Business Dating Site
Here’s an unusual topic on our blog. Let’s examine how to start an online dating business.
Online dating is one of the most successful business enterprises in the 21st century. There are around 8,000 websites and 1,500 apps dedicated to matchmaking around the world, and these numbers are increasing all the time. In the USA, the dating industry is currently worth $2,140 million, a figure set to expand by 4.3% per annum. There are obviously a lot of people making a lot of money from operating dating service. Perhaps you might have considered getting in on the act? How easy would it be to start an online dating business?
Find a niche
Your first step should be deciding which particular niche to specialize in. Some dating sites cater to generic subjects, others sites like this home in on specialized areas such as senior dating, military partnerships, lgbt relationships and so on! You will have to consider popular subjects, but ones which aren’t already over-subscribed. Ideally, choose a topic you can provide some authoritative advice about while approaching this from a unique perspective that will generate interest.
Build a competent website
If you are going to manage a site that will also generate an income, it is vital that the platform you present customers is robust. There are many bespoke options for designing your own, but if you are seriously interested in pursuing a commercial enterprise it might be worthwhile getting some expertise on board. For your website to attract interest, the interface must be visually attractive to the casual Internet browser and seamless to navigate. You also need to have a reliable financial add-on if you are going to be asking clients to pay for any of the services you are going to offer.
Work out your pricing plan
Most dating sites will offer free registration to get people interested in the first place. Afterward, they might have to pay a nominal amount to read messages or upload videos. However you decide you are going to generate income, you need to have a firm business plan that will outline each aspect. What are you going to offer customers that are different from your competitors? Will you be providing bonuses to your most loyal site users? You can consider all sorts of incentives to entice people to come back to your dating site, such as adding them to premium member mailing lists.
Register your business
Dating sites can also be hard to find in the BBB database, especially if it is owned by a company with a different name. Sometimes you can only find complaints about a certain dating site if you visit their parent company. Though, since my 2008 report it does seem that the Bette Business Bureau website has seen a few improvements. Sometimes online dating can be like a part-time job. Even the best dating sites for professionals require users to put in at least a few good hours of profile editing, swiping, matching, and chatting — and not all of us feel up to that task after working 40, 50, or even 60+ hours a week.Fortunately, you can save yourself a lot of time, energy, and stress by choosing the right dating site. Online Dating at Match.com. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people find love on Match.com. Match.com pioneered the Internet dating industry, launching in 1995 and today serves millions of singles in 24 countries.Match.com continues to redefine the way single men and single women meet, flirt, date and fall in love, proving time and again that you can make love happen through online dating. Before writing a dating site proposal, you need to fully understand the aim of your dating business so that you can write online dating business plan which can attract all the potential investors. The dating website scheme will help you actually establish the dating website by drawing investment from the potential investors. A popular dating site for rich men, as well as an app, Luxy has a lot to offer the elite single community — including 100% free registration, advanced swiping technology, and a history of more than 21 million matches.
Rich Business Man Dating Site
Another important factor is attending to the practicalities of the commercial side of your new venture. Setting up a dating resource isn’t just a case of cobbling together a few web pages, publishing these, then hoping customers will drop by to take a look. When it comes to requesting money for your services, not to mention building a client base, you will have to register your operation with the relevant authorities. The good news is that a venture such as a dating site is scarcely unique – there will be ample help and advice onhand regarding the business development side of things.
Adapt and evolve
Even if your website is up and running and appears to be attracting a lot of traffic which is then being translated into a regular monthly income, the worst thing you could do would be to become complacent. You might have loyal customers but they will soon stop returning to your web platform if it appears to have stagnated – they won’t expect to see the same page layouts or text content each time they visit. Websites should always be fluid, giving the impression customers are always placed center-stage in terms of maintaining interest and excitement levels. They should never look dull or predictable. So keep updating content, adding fresh articles and introducing new incentives.
Follow us:
We live in an age with an abundance of personal information exposed in the ether of the internet. Most of this information is disclosed voluntarily by the user, often without direct monetary cost. It’s our duty at Allied Wallet to help you realize the potential dangers of providing sensitive info, so you can make the safest choices possible, especially in regards to online credit card processing. Here, we’ll be addressing dating sites and their specific risks.
