Site name: FindingSingles.net

Categories: Online Dating

Free Trial: Yes

Regions: US only

Orientation: All

Relationships Sought:

• Dating
• A Relationship
• Friendship

Services/Offered Ways to Connect:

• Chat
• Forums
• Search
• Private E-mail
• Featured Personals
• Flirt Options

Testimonials

“I work a lot and just don’t have time to go out and meet guys. Ever since joining, I’ve met more guys than ever and had the most fun in my life. If you’re like me, I highly recommend joining right now.”

– Tami

Visit FindingSingles!

Site name: Date.com

Categories: Dating Service

Free Trial: Yes

Regions: all

Orientation: Heterosexual, Gay, Lesbian

Relationships Sought: All

Services/Offered Ways to Connect:

• Photos
• Anonymous Email
• Profiles
• Horoscopes
• Messageboards
• Chat
• Videochat
• Advanced Search

Date.com also offers a web magazine with:

• Dating advice
• Horoscopes
• Gay and Lesbian Dating
• Fitness
• Weather
• Success Stories

David Deangelo and Christian Carter also offer relationship advice on Date.com.

Testimonials

“We were both divorced with two kids each.  Neither of us was looking to get married again, we just wanted to find someone to hang out with, be friends, etc.  I was getting on the site to remove my profile and he had just signed up through an email ad he received.  I hadn’t had any real luck; I met some guys. A few turned out to be good friends, but no romance.  I had pretty much given up, and then I received an email telling me that he liked my picture and wanted to talk.  So I called him and we talked for hours.  We talked everyday for hours for about 4 days.  Then I decided to get up the nerve to go meet him.  I hadn’t had real success so I wasn’t about to get my hopes up this time.  So I decided that one day after work I would meet him and off I went,  I took my kids with me this time.  I wanted their opinions, they didn’t much care for the other guys I had met, but they just loved him and his kids.  The rest is history; we haven’t been apart from that moment on, except to go to work.  We moved in with each other unofficially right away, and then six months later it was official.  I moved out of my own house and into his.  We were married May 13, 2005 and are living happily ever after.”

mechaele & disneyfun1

Visit Date.com!

You can initiate contact with others for free, and search through photos of singles near you. There are over 1,000 new members daily!

Site name: Christian Mingle

Categories: Christian

Free Trial: Yes

Regions: USA & Canada

Orientation: Heterosexual

Relationships Sought:

• Friendship
• Pen Pals
• A Date
• Marriage

Services/Offered Ways to Connect:

• E-mail
• Chat Rooms,
• Message Boards
• Instant Messaging
• Profiles and Photographs of Single Men and Women
• FAQ
• Anonymous Personals

Testimonials:
We are anxious to see what God has in store for both of us..
Chris and I met on Friday, July 31st in the 20’s chat room. We were goofing around, and I was sitting on the mingle couch, as we like to talk about in the chat room. Chris decided to take a flying leap onto the couch, and sent me flying off of it. After that, we started talking a little, and he sent me a smile. I sent him a smile, and we’ve been talking ever since. We officially started dating on August 16, 2009, and I went out to visit him in Omaha 2 weeks ago, and then also last weekend. My friend and I are taking a trip next week to Omaha to see him, and then flying to LA. We have already planned on one of us moving to the other one (a lot of it will depend on where I can get a job and start my career), and we plan on doing that in the next few months or so. We also have talked about getting married, which we think God has planned for us. We are anxious to see what God has in store for both of us, but we’re pretty sure it’s for us to be together for the rest of our lives.

Erin8201 & Cde2227

Visit Christian Mingle!

Site Name: Christian Cafe

Categories: Religious dating, Christian dating

Free Trial: Yes

Regions: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and More

Orientation: Heterosexual

Relationships Sought:

• Pen Pals
• Dating
• Serious Relationships
• Casual Relationships
• Marriage Minded
• Wherever God Leads
• Unsure

Services/Offered Ways to Connect:
• Receive 5 FREE days for each person you refer to ChristianCafe.com
• Receive your own private mailbox on the Cafe from which you can send and receive mail
• View as many dating profiles and photos as you like
• Send and receive messages free of charge while you have time on the Cafe
• See who is online at the same time you are
• Send Instant Messages to online members
• Post prayers and praises or pray for the needs of others
• Use our easy-to-use detailed search feature which includes everything from location to church involvement to interests – and much more!
• Read our Christian relationship advice columns, written by Dr. Jim Rives especially for Christian singles using the Internet!
• Meet single, Christian individuals who are looking for fellowship, companionship, romance, marriage or perhaps just that special spark with a special someone
• Show off your wit and charm one-on-one or in a group in Christian Chat rooms; join in on Moderated Chat room discussions (paying members only)

