Valentine's Day Approaches: Some Recommended Free Dating Sites

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, but this recession has many single Americans thinking about job security and their savings account when many would rather be thinking about the best way to find the perfect mate. So it's a good thing that high quality, 100% free online dating sites still exist.

If you haven't tried OKCupid.com yet, you should stop by the site and take it for a spin. It's 100% free and the site has more than 3,000,000 singles with profiles. OKCupid.com is the nation's biggest free online dating site, and it helps bring more than 100,000 people together each year.

Sam Yagan, co-founder of OKCupid.com, is also the creative force behind CrazyBlindDate.com. So, what's so "crazy" about it, you ask? Here you go:

"...In 8 cities across the country including New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Washington, DC, Austin, San Francisco and Atlanta, singles post no profile, no picture and only input basic information including the type of person they want to meet, where they'd like to go and when they want to meet. Then, CrazyBlindDate.com does the rest! Within a few hours you could be meeting someone new for coffee or a cocktail with nothing to lose. There's no better way to get over a break up than by quickly meeting someone new..."

Me likey!

The above quote is from a recent press release. Enjoy!

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Curious About Interracial Dating?

If you are into interracial dating, or if you're curious about dating someone outside your own race, then you should stop by the BlackWhiteKiss.com website and take it for a test drive. You can signup for free and post your profile. A free guest membership also allows you to respond to emails sent by other paid members. More details about guest membership can be found below in the following clip from the BlackWhiteKiss.com FAQ page:

"...A free Guest Membership allows you to create your own profile which will describe who you are as well as the kind of person/match that you're looking for. You may even also upload photos of yourself to your profile.

Other Guest Members and Gold Members will be able to view your profile. If you should receive an email or instant message from a Gold Member you may reply back for free to that member. However, you may not initiate emails or online instant message out to other Guest Members. That privilege is reserved for Gold Members.

As a Guest Member you may also search profiles for free. However, you are restricted to a basic search which includes the gender you are seeking, age range and as close as 100 miles to you . All other specific search criteria are reserved for Gold Members..."

Feel free to post your reviews or comments about BlackWhiteKiss.com here.

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Lavalife Debuts New Dating Site for Folks 45 and Up: lavalifePRIME

Lavalife Corporation has released a new online dating site for singles in the 45 or older category. The site is lavalifePRIME and it can be found at http://PRIME.lavalife.com. Is it free? Yes, it is, but only for a limited time while the project is in BETA mode.

Visit http://PRIME.lavalife.com to get started or, for more information, check out this press release.

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The Current State of The Online Dating Industry

Vizu Answers and OKCupid have together released the results of a market research survey dubbed "Online Dating Perceptions." If you're curious about the current state of the online dating industry then you should check out this report (PDF). The report contains the results of a number of interesting polls related to online dating, and is definitely worth checking out.

Here's a clip from a recent press release related to the Online Dating Perceptions market research survey:

"...Vizu Corporation, the company democratizing market research, and OkCupid, America's fastest growing free online dating company, today co-released a benchmark survey of current online dating attitudes and behaviors. Results showed that roughly half of all Internet users have partaken of an online dating Web site in one form or another. (See full market research report)

Of the 49 percent of survey respondents who claimed to have interacted with an online dating Web site, more than 20 percent were committed users, either by paying for a subscription or using a free service. Another 29 percent admit to at least browsing profiles, even if they don't take that final step of signing up and making a connection. Those who do commit tend to stick around - 62 percent trying their luck for two months or longer.

Sixty-eight percent of respondents prefer services that provide personality questionnaires, analyze compatibility and offer matchmaking recommendations. And users want that service for free, too. Free sites are preferred over subscription services at a ratio of five-to-one.

Despite the reach of the now ten-plus-year-old industry, 72 percent still feel there is a social stigma to online dating. Yet that perception appears attached to those who are less involved in the experience. Once daters embrace the online path and actually meet their match, they become more comfortable. Nearly two-thirds will admit that, upon meeting their significant other online, they would tell the truth if asked about how they met.

Finally, the report shows online daters to be highly selective. Most (58 percent) rely primarily on photographs to quickly filter their field of prospective matches. Deal breakers that tend to cause prospects to be rejected include smoking (23 percent say no) and having children (32 percent aren't interested). As for physical characteristics, 45 percent will reject someone because of his/her weight, and another 33 percent will disqualify those outside their age range..."

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TravelingPersonals.com Adds Sexual Predator Check

A lot of people are interested in trying online dating. Online dating is relatively easy, efficient and it can be lots of fun.