Public, Personal Profile
It’s hard not to have at least one personal profile somewhere online. Social media is more prominent than ever—from old mainstays like Facebook and Twitter to newer apps like Instagram and Snapchat. There are even plenty of platforms for anybody to go and engage with niche interests, such as Pinterest and Reddit.
On the majority of these sites, you’ll have a profile accessible to the general public. This profile may be relatively anonymous or tied to one specific interest, or it could be a place where you simply look to express yourself in a directed fashion. Regardless, you’re providing information to use these services: location, shopping and browsing preferences, demographic information, credit card numbers, and more.
Vive La Mobile Revolution
The internet isn’t just making our lives easier; smartphones are making the internet easier. For example, you can have food and alcohol delivered to your door, catch a ride, look up reviews, or go shopping from your phone or tablet. It’s streamlined, too—you’ll only have to go through credit card processing once to utilize these services.
These services provide convenience, which largely outweighs any cost to the consumer. However, there are also discernible negative effects, chiefly our weakened ability to focus. Studies have shown that we have an eight second attention span, partially due to the constant use of apps. The bright side, however, is that it seems we’re now better able to multitask, reserving our mental facilities for more important activities.
This ease of use and shortened attention span mean that many do not give full attention to financial details upon which they may have previously fixated. With the internet, more people have access to your personal and credit card processing information than ever. Although we would never pass our credit card in line at the coffee shop to pay for our order, we effectively do so when purchasing online.
The Dating Industry Spike
With social media and shopping apps becoming prominent, it’s been a logical progression for online dating services to take off. One in 10 consumers spend over one hour daily on dating apps, such as eHarmony, Tinder, Match, OkCupid, and Coffee Meets Bagel,. Not everybody uses these sites profusely, but they’ve been widely adopted—about 40% of singles frequent these sites regularly.
Thanks to online dating’s transitioning into the mainstream, there’s been an accompanying decrease in stigmatization. Whether justified, it had long been perceived to be a fringe activity that attracted socially dysfunctional people who were uncomfortable with approaching others in person.
People are now realizing that’s not necessarily true, which has caused more people to flock to them. It’s a cycle that has led to a 36% increase over two years across all age groups. This has amounted to $2 billion dollars per year in revenue for the dating industry.
Money Helps You Date
Many dating sites and apps are offered for free, which makes many wonder how the ventures make billions of dollars annually. For one, targeted ads or selling stakes to investors are immensely profitable. More often than not, however, a more stable source of income comes from offering special or enhanced services to their premium members.
These additional features help singles better enjoy their services. Tinder, for example, uses a popular swiping feature to establish matches. While swipes are limited for non-paying users, those who do pay receive features such as unlimited swipes and the ability to undo a swipe. Other apps will offer more views, likes, and features (eg. invisible browsing on OKCupid) that tie into their general reason for using the service.
As for platforms that cost money to use, eHarmony is one of the more prominent. Its value depends upon your priorities. While eHarmony’s trademark 29 dimensions of compatibility purportedly lend to a higher chance of a long-term relationship, its paywall screens out a fair share of people. The flip side is that it also screens out less serious daters. Of course, all of these sites and apps require digital credit card processing, often from people who are earnestly looking for love and are less willing to share their credit card info.
Scambots and Catfishing
Scammers are fully aware that your credit card information is susceptible on these sites and have acted accordingly. It’s a surprisingly lucrative industry. In 2015 alone, scammers made over $150,000 from taking advantage of people. Unlike the movies, this isn’t always in the form of digital hacking or similar ways of using espionage to get your payment info.
The most common type of scam on Tinder and eHarmony is what is referred to as scambots. Scammers set up automated scambots to send messages and likes. They’ll give limited, generic responses through fake social media profiles. Keep an eye out for phony profiles and conversations that don’t feel quite reciprocated. Another tip is to watch out for quickly accelerated positive emotional responses.
