Have you searched online for dating site reviews? These are websites who purport to independently review and compare online dating websites but can you trust them?
First we have to understand why dating review sites exist.
They are there to make the review site owner money … and there is nothing wrong with that providing the reviews are fair and impartial.
When someone follows the links from the dating site review and becomes a paying member of a dating site, the review site owner is paid either a one off fee or a percentage of the membership fee.
I repeat, there is nothing wrong with this, the dating site review owner has to put in the time and money to get internet browsers to their review site and the service they offer (if genuine) can stop you joining the wrong dating site.
Where I do have a problem is with review sites who do not even invest 30 minutes of their time to write a review, they simply copy and paste whatever the dating site owners send over. This is not a review, it’s purely an advert.
So let’s have a look at some review sites and decide wether they are review sites or advert sites. To be fair I am simply searching google uk for Online Dating Review Sites and choosing the top four sites in the search results.
I hope this shows you what you need to be looking at when visiting a dating review site and helps you to find real review sites rather than a page full of adverts.
No3 on googles list gets my vote, not because it is the best review site but because it appears to be the most honest. If the owners would add some more information into the reviews then they would be miles ahead of the competition.
No 1 Best4sure
As I am based in the UK I went straight to their UK Dating Sites page. At random I chose the review for the iLove dating site.
I copied a phrase from the section headed ‘Our iLove Review’ and googled it (including quote marks around the phrase to ensure an exact match).
The phrase popped up on a couple of blogs dated from 2005. Now if this is THEIR iLove review then why does the same exact phrase come up on other site review pages?!!
Scrolling to the top of the page I see .. *****latest ilove Uk seems to be no more ! .. so why is it still on the review site if ther dating site is no more (answer – search engine optimisation).
Knowing that even the small ‘Our review’ section is actually written by the dating site I have lost all trust in the review site … next.
No2 Online Dating Reviews
This looks a bit more promising. At random I have clicked the review for Dating for Parents and there are two guest reviews, the second is titled “Paid Members Getting False Reports”. This is what reviews should sound like, a mix of positive and negative.
I click the link to read their review and then click again (at the bottom of the short review) to read the full review (am getting dizzy now). The full review includes difficulties the review staff had registering with the dating website but gave an overall good score – sounds fair and honest.
I was really starting to like this site until I clicked all the review links down the page … there are a lot that simply don’t have a review, making them simple adverts rather than reviews.
I get the impression that the site began with great intentions but over time has lost steam (let’s hope they have made a fortune and are on a beach in Barbados, far too relaxed to write reviews). It’s a shame and I hope next time I visit they have found a new lease of life and completed all the reviews.
Still it’s a good review site to begin your search and I couldn’t find any standard phrases across the net.
No3 The UK Online Dating Review
I will declare an interest in this site … albeit a very small one, as they use this blogs RSS feed for their Dating Advice page but as I believe in honest reviews that is what I shall give and hope my RSS feed doesn’t disappear off their site.
It is centred around the UK. Not simply sites for UK only but also worldwide sites with a high UK membership.
The first review on the page is for eHarmony in UK and the site states “No rating yet, as we don’t have enough feedback”. That suggests honesty to me.
All the information is on one page so you don’t have to chase round the site following links. They also include a mixure of dating site types, from traditional dating sites to speed dating.
However, the reviews are simply too short, I would prefer to read more about the reviewers impressions of the site but you can see the honesty in the short reviews provided.
If you are looking for a UK dating site I would certainly check out The UK Online Dating Review and look out for little comments like “watch for fake profiles”, it certainly gives you a hint of how well the dating site is policed (or not).
No4 Dating Jungle
I’m totally confused by this review site.
I clicked the section for extramarital dating and there are two sites listed (illicitencounters with an overall impression of 6 and Lovinglinks with overall impression of 1 (these scores are out of 10).
Now call me old fashioned but a score of 1 out of 10 has to be a pretty poor review surely?! Yet the overall impression wording states “The design of the site is attractive and makes lovinglinks stand out from other dating services.”
Likewise in the dating site reviews, Dating Direct gets a dreadful 1 out of 10 and yet the overall impression simply says “Impressive are the detailed profiles which optimise your matchmaking success as well as the responsiveness and ease of use of the Site.”
Anyone else confused? I can only assume that the good scores are given to paying sites and the badly scored sites are simply added to encourage you to join the paying sites?! One to be avoided I think.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:07 am
A fantastic post. Many people get caught in online dating scams so it is nice to find a website that gives genuine reviews rather than saying they are all ‘great’ to get money when we sign up!
March 1st, 2010 at 6:31 pm
I don’t get paid if you click on the links to my dating site reviews, and I’ve tried to be as honest as possible in my assessments. I’ve posted a couple of hundred now, but of course its always an ongoing process.
Bonny´s last blog ..Dating Question About Older Men, Younger Women
March 1st, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Hi Bonny
I have read your blog many times and am sure it is genuinely written but I can’t seem to find your review section, perhaps you could stop by and leave us a link for that section so readers can find you.
April 24th, 2010 at 2:53 am
Bonny,
I total agree that in these days in times there are far less sites that provide honest to goodness reviews. It seems that they spend more time finding things to review for monetary reasons than actually providing the reader a worthwhile comparison.
In my experience a good review site is one that ranks naturally on the search engines vs PPC review sites.
May 2nd, 2010 at 5:32 pm
Online dating has an array of positives, like being able to get to know the person better before even meeting them. this gives it an edge over other forms of dating.
Married dating site for those looking for a married affair, or in a relationship,
and looking for a marital affair or married dating.
May 3rd, 2010 at 2:12 pm
Hi Melwin
I would rather see married people going to marriage guidance councelling than go hunting the internet for an extra marital affair .. they often do so much damage to marriages and families.
May 7th, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Spammers are every where now so let’s be very careful in choosing a dating sites. For me it is very necessary not to trust right away those different dating review sites, much better if we will search for those top rating sites before registering.
June 5th, 2010 at 6:51 am
You’re right of course, website owners writing reviews of their own sites is the oldest trick in the book.
The thing is though,if you’re thinking of trying a site then you should choose one that suits your interests or even try several. Where some have found no results others can and do find some success.
Obviously the site features and the professionalism and efficiency of the support and admin teams are important, but in the end the only way to find out if the water’s warm is to dive in and try it for yourself.
Dating Reviews´s last blog ..Single Mothers & Fathers
July 30th, 2010 at 6:24 am
When reading dating site reviews you have to be careful the person who wrote the site is not simply an affiliate marketer who will get paid if you sign up through their link. The best way to find out if certain sites are good or bad is to look around for forums where real people share their real opinions…
Jay@Dating Advice Book´s last blog ..Dating Advice Book Reviews For Men – Top Dating Books updated Mon Feb 22 2010 12-19 am CST