Match.com - Online MatchMaking Service
Match.com is an internationally renowned dating site for men and women seeking dating, love and even potentially marriage. With members located globally, and huge user numbers, there is a huge range of people to search through.
Attractive and easy to navigate, the site has had a lot of time, effort and money placed in to making it a community and a safe haven, as well as a dating site, for each and every one of its members.
Although there are a different membership packages, including a free guest pass, if you obtain a paid premium membership, you will have a Match.com guarantee, which claims that if you don’t find someone special within your first 6 months then you will be given 6 months free premium access to continue your search. This is providing you can show you have at least tried contacting other members. This site is especially designed for those serious about finding a potential life partner, as membership is rather costly, but really offers a lot in terms of features, and assisting you to find your dream match.
Signing up to the site takes a lot of time and patience, even for free members. You will have to complete a comprehensive set of questions, delving into your personal life, background and lifestyle, likes and dislikes and even works out parts of your personality based on your answers to a list of questions. You will also be required to submit plenty of detail about the type of match you are seeking. Your account will not be created until you have fully completed these sections, although you may add and edit this information at any time.
Once you have signed up you will be given the opportunity to upload up to 26 photographs also, subject to approval by site administrators. You may even email your photographs for the site admin to upload for you, and there is also a ‘help section’ to assist you in choosing the best photographs for your profile. Match.com is not classified as an ‘adult’ site so monitors all information and photographs before allowing it to go ‘live’, which usually takes up to 48 hours.
There is a huge number of search options, available to both free and premium members. A connections page allows you to view all members who have contacted you, or whom you have made contact with. A custom search allows you to reset preferences for each individual search in order to find users who match the criteria. Reverse and Mutual matches use information you have already submitted, when registering initially. Reverse uses all preferences you specified, and Mutual matches uses the information you included on your ‘about my date’ section on your profile, to specifically match mutual attraction and likes and dislikes. The final search you may perform is a ‘MatchWord search’ which enables you to enter tag words about your particular likes and dislikes, and matches these tags with keywords entered on other user profiles. This is great for finding a match with a similar hobby or pastime for example, such as ‘playing the piano’. All searches can be saved for ease of access whenever you log on.
Free members have limited access to all the search options, whereas premium members can perform as many searches as they require. However both members can view entire profiles once a search query has loaded, including all information sections, essays and all uploaded photographs.
Free members are able to send and receive winks, as well as saving a member to their list of favorites. However premium members have another communication route, which enables them to send and receive personal messages and emails. However there is no option for instant messaging, which is a potential downfall for the site, and the huge number of visitors it receives daily.
However the support page when composing a message to a member is a winner in itself, allowing you to view a photograph and ‘about me’ section of the user for you to refer to as you write, and also provides you with an insightful and handy tip guide, which helps you compose a great first message to someone.
After you have written to a member, a pop up screen will display a number of other users who are similar in personality, background and likes and dislikes to that user, which is a good idea if you wish to message a large number of members.
Match.com is one of the longest serving dating sites around, renowned internationally for it’s top quality service and comprehensive attitude to finding you a potential ‘match’. For this very reason, although it may not boast some of the high tech features of other sites, it is the one site you should be able to trust to help you find that special someone.
