If you Google the phrase “online dating,” you come up with about 127 million hits. That’s a lot of information. So how do you cull the good from the awful?
Do you go with eHarmony and its all-too-adorable commercials where everyone seems to meet Mr. or Ms. Right and pay the $60 for a one-month subscription? What about Yahoo! Personals? The price is right, but what’s its success rate?
This isn’t to say that online dating is the answer for everyone. It has very specific weaknesses: you can’t see who you’re talking to, and it gets pricey, but it can be helpful. And it can work. If you’re on the shy side, or you don’t do the bar scene, it just might be for you.
Launched in 1995, match.com is one of the longest-running and best-known online matchmaking sites. According to their Web site, match.com boasts “more than 30 dating sites in 18 local languages”. There is a very limited free option where you can search for matches and send winks (which are as they sound: just something to let someone know you think they’re hot/cool/interesting/whatever), but not send or receive e-mail from other match.com members. A one-month subscription is $29.99. If you opt in for six months, the price drops to $14.99 a month and includes their “make love happen” guarantee.
Yahoo! has its own dating service with Yahoo! Personals. It has a seven-day free trial, but after that the cost is between $12.49 and $24.95, depending on the package you pick. Yahoo! and match.com have the largest number of subscribers, with a combined 9.3 million monthly visitors, according to techcrunch.com.
Founded by relationship expert Dr. Neil Clark Warren in 2000, eHarmony says they’re “America’s #1 trusted relationship service.” They offer a 7-day “risk free” trial, including their personality profile. In order to communicate with any other eHarmony member, you must pay for a membership. A one-month subscription is $59.99. If you join for a year, its $251.40 (it breaks down to $20.95 a month).
If none of those works for you, there’s a dating site for just about every interest. Want to find someone who shares your religious beliefs? Or your favorite sports team? Or just someone who shares your love of bad movies? There is probably a site out there. Just like Mr. or Ms. Right.