Mobile dating is coming!

According to Google, mobile dating queries are growing 123% year on year as the public also choose to use mobile devices to access the web as well as desktop applications and we have found that 16% of our traffic is already accessed through handheld devices, even without a dedicated mobile platform.

Due to the growing demand for this service, our in-house development team have been working on ‘project mobile’ for the last six months, making sure our offering is first class.

Mobile platform features

- New members can register without pre-sign up from a desktop site

- A multi-button dashboard allows members to access a variety of sections and undertake many key actions including Messages, Winks, Who’s Viewed Me and Favourites

- The dynamic member profile view enables you to see the commonly viewed information about a member, with display optimisations depending on how complete the profile is

- Local member search - using the mobile device’s built in geo-location (GPS) information

- Advanced search functionality - equal to that of the search capability available to desktop browser users

- The ability to upgrade to full membership to get the best experience from the mobile site. Basic members will be prompted to upgrade when attempting to send or read messages

- Accepts all common debit / credit card types from both VISA and MasterCard, plus Premium SMS and PayPal

Compatibility

To ensure the best possible experience for the greatest proportion of users, this mobile platform has been designed to work best with iPhone, Android and Blackberry, along with a huge array of other popular mobile devices.

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Contact For Free

The ‘Contact For Free’ Bolt-on allows members to be messaged by both full and basic members and is illustrated by an envelope icon on their profile page. This costs £7.49 a month.

Reply For Free

Confident in the knowledge that a well crafted private message can guarantee a response, a basic member can respond back if they receive a message from a full member with the ‘Reply For Free’ Bolt-on (increasing their chances of a response). This is shown by a special button in the message’s title, encouraging the member to get back in touch for free. This Bolt on costs £4.99 a month.

Each Bolt-on feature will offer advanced functionality or system privileges, over & above standard membership & the first two have now been launched across our network of dating sites:

Become a VIP

The VIP member is 75% more likely to attract attention than anyone else. Why? Because they stand out. How? Because you’re a VIP of course. By purchasing our Search VIP Bolt-on at £2.99, you’re now highlighted in search results and wears the Search VIP crown on your profile to show you mean business.

Read Notification

The member who has the Read Notification knows who has and hasn’t read their messages. They know who their time is best spent on. After purchasing the Read Notification Bolt-on, you know that when the ‘eye’ icon turns bold, he/she’s read his message. So while you await their reply you can focus on the other things… like introducing yourself to more members! The Read Notification costs £1.99.

The Low Down

• If a member upgrades through a trial they will be able to purchase Bolt-ons, even if it’s only a 24 hour trial. When the subscription reverts back to basic membership the Bolt-ons will no longer exist and they will not be rebilled for the Bolt-on.
• Members can turn Bolt-ons on and off as many times as they like within the 30 day period; however they must have them turned off to ensure they are not rebilled.
• Bolt-ons will appear as a separate transaction to membership on the members’ bank statements. If they purchase more than one Bolt-on at the same time the Bolt-on transactions will be bundled.

Obviously the question is asked “Why would I write a guest blog post on your blog? How is that going to benefit me?” Well of course it is added exposure to yourself & will also benefit your seo efforts for your own site, as we’ll allow up to three backlinks in each post. Your post will also be promoted on Twitter & Facebook.

All we ask is that your guest post be original, in your own writing and has not been posted somewhere before, or a cut and paste. We would prefer you avoid controversial topics & we cannot accept adult posts as we have a separate Adult Dating blog for that.

So if you’re interested in being a guest writer then please contact us on info@findmedates.co.uk & we can discuss it further. We look forward to hearing from you.

Please if you are going to write a guest article please be willing to help promote the article, by sharing with the various social networks and responding to comments.