But a lot of folks -- especially women -- who would like to try dating in the online world are apprehensive because of safety concerns. Bottom line: nobody wants to hookup with a sex offender.

If safety is a concern for you, then you may want to try TravelingPersonals.com. The folks at TravelingPersonals.com recently announced that they will perform a sex offender check on all new members.

Women can join for free and can access all services for free at TravelingPersonals.com, while men are required to pay a reasonable $3.50 per month membership fee.

For more details, check out this clip from a recent press release:

"...TravelingPersonals.com announces the addition of Sexual Predator checks on all new members. Online safety is a major concern for anyone looking to find a compatible partner online. As part of our continuing effort to help our members have a safe and fulfilling experience, TravelingPersonals.com has added the additional security of nationwide sexual predator checks on all new members. This is a new service added without any additional costs for our members. With this improvement, TravelingPersonals.com is now not only of the best values online but one of the safest in online dating. With totally free memberships for women and less than $3.50 a month for men, members can now enjoy all site services without any additional charges along with the security of sexual predator checks. While no background check database is perfect, this does offer another level of protection and discourages those who would abuse the use of a personals site.

Since 2001, TravelingPersonals.com has been helping not only travelers find compatible partners, but anyone who is interested in meeting new people close by or coming to a location near them. While they certainly are not one of the mega sites with millions of members, they offer something the larger sites cannot-the ability to actually find other serious members. They do this by deleting any female members who do not check their profile mail for 60 days and to encourage only serious honest male members, they do not offer a “free” membership option. We realized years ago that free memberships that are just teases to bring people in do not serve the best interests of the entire membership. We want our members to have an effective experience knowing that when they email another member, that email will get read. Now our members can also be confident that we are doing everything possible to keep online dating safer by checking national sexual predator databases as part of our member verification process..."

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Send Twenty "Expressions of Interest" Messages for Free At Russian Dating Agency

If you like getting stuff for free, and you're interested in hooking up with a Russian or Eastern European lady, then we've got some good new for you: the Russian dating agency website ElenasModels.com recently announced that free members can now send 20 "expressions of interest" messages to women who have peaked their interest, at no cost. More details below in today's press release clip:

"International matchmaking and dating agency Elena's Models specializing in introductions to model-like women and girls from Eastern Europe, now presents free contact options and offers special Easter prices for their most popular membership plans. Registered members of www.ElenasModels.com can access the Easter specials during the checkout and also make use of the free contact options offered by the online dating site.

Registered members of www.ElenasModels.com can now send expression of interest to 20 ladies of their choice and find out whether a woman is interested in a personal introduction.

Expression of interest service was available to all paying subscribers of the online dating site since January 2005, but free members were not able to use this service. Now free members can also use the service and send 20 expressions of interest to women they are interested in.

A man can send an expression of interest with just two clicks of a button, without the need to write any personal message.

With expression of interest a woman receives a link to the man's profile, with two buttons, 'Interested' and 'Not interested', located on the same page. All it takes for a woman to let her interest be known is one click.

The man receives a message indicating the woman's interest, and he can then upgrade his membership to contact her or order mail contacts from as little as $8 per unlimited email contact -- which means that if you are lucky, you can find a Russian bride for less than a price of a movie ticket.

The expression of interest service is limited to 20 messages for free members, while premium members enjoy unlimited expressions of interest and can send requests to any woman on the site. The ability to send 20 free expressions of interest is activated for new members 3 days after the registration.

Once a member is happy with his response from women, he can sign up for premium service using Easter specials on most popular membership plans. While the Russian dating agency insists that they do not offer 'mail order brides,' the initial communication starts through the messaging system on the site like with any other online dating service. Once the couple is comfortable with each other, they are free to exchange any contact details, such as email, phone numbers etc.

Elena Petrova, the owner of Elena's Models, says, 'It is easy to figure out whether our model-like ladies can be interested in someone like you, using the free expression of interest service. Some men doubt if beautiful women like these can be attracted to them; well, many of them are surprised to find out that some of those pretty women on the site want to hear from them!'

She also notices that, 'On average, a man can hope to receive 1-2 positive responses on 10 expressions of interest sent; those are the usual numbers. Some men are ecstatic that beautiful women like these are interested in them; others feel disappointed because they hoped for more. It is really a personal matter.'

Elena advises, 'You will receive more positive responses if you have a good quality photo in your profile on the dating site and write an interesting message. Women try to figure out your personality by the picture in your online profile, and the same goes for your message.'

Free contact options and Easter specials can be accessed on Elena's Models immediately, until the end of Easter weekend. The specials are available to registered members only..."

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