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In this review I’m going to take a look at JDate.com, America’s largest Jewish dating site.
With over one million Jews living in America, and 65% of Americas saying that religion is important in their daily lives, there definitely appears to be the demand for a Jewish dating site.
But what’s the site like? How much does it cost? And is it any better than match.com? I’m afraid you’re just going to have to continue reading to find out.
About JDate
Founded back in 1997, JDate has been the premier Jewish dating site for over a decade. Over 1 million Jewish singles have signed up to the service in America alone, and the site continues to be the number one Jewish community worldwide.
Site members vary in age from 18 to 85 years old. And as older generations become more web savvy, the number of members over 50 is also on the up.
Whilst the vast majority of members are looking for long-term relationships and marriage, some are also looking to build new friendships. There are very few members here looking for casual encounters.
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Creating Your Profile
Joining JDate will take you the best part of 5 minutes. They have a very simple and intuitive step-by-step sign-up process.
Unlike on many dating sites, you don’t actually need to sign-up in order to view members on the site. You can perform a search straight off the bat to see if any of their members spark you interest.
If someone does catch your eye, then filling out your basic details is most definitely not rocket science. You will also be asked to write a little about yourself, and often this is where everybody’s mind goes blank. I recommend taking a look at what other people have written about themselves on the site, but only for inspiration, please don’t be tempted to plagiarize! You are who you are, so make sure that your profile is unique to you.
Although you are not required to upload a photo, if you do, you will most definitely receive many more profile views and messages than without.
Features You’ll Find
This dating site is packed with fun and helpful features that make life on the site a lot more exciting.
To start with, there’s a feature called “Flirt”. This is a fun and quick means of letting someone know you’re interested in them. You just pick a one-liner from a list of Flirts, and send it to the member of your choice. Although they can be fun, more often than not it’s much nicer to receive a message that someone has taken their time over than a quick one-liner. So don’t flirt too often!
A game called “Secret Admirer” is a fun game that allows you to secretly find out if the member you like feels the same way about you. Similar to a go-between for you and the member you are keen on.
Kibitz Corner is a question and answer feature that lets you know what Your Matches really think about you. You’ll find a series of thought-provoking and fun questions to answer.
You’ll also find features like, instant messaging, email, winks, quick and advanced search, a favorites list, a blocked list, a secret admirers list and also a photo gallery. You really don’t need many more features than this.
There is also an iPhone App and a mobile optimized web portal. So even when you’re on the move, you can still keep tabs on who’s messaged you or been viewing your profile.
The Traffic Test
It’s never a wise idea to pay for any dating service before you have an idea to the number of members on the site and in your local area. But don’t worry, since it’s easy to find out using a simple traffic test.
Since Birmingham is my local city here in the UK, I decided to check the membership numbers for Birmingham in Alabama. I ran a search with the following basic criteria:
- Gender: Female
- Age: 25-35
- Location: Within 10 miles of Birmingham, Alabama
Just over 300 profiles were returned in the results. Of which, around 60 had been online within the last week. Although the numbers are certainly not as large as dating sites like match.com, it’s really to be expected, since this is a niche dating site with predominantly Jewish members.
If I were Jewish, I would happily join based on the above results.
The Scam Test
Today online dating is a billion dollar business, and where there is money, there are also thieves. Any many of these thieves are the actual dating companies themselves. Many sites are using pseudo profiles, fake messages, winks and chat requests to trick people into signing up then ripping them off.
I use a very simple test to check the level of thievery on a dating site. All you need to do is leave your profile blank and not upload any photos for at least a week. If you receive any messages or winks within this time, they are most definitely not genuine, so delete your account ASAP.
I’ve now had a blank photo-less profile setup on JDate for just over two months. In this time I’ve not received a single message, which is actually good news in this case! I feel fairly confident that this site is playing by the rules. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for many other dating sites.
Membership Prices
When you first join you do so with their free membership option. With this you can create and post your profile on the site, search and view other members’ profiles, send up to 30 flirts per day, read their dating advice and send eCards. But you can’t send mails or read mails from other members if you receive them.
When you upgrade to a full membership subscription, you can then also: send and read emails, use their instant messenger tool, and mingle in the chat rooms. The 2013 full membership costs for JDate are as follows:
$19.99 per month for a 6 month membership
$29.99 per month for a 3 month membership
$39.99 per month for a 1 month membership
It’s important to be aware that JDate, like many other dating sites, will automatically renew your subscription when it runs out. Personally, I don’t like this. And unless you don’t mind, then I suggest cancelling the auto renewal sooner rather than later.
Good and Bad Points
Largest Jewish dating site in America
A very high percentage of members are looking for long-term commitment and marriage
Mobile optimized
Very reasonable membership numbers
Subscriptions are renewed automatically if you don’t cancel this
Expensive
To Conclude
JDate is a first class Jewish dating website with one of the largest online Jewish communities in America.
Over the years the site has brought many Jewish couples together, many of which have gone on to marry. You’ll find many of these testimonials on their website.
Using the site is really easy and the site features help to ensure your online experience is fun and exciting.
There’s not much in the way of competition to JDate. Other dating sites do of course have many Jewish members, but certainly not in the same numbers that can be found on JDate.
My only real criticism is the cost of a single months membership, and even three months is still rather expensive compared to other dating sites like match.com.
To summarize: If you are single and looking for a Jewish partner, you don’t really need to look much further than: www.jdate.com.
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