1. Avoid starting with a negative; your dating profile should be about the positives that you have to offer as this is your chance to shine and to sell yourself. Mentioning bad dates, or that no one wants you, or you’ve been hurt in the past is going to send people straight on to the next profile. Although we might all have some, advertising your baggage is a real turnoff, so keep it positive! Make them want to get to know more about you.
2. Stay away from the following words in your profile: loyal, trustworthy, caring and honest! After all, the majority of us would like to think we have these characteristics and it’s generally a given that you are looking to find someone with them too. We’ve read these words too many times in profiles and it’s not really the way you’d describe yourself normally. At no point would you meet a perfect stranger and introduce yourself by saying “Hi I’m a trustworthy, honest and loyal person”, so why include this in your profile, as it doesn’t give the reader any real information about who you are?!
3. Tell members something different so you stand out from the crowd. You don’t want to write the same profile as everyone else, so be descriptive. You are unique and your profile should be too. If you have a hobby, interest or something you enjoy, include this in your profile. It’s a great conversation starter. If you love to travel, include your favourite places you’ve been to. If you enjoy music, mention a band or artist you have been to see recently or would like to see. This way you are letting members know some common-ground that you may share. There are thousands of other profiles on the site & if you don’t write anything interesting about yourself, how will anyone else find you interesting enough to contact?
4. Keep the profile short; it doesn’t need to be a novel! Your profile should be an interesting & intriguing insight into who you are, so they want to find out more from you. Don’t tell your entire life story in your profile, or there’s no reason for them to contact you. Shorten your profile to a simple, chunky paragraph with enough information to spark their curiosity.
5. Spelling is important! Most sites don’t come with a built-in spell or grammar check, so write your profile in a Word document first and then copy and paste this over. You wouldn’t send a CV to a potential employer littered with spelling mistakes, so why upload a profile for a potential partner riddled with them! Something as simple as spelling could result in someone moving on to the next profile.
6. Don’t lie about anything in your profile, as the truth always comes out at some point and no matter how small the lie may be, it could affect a future relationship. There is someone out there who is perfect for you, just the way you are.
7. Remember, you can edit and update your profile as often as you want, so keep it fresh and up to date with what’s going on in your life. If you’re not too sure what to write about yourself, ask friends or family how they would describe you. Above all, have fun writing your profile. If you enjoy writing it then someone will enjoy reading it!

Bear the above in mind when writing your profile & you will hopefully find there’s much more interest in you from other members.

This will commence 6-8pm in local time zones and there will be a special upgrade offer on the following day!!

Simply sign in to your account & read your mail for free!!!

In an effort to help alleviate the stress of online dating, we surveyed our users to determine what daters are looking to get out of the experience. The survey’s were conducted over two different groups; one aimed at daters aged 40 and up and one aimed at the general population. Here are some of the results:

First Impressions. When deciding whether or not to contact someone, 42% of mature daters and 37% of general daters deemed a person’s profile description to be the most important factor. Other aspects that led to initial contact: location, appearance (based on photos) and age, in that order.

To wink or not to wink? Our online dating websites let users send “winks” in lieu of actual messages as a way to show interest, without having to actually write anything. But although the wink is a cheeky way to say hello, only 38% of daters are using it. More than half of users in both groups send introductory messages & making the extra effort to type a brief “hello” could actually help in the long run, as more than half of those surveyed prefered receiving a message over a wink or an instant chat invitation. Among the general population, 52% agreed that a short message was best, while about one-quarter liked longer notes sprinkled with interesting facts about the person.

Commitment. It may be tough to determine a potential match’s intentions via an online dating website, but the survey results reveal that most online daters are interested in starting a serious relationship. Only 21% of the general population is looking for something casual; the other 79% are in it for the long haul. Meanwhile, only 44% of mature daters are looking for something serious which is quite surprising: you saucy seniors!

Results. After the grueling process of weeding through potential matches, deciding whether to wink or message and establishing a flirtation, about one in five members eventually find success.

This week, every member has had the chance to introduce themselves again using ‘Introduce Yourself’ – even if you have already sent an ‘Ice Breaker’ message.

The Find Me Dates Group has a wide range of dating sites and we’re dedicated to making it as easy to join any of them as possible, without the fuss of registering your details over & over again.

Most of our sites also now offer Facebook Connect sign-up, which allows you to use your existing Facebook account to join, rather than creating new ones and we will continue to try to make the whole registration process as quick & hassle free as possible!