I wrote this article about starting your own dating site clear back in 2013 and revised it a few years later. I could note feel any stronger now than I did then. Therefore I am republishing it today – Jason Lee
Lots of people are were earning a considerable income in the online dating business but getting started can be a lot of work and require A TON OF CAPITAL.
It’s not an opportunity for everyone and it requires not just a lot of both time and capital but also online marketing skills. If you are ready for the challenge though we want to share some reviews of solutions as far as the best ways to create your own online dating site. (READ ON FOR A SURPRISE MY FRIENDS…
Learn how to start your own dating site, OR NOT!
This is perhaps the best advice you will get if you are considering starting an online dating site! I should also add that I am a REAL LIFE SUPER AFFILIATE which means I make figures in dating and cams. So when I first wrote this article the reality was a private label or white label type business solution was fresh and new and dating sites were not flooding the market. With the downturn in the economy in 2007 it thousands of digital marketers pursued starting their own dating site and it literally flooded the market. Nowadays few people trust new dating sites and user acquisition costs are through the ceiling.
Why do you think Match.com’s parent company owns Match, People Media sites, HowAboutWe, DateHookup, Tinder, OkCupid, and now POF? The reason is they know what you do not. Starting a viable online dating business is not something you can do without MASSIVE CAPITAL.
Okay so like me you want to beat your head against the wall and do it anyway. Here below is our first-hand experiences and reviews for the best scripts to create your own dating site. Read all the way to the end and I will share with you how you are looking at the wrong business to start.
SCRIPTS:
There are currently a few companies hawking dating scripts with code so bad that it’d be better to use WordPress for a dating site. And that says a lot!
These companies are in my opinion outright scams.
They seem to believe that simply because people are buying their scripts that they are filling a need in the marketplace. You should be made aware that the ignorance level among people as far as what it takes to build a profitable dating company is VERY, VERY HIGH. People who have never used advertising platforms and have no concept of how they are going to scale a site to a level where it offers true consumer value each and every day decide they want to build a dating site of their own. Lots of research has to go into what it really takes and that is research I spent the better part of 3 years doing!
It typically takes people who bought these scripts 6 months to figure out that the script will never support a profitable dating site business. Let’s talk more about specific dating script though.
Common Dating Scripts
Skadating script reviews
Skadating Script: Avoid at all costs. The bottom line is that the entire database will get buried with spam and the spam blockers do not work. Finding the code the powers a function is an utter nightmare. Meaning you will never be able to change ANYTHING without writing a whole new custom code.
Talk to an experienced coder after they see the code and they will tell you. The new version of SkaDating Script called SkaDate Master purports to solve this but actually users of the script will tell you otherwise. The 2015 version is still useless and suffers as the same problems.
It was merely re-marketed as new due to how many bad reviews the script has. Online dating site coders will also tell you that the back-end is a disaster and will never scale to over 100k members. You’ll be stuck back at square 1. You will also need intensive coding skills to fix the litany of issues with Ska Date Script. DateMill, OSDate, DatingPro, are all the same stories. These companies spend money on marketing and do not care whether you succeed or not. I have heard the same stories OVER AND OVER. People spend thousands of dollars daily getting scammed by these companies on software that cannot support a dating site of a size and scope that would actually be a profitable ongoing interest. It’s simply isn’t possible with these solutions.
WordPress Dating Plug in reviews
WP Dating Plugin / WordPress Dating Plugin by DatingSolutions.biz: The functionality is horrendous. While WordPress may push you to the top of the rankings for your search terms your opt-in rate will plummet like a rock tossed off the empire state building.
Moreover, all the members of this software solution are housed like products meaning members’ pages do not even really exist as URLs. Imagine then how bad your SEO is if that is the case, all while you thought you’d get some S.E.O. benefit from WordPress.
WordPress while robust as a CMS it is not suitable for a dating site! The chat function is a joke and there is no affiliate program to be had. An affiliate program is a must unless you plan on outbidding 1,000 competitors in your niche for your first 1,000 members at a per-user cost you already have no funds for. Managing the backend of this software is a full-time job and the with the horrible opt-in rate you’ll be frustrated before the 3rd day! It’s that bad folks. Essentially you’ll be operating a blog with a very poor dating site that nobody wants to be part of. Your brand will die. Want a 2nd opinion? You can find one here and they will tell you the same thing. NEXT.
Other equally bad ways of building a dating site…
Ning 3.0 – Forget about it. There is still no pay wall and you still do not own your tech solution. They said that feature was coming in summer 2014 but it never did arrive. Also, you’ll get kicked off the platform is anyone posts an adult photo on their profile as they forbid anything close to adult content.
