Types of Online Dating Sites

More and more people are now turning to online dating sites in order to find their special someone. In fact, it is becoming quite common to hear of couples who have met online. Some of them move on to having an exclusive boyfriend-girlfriend relationship while some have even been lucky enough to marry the person they have met online.

If you are one of the many people who are thinking of joining the online dating world, here are some information which can help you make the jump.

There are currently five types of online dating services:

1. General Online Dating Services

If you join a general online dating service, you will be allowed to access the members’ database after you have signed in with the site. Your registration with them will give you the ability to view all the profiles that have been created on the site and while they do offer optional quizzes and guides to help you narrow down what you are looking for, you are always welcome to expand your search as you wish. An example of this would be match.com.

Personally, of all the kinds of online dating services that I have tried, match.com remains to be a favorite as I have had more success with them than with any other services. In addition, I also have a match.com coupon for 2010 which makes my online search for my special someone extremely cost-effective.

2. Relationship Services

If you are serious about meeting “the one,” a relationship type of service may be best for you. This is a service that caters to those who would like to settle down soon and have marriage plans in mind. These sites will make you answer an in-depth personality profile which could take anywhere from forty to ninety minutes. They will assess your answers and will calculate the type of person you are most compatible with. From there, they will give a list of all the people who they think will be the most compatible with you.

Now, admittedly, I am someone who do not like to limit my choices. I would rather do my own trial and error and decide for myself whether he is “the one” than to let a compatibility test decide for me. Let’s face it, there are some relationships that work really well even when no logic nor any amount of compatibility tests can explain it.

3. Niche Online Dating Services

If you would like to meet people who enjoys the same activities as you do, the niche online dating services is a good place to start. They aim to match people who share the same interests or beliefs. They bring together people who share the same passion. There are numerous sites offering this service and they vary from pet lovers to Star Trek fans.

4. Merging Online Dating Services

This is a new type of online dating service which are slowly gaining ground. How this works is that you create an online profile on their site and then you print out cards which indicate your handle as well as the site URL. The idea is for you to give this cards out to people who you meet offline. It ties together your online and offline dating life into one unique experience.

I have not encountered someone who has gone through this type of service. If you are one who likes to keep your online and offline life separate, then this could be an issue for you.

5. Social Networking Sites

The social networking sites are also great for meeting new people. The idea is to build up your group of friends and in the process, find someone to date. This could be one of your friends or a friend’s friend.

While this is a good way of meeting people casually, this requires more work than just registering on a general online dating site. For one, you have to figure out whether a friend you are interested in is actually looking for someone. For all you know, he/she could already be in a relationship.