Online Dating Industry Journal

Promotion Codes - Offer Yours to Online Daters

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Services like eHarmony have found a new way to reach online daters - through Online Dating Magazine's Online Dating Promotions section. The section, which opened this year, publishes promotions and promotion codes that dating services are offering to Online Dating Magazine readers.

For example, eHarmony is offering Online Dating Magazine readers 20% off a six-month membership by using the promotion code CJSPRINGPROMOAAB. Readers visit the site, sign up for a six-month subscription, then use the code to receive the instant discount.

If you run an online dating service and would like to be considered for a listing in the Online Dating Promotions section of Online Dating Magazine, then you need to do the following:

1) Contact jtracy@onlinedatingmagazine.com with the name of your service, a link to it, and what kind of promotions you can offer Online Dating Magazine readers.

2) Be prepared to offer new codes regularly. Requirements for keeping your listing active is by providing fresh codes for readers and not allowing any old codes to expire without being replaced. Once a service is removed from the listing, it is not allowed back on for six months.

3) This service is only available to online dating services, niche services, and relationship services that do not allow any adult content (i.e. nudity) on their sites. Online Dating Magazine is a "family-friendly" publication.

Right now the Online Dating Promotions section offers promotions for eHarmony, PerfectMatch, Match.com, and Date.com. The service is free and an excellent way of promoting/marketing your service to Online Dating Magazine readers.

Create Your Own Success

(Online Dating Industry Journal) It is possible to achieve success with starting an online dating service if you have patience, tenacity, and a drive to be your own PR firm on a daily basis.

According to an article in CNN, one of those success stories is the founder of TeamDating.com who, by himself, was able to garnish millions of dollars worth of publicity.

From the article:

"...In the fiercely competitive field of online dating Web sites, where some players are spending millions on ads and public relations, Doustdar has received loads of publicity on a shoestring budget.

He has gotten TeamDating featured on many high-profile TV shows and in newspapers and magazines without having hired a consultant or PR firm..."

Click here to read the entire article.

Joe's Comments
I absolutely love stories like this one. Anyone running an online dating service on a shoestring budget should pay very close attention to this article.

I looked back into my email archives to see if Ray Doustdar had ever initiated contact with me and, sure enough, he did on Wednesday, November 23, 2005. He included a short introduction of who he was, what TeamDating.com was and asked for my opinion/perspective on the site. He also attached an article he wrote about online dating safety and included his office number, cell number, and eFax number.

While Doustdar is doing an excellent job at gaining wider media attention, it's vitally important for those running a dating service to be ready for that attention when it comes. Media attention only creates "spikes" in traffic, but doesn't create consistency (as shown by teamdating.com's Alexa rankings). Thus you need to ask yourself, "how can I create long term success from short-term media attention". Make that your initial focus so that when the media attention comes, you are able to fully capitalize from it for months to come...

Banner Advertising Tips

(Online Dating Industry Journal) A new "Inside the Industry" column has been added to Online Dating Magazine. This one focuses on creating better banner ads in order to produce more effective banner ad campaigns. Using insight from the Online Dating Banner Exchange, the column provides examples of what works and what doesn't when it comes to online dating banner ads.

From the column:

"6) Pay Attention to Research

It's always good to pay attention to any research you come across in regards to effective advertising online. In regards to banner ads, here are a few things researchers have concluded from surveys:

» The word FREE in the ad can help boost click rate.
» Distracting images can kill the message.
» The call to action must be clear.
» "Banner burnout" usually occurs after the fourth time a person has seen the ad. Your click through rate will drastically drop after this.
» Posing questions in your ad can increase click-through rate..."

To read the full column, click here.

Joe's Comments
The all time best performing banner on the Online Dating Banner Exchange was the Anastasia "images only" banner (shown in the column). But it also may be the most ineffective in that people don't know that clicking on it is going to take them to a site for meeting Russian women. For all they knew, they'd see more images.

Engage.com Turns On Its Publicity Machine

(Online Dating Industry Journal) In the summer of 2005, a new online dating service - engage.com - opened with little fanfare. Since that time, the dating service has struggled to climb the ladder of top online dating services. Three reasons  of this failure early on include:

1. The concept of the dating service - involving friends in the dating process.
2. Turning down some interview requests early on.
3. Lack of publicity concepts, ideas, and action.

In 2008, all of that has changed. Engage.com has launched a PR strategy that is now heaping publicity on a service that looked good on paper for years, but did little to generate interest from the public. On Valentine's Day, the staff of Engage.com went to the Montgomery BART station in San Francisco where they handed roses to commuters, took Polaroid pictures of them, and had a musician serenade them. Attached to the roses was a "business card" promoting Engage.com.

The move brought lots of great publicity for Engage.com, and even one negative article. A San Francisco Weekly columnist wrote a negative article about the event that Engage.com's Trish McDermott took the time to respond  to (see the Comments section).

It seems that Engage.com has finally come to life in 2008 (publicity functions, blog interaction with readers, research reports, and more interviews). It's a move that might finally propel the service to a higher standing with online daters.

Joe's Comments
Even with the one negative article, doing an event like this was a smart move on the part of Engage.com. I personally have not been that impressed with Engage.com since it's launch. I don't think its "meet new people through people you already know" is very engaging in finding love online. It requires more than one person to do a lot of work to help you succeed at love.  The concept isn't revolutionary as we already have a ton of social networking sites. And finally, Engage.com was spending too much time early on being selective about interviews they would grant, that they turned down some nice opportunities to spread the word about their service.

But Engage.com is now growing on me with their effort to engage the public in publicity efforts that bring cheer to people on the streets and news blurbs to a service that needs the attention. In addition, Engage.com is now putting out an annual "State of the Date Report" which examines attitudes of singles when it comes to dating. So I commend Engage.com for finally coming out of its cave and doing a great job engaging singles, the media, and its members.