Boonex – A few examples are out there of newer niche do-it-yourself dating sites are out there built on the Boonex platform but none are successful. Go ahead and research the solution, but when you find out that it will cost you about $ 7,000 in customizing and coding, of which you can hire someone to code a site in PHP of Javascript for just a bit more, you’ll be back to square one.
There is a reason why there is no good dating site built with Boonex.
There is but a few solutions short of coding an entire script yourself that really works to start a scale-able online dating site in 2015 without breaking the bank but none that make good business sense to start.
Shared Database / White Label / Private Label Dating is for FOOLS.
I am talking about White Labeling a dating site. This is where you buy a domain, make a logo, and you get access to a companies database, they own the members, and you get a slice of their income while they run everything. You don’t own sh-t in this manner except for a logo which you probably got on Fiverr.com. Sounds like a dream right, just kick back and send tweets and watch paying members register? IT IS DREAM DUDE. That is a total fool’s game to pursue. The reason why using white label type dating programs is for dreamers and not doers is mere because ALL private or white label dating platforms TRULY suck from an end-user experience.
(Disclaimer, legally I have to say in my opinion)
Think about it. These sites are built to extract membership fees and not to truly build a sense of community. That clone a site, slap a logo approach may have worked 5, 6, 10 years ago but not anymore buddy. These white or private label sites suck more and more all the time as dating sites evolve and get more competitive and as more genuine original dating communities mature.
Ask anyone successful in the dating industry if you can make a good income popping up a new white label dating site these days?
The honest answer would be: HELL NO. They will tell you this market is completely flooded.
Actually, it is beyond flooded. Twitter, Facebook G+, are all flooded with dating spam. Likewise, advertising in countries with incomes to pay for dating sites is very, very competitive with respect to buying keywords. It’s useless trying to compete with 25,000 others and that is why across the board there is a massive consolidation in the online dating space. It’s like you running down to San Francisco to pan for gold tomorrow or taking a shovel to Texas looking for Oil.
Also, realize all the money you invest you will own nothing with a white label solution. So the DatingFactory, WhiteBoxDating, or WhiteLabelDating programs of the world just leverage your ignorance and dreams and then reap the profits while thousands of webmasters build their database.
Unless you have a very experienced team that knows the landscape in the online dating business, a budget of a few hundred thousand dollars for just a proof of concept before securing many rounds of investors, and something INCREDIBLY UNIQUE that is mobile centered; the dating space is a waste of time from a business perspective.
Still, want to try to build your own online dating site? GOOD LUCK! Really you need to have a plan in place otherwise you are truly wasting your hard-earned money and more importantly time; time that you can be working on something else online that can make you serious money, with less work.
I am telling you all this because I spent 3 years educating myself on it the hard way. I now run a free dating network that supplies traffic to established REAL DATING SITES. The quality REAL dating communities is all I promote. .It’s the honest way of going about things and I truly hate seeing people wasting their time.
The other businesses that I supply traffic to are live webcam entertainment sites. These are where the TRUE long-term opportunities are. The intelligent half of internet marketers who used to operate their own white-label type dating sites now spend half the time making 5X the income with their own live webcam site. Spend your time on a legitimate business opportunity that will actually make you good money.
The program I just shared with you pays you 55% of lifetime revenue for EVERY USER that signs up under you on your site or using your affiliate code, that business unlike online dating is not flooded, and it costs you nothing to get started. I’ll share the 5 steps you can use to market your live webcam white-label site below. We followed the same 5 steps for 12 months and now make over $8,000 a month in commission from our site.
- Buy ads on advertising platforms. Start with around 100.00 test ad buys and see which ads convert. Yes, it takes a little time but it’s so worth it!
- Set up social media accounts and promote using your links.
- Use forums, wikis, and bulletin boards. WORK FOR IT and this business pays incredibly well. Likewise, it’s an entertainment business that will be around forever and the retention rate is phenomenal compared to online dating.
- Practice and monitor your results. Top affiliates in this space are making incredible incomes and dating sites are making most of their revenue from advertising these sites.
I hope that helps. The honest to god truth about making money starting your own dating site is it’s a FUTILE undertaking. The good news the business I shared above is a VERY GENUINE opportunity where you will see very serious REAL cash from your work, as long as you do put in the work.
I could have just as easily shared the webmaster referral program and told you how great they were. I’d rather not blow smoke up your ass.