A Review of JDate’s Redesign by Ali Sabet

Branding and design specialist Ali Sabet just posted a review of JDate’s redesign. He also recently broke down the design of location based dating/social network Skout.

Having someone with Ali’s critical eye review your site (pre re-design) is tremendously helpful, especially for those of us that are too close to our product and who have developed a jaded eye looking at our site(s) day in and day out. We’ll be launching a redesign of our dating sites in the coming months; safe to say that it will definitely include a dose of input from Ali.

Congrats Star and Arman!

A large part of the feel good aspect of running dating sites is the opportunity to help people meet their match. I love hearing success stories of couples that met online, and this one is especially sweet. Star (aka Setareh), who is my girlfriend’s little sister, met Arman a few years back on IranianPersonals.com (the same site where my girlfriend and I met). On a recent trip to Mexico, Arman popped the question *d’oh!*. A big congrats goes out to Star and Arman on their recent engagement!

JDate Redesign Coming Soon

The undisputed heavyweight of niche dating sites is planning a redesign. JDate, owned by Spark Networks, utilizes two main platforms for their niche sites. Most of their sites, like BlackSingles.com, BBWPersonalsPlus.com, etc., are on a platform that was born from their acquisition of MingleMatch and have seen several design makeovers over the years.

As for JDate, a Spark executive once told me that they prefer the platform inherited from MingleMatch, but due to fear of customer backlash, they’ve been coy vis-a-vis redesigns to their bread winner. Suffice it to say, Spark has had little appetite for messing with JDate; until now that is. Curious to see the redesign and how bold it will be.

Radio Date™

Congrats to Josh Meyers, Greg Kim, Daniel Chen and the rest of the team at PeopleMedia for landing a sweet biz dev deal with the syndicated Steve Harvey Morning Show.

Local radio is huge for reaching African-American consumers and attracts some $805 million/year from marketers. According to ROI Media Soultions/Arbitron (2007), radio leads African Americans’ daily time spent with media.

Here’s how Radio Date™ works:

1. Sign Up
Create a Free Profile on BlackPeopleMeet.com to receive a username to be eligible or Login if you are currently a member.

2. Participate
Click Participate in Radio Date and complete the signup form.

3. Listen
We will choose one female member and three male members to participate in an on-air interview on a Wednesday morning with Steve Harvey and the Morning Show crew. The woman will ask the questions and the guys will respond. The woman gets to choose the guy she wants to go out with, and the couple will go on their very own Radio Date™ that weekend. On the following Wednesday, they will call in to the show and let us all know how it went. The following week, we will pick another woman and three other guys and start another Radio Date™.

4. Vote
Everyone can vote and let the woman know who they think she should pick. You don’t need to be a member to vote, so check back each week and vote for the next Radio Date™.

Utilizing Video Technology On Dating Sites

I had a good chat last Friday with Seesmic founder Loïc Le Meur about utilizing their video technology on our dating sites. Loïc envisions Seesmic as a technology platform more than a destination site and in order to land dating clients, a good bit of work needs to be done to their back end.

About Seesmic (from CrunchBase): Users can upload video directly from their webcam and post it to a personal page like with Twitter. They can also grab content from other sites such as YouTube by copying a video’s url and placing it in their stream. Additionally, videos that users create can be automatically linked to in twitter (potentially other platforms) and uploaded to YouTube.

I love the dynamic nature of videos. The life, energy, conversation and stickiness it can inject into a site is super exciting. Video, is generally speaking, underutilized on dating sites. Video emails, video blogs, video comments on blogs and message boards, video profiles and status updates are just some of the areas where video can play a more prominent role. Integration/promotion for how these products can be used by members and the context in which they’re used is important for achieving successful adoption.

With faster Internet speeds, more webcams and an increasing comfort by people to share more about themselves, I definitely see video playing a more useful role on dating sites in the year(s) to come.

I Don’t Want A Dating Profile, I Want My Own Site!

Still single and tired of poor results on online dating sites? Take matters into your own hands. That’s exactly what one 42 year old New Jersey executive did when launching her social experiment 52weeks2findhim.com. Neenah Pickett has given herself 52 weeks to find her husband.

That’s all well and good but who is going to find her site? Well, according to BlackWeb20.com she’s off to a fast start in spreading the word. Neenah has landed herself interviews with FOX and Good Morning America. She’s also recently been featured in Essence magazine and the Tom Joyner Morning Show. For a full review of her site click here.

Relating this back to online dating, I look forward to the day that singles can truly have their own fully customizable dating web page. Dating profiles are stale and outdated; especially when comparing them to all the amazing tools and features that socially driven sites offer. Allow users to select or customize their template, offer the option for them forward the site to their own unique url, offer widgets as promotional tools (for friends or yourself), include social tools like blogs, diaries, photo galleries, videos, seo tools, messaging system, community tools that get your friends involved, comments section, privacy options, etc. Most of the aforementioned, if done right, can breed enthusiasm and fun into dating. By doing so, people are less likely to feel ashamed/self conscious of their dating profile and more likely to share wit others and enlist their friends to help.

As a means to drive traffic/bring attention to ones web page, offer the option to be listed in a main directory that can be searched by anyone (think Ning). Make it free for anyone to create a profile and send messages. Up sell them with various offerings that increase exposure, fun and the chances for attracting matches (the more expensive the plan, the more robust tools/features). Think MyWedding.com or Ning for singles.

BlackPlanet.com Gives Up On Subscription Model For Dating

I am not sure when the switch from paying to free was made, but BlackPlanet.com’s dating section is now free. They launched their dating section a few years ago, but frankly, I never felt that they really understood online dating well enough to get it right with a subscription model; they should of hired online dating consultants Mark Brooks or Dave Evans to help them out. Anyway, they have thrown in the towel and the site is now 100% free; probably a good move that will help their bleeding traffic. If you can’t do paid dating right, don’t do it all. Free and paying are very different animals.

My Interview with a Greek E-Zine

My interview with Anastasios Papapostolou for the “Greek Hollywood Reporter” was just published this past week. I tell you, interviews are not easy; it’s work. On the one hand I enjoy sharing freely, but on the other hand, you want to be careful to not put your foot in your mouth and say something stupid. Ultimately, like anything else, you just need more practice time to get really good at something.

The interview was definitely a good exercise for remembering how the business got started, the journey of it all and how far we have come. I sometimes forget to what extent EligibleGreeks.com has become an awesome/recognizable brand among Greeks worldwide. Often caught up in the hustle and bustle of an entrepreneur’s daily grind to keep the business moving forward, you fail to take a deep breath and acknowledge all the good you have created for yourself and others. And with that thought, I think I’m gonna go ahead and take another deep breath.

Life is good.

Dating To Be Offered On Facebook?

I just noticed that Facebook added a “Why Join Facebook” area and my eye was immediately drawn to the fourth image. The image for “Reconnect with Old Friends” is that of a heart circled around an old love from your yearbook – sup with that? The image miscommunicates the label/description, or is Facebook headed down the path of offering a dating service?

Value and Risk

Wonderful thought provoking video here presented at TED by Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert about value, risk as it relates to human psychology. Lots of good brain food that will get ya’ thinking. Enjoy…