This is part of the osDate 7 part blog series. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for links to the other parts.
If you made it this far, good for you! I know it’s a lot of information to digest, but I hope it has helped made your learning curve less steep. So by now you should have installed osDate, optimized admin settings, figured your way around the tpl files, and maybe even looked at a few themes you want to buy.
This part is about showing you which sites out there are using osDate. You can see there are a wide variety of sites that use this script, and for some, you can tell the owner has put a lot of hard work into customizing the design of the site.
The key to online dating site success is differentiation. What do you have to offer that other larger, general sites like Plenty of Fish don’t? There are plenty of free online dating sites out there. Don’t create a new one without a plan unless you’re doing it just for fun. But I suspect that if you’re reading my blog, you’re probably someone who’s interested in making money online, and seizing opportunities to deliver value.
Like the optimal admin settings post, this is a list that I transferred over from an old blog. My personal notes are in brackets.
Sites that use osDate
* updated Nov 16 2008 Jan 12, 2010 (some of the sites are gone so I have crossed them out)
* Note: If you are uncomfortable being showcased and listed here, please drop me an e-mail and I’ll remove it. It’s not a problem.
http://www.african-love.de (One of my personal favorites because I simply think the web design rocks. Looks really professional.)
http://www.52ons.com (52ons is also one of the top osDate sites out there with a nice design and 10,000+ members. The site is based in Hong Kong.)
http://www.datemymate.net (One of my favorites because of its unique concept. It’s a dating site for people to match up their single friends without them knowing you placed an ad on the site for them.)
http://www.handiscuter.fr (Nice, welcoming layout.)
http://www.sleeplessinthecity.com (This site shows up 3rd page on Google for the keywords “free online dating.” Very impressive considering how hard it is to rank for those particular keywords. Great domain name as well, but unfortunately the owner didn’t spend too much time customizing the design.)
http://www.Italianisingles.com (I really like this site; it looks good design-wise.) Using Dolphin
http://www.cheatersexpose.com (Another unique concept of creating profiles for men who cheat. The site’s not very active, so the concept probably didn’t take off.)
http://www.vestdating.dk (Listed for showing variation of design.)
http://www.ozlounge.com.au (This is an active gay community for Australian Youth.)
http://www.hispanicinternetdating.com (Doesn’t reveal number of members, BUT I wanted to highlight this one because it does something that no other site I’ve come across has done so far. If you register, you get a FREE copy of 101 Romantic Ideas by Michael Webb.
http://www.getfitbuddies.com (Find people who are into fitness as much as you are.)
After you’ve settled with a template, you can move onto tips…Create Your Own Online Dating Site Using osDate – Part 7 – osDate Tips
February 13, 2009
I’m still tweaking mailbath but its powered by OSDate. Each day I get closer to getting her finished though!
OSDate is pretty easy once you learn its layout. I’m a big user of LDU/Seditio which is just your average CMS… but its templating is soOOo lovely and pretty well documented. Now if OSDate had a little more documentation in that area..
Anyway, I’d recommend OSDate to anyone. Hey its free, and there is a community =0)
November 10, 2009
Sleepless In The City is for sale. Go to the ‘contact us’ page and inquiry within.
December 3, 2009
Great Tips/Tutorial –
One correction though. Italiansingles.com does not use OSDATE (maybe not any more?) but the Dolphin Community Builder
You can see the Doplhin logo here…
December 3, 2009
@Manos: You’re right, it does look like Dolphin. I’ll scratch italian singles off. At the time I wrote this post, they were indeed using Osdate though.
February 16, 2010
hi
thanks for the quick informative tutorials. it was so easy to see setup a new dating site. i was thinking about getting paid scripts, but then i came to know abt osDate. after reading this tut, i was able to setup new site within few hrs.
you can check my site at http://lovemagic.in
i am updating template and reading more abt osdate.
thanks once again
