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1. • CommentAuthorSchoonzie
   • CommentTimeJan 10th 2007 edited

    
   My biggest internet marketing question is “What would be the best way to advertise a free online dating site?”
   
   In more detail, I putting together a Free, Australian online dating website, that I hope to use to build a large membership base and email list. I have the know-how to be able to put a site like this together, which will have many of the features as the bigger, paid sites, but instead of charging a membership fee, I would monetize it by displaying ads (for non-competing speed dating services etc) and linking to affiliates (such as adult novelties, etc etc).
   
   What do you think the best way to advertise a site like this would be? Google adwords would be the first thing I do, but I would like to create some host-beneficiary relationships with complimentary companies in order to reach a much larger audience, and I am not sure how to go about doing that. Any ideas would be great!
2. •  
     CommentAuthormike
   • CommentTimeJan 11th 2007

    
   You should study what this guy is doing:
   
   Markus Frind: PlentyOfFish.com - Makes $300,000 per month in Google AdSense
   
   Markus Frind is a local Vancouverite who is turning the online dating world upside down. His site, Plentyoffish.com is the biggest free dating site on the Internet. Plentyoffish.com receives up to 500 million page views per month and make over $10,000 per day for Markus, who runs the site from home.
3. • CommentAuthorSchoonzie
   • CommentTimeJan 11th 2007

    
   Thanks for the link Mike.
   
   I have heard about that site, but didn't quite know the figures it was doing... Thats pretty impressive! I just had a quick look through the site but couldn't see any Adsense ads, they must be on sub-pages and in the forums and things, which makes it even more impressive because its not aggressively displaying the ads.
   
   I think the main problem will be building the membership base to a 'critical mass', where it will start to snowball. I'm not sure what that number is yet, but i would think around 1000-2000 users in each city would be around the mark.
   
   I will setup a google campaign with a modest budget, focussing on the less competitive but highly targetted keywords (haven't researched, but there should be a few gems). Once I find out the Cost Per Signup I will use that as a benchmark for other campaigns, such as:
   - Have an affiliate program with the payout for each signup being the same as the Cost Per Signup
   - Use Adbrite to target niche sites (adult related that can't get into the Google Adsense campaign) and try to get low CPM ads displayed.
   
   
   If you can think of any other effective methods I would be open to almost everything.
4. • CommentAuthorcp
   • CommentTimeJan 12th 2007

    
   I'm not saying this tactic is right - but some of your competitors will be using it to get free traffic. You place 'personal' ads in free forums (like gumtree.co.uk) which can generate large volumes of replies (especially if the ad is 'girl looking for guy) & the reply back states 'I have now joined xxxdating.com & my username is xxx if you want to see photo's and contact me'. As I say, this might not be kosher, but it definitely generates high volumes of free traffic to a site!
5. •  
     CommentAuthormike
   • CommentTimeJan 12th 2007

    
   My only point of advice is to concentrate your ad dollars. So, try to gain a foothold in one city, don't peanut butter spread the money. A dating site needs an active dating market and so you need to get to that level one market at a time. Grass roots local marketing might even help but probably be too expensive. Just thought of college markets as an example.
   
   Good luck!
   
   PS: I don't know if the Google AdSense results I posted are real but that is a whisper number floating around in the blog world.
6. • CommentAuthorSchoonzie
   • CommentTimeJan 14th 2007

    
   Thanks for your replies Mike and cp.
   
   Mike: I did a lot of research on Friday about PlentyOfFish and it seems that those figures are slightly out of date, so its even more now!.
   
   It is encouraging to see those results, and he has a great blog http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/ where he talks about a lot of the things he does and what is happening in the industry.
   
   I am now reconsidering my approach, as he talks about many draw backs, but I certainly have a lot more information to work with now
7. • CommentAuthorscottd1415
   • CommentTimeJul 4th 2007

    
   I went to that dating site and joined just to see if there were any hidden fees. I did not find any. So, my question is. How in the hell is he making his money? It cant be from just the small Google ads on each page. Am I an idiot? I am trying to start an online biz but I am just confused with all this Adsense Adwords talk. Especially with some guy in his apt with a FREE dating site making thousands every week. Just doesnt make sense. What is the secret ?
8. • CommentAuthordconstrukt
   • CommentTimeJul 12th 2007

    
   POF is a pretty good site... and its free.
   
   he's got a LOT of members, and has FORUMS on the site which most dating sites
   don't have. (big key I think).
   
   I'm in the dating niche (selling dating info products) and was wondering if anyone was using the
   'fake profile' technique... its a perfect target market but I haven't tried it yet.
   
   opinions?
9. • CommentAuthordconstrukt
   • CommentTimeJul 12th 2007

    
   POF is a pretty good site... and its free.
   
   he's got a LOT of members, and has FORUMS on the site which most dating sites
   don't have. (big key I think).
   
   I'm in the dating niche (selling dating info products) and was wondering if anyone was using the
   'fake profile' technique... its a perfect target market but I haven't tried it yet.
   
   opinions?