Tired of traditional dating websites? There's a whole new world of possibilities out there if you're looking for love online.
- Libby Keatinge, BettyConfidential.com
Looking for love online? There's a whole world of internet dating out there that goes well beyond Match.com and eHarmony.com. From avatar dating to "arrangements" to iPhone apps, depending on what you're looking for, today online dating can be customized to meet your specifications. Here, nine cool online options to consider:
Weopia.com
Touting itself as "online dating's missing link," Weopia.com offers an "intimate 3D world" where you can interact online before actually meeting in person. Here, you can literally invite the people you meet on other dating sites to join you for a virtual date, complete with avatars that you choose to represent you and your potential partner. Touting plenty of interactive tools to help you explore each other's personalities - including text and voice chat, and even offering a list of potential conversation topics - this could be the perfect solution for a nervous dater.
Cost: $4.95 for a set of Passkeys, which allows one date for two.
Waiting2Connect.com
This site is "a focused community dedicated to singles." While the main activity here is dating, the site also presents itself as a place where you can network to find new friends and business contacts in your area, too. Waiting2Connect.com's profile system allows members to set up video and photo albums, among other options. Its users tend to be men and women, aged 18 to 40, who are looking for love.
Cost: $14.99 per month; $29.99 per 3 mos.; or $74.99 per year.
Read Is it Time to Update Your Dating Profile?
SeekingArrangement.com
Looking for a Pretty Woman experience? SeekingArrangement calls itself the premier Sugar Daddy Dating site, and claims to be "a matchmaking website for wealthy benefactors, and attractive guys & gals" who are seeking a "mutually beneficial arrangement."
Cost: Free for Sugarbabies; but you can upgrade your membership to use full features and search options.
Nerve.com Personals
The Personals section of trendy Nerve.com boasts artsy, funny users and tends to cater to edgier singles. It also includes a gay/lesbian, bisexual and transgender section.
Cost: Instead of charging a monthly fee, users redeem "credits" for contacting someone or chatting.
BeautifulPeople.com
It may not be politically correct, but BeautifulPeople.com was founded on the notion that "people want to be with someone they are attracted to." Like an elite clique in high school, new members must be "voted in" by members who are of the opposite sex. If you're deemed "beautiful" by a majority of voters, you're officially in and are granted access to the site's global membership for dating opportunities, as well as social events and networking.
Cost: Free (provided you're voted in).
A site that says it connects successful, beautiful people, MillionaireMatch claims, "If you are successful, you're more likely to meet your match and have a higher caliber dating experience here than other places!" Membership is open to millionaires and non-millionaires. FYI, for the purposes of this site, anyone who earns $150,000 or more annually is considered a millionaire (and you can still join if you make less than that).
Cost: Standard membership is free; Gold membership starts at $39.95 for one month.
Read How to Find Your Sugar Daddy
UrbanSignals.net
Are you someone who prefers meeting people spontaneously rather than on some random impersonal dating site? UrbanSignals is a social networking, location-based mobile application that allows you to see people around you, find out if they're available, interested and ready to meet up...right there on the spot. The site promises that as you go about your day you can "turn on the radar and see who is out and about. See someone you like? Good! Send them a signal and see if they like you too!"
Cost: Free download; $4.99 per month to use full features.
OkCupid.com
Billed as "the Google of online dating," OkCupid.com features cool visuals and fun interactive features such as personality quizzes, as well as an "advanced matching system" based on what you find important. The site boasts over a million singles from all over the world and tends to cater to younger singles, aged 25 and below.
Cost: Free
PlentyofFish.com
This site, which claims over 10 million members, uses its own specially-crafted chemistry test to help you find your ideal match, and also offers dating advice with "customized action plans." Because PlentyofFish is free, users have reported having to really sift through the profiles, but they insist that there are diamonds in the rough to be found.
Cost: Free
Tell Us: What's your favorite online dating site?
Libby Keatinge is the author of Beverly Hills Tutor. She also writes for international lifestyle publications.
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