Testimonials
Dreams do come true! After the loss of my first wife and mother to my four children, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to love again — but that wasn’t God’s plan! Since Mindy is from Lansing, MI and I’m from northern Minnesota, the chances of us meeting under ordinary circumstances would be almost impossible. ChristianCafe.com was a Godsend! I met Mindy there because our profiles showed that we both had volunteered our time in Honduras, providing access to dental care for people less fortunate and in need of our help. One thing led to another, and on the 21st of Sept. 2007, Mindy and I had our first chance to talk on the telephone, and did we hit it off! I haven’t been able to wipe the smile from my face ever since that first phone call! Last February we had the opportunity to go to Honduras to serve together, and what a wonderful experience it was for both of us! We were married on June 14th, 2008, and my girls and I couldn’t be happier! Thanks ChristianCafe.com for a safe, great place to meet like-minded people!
Todd-teejay863 {Minnesota} & Mindy {Michigan} September 2009

Visit Christian Cafe!

Site name: CatholicMingle.com

Categories: Religious/Catholic Dating

Free Trial: Yes

Regions: USA, Canada & More

Orientation: Heterosexual

Relationships Sought:

• Friendships
• Pen Pals
• A Date
• Marriage

Services/Offered Ways to Connect

• Free personal profile
• Free Bible search
• Free unlimited smiles
• Free personal photo album
• Free Color Code personality profile
• Free spiritual and inspiring cards
• Unlimited email
• Unlimited member search
• Instant messaging
• Message boards
• Live chat rooms

Testimonials

I am the happiest woman on the planet.

“We met back in December of 2006. He lived in North Carolina and I live Arizona. We wanted to be just friends. He was getting ready to be deployed overseas for the military and I promised I would email him. And I did. We emailed each other almost everyday while he was deployed and we became best friends. We got our chance to meet 9 months later (Sept 2007) and when I met him at the airport that day, it was love at first sight. We have been head over heels in love ever since. We are now engaged and are planning a November wedding.

We often talk about meeting on Catholic Mingle and how lucky we are that we found each other. I am the happiest woman on the planet. I have found my perfect match.

Thank you”

Deb and Dave

Macgyver & NICEONE101

Visit Catholic Mingle!

Site name: BlackSingles.com

Categories: Regional/Ethnic African American

Free Trial: Yes

Regions: US & Canada

Orientation: Heterosexual

Relationships Sought:

• Friendship
• Pen Pals
• A Date
• Marriage

Services/Offered Ways to Connect

• Free personal profile
• Free personal photo album
• Free Color Code personality profile
• Free smiles (icebreakers)
• Free cards
• Quick and advanced searching
• Instant messaging
• Message boards
• Chat rooms

Testimonials

“I’ve never been one to get on a dating website. I kept getting mail from BlackSingles, so one day I decided to try it out. I joined BlackSingles on July 16, 2006 for one month. The last day that my contract was to end I met my true love, which was on August 16 around 8:30 pm. I only had a couple of hours left. I IM’ed him and he did not response back right away. Then later on he response back to me. He gave me his phone number and we had a long talk. Then after a couple of days we met. He was everything that I wanted in a man. After 3 months we moved in together. We have been together for 2 years. Then on my birthday July 18, 2008, he surprised me in bed with breakfast and had an engagement ring on the handle of a fork. Of course I accepted. We are very happy. We got married on April 17, 2009. Thank you BlackSingles! I never thought that I would find happiness like I have with Khamil. I have the best husband that I could ever ask for. We will be together 3 years on August 16, 2009. For anyone that does not believe that you can find your mate on BlackSingles, I am telling you that you can. Thanks again!”

Mr & Mrs Khamil

bjslove & khamilali2

Visit BlackSingles.com!

They claim to be different than other dating services based on their lower prices, e-cards, message boards, chat rooms, and more.

All you need to do is create your profile, post a few photos (up to 4) and begin your foray into online dating. If you upgrade to their premium membership service, you’ll have e-mail & instant messaging services. Don’t be afraid that you won’t find someone – there are millions of members, so there’s plenty of people for you to choose from!

Site name: American Singles

Categories:  Matchmaking, Dating

Free Trial: Yes – Free to create a profile, post photos & search for other members

Regions: The World

Orientation: Heterosexual , Gay, Lesbian

Relationships Sought:

Services/Offered Ways to Connect:

• Who’s online
• Real Time Chat
• Anonymity
• Instant Messaging
• Toll Free Customer Service
• Ignore List
• Hot Lists

The site is very well organized, and you don’t have to pay a single cent to sign up and start looking for a match. They also have sections for you explaining online dating safety and how to create the best free dating profile.

Visit American Singles!

