Matchmaker.com Review
Matchmaker.com is an online dating website that is powered by Date.com, and the connection is obvious right away. They practically use the same website template, and once you sign up you will see that the two websites share the same profiles. It’s basically like signing up for two different poker websites that both take you to the same tables. You only need to sign up to one of the two matchmaking services for you to be able to use both of them.
I only noticed two differences between Matchmaker.com and Date.com. Matchmaker.com doesn’t have any information about the company at the bottom of its front page, while Date.com does. Date.com boasts that it has been around since 1997 and that it has chat rooms for meeting singles. The page also mentions that they have live audio and video instant messaging. That is an important feature for members who want to make sure the person they are interested in is the real deal, and Matchmaker.com would be wise to follow in its twin’s footsteps by listing it. The only other difference between the two websites is that Matchmaker.com, for some reason, has a higher Google PageRank than Date.com (6 versus 5).
It’s clear what Matchmaker.com wants you to do when you arrive at their website—sign up. In fact, if you try to leave the website, a popup window will make a last-ditch effort to keep you at the dating site. There is really nothing else to the front page besides a form for beginning the process of signing up.
Once you enter the first page of information, you’ll move on to a series of forms where you are asked to give typical online dating information such as your age and location. They also have a few more in-depth questions that are worth your time to answer if you want potential matches to view more than a bare-bones description of you.
Matchmaker.com really emphasizes the importance of having a photo on your profile, and the website rewards profiles with photos by moving them to the top of the search results. While I could do without the banner ads, popups, and pre-checked boxes ready to sign you up to outside offers, I don’t mind all the reminders to add a photo. Profile photos are attention getters and are very convenient in this digital age. However, for those lagging behind in the technology department, Matchmaker.com will also upload a photo for you if you mail them one.
The popular dating site has thousands of new profiles added every week, so residents of all but the smallest towns should have no problem finding local people to check out. Free members can let others know they are interested, but they must upgrade to a paid membership in order to communicate beyond that.
The cost to upgrade varies from $29.95 a month for a single month to $9.95 a month if purchased by the year. That makes the single-month cost a tad higher than Yahoo Personals ($25.99), while its yearly cost is cheaper since the longest term Yahoo has to offer is six months at $13.99 a month.
On the spectrum of “less” and “more,” Matchmaker.com is far to the side of “less.” That’s all some singles are looking for anyway, preferring to use an online dating site just for the leads it can provide. For those wanting “more,” a site like Great Expectations takes the most hands-on approach, while Yahoo Personals and Perfectmatch.com fit more in the middle.
Matchmaker.com basically applies quantity over quality to the online dating scene. It offers tons of profiles to view and is perfect for those who just want to use the internet for finding someone and breaking the ice before setting up a date. The website will be less of a hit for people wanting to learn more about their compatibility with potential matches before heading out for a real-world encounter.
