Webdate converts to free.
I was expecting most of the paid sites would hold off until after Feb before converting to free.
Supposidly webdate sent out the following email to some users, and I see they are now saying they are 100% on their homepage.
Back by popular demand webdate is now FREE again for all users to enjoy. Webdate will have 100% FREE access to all users no questions asked. If you had a silver or gold membership your credit card will not be charged any more and you can continue to enjoy webdate for FREE.
Quantcast chart. Looks like webdate would have gone out of business in 6 months if they didn’t convert. I doubt they are much better off now.
January 28, 2007 at 9:19 pm
The free model seems the way to go for any type of website. Is there a subscription based site that works? It seems like there are always ways to get around the walls and get information or just go to a site that’s free and makes money via advertising to get what you’re looking for. One question though, will people learn to ignore Adsense at some point or do they already?
An interesting post about the top 20 sites: http://blog.compete.com/2007/01/25/top-20-websites-ranked-by-time-spent/
January 29, 2007 at 6:39 am
This actually really worries me. Does this mean that only websisites with serious brand cache can now viably obtain those subscription revenues? If so, does that mean 80% of dating sites are soon to become free? And if so, does that mean adsense revenues will come down even lower than their pathetic current rates?
This is turning out to be a horrible business niche. The services offered have been commoditized to a point where they’re not work anything, unless you are one of the top 3? That is *not* a good place for new businesses to exist. :-\
January 29, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Anyone think this will actually do anythign for their alexa / comcast numbers? Me , no, when a site is dying its dying.
January 29, 2007 at 4:30 pm
Last time webdate tried to make it as a free site they blew $500,000 a month before giving up after a year.
January 30, 2007 at 9:18 am
According to you, Marcus, eventually, paid dating sites will turn free
and for them to earn money, they will put adsense ads on their pages, too.
This way, available advertising space will be increased, thereroe the cost
of advertising wil get lower, and as a result of this, your earnings will
drop, too. Most of the sites that advertise on your site are dating sites,
too, as this is difficult to sell ads to non-dating sites, and in the end,
if all happens as you predict, free dating sites will exchange their
dating traffic and give google 50% commission. This way they will not
be profitable. I believe, this is not going to happen. Paid sites will
continue to improve their services, and people will continue to pay for
them, and free dating sites will continue to emerge and vanish.
January 30, 2007 at 12:50 pm
There is one major reason paid sites will survive: cashflow. they have a tangible product they are selling for $. They also have the inevitable filter that is cash. The spammers and less serious aren’t going to pay money to get on there if its going to cost them.
January 30, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Paid sites come in 2 flabours I believe - firstly you get quality sites like Match.com i.e. sites with a huge choice, and then basically you get the rest. When webdate goes free they are going to rely on reactivating their existing membership and also rely on organic traffic from search engines, because generating new traffic from advertising is going to be too expensive IMHO. The big problem is that they are going to be infested by scammers int he short term who dont mix well with traditional “dating site” type people who will be turned off in droves.
January 31, 2007 at 3:07 pm
Neal hit it on the head. New entrants into the dating space are doomed unless they have a huge marketing budget. There are arguments against this, but that’s the general scenario at this time. The big sites keep growing and everyone else is shrinking except for a handful of niche sites which are doing incredibly well.
Paid dating is for people serious about relationships. Free dating is for casual daters. There will always be both. I am tired of the hype about free dating killing off paid. It will never happen.
Ad revenue on dating sites will start to drop, the inventory is considered low quality to most advertisers. Something new will come along and take all the inventory from dating sites except for a few stalwarts.
February 6, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Interesting topic, as it affects everyone in the industry. I bloged about it on David Evan’s blog http://onlinedatingpost.com/archives/2007/01/today-is-shut-down-your-dating-site-day/#comments, the topic Today is Shut Down Your Dating Site Day.
You can read more on my blog http://tiberius-dating-industry.blogspot.com/
Tiberius Brastaviceanu
Inventor of the new Matchmaking Device System.
April 25, 2007 at 1:13 am
If a site is going to make it cant as long as it is full of fake rooms and people`s profiles n pictures + scamers and hackers and haters and power heads.the drama is flowing as there rooms state they are full of ladys and they are not.if you ask me they are fakeing the place for rateing`s. a joke is a joke but webdate is a bad one.it should have been gone a long time ago.
October 14, 2007 at 1:18 am
Good to have you back.
May 28, 2008 at 5:54 pm
There are many paid dating services change to free dating services these days because I think free dating sites get more visitors to visit and register. And, with a great Google AdSense publisher program comes so many free dating services make good money, instead of charing membership fee.
Thanks for sharing this article.
Great.