I have NEW revenue model for dating websites need some input please

9 replies
First i've been pondering starting a dating site for years but never did because i didn't have a revenue model. I didn't want to use advertisements, google ads, or charge a monthly fee because everyone was doing that.

Plus free dating sites such as Plentyoffish that relied on google are having to rethink how to make money because google is not paying like it did in the past. Plentyoffish now offers an upgrade where you pay to show your serious about finding a match.

My idea is completely out of the box something so awesome i've been thinking about it constantly for months. Most people do not want to pay a monthly membership to a dating site for the unknown of ever finding a match. People want to pay for something they are guaranteed to recieve something in return obviously. Plus with this economy who can afford to keep dumping out $20 a month? Monthly membership dating site revenue is dropping big time and even match.com tried to launch a free dating site to compete. Free dating sites rely on banner ads and google but that method of making money is on the way out thats why plentyoffish offers paid upgrades now.

My idea would allow a dating site to be free of any advertisements and not have to charge a monthly subscription fee. Its not selling virtual gifts, upsells or upgrades nothing like that.

So my plan is to try to sell the idea to one of the big guys but how do i go about it without getting ripped off? I would use the idea myself but to get a dating site going is extremely hard getting the traffic and REAL users not fake profiles. This idea will make the big sites millions$ i know for a fact. I just need a way to tell people about it with getting the idea ripped.
#dating #input #model #revenue #websites
  • Profile picture of the author Rachel Goodchild
    well it's IP
    So if you are talking to people who actually make the decisions they are very unlikely to rip it off.
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    • Profile picture of the author D89
      That's not so true. People steal ideas all the time.
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      • Profile picture of the author Baguadude
        In business you never sell your idea to the big fish, that will be the end for you in terms of profiting from it.

        Btw, why don't you start the idea yourself so you will be the one who will cash in 100%? I don't quite understand your point.
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  • Profile picture of the author Shoaib
    If you are that confident that your idea is unique and definitely holds potential, then I would recommend speaking to an attorney. You may be able to file a patent or something to protect your idea before approaching the 'big guys' about it.

    Also, it is very possible that one of the big guys may already have this or a very similar idea under development. A patent search would reveal that also.
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    • Profile picture of the author Foresights
      I agree with Baguadude - what's stopping you starting your own dating website with this idea?
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      • Profile picture of the author butters
        Originally Posted by Foresights View Post

        I agree with Baguadude - what's stopping you starting your own dating website with this idea?
        Why don't everyone go into very highly saturated markets...
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  • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
    edman, first off, the advice about a patent search is good advice. And I think your instincts are good about passing your idea to a large site with volume already coming in.

    One minor adjustment I'd suggest is rather than think about selling your idea to one of the big sites, think about licensing your idea for ongoing royalties. Rather than a lump sum, which might be fairly small, you might get a lifetime income.

    As far as getting ripped off, even a patent application (with its date of filing) would demonstrate that you are serious. Besides, with a royalty deal, the company that got the license pays out of results so it becomes much less risky for them. And easier to just send you a check every month.

    If your idea can generate a million a month for a match.com or eharmony, and you can get just a 2% royalty, that's $20,000 per month. And you don't have the hassle of trying to run a huge dating site or trying to compete with the established players.
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    • Profile picture of the author edman78
      Do you think i should just throw up a dating site first then show them how it works? Getting a dating site built is easy its getting the users that is hard. Even if i dont have any members on it i can just use it as a way to show my idea. And since i have a website using my idea they can not use it without my permission even without a patent right? I also thought about writing down my idea in full detail and mailing it to myself. I read in an inventors forum people do that for protection and in court the judge can open the detailed letter of the idea showing they thought of it.
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      • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
        Originally Posted by edman78 View Post

        Do you think i should just throw up a dating site first then show them how it works? Getting a dating site built is easy its getting the users that is hard. Even if i dont have any members on it i can just use it as a way to show my idea. And since i have a website using my idea they can not use it without my permission even without a patent right? I also thought about writing down my idea in full detail and mailing it to myself. I read in an inventors forum people do that for protection and in court the judge can open the detailed letter of the idea showing they thought of it.
        And since i have a website using my idea they can not use it without my permission even without a patent right?

        If the site is accessible to the general public, you're open to having it reverse-engineered. Without a patent, you have no protection.

        I also thought about writing down my idea in full detail and mailing it to myself. I read in an inventors forum people do that for protection and in court the judge can open the detailed letter of the idea showing they thought of it.

        That may have carried some weight in the absence of other evidence many years ago, but with technology that can duplicate the intricate artwork on currency, faking a postmark is laughably easy.

        Even back in the day, mailing it to yourself was not the way to do it. You would have mailed it to some third party, like a lawyer or other officer of the court, who could testify that they had indeed had custody of the sealed envelope for the time in question.

        Placing the envelope in a safe deposit box with a credible witness (like a bank officer) might have worked also. Nowadays, bank employees change jobs as frequently as any other sector.

        It just goes to show, you can get bad legal advice on an inventors' forum as easily as you can on a marketing forum. Best bet? Ask a lawyer who handles intellectual property law.
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