What Online Dating Site is Right for Me?
Published on March 25, 2018
Picking a dating site that you feel comfortable with is not always easy. I’m going to review a few in this article and hopefully help you make an informed decision. I’m pretty sure if you are currently up to date and have a TV and internet connection, you know which ones are the most advertised. Most of the time I see either eHarmony.com or Match.com aiming for my attention.
I even see specialty sites such as Farmersonly.com only and EliteSingles.com advertised so I’ll try to cover some of them here. While Match.com and eHarmony.com take an approach of being an option for everyone, sometimes people want to find a site that speaks to who they are as a person. Some examples of this include Farmersonly.com and elitesingles.comfarmers is pretty obvious that its clientele is mostly made up of the hard-working women and men on farms. Others such as elitesingles.com are not so obvious from the name unless you’re in the know. EliteSingles.com is for people who hold themselves to a higher standard of learning. In layman’s terms smart people. So let’s take a look at some of the top rated sites according to Consumer Reports:
Zoosk
Zoosk sells itself as user friends and having attractive features. However, in conversations with people who have used Zoosk, I hear it is one of the more hated services. They apparently have some practices that “trick” people into spending more and more money. You’ll notice in the Consumer Reports article, Zoosk is rated the worst.
Match.com
This is where Brad met his wife so obviously working with him on this site I see a bit a bias! Not that that’s a bad thing, our experiences shape our opinions. Regardless, Match is a heavyweight in the industry and they’ve been around since 1995, which is kind of amazing if you are old enough to remember what the internet was like back then! Match is a good choice if you’re looking for a ton of options when browsing…lots and lots of people to choose from.
eHarmony
eHarmony is often billed as the dating service for marriage minded people. In their marketing, this can be seen and I’ve often seen them refer to marriages as a measure of the value of the service they provide, which is a very different way to marketing compared to other services that talk about things like the number of first dates.
EliteSingles
As mentioned, this dating service is geared toward individuals who value intelligence and success. Although I think some of us would have to work up the nerve to call ourselves “elite” even if we do have a nice house and fancy car. Still, there’s a set of people out there who are tired of weeding through less motivated folks on other services and Elite Singles give them an option to better find exactly what they are looking for.
One other interesting fact about the dating services is that they all ranked very poorly! Even the most popular, most successful services couldn’t get higher than a 56% rate. That’s really bad…we’re talking out of 100! So obviously, when you talk to people about dating services, the frustration of not being able to find a perfect match is going to cause many of us to dislike our dating service…even if it’s the best one around. I wouldn’t read too much into the low scores, other than that it’s a good reminder that online dating offers a tool but that doesn’t mean it will be easy.
What About Other Services?
Ok so we were able to give you a few of the top sites, but I want to see what more is out there for people who want a specific site to who they are. If we have dating sites for farmers…what else is available out there? Instead of focusing on specific services I’m going to focus on categories. All, please know that I’ve not tried any of these services and I can’t vouch for them. I just thought it would be fun to dig around for some unique ones and share those with you.
Music Lovers
So my first pick is music because I myself love music and I’m a musician. I figure what an easy and upbeat way to connect and if a woman loves music enough to use a service around it, then maybe that might give my musical self an upper hand (can’t hurt!). A quick search on google reveals tastebuds.fm and asoundmatch.com both music based site who match their consumers with musical liked minded people.
tastebuds.com would be my first choice if I wanted to pay for another site. The reason why is, as a musician they let you add your own work to the site. I think that’s great. It shows another a potential date who you are as an artist and person. If you’re like me your music also reveals a lot about your mind and soul.
Asoundmatch.com is free although if you want more features you do need to pay, but you can listen up to twenty-five songs a month in the free service. That’s not a bad deal if you want to meet people that share your same love for music. I also think it’s a great way to break the ice sharing music you both like. They give you a three-minute music personality test then match you with people who have similar taste in music. You can share your music with other members and send them songs. You can also have music on your profile. I think that dating services like these are going to increase in popularity in the future. Having something to talk about right off the bat makes things a lot easier. Music is a great conversation topic.
