What makes a good swinger site?

[Coupleerotic22 1,419]

I wanted to know what you think the elements/function/tools/characteristic of a good site to meet new couples are. We have tried a number of sites, not sure how many exactly, but quiet a few.

 

We use one site in particular, SLS, for two main reasons.

1. Sheer numbers - it seem most of the sites we visit have so few swingers in our area that they would be useless to actually meet anyone.

2. The SLS site has many capabilities that are free, so we had time to test the site and find out if we liked it before starting to pay. And there were REAL benefits for paying, without making it impossible to use if you didn't. Most site want you to give them your credit card before you do much of anything. Which frankly, giving them m CC information is much more a hang up than the cost.

 

Now, I like the SLS site, but we wish they had a better interface. Better was to search, to categorize your preferences, to categorize contacts etc.

 

What specific functions do you think sites should have?

[Coupleerotic22 1,419]

What do you mean by "but we wish they had a better interface"? I like Swing Lifestyle too but I've noticed there are a LOT of "flakes" on any site and the majority appear to be looking for "Ken and Barbie" types. It's understandable that Ken and Barbie are nice to look at, but does that make them better in bed? LOL.

 

By interface I mean better search abilities, and changes to navigation. It has nothing to do with what individuals say or put up on their profiles. Though I would like to see then add some preference categories to the profile, so you could see that a couple has similar interest in the things you do. I think it would help in finding compatible playmates. For example, we are not into BDSM, so if a couple rates that has a must, we are not interested.

[DigginIt 1,132]

Let's face it, unfortunately SLS is the best and worst, the interface sucks, the tools are very basic and most will crash your computer if you try to use them (Video Chat and IM as classic examples). The sad part is for about 1K you could build something from a template such as skadate that they will customize for you for pennies and would kick the crap out of all the sites but it does boil down to numbers.

 

Nobody will join a site that has no members and so unfortunately we are stuck with SLS and AFF (which i hate). There are some better sites out there but they don't get the traffic SLS gets and so I doubt we will ever leave it. We tried SDC and Playful Swingers and it only took us 2 minutes to see that everyone that was on those sites were also on SLS.

 

Are you asking because you want to build a better one

[Coupleerotic22 1,419]

Let's face it, unfortunately Swing Lifestyle is the best and worst, the interface sucks, the tools are very basic and most will crash your computer if you try to use them (Video Chat and IM as classic examples). The sad part is for about 1K you could build something from a template such as skadate that they will customize for you for pennies and would kick the crap out of all the sites but it does boil down to numbers.

 

Nobody will join a site that has no members and so unfortunately we are stuck with Swing Lifestyle and AFF (which i hate). There are some better sites out there but they don't get the traffic Swing Lifestyle gets and so I doubt we will ever leave it. We tried swingers date club and Playful Swingers and it only took us 2 minutes to see that everyone that was on those sites were also on Swing Lifestyle.

 

Are you asking because you want to build a better one

 

I agree completely. Your points are why I posted this to begin with.

 

Have I thought about building a better site? Yes, but not seriously. Mainly because of the critical membership mass required to make the site worth while. I would never expect a site like that to be a huge money maker, though it has potential to be, but I would also not want to go in knowing it would be a money pit.

 

Looking around at sites that have better interface elements, but low membership numbers, is a good indicator that without a lot of marketing behind it (read $$), it is tough to create that critical mass at this point in the game.

 

My best hope is that SLS takes note of what people say in post like this and improve the site. Looking at their base of paid members, and knowing what hosting and development cost are, I think they should have the ability to make some some changes. Let's hope they listen and do.

[DigginIt 1,132]

I have always been optimistic and have tried to encourage people to follow their dreams but this is one you should think long and hard about.

 

Before you put lots of money into building a website, there are hundreds of existing dating scripts out there and a few can be 100% customized and even one I was talking with coupleerotic about that is open source that would give you lots of flexibility because ... it's open source.

 

Just google dating scripts. If you want my advice, skadate has one of the best scripts I have found for flexability and the removing of all branding is included and total cost is about 350.00 bucks unless you want the addon's like the mobile version.

 

We looked into opening a dating website 4 years ago but after reading about all of the failed dating websites out there (this was 4 years ago) we abandoned it. Even sites that have been around for years are still struggling to survive.

 

I still say, if it's your dream then go for it but keep the day job. There are 1000's of existing dating websites currently out there that cover every fetish, race, religion, hobby, etc. Nothing is impossible but hard as hell would be an understatement.

[Guest ENCRYPTEDTX]

I am a lifetime member of Swinglifestyle, Swingular, a paid member of LoveVoodoo, and a free member on TheSwingSite

 

Each have positive and negative points. I have noticed that certain sites have stronger support in different areas. If you are in Utah and are not on Swingular, you are missing the boat!

 

- I like to be able to view the status of my mails sent. (read, read and deleted or deleted)

 

-I like being able to make notes about peoples profiles. Phone numbers, email addys and yahoo ids.

 

- I like sites that allow some interaction by free members as they figure the site out.

 

- I like being able to view who is online...when they were online last, last profile update, etc

 

I joined LoveVooDoo because I am attending their Hedo trip in NOV and to date, I have had phenomenal success with getting replies from people on the site. On swingular, its crickets chirping!

