Do you need a dating service?
The first thing that you are going to need to think about is if you are going to actually need to join a dating service to meet qualified single people for love, sex, romance or even long term relationships. There have been many reports by a variety of people who have reported that they have had better luck with other services than a dating service. But if you are one of those people who have had no luck what so ever when it comes to meeting single people then you should seriously consider joining a dating service because you never know what will happen.

Helpful Resources: 1. How to Select a dating Service This is an informational website that gives you the pros and cons to joining dating service. But in addition to that the website tells you about the various methods used by dating services and why some are better than others. 2. Free Online Dating Service - Things to Look Out For Rather than telling you what to look for when choosing an online dating service this website tells you what you are going to want to look out for when choosing an online dating service. 3. Online Dating Service Review This website gives you reviews on some of the largest and most popular dating services. But it also gives you information on some of the smaller, less known dating services. 4. Dating Service - Free dating services guide This website provides you with information on what they consider to be the best dating services and personal ads websites online today. The website allows you to read dating service reviews, relationship advice and tips for singles. 5. Internet Dating Site - Online Adult Dating Personals Services According to this website this is the best discreet online dating site that offers adult dating, personal ads, and internet dating. The website is also entirely free and offers you matches for various types of relationships. 6. Online Dating Sites - Dating Services This website allows you to read the reviews on top online dating sites for picky singles. The website has also ranked online dating sites based on various features including matchmaking, search functionality, etc. 7. Dating & Match Making Services for Busy Professional Singles This website is made specifically for busy professionals. What this website does is it helps to minimize stress and maximize efficiency by sending people on casual dates over lunch, brunch or drinks after work. This website is a fun proactive approach to your personal life. 8. Online Dating Service & Site This is a safer online dating service that allows for singles to search and post personal ads, post pictures, flirt and chat. The website gives you tools to perform a marriage status check, as well as criminal background checks. 9. AbsoluteAgency Dating Service This website allows you to choose their perfect dating service for friendship, romance, love and marriage. You can also use their quality free search, post personal ads with free photos. 10. A Free Online Dating Service Dedicated to Solving Dating This is an introduction to a new type of free dating service that is available for you to use online. In addition to providing you with a free online dating service it also includes dating advice and analysis of online dating services.

Types of dating services
As was mentioned earlier there are a variety of dating services, online or physical businesses and free or those that charge a membership fee. But regardless of what type of dating service you choose they all use the same types of methods. Here is a look at the various ways that dating services work:


• Make matches yourself - this type of service allows you to look through a large book of photos and profiles to find a person that you are interested in. Once you have found a person that catches your interest you can watch a video presentation that was made by that person to find out even more about them. After viewing the videos if you have found a person that you want to date you simply notify the dating service of who it is and they in turn contact that person and tell them of your interest. What happens next is that they come into the office and view your profile and video and let the dating service know if they are interested in you. If they are the dating service will provide a means for personal contact but if they are not then you simply wait until you find someone that is interested in you. The worst thing about this method is that first impressions are made from the photos and videos that you watch and not very many people are photogenic so many people don't get chosen because of how they look in their pictures.
•  Human and computer matching - this method of service is where either a person or a computer chooses potential matches for you from their database of single members. In order to do this method you are going to be required to fill out a rather lengthy profile of your hobbies, lifestyle, age, and other personal information. But you are also going to need to include a description of the type of person you want to meet so they can also input that into the database. Once they have found a match for you they will provide a notice to both parties and make arrangements for you to contact each other, either over the phone or through email. One of the best things about this method is that because you are not looking through the pictures yourself you are not going to have any preconceived ideas about the person's looks or mannerisms until after you meet them, which means more people will be interested in meeting you than with the other method.
•  True matchmakers - this method is where members are matched by "intuition". What happens here is that the person who is in charge of finding you a match must first meet you and get to know you well enough so that they can think of potential people that might be interested in meeting you. One of the benefits to this type of service is that you are only dealing with one person, the matchmaker, so your relationship is going to be more personal. But in addition to having that personal relationship you can also discuss problems that might arise which will help them to figure out what kind of person would be your best match. This is just like your friends saying that you should introduce Bob to Jane because they would really get along. The biggest drawback to this type of service is that they are very hard to find, usually it is your friends setting you up on a blind date.

Deciding to join a dating service
So if you think that joining a dating service is going to be your best bet to find that special someone then there are a few things that you need to keep in mind when you are looking at joining a dating service. Here is what you should keep in mind:


• If you live far away from where the dating services offices are located than you might be looking at making several long trips each month to choose or respond to other members. So when joining the dating service you want to make sure that you are willing and able to make that long drive to respond to others.


•  Many dating services are not going to have a lot of single people in your immediate area; this is especially true of single women. So you will most likely have to travel long distances to meet these people.


•  When joining a dating service the person you are dealing with, the company representative, has only one goal in mind, which is to get you to join the dating service at the most amount of money that they can get from you.


•  Many larger, well known dating services, especially the ones that are heavily advertised, have a reputation of making false claims and promises that they cannot and do not wish to honor just to persuade you to join their dating service over somebody else.

Getting more information on the dating service
Before joining an actual dating service be sure to check the dating service out with the local Better Business Bureau and other consumer information services for reports on that company. You should also post messages on local BBS's and online services and ask around wherever there are singles meetings. What you are looking for is people's responses and opinions on the various dating services that you are considering. If the majority of the responses are negative you are going to want to forget that dating service and keep looking until you can find one that has a decent reputation. Keep in mind that all dating services will tell you that they have tons of happy customers, but you shouldn't take their word for it.

Before you join a dating service
Here are some of the common questions that you are going to want to ask before you join a dating service.


• How many active female or male members they presently have, and find out what they mean by active members


•  The average age of their active single female or male members. If there are none in your age then you should not waste your money joining this service.


•  Ask about their male/female ratio, this is actually the most common problem with dating services.


•  Ask to have a copy of all of their membership materials to take home and study. If they won't let you take them home then insist on having a look at the materials while you are in their office. Many times they won't allow you to look at this until after you have joined because there are things in these materials that could debunk a lot of the claims the representative has made to you.


•  If the dating service matches members by profiles you should ask to complete your profile and the questionnaire about what type of single person you wish to meet before signing the agreement.


•  If the dating service allows you to select your own matches then you want to ask to see the single person membership book in their library. Be aware that they might offer to show you a sample book, so you should insist on seeing the real thing.