Now, it’s up for debate whether the stigma is gone or not – online dating sites (all of them combined) have well over 20 million members. Match.com alone has 15 million members!

The ultimate sign that online dating went mainstream was when Dr. Phil joined forces with Match.com to offer dating advice. However, even with Dr. Phil’s stamp of approval & the massive membership bases of these online dating sites, a stigma still surrounds the concept of online dating.

Granted, it has lessened over the years, but it’s still there. You will still find some couples trying to conceal the fact that they’ve met on the internet. For a while, I was very much against the concept of online dating. I felt like it was the easy way out – that I would be giving up on the concept of meeting people in person if I signed up for a dating site. I felt like it would make me a weak person.

In reality though – that’s an awfully silly way to think about it. First off – just because you sign up for an online dating site doesn’t mean you’re giving up on looking for love in the “traditional” ways. It’s just another avenue for you to find relationships. You can still go out to bars, clubs, libraries, parks, wherever you would look for interesting people and try to meet them there. There is no clause in your membership to online dating sites that says you can’t go outside.

With that said – just because YOU might be over the stigma of online dating doesn’t mean your friends will be. Though you shouldn’t really have to justify your actions to them, if you feel the need, here are some good ways to explain why online dating is beneficial to you – with some cheesy metaphors:

1. People in business are always talking about the concept of ‘multiple streams of income’ – why can’t you have multiple streams of dating opportunities? This allows you to find dating opportunities all the time, any time.

2. In the world of advertising, finding targeted buyers for what you are selling is the ultimate goal of your advertisements. When you see someone of the opposite sex walking down the street, you know nothing about them. In online dating, you can sift through people’s profiles and find out if they fit your type, and pick out the people who are specifically compatible with you. This saves you a lot of work, and will lower your failure rate in dating significantly.

3. The internet is designed to connect people. You’re just taking advantage of the resources given to you.
The truth is though – if you see an opportunity, take it. Online dating is a great opportunity for you. What do care about more, what your friends think, or finding the love of your life? Think like Machiavelli – the end justifies the means. You think you will care what your friends think if you’ve found the love of your life, even if it was from online dating? I don’t think so.

Now get out there!

While it’s important to make a great first impression – you need to figure out how you’re going to secure your second date if everything went well. Getting past the first date is a beginning sign that you might have some potential for your relationship. It’s important that as a man, you don’t leave your date hanging – and as a woman, you should express how the date went, to help influence whether there will be a second date or not.

With that said, I have some specific advice for men and women each, along with some advice that works for both sexes.
Ladies first:

1. Make sure that you’re relaxed and that you be yourself. If you get nervous, remember that your date is probably just as nervous as you are. Remember to have fun – it’s a date!

2. Don’t interrogate. There’s a fine line between being interested and interrogating your date. You need to make sure that you do not cross this line! If you are throwing question after question at him, he might become a little intimidated. My friends call this “attacking with words.” Avoid doing this as much as possible. Don’t come to the date prepared with a mental survey for your date to fill out. Just be open minded, and learn about the as much as you can – without interrogating! It’s about getting to know the person – they aren’t applying for a job.

3. Make sure that you let your date know how it went. I don’t mean to be rude and tell them “This date sucked, don’t ever call me again.” But if you didn’t have a good time – don’t tell him that you did! If you aren’t interested in someone, giving signals to that person will not end well for either party. If you had a good time, then let him know.

For Men:
1. Show genuine interest in her! You should be asking your date more questions than she is asking you. Don’t be nervous going into the date about topics of conversation – just have a couple of starters for topics and let your date take it from there. I promise you she will do her part in the conversation, and some! Just make sure that you are listening carefully to what she is talking about and ask good follow-up questions. There’s a stereotype that men don’t listen – break that stereotype by showing that you’re genuinely interested in what she’s saying.

2. Focus on positive topics. Remember, this is your first date. Don’t start talking about abortion rights (not that you would) or your religious beliefs or other controversial subjects. Stick to things that she is interested in and keep everything positive. If you start complaining & moving to negative topics, she will associate that negativity with you – and trust me, that does not reflect well on your chances for a second date.

3. Be complimentary. I don’t mean telling her she’s beautiful 13 times per hour. I would say that more than 3 comments is probably too excessive. Don’t scare your date away with excessive complimenting, but make sure that if she looks good, or you like her outfit, tell her! Just don’t say “I like your outfit…but it would look better on my bedroom floor.” Not going to end well for you.

For Men & Women

Here are 3 quick tips –
1. No cell phones!
2. Don’t bring unexpected guests – it is not appreciated.
3. Do some body language research! I will write a good post about this in the near future, so keep your eyes peeled.

Now get out there and find yourself some dates!