Match.com

Match.com is the big player in the world of internet dating. One of the longest running dating sites around, there are currently a staggering 25 million members. One of the most appealing facts about membership to Match.com is that after the first 6 months if you’ve still had no luck getting a date, they promise to give you 6 months extra free. The facts also speak for themselves- last year alone more than 400,000 people found a partner through the site, giving Match.com great credibility within the online dating community.

Match.com has lots of features to help you find your perfect match. For example,  the two-way mutual search facility is particularly impressive, allowing the user to seek out only those members with whom there will be mutual compatibility, based on your geographic search and your compatibility with other members based on your personality profiles and what you’re both looking for in the opposite sex.  With such a large volume of members online, this is a great way of whittling down the numbers that are returned as part of your search to a more manageable number, allowing you to focus your attention more on potential dates with whom you have the most in common.

Perhaps the most enticing feature on Match.com is the ability to  view entire members’ profiles without paying up first, something that you very rarely find on other dating sites. Another great feature is “matchWords”, a keyword-based search, allowing you to search other members’ profiles using a particular keyword or phrase. This is a very efficient way to find other members who have the same interests you do.

To summarise, Match.com really is the one of the heavyweights of online dating. Boasting a huge number of members, covering 240 different countries and spanning 6 continents, the popularity of the website gives the user the possibility of many potential dates. It has an intuitive and easy to understand user interface, offers great tips and advice, and has a professional, polished layout. The premium membership is also extremely competitively priced meaning it costs a lot less than many other smaller dating sites.

E-Harmony

Another very popular dating site that aims to identify compatible matches for you and has an inventive way of creating the  opening exchanges between prospective partners. This can save you a lot of time and trouble by screening those more suitable for you but if you are someone who likes to do your own searching, then this probably isn’t the best place for you.

Because if the detailed registration process, if all you want is a fling a quick flirt or a one night stand, this will probably not be the dating site for you. Aimed more at individuals searching for real romance and relationship, this is of great interest to those of you out there searching for their ‘soulmate.’

EHarmony’s biggest asset is the ‘compatibility matching model,’ which is a series of questions designed to find out more about your personality and potential matches. This is not simply a random questionnaire but a very detailed and thorough evaluation of your personality. One potential problem is that there is no regular ‘search’ of profiles in eHarmony. In fact, you don’t see most of the profiles at all. You are simply matched up to the profiles that match your suitablity.

There’s not much in the way of extras on eHarmony aside from a couple of different ways to intiate an introduction with someone. There’s no chat feature, no audio or video messages etc. There are simply questionnaires and email options.

Not a great site for free users- you can create a profile and you get to see profiles of your matches but you are unable to see photos. You are also unable to access any other features so it’s really not worth it.

Overall, a great site for those who take online dating seriously and are looking for a more concrete relationship with someone. On the downside, the inability to search out who you want (you are restricted to the matches based on your personality profile) is a bit of negative against the site.

My Single Friend

Already well known as a dating site started by Sarah Beeny, My Single Friend is an extremely original dating site that takes a different route to begin your online dating journey- by involving your friends in the process of finding a new date for you. Essentially you can only sign up through a recommendation from a friend, which takes out the hassle of a lengthy regisration process and gives MSF a unique selling pointno longer do you need to worry about creating your own profile; your friend writes it for you.

One of the best features on the site is ‘matchmaking’, where the friend that creates your profile for the site can choose suitable candidates for your date. This is a good little feature that enables you to take a seat back and by matched up to propective dates by the friend who signed you up.

A word of warning though-no one can register on MSF without a recommending friend. This does not necessarily mean that you cannot join if you have know friends who are members but you will need to provide details (e.g. name and email address) for a friend who would then write a recommendation for you. On top of this, you still complete the profile yourself by adding vital information about yourself.

Not much in the way of extras-just the emails, but considering your friend that signs you up does half the work for you-it kind of makes sense. Also, the join-up fee is realtively cheap, making this an affordable and user-friendly site. Free users can create profiles, perform searches, choose favourites and participate in the ‘matchmaking’ process. You can see who has visited your site and read their profiles, but you cannot send or receive mails from other users, so you can real get a feel for the site before you join.

Overall, My Single Friend is a very original, interesting and fun idea that lets your friends create a profile for you when you join up. It is easy to use and has a more relaxed feel to it, rather than a serious dating site. The obly downside is the lack of extra features and lack of icebreaker type introductions.

DatingDirect

Dating Direct is one of the more popular dating websites in the UK, mostly due to the fact it has a great search feature and is packed with extras like winks, email, live chat and video. Once you get used to all the features it’s easy to use and filling out your profile is a straightforward process. One invaluable piece of advice about the site is to make sure you put some effort into your ‘personal ad’ area to make your profile stand out.

An excellent feature is a little pop-up window, showing in real time who is visiting your page, who has emailed or winked. You can also create your own test that other users can take to sort out the more compatible matches amongst the hundreds of users, giving you a good idea of who may well be the potential match you are looking for.

You also have an instant messenger that allows you to chat live with other members. Dating Direct also has a feature called video chat, so you can see what your potential date (always important!) so unlike other dating sites, users cannot simply put up their best photos. This is a massive plus point that you dont get on other dating sites. You can even make a video ad on your webcam-another great feature.

Overall, a very easy to use dating site that has some great features including live chat some video options. A really fun and friendly site that can sometimes have so many extras, you end up feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Match Affinity

Created by the same people who made the extremely popular match.com this is another dating site that approaches from the angle of finding your ‘soulmate’ and is therefore really for those of you out there who are looking more for a relationship than something casual. Again, like many other the sites you have to start by taking a personality test answering a wide variety of questions. It’s a lot more fun than it sounds and can help identify your traits to match up with prospective dates. The benefit of this kind of process is that it increases your chances of really meeting someone who you have a good chance of connecting with.

One criticism of the site is that when you upload your photo, it doesn’t have to be visible to everyone. You can choose yourself whether you want to show just a blurry image of it and release it to only those who really seem interested in you. However, this works has a major drawback- you might not be able to see other users photos unless they choose to show you, which means you are restricted by who you can see-obviously a bit of a frustration on a dating site.

When it comes to extras then there’s not a whole lot of options here – there’s no chat or video messaging. The compatibility test is pretty much what the whole site is built around, although there is an option to get personal telephone-coaching with advice on profile creating and other types of guidance and discussions. It does cost a small fee though, and can only be used by paid members. The video coaching is free for all members, but not as personal and gives some pretty general advice about creating a profile and online datings dos and don’ts.

As far as free features go, you are able to send a first message to each member on the site without having to pay for membership– but to properly read and write messages to other members, you do have to subscribe. What makes subscription really necessary though is the fact that you don’t ever get to see a single photo of anyone , even if they have made their photo public.

Overall, Match Affinity is a very comprehensive site that offers good compatibility matching but ultimately suffers from the fact that there is an issue with photos – you can’t see them when you’re not paying and even then you might not see more than a blurry image unless the member decides to show you.