 

There are millions of other features that makes a site good...hope this provokes others thoughts

[DigginIt 1,132]

EncryptedTX made me think of something I really do not like ... On SwingLifeStyle you can read the email without triggering it being read. It will sit in your mailbox with "Unread" and "Unreplied" which is something I wish they would fix because I believe people out there honestly think we are dumb enough to believe that they have been on for the last 5 days in a row and have not actually read emails. PONY UP! Click reply and say "no thanks" because it's just the polite thing to do

 

Wow, did that sound like a vent? I firmly believe that in addition to what makes a good site, what others are doing wrong should be included

[appliancesex 66]

I dunno, we've clicked reply on Swing Lifestyle and it still sat there as though we have new mail (not forever, but it's still not immediate).

 

This is something I do for work, and the overall design of the site looks like something created with frontpage. That said, it is a free site, so you get what you pay for. And to be fair, what you get is actually quite a bit.

 

When p andIi met, we used okcupid to find each other. This is another free site, and paying gives you a few extra features like getting rid of the ads that pay for the site. Unfortunately their pay scale is not very good, and this is where Swing Lifestyle really shines. Paying for it is not that expensive, and they have a lifetime member option.

 

If you do think about making a new site, you need to do a lot of usability testing for it. On the one hand, it is a personalized system for a select group of people.But it is also still a website. Also, if you are seriously considering it, I would recommend you only do it if you can do it yourself. When things break at the last minute, paying for a developer to come in and fix it for you is like getting a plumber to come in on Christmas day to fix a broken water heater.

 

Personally, in terms of Swing Lifestyle, I would simply redesign the site and keep the current functionality of it as it is. Sometimes dressing up a site makes it that much more functional.

[Guest ENCRYPTEDTX]

appliancesex said:

I dunno, we've clicked reply on Swing Lifestyle and it still sat there as though we have new mail (not forever, but it's still not immediate).

 

When your little birdie is flying for a few minutes after you read and replied your mail it is because the page has not refreshed. If you watch your SLS web page, every so often it will refresh. This is when the birdie goes away!

[realcplub2 513]

Having been around this for a while, we have found that while a site may be great right now.. it can and often does fall apart

 

Swingular after having been sold three times, is a great example For over a year they teased with a re design, that they finally launched, but it took another 4 months for the teaser upgrades to the profiles

 

Swappernet, is another great example, when Paul and Ann started/owned it, it was excellent, you could navigate with ease, and it grew well.. then it changed hands, and again and again.. Being lifetime members means nothing because they want you to buy in to upgraded privilages

 

Which is the biggest issues we all face, sites that charge for eveything and restrict you once your membership is standard or free.

 

It also seems that since they went public the company that owns AFF/Passion/Alt/Out/ and all the other various sites has been buying up competion..

 

Now to clarify, IF a site launches we try it, and play the wait and see attitude. The moment we get sent a notice that we have email and go to the site to read it, and CANT we attempt to modify our profile warning people ** we are standard members, please contact us elsewhere we cant read your EMAIL or just delete it.. Allowing free members to READ their mail, and reply only to those that have written should be a free function, Limit it, sure 5 or 10 per day, but still.

 

Personally, I tend to think that the draw to any site should be the number of locals in YOUR area.. if the generic search only shows the state you are in, with no other details.. whats the point.. you find someone interesting and write only to find they are 6 hours away. Offering the ability to search via miles or zip code of your location is a great feature.. Making it so it shows say the top ten, and beyond that requires membership OR limiting the distances available.. paid members can search within 5 to 40 miles, free members again a generic search, are limited to the closest being 50 miles.. throw a 100 people at em, and give them the ablitiy to open 5 profiles a day.. or buy in..

 

And the one hook that swing lifestyle has, and other HAD was/is a fairly inexpensive lifetime membership.

 

Making money, great.. raping members who help you found the venture in an ongoing basis.. not so cool..

 

Just so ideas and pet peeves

[slevin 1,374]

We're completely aware that there's an extremely good chance of it failing. However, we still want to give it a try... try to build a better mousetrap as it were. After all, the only thing we can lose is money,,

 

We'd just like to know what others think is good and bad with other sites and get recommendations for our site before we build it.

 

In my experience this is an excellent path to a lack of success. Most users can't articulate what they like or don't like. They can give you a great list of features that they want to see in a site, but generally they aren't the features that will get them to join, pay, frequent etc.

 

Best approach is to make decisions about what you want, what should be on the site and stick to your guns. Find out what works with that and adjust as you go. Asking users for help will lead in you the wrong direction.

[Coupleerotic22 1,419]

In my experience this is an excellent path to a lack of success. Most users can't articulate what they like or don't like. They can give you a great list of features that they want to see in a site, but generally they aren't the features that will get them to join, pay, frequent etc.

 

Best approach is to make decisions about what you want, what should be on the site and stick to your guns. Find out what works with that and adjust as you go. Asking users for help will lead in you the wrong direction.

 

I have to agree and disagree with Slevin here. If all you are going to do is get a list of features and build from there, he is probably correct. If however, you use the information as a launch point to do some real user research, UI testing, base builds, etc. then it is a smart way to go.

[slevin 1,374]

Not necessarily. We don't have to use all the recommendations but it doesn't hurt to get other's perspectives.

 

I think where other perspectives will be useful is when you have a mockup of your site together. Let people use it, watch how they work with it, listen to their commentary as they work with it. Have them talk through their thought process as they interact with it. The other time is by running some user research. By this I mean talk to users about how they currently work; watch what features they actually use on the sites they are on, provide them with mockups of options you are thinking about and see how they interact with it.

 

Then when you launch, build in the ability to see how people interact. What features are they using? What parts do they spend the most time in?

 

However you go about it, good luck with making it successful. I hope you'll let us all know when it's ready so we can check it out!