By Matt Griffin, Freelance Writer
March 01, 2008

Freddie Mercury might have most succinctly described the plight of lonely people everywhere when he plaintively asked, “Can anybody find me somebody to love?”

It’s a common predicament — so common, in fact, that more than 22 million Internet users visited online dating sites in October 2007, according to Internet audience measurement service comScore Media Metrix.

And there are plenty of dating sites out there trying to find a somebody for everybody who comes knocking. But while every perfect pairing is a success story that builds a site’s reputation, it also represents two customers who might never need to come back. So how do you stay in business when your business attempts to assure that your customers will never need your services again?

Court them to keep them
Although the individuals who use online dating sites have different goals — some want to date casually while others are looking for long-term relationships — it stands to reason that most people won’t remain members of a site indefinitely. Customers of Perfectmatch.com, for example, maintain membership for five months on average, according to Duane Dahl, president and CEO of Bothell, Wash.-based MarketRange, which owns Perfectmatch. Dahl also is co-founder of the dating site.

Acquisition becomes increasingly important to combat this natural attrition. While the standard online acquisition methods, such as banner advertising and search engine marketing, apply, there are a few standout tactics in the space. Several sites have attempted to establish themselves as respected sources for relationship advice, apart from their abilities to match singles with each other. The idea being: Come for the advice, stay for the ability to hook up with like-minded singles.

Match.com, for instance, has an editorial division that focuses on developing content not just for its members, but for the world at large, through its e-zine, Happen (www.happenmagazine.com). The site features articles on dating, pop culture and other topics.
“Editorial is one more way to show that we can help people become more successful at dating in general, as well as on our site,” says Jared Cluff, director of online acquisition for Dallas-based Match.com.

Lavalife, which maintains three separate communities — casual dating, long-term relationships and intimate encounters — started its e-zine, Click (http://click.lavalife.com/magazine), in 2006. Stephanie Barrington, vice president of consumer marketing for the Toronto-based company, points out that editorial content broadens the site’s offerings and provides a competitive advantage in the increasingly crowded Internet-dating space. Click also features bloggers writing about their love lives and a dating advice podcast.

All this serves to make Lavalife a trusted information source for people interested in the “journey of dating,” Barrington says.

Making content available to consumers is one thing, but getting consumers to engage with that content is another. That’s why Match.com and Perfectmatch.com have created distribution networks for their content.

Cluff and his team have developed content-distribution relationships with AOL, MSNBC and other sites, which has resulted in the daily publication of Happen articles on those sites, clearly noting

Match.com as the source. Dahl says that Perfectmatch.com has similar partnerships with MSNBC and iVillage, using articles written for the site by relationship expert Dr. Pepper Schwartz.

Tease the service, seal the deal

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