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Our Favorite Dating Service
I stopped counting at two hundred. That’s a lot of online dating services. Some claim to be one thing and then turn out to be something else completely. One service claimed to be “international” when it was really just another service trying to sell addresses to women in the former Soviet Union. Not an awful business, but hey, let’s be up front about it. So after digging through I-don’t-know-how-many different services, if I was forced to pick one (and I am) I would choose Lavalife.com.
 

Why Number One?

Let me clear up one thing up front, I expect to have to pay for a great dating service. I looked at a number of free services and found them to be either low quality, or they just didn’t have very many members. So here is how I arrived at Webpersonals.com as the best site.
Lots of Photos
Lots of New Members
Great Search
Communities
Cost Structure
Instant Messaging
"I'm Interested" Indicator
International Members
Free Trial Membership

Lots of Photos

I like ads with photos. Period. Maybe I’m not trusting enough, but there are so many ads to go through that having a photo speeds up the process like nothing else. Am I missing some great ladies by skipping ads with no pictures? I’m 100% sure that I am. But it’s just a matter of time. Lavalife.com has tons of ads with photos. Plus, a great many of the women with photos are very attractive.
 

Lots of New Members

When you first join any online service you generally have a lot to choose from. But after that first wave passes, and nothing really clicks, then you are waiting for new people to join. As I am writing this piece, 15,327 people have joined Lavalife.com in the last 10 days. There have got to be a few near you.
 

Great Search Capability

This system lets you do two things that I find very helpful and are often not present in competitors sites. First, you can limit your search to ads with photos. Second, you can give a search a name and re-run it quickly. I use both of these features a lot.
 

Communities let you be Honest

Webpersonals.com has three different dating communities: Dating, Romance, and Intimate. You can have a different identity, name, and photo for each community. You can look for Miss Right and Miss Right Now with different ads and pictures. 
 

The Best Cost Structure

This is a pay-as-you-use-it system. You can join for free and look around then buy credits when you are ready to contact someone. I didn’t like the credit idea at first, but now it really makes sense. Your credits are good forever, so if you meet someone and are not on the system for months, the credits will be there when you come back. With the monthly payment systems, you have to pay for a month even if you never enter the site. Plus, a few credits will probably last you a long time and be much cheaper in the long run.
 

Built-in Instant Messaging

This is one of the very few systems with an instant messaging system built in. Nothing else to download, just look for messages in the bottom area of the screen.
 

"I’m Interested" Indicators

Again, I’ve not seen another system that does this as well. If you see someone you like, but don’t want to spend credits to write, just send them a “carrot.” With this feature a small picture of a carrot appears next to your name in the listing and let’s them know that you are interested. If they send you a carrot back, then you are writing risk free!
 

International Membership Base

You’ve seen those sites with pictures of great looking women from Russia or China, but you have to pay for each address and usually buy four at once. Before you give that a try, look on Lavalife.com. They have members all over the world. I just did a search for Australia and came up with 275 ladies that have been on the system in the last 30 days.
 

Free Trail Membership

No cost just to come in and look around. Lavalife.com

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