading to BuzzSprout you can get a piece of embedding code to embed the podcasting series on your website. Check out my Dating Podcast page to see how I’m doing it. Doing it this way costs you nothing.

Be sure to post all of your podcasts to your social media accounts.

If you’re going to embark on a podcast, which you should, and you have questions about the specifics then do reach out to me and I can walk you through the whole thing. Just don’t be nervous or scared to do it. If you listen to my podcasts you will see that I’m no professional. The key is to do it and don’t worry about what people might think of your voice. Those people that judge you that way are haters and you have to ignore those types for the majority of your members will want to hear what you have to say.

Being Transparent

If you’ve been on any popular dating sites what do you see as the common denominator? Most have this attitude that since they have the traffic then they can get lazy and basically resort to resting on their laurels. What does that mean for you? It means that these types of dating sites are opening the door for you, the dating site owner looking to disrupt the dating space with your new niche market dating site where you’re going to be fully transparent and fully available because if you’re not doing this then you’re not being disruptive and the dating space needs disruption.

I’ve stated before that you should never hide your contact details and you should post a video on your front page of you in front of the camera telling your members what type of dating site you are, why you created the dating site as well as how you’re there to help them find their match. This is being open and transparent and when you respond quickly to member communications then you’re being available. Something a whole lot of dating sites don’t have and why you doing this will help to disrupt the space. Remember, if you can do something better then people will come to you. Again, be disruptive.

Posting Content

In order to be disruptive in the dating space you have to post content. If you really want to be disruptive then you should post videos, audio and written word (Text) daily. It doesn’t take much to do this and if you use apps like HootSuite then you can schedule it to be done every day. Here are some steps to use HootSuite to post content every day. Keep in mind that HootSuite lets you have 3 social media accounts for free so set up LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. If you want to pay for more then you can but those 3 can get you going for free.

Spend a day where you create short content and schedule it out. If you spend a few hours creating short content you can schedule a whole week of content to go out every day for that following week. You can schedule two weeks too. I recommend sitting down on a Saturday and spend a couple hours and schedule your content. I recommend pushing the content at 9:00am EST.

When you’re posting content every day then people will see it. What you post should be relevant to your niche market dating site.

Partner With Matchmakers

Matchmakers are out there looking to put matches together and by partnering with you they can expand their base. This also allows you to offer out a unique service to your members. You’d be hard pressed to find a matchmaker that is linked to a dating site but when you do this you’re not only offering a service to your members but you’re also exposing your brand to more people through the Matchmaker.

Not only will partnering with a Matchmaker help you increase your brand but it can also help you increase your revenue. When a member pays a Matchmaker for their services you could get a commission kickback.

Don’t just settle with one Matchmaker. Open the door to as many as you want. For example, if you’re a niche dating catering to those in the state of Texas, then you can partner with potentially hundreds of Matchmakers that work within the state of Texas.

Build It And They Won’t Come

Far too many people spend thousands of dollars on dating apps only to have them fail. The dating space is littered with new dating apps that their owners spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on simply to have it fail. The mentality of “Build it and they will come” does not work. Case in point, a dating app called SparkStarter spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to create a generic dating app that had friends match you with their friends. After spending all that money the app failed. Why? Because there are other dating apps that essentially do the same thing. It failed because people don’t care about these types of features. They care about meeting someone and that’s where niche dating has the foothold. You can build fancy features all day but if you’re not in a specific niche it’s not going to work.

Instead of focusing on creating an app, focus on creating your niche market dating website version first. Focus on building up your member base. Focus on disrupting that dating space with content that promotes your niche as well as partnerships that promote your brand.

When you focus on app only you will lose registrations. This is not the case with branded general dating sites but you’re not in general dating. You’re a niche market dating site where your highest objective is to onboard a member. The dating app adds more steps to the onboarding process and with attention span of users being so small, the more clicks you have to get the member onboarded means fewer registrations. You need fewer clicks to your onboarding process. Apps can create 6 steps or more where a responsive dating site can be 2 to 3 steps. With responsive design you will have more members registering and when you have the members contact details (Email), that’s a lead. A lead you can market to because in the eCommerce world, we all know that the money lies within the lead. You can’t get a member to upgrade unless you have them in your system.

In Closing

You have to be a bit creative when planning to disrupt the dating space so if you follow these tips you’ll be on your way to disrupting the space. If you haven’t done this type of thing before then you’re going to have questions about how to get it all going. I’m here to help you so keep these things in mind.

• Find your niche and target it
• Use the above disruption strategies
• Find people in the niche and partner
• Disrupt or be disrupted

If you have questions or need help with disrupting the dating space then Contact me.

Disrupt The Dating Space Podcast

Dating Disruption FAQ’s

Is podcasting expensive?

No, in fact you can do it for free. You can use your cell phone, laptop, YouTube and DaVinci Resolve which is a free video editing software. Upload your podcasts for free to BuzzSprout.

Do I have to have contact details on my dating site?

Yes, don't hide behind your dating site. Be open and transparent and you'll do better than competitors that hide behind their dating site.

Do professional Matchmakers want to partner with dating sites?

Yes because they need more clients and your member base would be very interesting to any Matchmaker.