Date.com Review

Launched in 1997, this is an old and established website which has at least 2 million members from around the world, and it is a good place to meet male and female singles.

Pros

Like Passion.com, it could be said that Date.com owes a lot of its success to its simple and lucrative domain name, which is worth many millions of dollars. The statistics I've read show that the site is adding as many as 250,000 members per month, which is a lot. Another good thing about Date.com is that the website has actually been successful in helping members start relationships. While other dating sites rarely mention how many of their members are actually successful, Date.com led to 50 marriages occuring over the last 12 months.

Once you visit the site, you can gain access to the database to view the millions of members which are online. You have the option of searching for matches based on their location, as well as their age, their interests, and as many as 100 different preferences. To show interest in any profile you view, all you have to do is send one message. Its as simple as that. The really cool thing about this is that all these features are offered to you for free. Once you're ready to begin more detailed contact with the other members, you can upgrade to a Gold membership. While the fees vary, the price will typically be around 25 cents per day, which is pretty cheap when you consider the many benefits you get.

One thing which I find to be very impressive about this site is its design. Not only does Date.com have a sleek design, but it is also simple. The combination of the two makes this website a sight to behold. Unlike other dating sites, which use either complex designs or a plain vanilla look that is almost tacky, this website balances the two well. When many people first visit this site, they often wonder why they should pay to chat with other members when there are plenty of places where this can be done for free. The answer often has to do with the quality, and Date.com has high quality members.

While most people like "free" things, free isn't always good. When you actually pay to become a member of a dating site, you're showing that you're serious about finding someone. It takes nothing to join a free site, and you will often encounter members who aren't serious about a relationship. If someone is willing to go to the trouble to pay money each month for a monthly membership, this is a sign that they're serious about finding a date, and you should be to. When you add to this the fact that Date.com has a proven track record of success, it seems worth it. If you're looking for a site which has professional members, the you will want to give Date.com a try.

Cons

The biggest problem that Date.com faces is its lack of distinction in an industry full of competitors. When I visited Date.com, other than its interface, there is little to separate it from the many other dating websites on the web. One has to wonder how successful Date.com would be if they didn't have such a prominent domain name. I for one believe that the domain name is the key factor which keeps them afloat, because it is worth a lot of money and is easy to remember. In addition to this, at $29.95 per month, this site is quite expensive, and one has to wonder if the high price tag is worth it. While it is good that the site successfully led to 50 marriages over the last 12 months, when this is compared to the fact that the site has over 2 million members, some may wonder is this is such a great success after all.

There have also been complaints from some former members that Date.com deleted their profile for no apparent reason. While it is likely that this case is just an isolated incident, having your profile deleted for no reason can be exceptionally annoying, particularly when the website is unwilling to communicate with you about what actually happened to cause the account to be terminated. Some members have also complained that there are people on this site who haven't been active in months, and yet, their profiles are still in the database. This in my opinion is irresponsible, and no dating site should allow this.

One thing that should be expected by both Date.com and any other dating sites is that there will be inactive members, and these members aren't very useful to the others if they never login. Therefore, these members should be deleted, but the big problem with doing this is that for every inactive member that Date.com deletes, they lose money, and no company likes to lose money. Therefore, it wouldn't be surprising to me to see that Date.com does everything in its power to avoid deleting its members. At the same time, keeping inactive members around could eventually cause others to terminate their accounts due to frustration.

Other than this, Date.com is not a bad site. It has been around for more than a decade, and this does count for something. However, my best advice to those who are considering joining this site is to look at all the options which are available to them carefully, and only join once they're certain that this site has the best to offer them.

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