This was my first attempt at using a speed dating site and all I can say is WOW! SpeedDate’s chat seems to be the hub or center of the site. Within minutes of signing up, I had members who were ready to begin our five minute speed date chat for us to get to know each other better. I could easily ignore or not chat if I wasn’t ready for the moment, but I couldn’t help but to feel like I was the center of attention within minutes of signing up.

The menu on the left had my profile image (click it to update your profile) as well as many helpful icons to guide you. There was  “Improve your matches,” “Dating tutorial,” “Advance search tutorial,” “Sending email tutorial,” and even a “SMS” feature. But you know what, I didn’t have to do anything to immediately get involved. The chat was popping up with potential suitors wanting to chat while I was checking out the site. Besides it being a speed dating site, it felt like an “effortless dating” site. The activity just kept coming  while I did nothing. Amazing!

Webcam Chat

I noticed the “Likes me” tab at the top of the site. I saw that 41 members already viewed my site and three of them made me their favorite. Remember that this was all within 15 minutes of signing up. My mail box kept filling up. I was up to 25 messages in my inbox as I browsed the site.

You can sign up for free to get a feel for the site, but no doubt you will want to take advantage of full membership to enjoy all the features and benefits. Highly recommend the one year membership. The cost was  a little more than $15. I felt I got my $15 dollars worth within 15 minutes of being on the site. I can’t imagine not finding someone special if I had a whole  year to browse, meet and search for the one meant for me.

SpeedDate definitely stands out as NOT being a  typical post a profile, picture, send a message and wait for a response site.  It is much more than that. You don’t have to take my word for it. Check it out and sign up at www.speeddate.com. You will be amazed at the activity immediately after signing up. It will become apparent with the flurry of activity that finding someone for a date or to love for the rest of your life is an effortless journey at SpeedDate.  The site is easy to navigate so it  won’t take you long to learn the ropes, plus, there are many helpful tutors and tips along the way.  What are you waiting for? Finding love couldn’t be easier or better yet, sign up and let love find you.

Sparkology

Sparkology differentiates itself from other online dating sites as the hub for young, successful professionals in big cities. The front page helps define the site, including both an animation video to convey the Sparkology value proposition and information about how their site encourages high quality matches. I think their decision to control who joins the site and to limit the potential matches might actually help find you someone worthwhile… or at least someone with “potential”.

One of the most unique aspects of the site is how restricted it is. Each member is handpicked, and you can only register if you were invited by a friend. Otherwise, you must apply for an invite and their staff personally screens every applicant. Not only that, but all of Sparkology’s men are verified grads of top universities. This means that women don’t have to put up with a barrage of messages from unqualified men. While other sites focus on giving you a huge pool of potential relationships, Sparkology narrows it down to the ones who they think will be best for you. After a quick, no-nonsense registration, the dashboard uses a behavioral algorithm to present you with the most highly-qualified candidates in your city. This feels very familiar if you’ve ever used Netflix or Pandora to help you discover movies or music.

Sparkology Rules

You might be wondering how Sparkology saves you from hundreds of boring or just plain bad messages. The site has different pricing structures for men and women. Each time a guy sends an initial message to a woman, it costs money, so he ascribes a tangible value to it and is dissuaded from sending out a barrage of junk mail. Women are more likely to respond, and men are more likely to put thought into their messages. If the woman responds or if the woman initiates, the conversation continues for free.  Just signing up is free, and all men and women are given the opportunity to try out the site before they pay for anything. Sparkology offers a no-hassle refund policy if you’re unhappy for any reason.

While some of the buttons or graphics on the site look a little unrefined, it’s all forgivable considering most of it seems to “just fit.” Their blog- where they have almost daily updates about dates, dating, or relationships- is different enough to make it distinctive, but not so different that it doesn’t belong.

The site also has an offering I don’t think any other site can match, and that is personal concierges to help you with any questions you could have about courtship. Although the site charges for the concierge services, their concierges are qualified experts. The online and the dating concierge have both made appearances on television and are published writers in the dating field. Starting at only $29 while the site is still in Beta, the concierges are rather inexpensive, but the price can escalate quickly depending on how much you want from them. While in Beta, Sparkology itself is relatively inexpensive as well. Women only pay $15 per month, while men pay $15 for every 5 sparks (to initiate conversations with 5 different women). I would definitely check the site out, even if they don’t have as many members as the other sites. Especially since the main draw is the quality of their members, not the quantity.

