Today I received a Happy Holiday email from Engage (disclosure: a past client). This was the only dating site that sent out a holiday greeting to it’s members, at least of all the sites I belong to. A nice touch. They have a few job openings as well. Engage was co-developed by former Match.com executive Trish McDermott.

Customer Service, engage, Marketing

Earlier this year I worked closely with a startup that wanted to address the issues of marrieds and couples over 40. Clearly there was a need for some sort of online component to keeping married people happy, when I was talking with them they were trying to figure out what the services would look like. It looks like eHarmony beat them to market.

eHarmony Marriage is a personalized, interactive, online marriage counseling program (what eHarmony calls marriage wellness) designed to help couples make their marriages stronger and happier. Now, in just 20 minutes per week and in the privacy of their own home, couples can discover practical and positive ways to experience deeper joy and passion in their marriage.

Dr. Les Parrott, co-creator of eHarmony Marriage:

Between careers, children and other pressing demands, couples often find that there’s no time left for their marriage. That’s why eHarmony is pioneering this new ‘marriage wellness’ movement. We believe that if couples are willing to spend just 20 minutes per week to make their marriage stronger they can achieve a happier and healthier marriage.

20 minutes a week to a better marriage seems like a pretty good deal towards deeper joy and passion. Another reason to bring the laptop to bed.

If you have used the service, leave a comment and let us know what you thought.

Press release.

Dating Site, eharmony, marriage+wellness, personality testing

MIT Advertising Lab writes about a new SEO plug-in for Firefox.

SEO for Firefox is a little plug-in for search engine optimizers (optimizators?) that ammends Google and Yahoo search results will all sorts of related trivia on sites that show up in the search results. This will give you an idea why certain site is ranked higher up than others for a particular search term.

Great idea, and make sure to check out the typo generator.

Marketing, seo, tools

It's hard enough sticking to new year's resolutions when you're the only one monitoring your progress. That's where your partner comes in. This year, each of you should pick 1-2 things you want to improve. Then hold each other...

Continue.

If you're thinking of proposing this holiday season you might be tempted to do the ring shopping all by yourself. It's a valiant thing to do, but also a big mistake! Remember, your spouse to be will wear this...

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Dmitry Rudakov wrote from Moscow to tell me about his social-dating software script AbleDating. All he said was that they pay attention to some “tasty” things like 3d chat, games etc. Has anyone used this? Leave a comment is you have any experience with this $597 script.

Screenshots remind me a little of Cyworld, the US version of the immensely popular South Korean social network.

abledating, cyworld, Online Dating Software

Media Daily News weighs in on the Match.com product placement in the new TBS show “My Boys”.

Judging by the brand’s appearance in the Nov. 28 debut episode, the product placement feels forced, a potential consumer turn-off. This despite Match’s CEO telling the Times the appearance had to feel “seamless and natural.” (The integration was one of the top-ranked product placements of the week, according to measurement firm iTVX.)

Match and TBS clearly made an effort to achieve seamlessness. The show’s conceit dovetails within the orbit Match circulates: 20somethings trying to get the relationship thing right.

But the initial dialogue in which Match appears strains credulity on several levels. It’s a scene where two female friends grab lunch and discuss the highs and lows of the dating minefield. One woman (PJ Franklin, played by Jordana Spiro) laments a recent encounter. Another (Stephanie, played by Kellee Stewart) struggles with a break-up but turns to Match to find Mr. Right.

“I have been on Match.com a lot,” Stephanie says.

“Doing what?” PJ asks.

“Online dating! It’s fantastic!” Stephanie says.

Cringe. I haven’t seen the show yet and I’m out of their demographic but in general this is why I have Netflix and HBO.

Match shelled out between $1-2 million to be featured in My Boys, based on a woman sports reporter in Chicago.

Marketing, match.com, my+boys, partnerships

I’m receiving less spam from Myspace and more from YouTube MatchActivity and HeyLetsgo. More spam means the site is getting popular, which is both good and bad.

social networking, spam

Tis the season for holiday singles surveys. OkCupid found that:

• 45% of OkCupid members said they need to be dating someone for at least three months before bringing them to the office holiday party; 12% would bring someone after the first date, if they’re “hot”
• Only 7% said they abstain from alcohol at office parties, while 47% admit to getting “tipsy”
• 51% said they would “lock lips” with a co-worker under the mistletoe, if the person is attractive
• 82% of people said they would hide an office romance from the boss
• 72% of women said they have flirted or used their sexuality to get a better performance review, while 97% of men said they have not
• 16% admit to having participated in a “sex act” in the office, beyond just kissing
• When it comes to kissing of a different kind, less than 25% said they plan to buy their boss a holiday gift this year

Match had a new survey out which appears to be closed already.

Dating sites should survey customers more often. I’m amazed at how out of touch many dating site operators are with their members. Go forth and survey, learn about the needs of your members, and feed that information back into your site.

dating+survey, okcupid, Uncategorized