Have you ever wondered about those roadside singles signs that are cropping up all over the place – signs by the side of the road that offer local dating in cities and towns around the country? You know the ones, they all tout some local-sounding singles group, with a website address which always ends in either “singles.com” or “dates.com”, such as “citynamesingles.com” or “yourtownhere.com”. Examples are ColumbusDates.com, ClevelandDates.com, SeattleSingles.com, LongmontSingles.com, etc., etc., etc..
Ever notice how they all look the same? Well, guess what – the websites all look the same too, and that’s no coincidence. For the most part these websites are all part of vast dating affiliate networks. In plain English that means that every time you go to one of these sites, and sign up, hoping to get a date or even find love, the person behind the roadside sign and the website gets money in their pocket, while you get nothing but a hole in your wallet.
There are legitimate dating sites out there. People have found love on the likes of Match.com, True.com, and eHarmony.com (note that we are not endorsing these, but we know them to be genuine dating sites). The same is true for the singles programs at sites such as Yahoo.
One good way to determine whether a singles dating site is a legitimate site, plugged into the local community, is to go to their site, select a key phrase from their site, and google that phrase. If it turns up on lots of other sites, for lots of other communities, it’s probably an affiliate play, and not a place that is genuinely interested in your lovelife.
For example, try plugging this phrase into your favorite search engine, such as Google:
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“We prescreen and qualify all members to ensure that our member base consists of the highest quality professional singles”
Lots of results, each looking the same. In fact, each showing the same smiling people at the same happy party. Wow, these people sure to get around!
By the way, the DNS for each of these websites is served by “DatingDNS.com” – what does that tell you?
Here are a couple with even more astonishing results:
“Without cost or obligation to me, please review my personal profile form below and tell me more about being introduced to quality single men and women”
and
“Meet Verified Local Singles Now”
Over 40,000 sites!
(Be sure to hit “repeat the search with the omitted results included” if your search only turns up a few plus this link – they are trying to save you seeing thousands of repetitive results, which should tell you something right there.)
Interestingly, this last search includes not only “*singles.com” and “*dating.com” domains, but many with the name “greatexpectations” included in the domain. Great Expectations is – or at least was – a legitimate dating service which has been around for almost 30 years. But whether the local dating sites which feature “greatexpectations” in their names are affiliated with Great Expectations is open to question. Clearly Great Expectations has both grounds and clout enough to smash any of these sites for copyright and trademark infringement. However, Great Expectations now has its own affiliate program, which it pushes quite heavily. Right there at GE-Dating.com, there’s a big old affiliate link at the bottom, leading to this page which exhorts visitors to “Sign up to join the Great Expectations Affiliate Program today!”, and explaining that “We are accepting applications from: 1. Dating, relationship and other related web sites 2. Search Engine Marketing affiliates 3. Valid opt-in email campaigns (pre-approval required)”
In the end, what this serves to highlight is that the best way to meet a soulmate is either through real life activities or, at least, a qualified online dating service.
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Here is the truth on video from a local news station.
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My initials–SSS
i do, or rather did my own “hunting” without need of a “dating service”. it was so successful that i haven’t needed a “date” for 40 years. stir around guys, the gals are out there, shut off the t.v. and give them a chance to find you.
“gunner”