Money Lovers
So I laugh when I write it, but there are services for “money lovers” too. And I guess that sort of thing has been happening forever even if the people in those relationships may not want to admit it. So if that’s you and you don’t feel any guilt admitting money is attractive, then a site like MillionaireMatch.com might be for you! For many of us, that idea sounds bad but I’m not going to judge. There are also site like SugarDaddy.com where it gets even more specific in that it’s women looking to date men who will take care of the financially. Should we have a conversation about ethics and what this looks like…? Let’s skip it this time!
Free Lovers
After doing more research on the web and google searches I realized there are a heck of a lot of specific sites. It just depends what category you might log yourself under. Maybe your top interest is a dating site that you don’t have to pay for. Well, we have those too. The top two are Plenty of Fish and OkCupid. Plenty of Fish sometimes referred to as POF, has been around forever and was known for a clunky interface. However, that interface didn’t slow them down and like the CraigsList of dating, it rose above its sub-par design and became the number one free dating service. I’m even seeing TV commercials for the site now.
Note that people who run dating services do need to pay the bills, even if the dating service is free. So for the free services, expect to see lots of advertisements on the website.
Geek Lovers
Another service that’s been around for a while that is interest-based is Geek 2 Geek. As you might expect, this is a service that aims to bring self-proclaimed geeks together. An aspect of this service that I like is it’s welcoming nature for those that consider themselves geeks. A sort of “come as you are” approach. Because the truth is that many people find it difficult to be really honest about what they enjoy. A service like this could even allow people to find better matches than they normally would based on interest…although in my experience a service like this has a lot fewer users. But really that’s true for every service focused on one particular area since not everyone shares the same interests.
Are Shared Interests Most Important?
I’ve often heard that opposites attract, but do they really? We see all these services that drive us further and further to finding very specific people that are normally similar to us. A new study shows that “birds of a feather flock together”. Opposites attract is an interesting idea, and sometimes it’s true, but studies suggest that the opposite is true more often.
It’s our similarities that most often bring and keep us together. It only makes sense that we would want to be with like-minded people. I know that this might sound redundant but I for one find it so much easier to speak with a person that shares my same views, interests, and values. As a musician being with someone who doesn’t care about music feels so disconnecting to me. So, if you think you are better suited with an opposite you may want to think again. I’m not sure how you found this article, but odds are it’s because you do want to find someone with similar interest and background as you and are looking for ways to do that.
We live in a time when everything is right at our fingertips and we have more options than ever. If you can think it, it’s most likely out there somewhere. Finding the person you want to spend time with, becoming friends with, and ultimately marrying is difficult and takes effort. But there are lots of resources to help along the way. Take a look at Brad’s guide to online dating. It’s full of helpful tips and hints to help you achieve love. You can’t sail a boat if you don’t know how and it’s the same with online dating. Learning how to use an online dating site ensures more success. You want to get the most out of your money and know how to navigate the seas of online dating.
So in closing, it’s easy to see that there are a ton of good choices out there for you, and choosing a hobby or interest-based dating website might just lead you to your one true love.
Of course, me ever being the optimist, I’ll say you never know until you try. There’s defiantly no harm in trying out new things and don’t be afraid to go your own way. If you like Nascar racing guess what there is a site for that. Nasmatch.com. Have an interest? Hop on Google and you might be surprised by the options. I’m not saying all of these side sites are the best. With anything, you should investigate and see if the site is legit. With sites like Match.com and eHarmony.com, that’s not as required since they are established sites and have good reputations.
What Do You Think?
Do you have thoughts on what makes for the best online dating service? And how much does shared interests really matter? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below…I can’t claim to know about every service an you might have a lot to add for others!
I hope this article helped you with your online dating decision on what dating site is right for you. If anything at all I hope it opened your eyes to the almost endless array of website out there designed for particulars. I think you get the picture. Thanks for your time, and good luck with your online dating.
Author: mike
Mike is returning to online dating after being away from dating for many years. While not an "expert", Mike brings a real view of the challenges of online dating and his opinions in dealing with those challenges.
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