Building a profitable dating site is a challenge. Many companies tried to take a piece of the cake in the online dating industry and failed miserably. They blame users or the market for their failure, but in reality, no one except them is guilty of the lack of paying members on their sites. People who are dating online and looking to start a relationship online aren’t stupid. They can see when a site is built only to make them pay for a membership but doesn’t give any value in return. That’s the first tip; it’s important, so we’ll get back to it later, but first, you have to understand one thing. You can’t satisfy everybody, you have to know your target audience, or you’ll fail 10 out of 10 times.
Pick A Niche (Research the Market)
The wider the target market is, the more resources are needed to make a dating site profitable. That’s why most successful dating services target smaller audiences. Choose a niche based on the type of dating you want to promote, based on the location of potential clients, or both. It’s always better to find a niche where there are not too many well-established competitors. Because of that, a new site focused on Glasgow dating would grow much slower than it would if they targeted Ljubljana, for example. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check out what competition in Glasgow is doing since they’re so good. But in the end, choose a niche where you won’t need to fight with the giants of the industry.
Give a Lot of Value For Free
You can’t expect members to join a dating site just because it exists. In the beginning, there won’t be any awareness. You aren’t Sony, and you didn’t release the PS5, so everybody will run to get it. You have to prove your value. And the best way to do it is by providing good free features. Most sites allow free members to browse profiles, like them, and add them to favorites. Some even let them enjoy matchmaking games.
Still, most dating sites allow only paid members to chat with other people. There are good reasons for that, but make a name for yourself first. To do that, follow the lead of other successful sites but add more value for free. Instead of providing only five messages to free users, give them unlimited chat but make photos and videos a premium feature. That will make people realize they can make contact over that site. And more importantly, it will make the upgrade to premium because you’ll earn their trust.
Don’t Smother Users With Pop-Ups
“Oh, another pop up asking me to go premium, lovely.” – said no one ever. People hate boring pop-ups that don’t allow them to test the site and decide if they’ll become paid members on their own. You may think that if you ask 14 times, they may accept an offer, but that’s just wrong.
Instead of implementing 698 bots to smother members with fake messages and 15 more pop-ups, let them use a site for a while. No one could be sure if they want to spend money on a dating site in the first 30 seconds on it unless they heard good things about it from people they trust, which isn’t likely for new services with low awareness levels.
Find Your USP (Unique Selling Point)
Why should singles choose you instead of some other dating site in the same niche? Dig deep until you discover that. Then build a story around it. Make it obvious; so anyone who sees your site knows what makes you unique.
If you’re a psychiatrist who has worked with couples for 34 years, that’s your USP. You understand what couples need. Maybe you’re an amazing programmer who can build software that will connect matches faster than any other on the market. Let everybody know that. Find what makes you different, stop trying to blend in, and your dating site will start generating money.
Have a Blog to Boost SEO and Give Even More Value For Free
Adding a blog to a dating site doesn’t just boost SEO rank for relevant keywords. It gives value to present and future clients. They can learn about dating, relationships, and stuff that interest them. When they see how much you’re providing for free, spending money on your site won’t be a problem.
It isn’t easy to build a profitable online dating site without knowing the target audience and what kind of relationship they want to start online. Even then, you have to be creative and generous to start earning money from an online dating service. At first, profit will be used to scale up the site, but once a reputation is built and trust earned, a site will generate money on its own. Find a team of experts who’ll help you build special features and plan the strategy. If you can do that by yourself, use the money to pay writers to fill the site’s blog with interesting and useful articles. Every article on the blog is a hook that can attract new members. So remember, planning and generosity are the two most important factors for creating a profitable online dating site.