Newest Emerging Trend: Online Dating Widgets

(Online Dating Industry Journal) A new Inside the Online Dating Industry column has been published and this one focuses on widgets and the emerging importance of widgets to online dating services. From the article:

"Lets face it... part of being a successful online dating service is keeping up with what the new trends are going to be and jumping on board early. This is a new trend in the online dating industry and the early adaptors will be the ones that benefit the most. But benefiting means creating a widget and if you're not a software developer or Web coder, that may be easier said than done. Yet we live in the age of Internet networking simplicity and your success in creating widgets may be closer and cheaper than you realize..."

Widgets are snippets of codes that create "mini programs" that people can put on their sites, blogs, or on services they use (i.e. Facebook). An example is using a weather.com widget to show weather reports on your Website.

While widgets have been around for awhile, the online dating industry is just now starting to discover the power of using widgets. Even Google is testing a new service to use widgets in ads in order to deliver more power to advertisers. So if you work in the online dating industry, be sure to take a look at this week's Inside the Industry column.

New Inside the Industry Column

(Online Dating Industry Journal) The Inside the Industry column went back into production today after a long hiatus. Titled Online Dating Industry Grab Bag, the column explores several issues, including:

Dating Service Refund Policies
Don't Date Him Girl Lawsuit
LavaLife Changes
Online Dating Banner Exchange Changes

The column's tip of the week focuses on creating a unique selling point. The Inside the Industry column is back to a weekly publishing schedule, appearing every Friday in Online Dating Magazine.

Online Dating Banner Exchange Changes Format

(Online Dating Industry Journal) The Online Dating Banner Exchange has changed its format in order to bring better results for people who use the exchange. Effective immediately, the Online Dating Banner Exchange requires that exchange members place the banner code for the exchange at the top of their Website and forbids banner code from being placed on link pages. The exchange made the move in order to make it more of a premium service for online dating companies serious about marketing and results.

The Online Dating Banner Exchange was formed in March 2005. Services within the online dating industry are allowed to sign up and display banners on their Website in exchange for their banners being displayed on other online dating Websites. While the click-through ratio for clients has been great, this month the exchange decided to take it to the next level. Already the exchange bans any adult-related sites and now it is requiring sites to display the banners at the top of every page, versus on some page with a bunch of other banners which dilutes the effectiveness of the exchange. The Online Dating Banner Exchange points to Online Dating Directory DateLists.com as an example of how banners need to be displayed from now on.

Services signing up for the exchange receive 1,500 free credits (1 credit = one banner display on another site) once the code has been placed on their site. Thereafter, the exchange provides 3 displays on other sites for every 4 displays on the client's site (4:3 ratio).

eHarmony, Marriage, and Taxes

(Online Dating Industry Journal) Hoping to gain some extra attention during tax time, eHarmony sent out a press release this week about a nationwide survey of married people's attitudes toward taxes.  The survey, consisting of 1,389 married people, looked to find out how the quality of a marriage impacts the amount of stress one feels when tax season comes around.  It also asked about how married people plan to use their tax refunds.

The results aren't too surprising.  Those in poor marriages were more likely to feel stress about taxes than those with very good marriages with women more likely to feel a lot of stress than men. 

Kim's Comments:
eHarmony is pretty good about finding unique angles to bring attention to their services, but I can't help but notice how their most recent press release does nothing to appeal to the singles that have made their business so profitable.  I know their focus on strengthening existing marriages is a newer service, but hope eHarmony isn't turning away from online daters.  Introducing new services is fantastic, but so is improving upon existing services.  I just hope that eHarmony does not let their singles service fall by the wayside because they are putting so much effort into marketing their marriage improvement services to married couples.

Online Dating Service Marketing Tips

(Online Dating Industry Journal) If you've been a regular reader of the "Inside the Online Dating Industry" column at Online Dating Magazine then you're already aware that each column ends with a marketing tip for online dating services. Below you'll find quick access links taking you directly to each marketing tip provided to date:

Tip #1: Offer a Lifetime Membership
Tip #2: Use an Incentive
Tip #3: Show How You Differ
Tip #4: Attract More Females
Tip #5: Write Content For Other Websites
Tip #6: Regularly Publish Press Releases
Tip #7: Extended Text Link Advertising
Tip #8: Put Customer Satisfaction First
Tip #9: Create a Unique and Attractive Advertising Medium

Learning to Effectively Market Unique Online Dating Service Features

(Online Dating Industry Journal) In this week's "Inside the Industry" column on Online Dating Magazine, online dating service owners are encouraged to really try and set themselves apart from their competitors.  This doesn't necessarily only mean by appealing to a unique niche dating sector, but, rather, the column recommends publicizing any benefits of the service that competitors and main dating sites may not have or be promoting.  From the column:

"The key is to set yourself apart. I heard of one online dating service offering a "money back guarantee." Smart. If you offer such a guarantee or allow paid members to communicate with non-paying members, or no automated rebilling then these are things you should be publicizing! If these are the greatest barriers for users of online dating services, then you need to show that such barriers don't exist with your service.

Would you shop at a store that didn't allow you to return items (defective or not)? Of course you wouldn't! And that's what many major online dating services are doing."

The article recommends two ways for dating services to promote their unique services - a comparison chart showing your service's benefits that others don't have and press releases outlining common industry problems and how your site differs.  Read the full article for more details.

Kim's Comments:
It is surprising how much many entrepreneurs don't know about marketing.  One of the most important and effective ways to get new customers and keep returning customers is by making it very clear to them what they are getting with your service and why your service is the best.  Online dating services that want to make it in this market have to not only have unique (yet useful) features, but also know how to effectively market those features to the public and the press.