Niche Dating Sites

You have a dating web site.

But let's face the truth: competition in online dating business is fierce.

New sites pop out daily - and many fade away in oblivion. Do you know why?

Because most webmasters pay very little attention in a matter of choosing the right target audience. In fact, trying to satisfy each and every single around the globe is a noble, but practically useless idea.

Do not copycat popular general dating sites, which throw millions of dollars into TV, radio and online advertising. Instead, concentrate on a very narrow, specialized niche.

You can choose from the following:

• Hobby-based dating;
• Geographically-based dating;
• Ethnic specific dating.

Not sure on which hobby dating niche to concentrate? It's simple. Think about your own experience:

• Fond of fishing?
• Skating fan?
• Clubbing each weekend?
• Reading sci-fi literature or watching some pop-culture TV show?

Maybe you are a hardcore gamer or biker, adore small pets or boast to your friends about those multiple tattoos all around your body. Choose one category in which you have some distinct knowledge, or, even better, on which you are an expert!

Now, mix this passion with your webmaster skills. Or hire a web designer and build your very special dating site for Star Wars fans like you. Make them feel your passion to that classic movie: put some themed features like quizzes or maybe a question in profile like "What side of The Force would you choose: Light or Dark"? Your visitors should feel that their passion for the topic is shared by other members of this dating community, and be aware of it every second.

There are a lot of faith-related niche dating sites around:

• Christian,
• Catholic,
• Jewish,
• Muslim,
• Adventist,
• LDS,
• and many others.

However, not many of them are run by true believers. If you treat your faith seriously, this could be a good niche to start too.

Building a good hobby-specific dating site requires a lot of effort, so instead you might consider connecting singles from your hometown, or any other area. Again - it's better if you know this area, or at least you are familiar with it to some extent. Keep in mind that you connect real people, not just some profiles. These singles are more likely to trust and pay for the membership on a site which is run by someone who lives a few blocks away, or in a nearby city or state - but not on another continent, right?

Do not underestimate your hometown or even neighborhood dating opportunities. Would 2000 paying members of, let's say, Catonsville, MD make you happy?

You can stick to more broad niches if you choose ethnic specific dating:

• Afro-American,
• Latin,
• Arabic,
• Jewish,
• Asian.

By the way, if you mix categories from all those before mentioned niches - you can get quite unique and, at the same time, potentially lucrative niche for your site. Just a few of examples:

• Dating for Jewish community of New-York,
• Pet lovers from Washington,
• Dating for Latin Music Lovers,
• Tattoo Dating for California.

If you already have niche dating site, you probably know that its marketing should be also much more targeted than advertising general dating web site. But the most effective way - targeting the ads only to geographically-specific group of people - can be also improved and increase CTR on your ads up to 306%.

Choosing a niche is an important task, so take your time and investigate the subject thoroughly, before you make your choice.

Oleg Khabarov is a marketing specialist in online dating business. Now he works as a marketing manager for such reputable dating advertising network like DatingAdNetwork