How To Create Your Own Dating Website

There are many ways to set up a dating site, e.g. you can install a free open source dating script, use a white label solution, or purchase a WordPress dating theme to do the job. Let’s take a look at some of the options.

Free Open Source Dating Scripts

osDate has got to be one of the most popular free open source dating scripts. However, if you check out its official site, the demo is no longer working, and the software download link is outdated. Fortunately, some nice folks are keeping osDate alive at osdateforum.com, the latest version is 2.6, and a new version osDate 2.6.5 is currently under development. osDate is quite comprehensive, some of the best features are multiple payment methods, affiliate system, and even an automatic profile generator.

Etano is another free open source script that you can check out. Etano can be used to start up a dating site, a social networking site or any type of membership site. Basic features include personal blogs for members, PayPal payment integration, and members’ location management.

Free Private Label Solution for Dating Sites

With Dating Factory, the benefits of running a white lable dating website are very tempting. According to their website, you can earn up to 65% commission on all initial, renewals and recurring membership payments. And also, you can earn an additional 10% from your referrals plus advertising revenue from your dating websites.

To get started, you are required to choose one of the niche markets. Frankly speaking, I never know there are so many different dating niches. There are more than 50 niches – General dating, Senior dating, Single parents, Disabled dating, Uniform, Christian dating, Millionaire dating, BBW/BHM dating, Vegetarian dating, Dating & sports, Divorced singles, Professional singles, Asian dating, Black dating, AIDS/HIV/STD dating, Dog Lovers, Extramarital Dating, Dating for marriage, Indian matrimonial, Pet lovers dating, Photo dating, Geek dating, USA politics, Interracial dating, Jewish dating, Russian brides, Motorsports dating, Countryside dating, Equestrian dating, Muslim dating, Deaf dating, Music dating, and 19 other adult niches.

Right now, Dating Factory is celebrating their 5th birthday, they are giving away €5k cash bonuses to the top 3 performers with the best sales record during April, and 85% commission to all new partners for the first 60 days. If you are looking for a turn-key dating website solution, check out Dating Factory.

WordPress Dating Themes

Many people prefer to run their own dating sites, so they can keep and store their own members’ data. I guess the main advantage is that running one’s own site can avoid the trouble of leads scrubbing, you can actually tell how many members you will have. What is lead scrubbing or lead shaving? That is when companies which offer affiliate or referral programs, decided to rip you off, they only let you keep part of your commissions, and keep the rest for themselves. They will give you all kinds of excuses like your leads are invalid, fraud clicks, or your leads do not convert for some reasons. Not good eh? Maybe you prefer to start up your own dating site with your own hosting or server, and etc…

For those who are more comfortable with a WordPress site setup, ThemeForest has 2 popular WordPress themes which are specifically designed for the dating site business.

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Sweet Date – More than a WordPress Dating Theme (1988 Purchases, $55, Last Update: 29 March 14) – New version includes features like Facebook login/register integration, membership content access by level, and multiple payment supports such as PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.net.

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LoveStory – Dating WordPress Theme (577 Purchases, $55, Last Update: 23 February 14) – Some built-in features include virtual gifts, real time chats with live notifications, extended member profiles, and membership fee management with WooCommerce integration.