Top Ten Singles Dating Sites
The world of online dating has recently hit the mainstream. Commercials for Match.com and eHarmony appear over cable channels at nearly every hour of the day, pledging to help busy Americans and people from around the world find their perfect match based on criteria that best suits their emotional needs. Some of these sites are better than others, and it helps to know where to look and what to use before plastering pictures all over the World Wide Web.
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Match.com
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Rated the number-one online dating site by www.ConsumerRankings.com, Match.com has the largest online dating community in the country. Its database currently houses over 20 million singles of every demographic and desire. The account setup is relatively simplistic, although to access the site's premium features, and to contact other members through the site, a fee must be paid in one of three plans: one, three, or six months. However, browsing for members is free.
eHarmony
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For the individual seeking more than a date, eHarmony is the site to find a life partner. Users are matched on selected criteria that each person fills out upon joining the site, so the need to traipse through lists of potential matches is eliminated. Users are only shown profiles that match their standards for compatibility. That being said, there have been multiple complaints from former eHarmony users that have received rejection notices from the company. Users must also pay a fee to contact potential matches.
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Chemistry.com
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Similar to eHarmony, Chemistry.com matches users based on the criteria it feels as being essential to choosing their prospective mate. Chemistry also charges a fee for services, though it runs promotional events often, with users getting three months of service for the price of one. Its nearly 14 million users easily dwarfs that of eHarmony, which has less than 10 million currently.
JDate.com
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For the Jewish American, look no further than this online dating community. Users may initiate contact for free, as well as take advantage of planned events especially for Jewish singles throughout the country. The overall mission of JDate is to strengthen the Jewish community, sustain traditions, and to provide a network for Jewish singles to meet for friendships and relationships within the Jewish faith.
Gay.com
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Claiming to be the hottest online community for gay men in the country, Gay.com backs up its talk well. Their profiles number in the millions, with users being able to contact one another for free. Gay.com is not just for men, and it houses a large GLBT community within the site that includes planned events and online love help.
PerfectMatch.com
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This popular dating site is for the serious dater looking to settle down. It features an extensive personality profile that helps to determine which qualities a user's potential match should possess. The personality assessment is free; however, the rest of the site is not. Like most serious dating sites, Perfectmatch.com takes advantage of older users with disposable income. With over 11 million users, at least one match is bound to happen.
Sugardaddie.com
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Interested in a wealthy single (or not single) man? Sugardaddie.com is the website to travel to in search of a man to be the benefactor or the caretaker. Sugardaddie.com is not necessarily just for wealthy men; all genders of high-end incomes may submit profiles. Ladies are encouraged to be from some aspect of the entertainment industry, or to be models.
Yahoo! Personals
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Anyone with a Yahoo.com email can join this dating avenue that possesses more of a social networking outlet than a true online dating site. The features are free; however, users must create a Yahoo! email account and set up a profile to browse anyone in their global network. Chat features make for quick and easy communication without the need to swipe a major credit card.
Singlesnet.com
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Billed as the most visited online dating site in the United States, Singlesnet.com is another pay-for-contact site. It currently (and usually) offers free trials to entice new users to try its online dating network, but from that point on, it's pay all the way. The site does contain its own proprietary matching system, and once the user is paying into the system, the site is entirely available.
Matchmaker.com
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A bit venerable, Matchmaker.com is owned by Lycos, and it was one of the first online dating services available in the United States. It is currently the longest-running site. Users are able to record a voice greeting with their profiles, which helps lessen some of the anxiety (am I talking to a real person?) associated with online dating. It's still free to join the site after all of this time, and users may start contacting each other the moment their profile is created.
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