The main distinction between online dating websites and other membership sites is that when you join a dating website, you must create an attractive profile, which is used primarily as a promotion tool to display yourself to other members in the best light possible. Therefore, you have no chance of attracting other genuine members looking for a partner if your profile is incomplete.


Completing a profile of oneself is regarded by many as the most boring, time-consuming part asked of you on any site. And a large percentage of web surfers will "put it off till the last minute, which in some cases will go uncompleted. And they may never revisit the website.


Many researchers will agree that those who join a website community solely for the sake of free membership rarely return or maintain interest for more than a few days. And it's not because they're forgetful and don't recall registering, because website administrators will almost certainly send out reminders daily.


Online membership communities, including dating sites, would not exist without the members in their databases. Therefore, it is critical that all members who bother to sign up participate actively in the community and its services. Otherwise, it is a big-time waster for the lazy member and the website administrator, and other genuine interested members.


On the other hand, membership sites that charge a monthly fee to become a member will have very few users who register, then leave or don't bother to fill out a profile. When a user wants to pull out their credit card, they are much more likely to take their membership earnestly enough to create a decent profile and visit it several times per day to monitor interest from other members.


The 'fee-charging' sites will have a much more difficult time getting signups, but what's the point of having a couple of thousand members in your database if fifteen hundred of them are dormant and never respond to your emails? It's way better for everyone involved if 500 interested members visit the website regularly and fully use the facilities.


But what about fee-based dating sites that offer a free trial membership? Well, the word "free" still causes complacency, albeit to a lesser extent. While a free trial period may entice prospective members, a large proportion of these free users will not return to the website after subscribing.


Many dating sites that provide a free trial period require users to create a profile before being accepted as a free member. On the other hand, some users will want to look through the member database before joining. If users are required to participate before they can search, many of them will leave, and interested members will be lost, possibly to a competitor's website.


The dating sites that offer a free trial period, as well as a script that will auto-delete unfinished profiles within a given period of, say, seven days, have the highest number of long-term signups per 1000 site visitors.


The low number of long-term signups per 1000 site visitors reflects the success rates of 'free for all' membership websites, whether dating or otherwise.