Catfishing is another pretty prevalent threat with online dating, found across all dating platforms. A catfisher will use a fake profile—often utilizing stolen photos and fake information—to take advantage of a personal connection. This individual will often be from a different region and will suggest meeting up or connecting via webcam. To achieve these ends, they’ll ask for financial help for transportation or technology costs.
New Crimes Benefit Smart Scammers
While providing this money is voluntary, it’s done under false pretenses. Even worse, it can be used to get your credit card processing information for future use. This gives scammers leeway to spend money until you figure out you’re being scammed. Plus, due to the social stigma of being catfished, many people will not prosecute. This negative stigma and the fact that it’s a newer type of crime ultimately benefit scammers.
No matter the type of scam, there are other tactics for phishing money from you. Scammers might have you visit a link (e.g. their social media page on another site) and enter sensitive information. They can use the info you input on those sites—private information like driver’s license number, Social Security number, bank account and credit card processing numbers—in addition to your public info or intel they’ve collected by talking to you (hometown, family names, etc.) to steal your money and compromise your financial security.
Be Emotionally Vulnerable, Not Financially Vulnerable
Last year, $80 million was lost to romance sites through scams, a substantial increase from $50 million in 2011. We also saw in the news that 37 million individuals lost sensitive data during the security breach of Ashley Madison, a dating site. These facts makes dating platforms very attractive to scammers, spammers, and catfishers who consider them easy ways to steal money and information.
Overall, 12% of fraud comes from “card not present” transactions. This term refers to credit card processing transactions where the card and corroborating identification are not physically verified. This type of fraud is particularly related to online and app-based transactions as they rarely require checking for a physical card. In addition, these transactions are less likely to be noticed and investigated by people who do a lot of online shopping and app purchases.
Protect Your Heart and Your Wallet
Business Owner Dating Site
The aforementioned issues are just a few reasons why security is essential in avoiding complications with dating sites. Besides keeping personal information close, you need to trust your instincts to guard against phishers, scammers, cybercrimes, and other potential scams. This is especially true for small business owners whose personal finances are intricately tied into their new ventures. A single credit card processing mistake can cost you and your business vital funds essential to your livelihood. Being a small business owner might be attractive for prospective dates, but it’s even more attractive to scammers who know that you might not have the experience or funds to securely protect your bank and personal info.
You can do more than withhold information to ensure the safety of your money. One tip we advise is to look for sites that offer thorough encryption and safety measures. Go to a site’s About Us page and see how they refer to their security measures. Just five minutes of research can help you fully trust a site for whatever purposes you have in mind.
What Allied Wallet Can Do for You
Business Professional Dating Site
Small businesses and international corporations turn to firms like Allied Wallet to provide encrypted data payment and credit card processing solutions. We work to provide thorough monitoring to keep the accounts of our merchants and their customers safe from potential fraudulent activity. Allied Wallet works in 164 currencies and helps safely process in 196 countries. Most importantly, we can set up time-tested and incredibly helpful credit card processing security measures in as little as 12 hours.
If you’re launching a dating app or site and want to provide security to your customers, consider working with us. We love educating our clients and their consumers about smart shopping choices and changes within the eCommerce market. More than education, however, Allied Wallet provides thorough and effective online financial security.
Fraud Scrub and Credit Card Processing Chargeback Protection
We pride ourselves on offering the most secure payment processing technology on the market. One of our most helpful features is Fraud Scrub. This technology helps determine if a credit card processing transaction is fraudulent or secure. This method employs real-time verification from the credit card company itself, measuring the collected data against IP addresses and history to ensure that it’s a legitimate purchase.
In addition to Fraud Scrub, Allied Wallet has chargeback prevention features in place. Chargebacks are some of the most damaging financial drains on a new or small business. With Level 1 PCI compliance and SHA-256 encrypted SSL, we protect sensitive information, along with helping to guarantee that purchases are legit.
A key part of our business model is providing top-notch customer service. Allied Wallet’s credit card processing services come with 24/7 account management and customer service. These services are extended to both our clients and their online customers to establish a harmonious long-term relationship. Contact Allied Wallet if you have any questions about our services or how to navigate the world of credit card processing and online dating sites.