Don't Fork Over Cash For A Love Match

CENTRAL OHIO -- So many businesses are struggling right now, but the business of finding love is going strong.

In fact, Internet dating is experiencing tremendous growth.

But it's not always about forking over money to meet a potential match.

Today, a growing number of cash-strapped singles are looking to give "free love" a whole new meaning.

Jordanna Petkun is searching for her "soulmate."

"One of the many things that I am looking for in my match is someone with a spiritual element to himself or his life," Petkun said.

A frequent fan of paid dating sites, she figures she's spent anywhere from $700 to $1,000 over the last several years. Now, she's switching gears.

"It felt really mindless of me to spend on dating as important as it was to me," she said.

She's hoping love strikes at OKCupid.com -- one of several sites designed to match singles for free!

No-pay dating destinations are seeing a boom during this bust.

Traffic is way up over the past year in the U.S. with a 58 percent spike since November alone.

Joe Tracy, publisher of Online Dating Magazine, says the trend makes sense.

"During bad economic times, people generally like to reprioritize their goals and, as a result, relationships move up on that list," Tracy said.

PlentyOfFish.com is one of the biggest free dating sites, recently hitting a million users in one day.

The site's Markus Frind says at no cost, singles have nothing to lose.

"You go online. You're going to meet 10 to 20 people who are in your local area, are interested in dating someone else and you can set up five, six dates in the span of a week," Frind said.

Like on most sites, free services offer profiles and notices of events in your area, but Tracy says some are going even further.

"A lot of the free online dating services allow you to have a blog. So there's a blog associated with your profile, and you can actually go on there every single day and type out, ya know, your feelings about things happening in the world," Tracy said.

In terms of safety and security, both the leading paid and free sites say they have conduct policies, reserve the right to monitor behavior and terminate offenders.

But Tracy says paid sites have an advantage when it comes to tracking site abusers.

"As far as paid online dating services go, people have to leave a credit card," Tracy said.

And that contains easily verifiable information. He says in any online dating situation, it comes down to common sense -- once you post, guard your identity until you feel safe.

Petkun is careful and loves that looking for love isn't taking a toll on her wallet.

"I want to say I've not come across a single downside to the site being a free site," Petkun said.

With any dating site, experts say it is strongly recommended you check the privacy policy. Some sites may share some information with third parties for the purpose of advertising or marketing.

When it comes to success rates for the free sites, PlentyOfFish.com tells us it generates 800,000 relationships a year, and OKCupid.com reports an estimated 100,000.

FREE SITES
PlentyOfFish.com
Ada4Adam.com
Mingle2.com
DateHookUp.com
OKCupid.com

PAID SITES
Match.com
YahooPersonals.com
EHarmony.com
True.com
SinglesNet.com

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