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Match.com
This is the Best online
dating site overall.
In reviews, Match.com emerges as the largest and most
refined online dating service, with over 15 million profiles. Reviews praise it for its
ease-of-use and excellent search options. Match.com helps you create your profile and compose e-
mails. This online dating also offers video profiles, instant messaging and video e-mails.
Experts like its keyword search function and two-way matching that checks for common interests in
both profiles. You can search and browse for free, but to send or receive e-mails from members, you
must subscribe. Reviews say Match.com is a fun online dating site that has the most diverse
range of members. Recently, Match.com began an association with Dr. Phil McGraw. For an extra $9
per month, members can access dating and relationship advice.
eHarmony
This is the Best online
dating site for serious singles.
eHarmony is a more targeted online
dating service than Match.com and others. Reviews say it specifically helps singles look for
long-term relationships and marriage partners. eHarmony uses an exhaustive 500-item personality
questionnaire (which can take an hour or more to complete) that helps to match singles based on 29
key criteria. Even the communication process is more involved, requiring four separate steps.
Although not for casual users, reviews say eHarmony is the best online dating service for
those looking for something serious and substantial. eHarmony now offers a new program for married
couples that provides relationship tools (*est. $50 per month).
Lavalife.com
This is the Best casual online dating site.
Reviews say Lavalife sets itself apart from the bigger and more expensive online dating
sites with its pricing and features. Lavalife allows you to pay for only the e-mails you send to
potential dates; you can send eight e-mails for about $15. Reviewers say Lavalife has a fun
attitude. It lets users choose between three divisions: Dating, relationships and intimate
encounters. In this onlie dating website can create a separate profile for each. Unlike
Match.com and eHarmony, Lavalife offers online chat in addition to instant messaging and video
clips.
Plenty of Fish.com
Plenty of Fish.com
This is the Best free online
dating service.
Though Plenty of Fish, a free online dating service,
only launched in 2003, this site now boasts over a quarter-million members, and has grown solely by
word of mouth. Reviews say it offers many of the same features as paid services, such as help
creating a profile and the ability to search by age range, gender or region. Plenty of Fish also
has some unique features. There is a forum, and an area where members can rate each other. This
online dating website lacks the sophisticated profile matching and communication features
as paid sites, however.
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