True.com

True.com definitely has a positive message just from viewing the front page. It looks pleasantly attractive, and well worth your time, even without reading anything at all. This is only a first impression though, which is still a good feature. If you can’t get accustomed to a site’s layout, then you most likely won’t be staying a member there for very long.

The first thing you have to do, which is certainly a given, is sign up. You must be patient though, because the sign up page takes a little while to load up. It will appear as if you’re viewing search results for singles, but after a minute or so another page will pop up. As a rule, matchmaking sites are only available to people of legal age(18). The initial info input page will take less than a minute, without any hassle. Then, you’re presented with more information, so the site can match your personal preferences with other singles. There’s an interesting feature that tells you how many potential matches you have, depending on what you choose for preferences.

Now, to actually become a member of this dating site, you have to have a legal credit card. Even for your 3 day trial membership. It’s kind of disappointing that they don’t offer any long term free memberships with more features, but only the trial. It will still allow you to use everything on the site though, just as a preview to see if you want to further use the services they provide. There’s lots of features on True.com to help you find the single you’re looking for, like video, voice, and image posting. You can have live chats, or send emails. There’s plenty here for a paying customer, and it’s nice to try out, even if it’s only for 3 days. For a free membership, you aren’t given very many options, besides browsing member profiles and sending messages.  True.com has quite high prices, compared to every other matchmaking site I’ve seen, which is something you want to consider when choosing what website you want to join. It’s $49.99 for one month; $79.99 for three months; and $129.99 for six months. It’s a lot to ask for, but there’s definitely a lot to offer here. If the prices dissuade you, it’s still worth checking out for the free 3 day trial.
Overall Rating:  7/10

eHarmony

That’s right, it’s eHarmony.com, the biggest internet dating source.  This is the one that started the fanbase and it has quickly grown into a huge, popular thing.  Internet dating is now widely used and it’s all thanks to this.  It’s almost impossible for someone to have never heard of eHarmony; there are TV commercials, radio broadcasts, magazine ads, and anything else media related you can think of.

So, you know what it is, but have you taken the time to actually check it out and try it?  Well, it’s about time it was looked upon in depth.  It goes without saying what this dating site is and what they offer. Something noticeable immediately though is that eHarmony is for singles AND married couples. Yes, that’s right. This is a unique feature that I have not seen myself. If you were having trouble with your marriage or losing intimacy, then you can sing up in the couples section and get tips on how to reconnect with your spouse. Otherwise, you can sign up as a single and start searching the site for someone you like, or wait for someone to come to you.

eHarmony.com

The initial sign up is free of charge and once you get through the compatibility test you will be on your way.  What the compatibility test does is match you with people who are exactly like you and want the same things you do; and hopefully you will both have an interest in each other.  eHarmony guarantees this test, and since there is so much positive feedback, it is easy to trust the site.  People who hear a lot about a website will generally trust it more than others, which is understandable.  Someone should feel confident on eHarmony.com and expect great results.  It may not have hundreds of features, but it still wins over many people.  What about the people though?  Well, just think about eHarmony. There are 15 million registered users across the 50 states and over 200 countries.  That is a massive dating site.  If you can’t find someone that matches your preferences here, then you must be extremely unique! There are many different religions and races and no one is excluded from the database. Of course, you must follow the basic common sense rules, such as being 18 and not harassing people.

Everything is pretty simplistic here, from the layout to the features.  There are photo and information posting, questionnaire taking, browsing, and chatting.  There are a few premium features as well for a price.  None of the prices are given immediately, but all the information is included.  Secure Call allows you to talk to your matches without revealing your phone number so you can enjoy getting to know singles over the pone.  That seems to be it for premium features – otherwise the whole lot is free. It makes sense why there are so many people though, since most everything is completely free.  eHarmony is the “mother of all dating sites” so to speak.  It has lived quite long and amassed a large member population and won’t disappoint anyone who are only interested in finding their true love or helping their marriage.  What is there to lose by checking it out?

You’re offered a free membership, which is a rather quick process. You fill out a short survey about who you are, and what kind of people you’re interested in. This will help you on your way to finding your perfect match.

SinglesNet.com

After you sign up, SinglesNet is easy to browse and use. Of course, you have to be 18 years or older to legally participate in the site and its services. Speaking of services, the different membership options available offer different kinds of tools to use. The free profile lets you upload photos, browse through other members, and send them messages. It’s not very much to operate with, but you will get a 7 days free trial with full features if you follow our links here. You can upgrade for 1 month, for $24.95; and for 3 months it’s $19.95/month; and for a year, it’s $7.49/month. As you can see, there’s a better deal if you sign up for a longer period of time. With this new membership you will be able to match yourself with other singles, send emails to anyone, get more support, and just have more all around features (which are not stated) that will help you find your exact match.

