100 Totally Free Online Dating Sites

It's easy to find well over 100 totally free online dating sites with a simple Google search. But will any of them really work for you?

The fact is, even if a site is "totally free" it's going to cost someone, somewhere money to set it up. The more successful and popular a site is, the more expensive it's going to be to maintain...which means more money is going to have to come from somewhere. Usually "totally free" dating websites produce their revenue through one of three ways:

• Affiliate programs with sites like Amazon (or even adult sites) in the hopes that the visitors to the site, such as you, will go and buy things from the affiliates. The dating sites then get a cut of the profit, but usually not very much.
• Direct advertising through something like Google Adwords or other sites, usually "targeted" towards dating people. Ironically, most of these ads will be for competing dating sites.
• Two-tier service: while many sites offer "free" connections, many also offer more services for a fee. These can include photos, videos, more "visibility" on the dating listings, or many other premium services.

You run into a problem if you try to use one of the more successful sites: as they get more successful, they need to get more money, which means either more advertising, more restrictions on the "free" memberships, or something similar. This makes the site even more unusable.

Another problem these dating sites run into is due to the global nature of the Internet. Many hopeful immigrants from countries like Russia and Africa will flood the sites with profiles of hopeful singles looking for a green card and ticket to the U.S.A. There is nothing technically wrong or illegal with this, it simply takes away from the efficacy of the site for people looking for a local dating scene.

Many not-free dating and adult sites also will put up fake profiles, often with cleverly-phrased personal messages claiming to be a long-lost friend or something similar to lure you away from the free site and onto a paying site. It gets to the point where people will simply view any friendly message from an attractive person as likely to be spam - and that means that if the site did work, and you made the connection, it's likely you would discard it along with the rest of the trash.

The following are some of the most popular 100 totally free online dating sites:

• Plenty of Fish - A general dating site that has several "relationship tools" to help you figure out exactly what you need and how you may have made errors in the past.
• OK Cupid - One of the first and most popular large free dating sites, this has a targeted geographic focus which can help get past some of the spam sites.
• DateHookup - This is an example of a site obviously more interested in revenue than actual usefulness to the hopeful single person.
• SoulMateFind - One of many dating sites, the name highlights the variety of kinds of searches that are out there - rather than trying to find a quick date, this site is trying to help you find a partner for life.

There is an argument that using a site such as these to find a date is a sign of desperation - and desperation is never attractive. That's not to say that you can't use the Internet to connect with people - it's just possible that you'd have better luck becoming active in a web group of something you're interested in - some hobby, or political cause, or charity. The people you meet there (and in person) are likely to share your common interests, spark a connection, and lead to a much more fulfilling relationship.

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