Dating Agencies

Dating agencies are businesses that provide a service of matchmaking between couples with a goal of helping them in romance or potential marriage. Dating agencies have become mainstream businesses and have managed to shed their, perhaps, unfair images as less than a worthy method to find a date or a mate. Today well-known dating agencies advertise on primetime television as well as in every other type of media, and thousands of couples worldwide attest to the success they have had in meeting their true love through a dating agency.

These are some of the different types of dating agencies:

• Face to Face: Men and women present themselves to a matchmaker who helps them to find a potential partner
• Internet Dating Agency: A website where people register, post profiles and contact other members who have signed up online
• Speed Dating: A group of people rotate partners, spending a short time with each, describing their personality and goals in hopes of being able to choose a longer term dating partner
• International Marriage Agency: An agency that introduces men from developed nations to a potential mail-order bride
• Religious: Agencies that pair up couples of the same religion
• Financial: Agencies that work only with the wealthy; they tend to charge very high fees.
• Work-Oriented: Some agencies cater to working professionals

The process of matchmaking has evolved over the years. After World War II, commercial dating agencies sprung up after soldiers returned from war. Newspaper and personal ads became commonplace as men tried to find dates and eventually, wives.

Since the advent of the internet, matchmaking has taken another quantum leap forward. Today one in five singles looks for love on the web and signs up at dating agencies. A recent study found that women paid to contact men as often as men paid to contact women when using online dating agencies. Evidence also demonstrates that the 18-25 age group has taken up online dating with regularity. More than half (53%) of online users know someone who has started a friendship or relationship with someone online.

We will share some dating tips with you, show you best practices for choosing a dating web site, and reveal some dating rules for men and dating rules for women – some may surprise you and others seem not to have changed at all since people began dating each other way back when!