SinglesNet accepts Paypal, online check, credit card, and mail-in. This assures anyone should be able to join, as long as they have the money.  It’s worth it, for all the extra features you will be receiving.  SinglesNet.com is for anyone,  no matter what gender or what kind of preference you have.  You can be sure you’ll find just who you’re looking for on this online dating site.

As soon as the first page loads, I notice an impressive banner, and a fairly nice color scheme and layout at Spark.com. Of course the search bar is there as well, as that is the most important feature of every dating site. Everything is pretty straight forward here: there’s one sentence explaining the site, but no extra information or links, which is slightly disappointing.

There are success stories though, to prove the legitimacy of the site. What was impressive though, was the high amount of people online – 4363 singles. Those are pretty big numbers, and you have to figure at least half of them could be the person for you. Besides that, there really isn’t anything else to do on the home page, except sign up for a free profile.

Spark.com Login Page

Well, everything went pretty smoothly, and it didn’t take any longer than a couple minutes. There’s only a short “About You” kinda part you have to go through, so other people can see what kind of person you are. I usually don’t like filling in loads of surveys when I only want to get in and use the site’s services, but it’s a pass on this one. Once you finish everything, you have to confirm your email address (groan). This doesn’t take long, but it’s something I never did like. Finally, once inside the spark, you can start figuring out if this place is worth staying a part of. There’s a couple of options right off the bat: Become a subscriber; Upload photos; or check who’s online. This seems to be the extent of the free membership profile options, but there’s enough there to get you going. Did I mention when a member wants to IM you, it plays an awesome little jingle as a notice? That was within two minutes of logging on, so it’s rather obvious that it’s not hard to come across american singles here – Almost every two minutes you’ll get another notice of an interested single, which is fantastic.

Now, at Spark.com there’s a two different paid plans a person can invest in. Firstly, the standard plan. The cheapest plan is $7.49/month for 12 months. With the standard information, you can interact with video chat, use the message boards, and send and receive email. It’s a decent boost beyond the free membership, but there is yet one more to look at. For the premium membership, it’s $12.49/month for 12 months. This option seems kind of useless really. It highlights your profile, so it has a yellow shade. You’ll certainly get more attention, which is the objective; but for so much money, it may not be worth it.

Spark.com has plenty to offer as a matchmaking site. There’s a decent layout, that won’t get dull or boring; there are members IM’ing you every couple minutes, which means lots of potential people to meet; and there are even more features available through a paid membership. The only thing I would’ve liked, are a bit larger pages. Some times it feels suffocated, but other times it feels very cozy. It’s up to the user to decide. If this sounds interesting at all, then you should definitely check this site out. I highly recommend it as a matchmaking site.
Overall Rating: 9/10

• High amount of people online
• Many free services/options
• Cheap paid options

• Small Fonts

Join Free to Spark.com

  There are numerous sponsor ads, but they were neither disruptive nor annoying.  Mate1 provide a very detailed profile area that allows you to be as precise as you wish in listing your likes and dislikes, as well as many pick-n-choose menus to help you narrow down your preferences.

Mate1 Dating Site

  Your searches can be as wide as you desire, but can also be narrowed down to details as specific as hair and eye color, height, religious preferences, education level and there is even an area for sexual preferences which includes “one on one”, group, cross-dressing, bondage, S&M and other alternative activities.

  Searches, whether short or advanced, processed quickly and effectively.  Matches were found from every country listed.  There is a “Mate1 Chat – Instant Messenger” provided for ease in communicating with those that are simultaneously online.  There appears to be an ample pool of clientele and contacts were made within five to ten minutes of registering on the sight – even before photos had been uploaded.

  Photo uploads are highly encouraged, and ten times more clicks are advertised with the addition of photos.  All downloaded pictures are reviewed before they are allowed to be seen thus avoiding inappropriate photos.
Definitely worth the look!

Pros
-Huge member database
-Nice online dating features
-Instant Webcam Chat

Cons
-None

Overall Rating:  9/10

  Just because there is a huge amount of people doesn’t mean it’s a wonderful dating site though; there is much more that makes a site unique than its population. First of all, Yahoo still has its default yellow and white layout. It’s understandable that they didn’t want to change their look, so for people who already use Yahoo regularly – the colors won’t bother them at all.

