If you're thinking of setting up your own dating site, then you need some dating site software in order to run your website. Here are the various options for setting up a dating site using commercially available or free dating site software.
Although the market is pretty much saturated with mainstream dating sites, there is great interest in niche dating, such as Asian dating or executive dating. Many of the larger websites have also found it popular to bolt on dating facilities on their sites (for example Facebook has plenty of dating add-ons).
ASPNetDating Dating Software
ASPNetDating is one of the most popular applications for setting up your own dating site. As the name suggests the software requires the .NET Framework, which usually means you need a Microsoft Windows hosting account (or the vendor can supply hosting if you require it).
ASPNetDating has all the usual features you'd need when setting up a fully featured dating site. There are a few features that some dating site owners might like, such as the hot or not feature and the ability for members to add their own small ads. As you might expect ASPNetDating has everything you need to set up your own subscription dating site online.
For larger dating sites, ASPNetDating has optional chat and video streaming modules. There are also some interesting extras such as a face recognition module for automatically cropping photos. For developers who want to completely customise the site, it's also possible to purchase the site's C# source code.
If you want to test out ASPNetDating then a trial site is available for you to give a thorough test drive.
Dating Site Software Modules
Dating sites tend to have similar functionality. When building a dating site you need some or all of the functionality listed below:
- Profile search facilities so that members can find people to contact.
- Chat facilities so that members can chat to each other in chat rooms and see each other in a webcam session.
- Anonymous mailing facility so that members can email each other without the other person finding out their real email address. This makes the site safer to use. As a dating site operator, you also want your members to stay on your site, otherwise they might not continue to pay their subscription fee.
- Photo upload facilities. Many dating sites now also allow video file uploads, so this is something to consider.
- Anti-scam facilities. Scammers are a major problem on all dating sites, and when word gets out about problems with your site, you're in big trouble. Sites that have a bad reputation for scammers have been forced to change their names in order to stay in business. So dealing with scammers and fraudsters is probably your #1 priority if you are thinking of running your own dating site.
Alternatives to ASPNetDating are to use another vendors' application, use a free dating site package, or to build your own site. Building your own dating site is a massive undertaking, particularly if you want to use some of the advanced functionality present in ASPNetDating.