  One thing that is really great about their dating site though, is that it is very informative already on the first page. There’s a neat page full of easy to find information covering pretty much everything you need to know. As always, Yahoo’s services are pretty professional. Something important to mention, is that this site is available to everyone. There is an option to switch between languages and even categories, may it be: Christian dating, Jewish dating, Asian dating, senior dating, etc. No one should feel left out here and have a good time browsing and looking for a single that they like. Yes, Yahoo works just like every other dating website: you search for someone that fits you and then you get results and you are free to browse through them. Easy right? Well, it is.

  Now for the subscription options. Of course with a big site like Yahoo, they need to make some money out of this. So, you can still sign up for a free profile, but you are extremely limited with that and can only post information about yourself and pictures as well. The other two options are “Standard” and “Premium.”

  Not much is stated about Premium, except that you will receive much better results with people you like. I could ask for more, but I suppose it’s easy to trust Yahoo. You will find the basics here from posting pictures, to chatting, to taking tests, and the like. There isn’t anything too extraordinary but that’s alright. Overall, the site is pretty decent. It’s Yahoo, there are tons of people to browse through, and there are a few options to help you on your way.

It’s good to know just what you can expect from a website – especially a dating one; because, choosing someone to have a relationship with is definitely an important decision. So, you want to be sure you’re with a website that will have someone you’re looking for.

It didn’t take long to notice something very odd about this site. It appears to be the exact same site as Date.com. They appear to be with the same company, so you can expect both of them to be pretty much clones of each other. This is a good way for a company to get more publicity – but it’s a bit confusing. It’s really up to you if you want to use matchmaker.com or date.com. They are pretty much the same. They both work through an interesting webzine though. This is a pretty unique feature, because not many sites have their own website dedicated to a blog type form. Some dating websites have blogs some times, but nothing like this. Looking around the webzine, I see there are plenty of different things to browse – like: Success stories, Advice, Horoscopes, Dating tips, and random articles dealing with the site. You can search the member database from here too – which is weird, since you can’t even do that on the actual site without signing up.

The sign up process is pretty slow – but you can skip most things. When you get to the end you can finally start browsing the website as a free member. It’s pretty plain overall; nothing much but white background. There is around 4000 people on usually – which are okay numbers. There’s not much you can do as a free member though. Sure, you can browse members and the site, post your profile, and ‘flirt.’ But you also have the option to upgrade to a Gold account. With your Gold account you will receive: Email sending, instant messages, audio/video messaging, more search results, and chat rooms. It’s a considerable boost, but of course it is going to cost you.

1 month for $34.95
3 months for $69.95
6 months for $99.95

prices, but there are much worse elsewhere. You’re getting a pretty good deal here. Overall, the Gold services are good, but you just have to be willing to pay for them. Being a free member almost isn’t worth it because of the boring website and limited options.

Pros
-Lots of Gold Membership Features
-Decent Member Database
-Webzine

Cons
-Boring Layout
-No information Beforehand
-Lousy Free Membership

Overall Rating:  6/10

One thing to note is that this website has actually received a lot of publicity, so you may have heard of it at one time or another. It has apparently been aired on NBC, Dr. Phil, Today, and even in the New York Times. It has gotten a lot of face time – so it’s only appropriate to see what all the hype is about.

First off, I kind of enjoy their layout and color scheme. It has a pretty basic design – like something you would expect to see from most sites. The colors and everything work just fine though and you can browse right along without any hassle. There really isn’t any information on the front page of PerfectMatch.com though; besides the search bar. No worries though, there are plenty of sections you can refer to, like the FAQ/HELP.

As a quick tip, this dating site is completely free to basic members. You won’t have a full dating arsenal at your hands – but it will still be effective. The basic membership includes tests to rate your compatibility to other singles, photos, your own profile, and “Romance Quizzes.” Sounds pretty interesting, overall. It’s not stated straight out how much the Premium prices are, but you are told what kind of bonuses you can get.

As a Premium member you will receive: free photo resizing and cropping, duet total compatibility system, access to all members, and “other things” not stated.

Pros
-Free Basic Membership
-Simplistic Layout
-Multiple Features & Tools
-Heavy Traffic/Popular Site

Cons
-No Exact Prices
-Lacks Information/Features

I’m really nitpicking for cons because there aren’t really that many present. There is not a lot to hate about the site, except that it just lacks a lot of the features you would see on a lot of other online dating sites. There is success stories too, explaining the rewards Perfectmatch.com can bring you. This is a good site to check out – because of its popularity. It’s regarded as a great online dating site and can most likely serve its purpose to you.

Overall Rating:  8.5/10