Becoming a professional matchmaker opens you up to a social career that combines fun and a high earning potential. This can be the career for you if you have the desire to maintain an independent, flexible schedule. Matchmaking is one of those careers that you can do from the comfort of your home. Success will not come easy; you have to play the part, too.
This is a career that requires you to be aggressive and imaginative. You need to have good taste and an attractive flair that will entice lonely hearts to request your service.
1What is Required for your Professional Matchmaking Service?
For a professional matchmaking service you need to create an impressive application form, preferably three or four pages long. Do as much as you can to have this document look the part. The application form should be printed on paper that is a desirable color - ivory or lavender will work well - and from a quality paper stock. The page size should also be carefully chosen; an 11”X17” dimension is okay. Have the application form folded such that it will give applicants the feeling of confidentiality. Use an attractive typeset and ensure that you have a company logo or letterhead.
On this form the applicants should provide details including name, address, telephone contacts, marital status, place of work, hobbies, etc. To add more credibility to your professional matchmaking service the application form should also contain a brief personality test, the requirements of which can be researched online. Be sure to highlight the different dating services you can help facilitate and at what cost these services can be accessed. Finally include a legal disclaimer to any implied promises and responsibilities that have or have not been specifically mentioned in the application form. Provide a space for applicants to append their signatures.
2The Location of the Matchmaking Service
Have your office located in a respectable part of town, one that is attractive and lively. The building should preferably be of the store-front type. Endeavor to create a modern aura of intelligence, maturity, and class that will attract both the young generation and those who consider themselves conservative and/or mature. The reception should be spacious, attractive and comfortable, while the receptionist, a lady, should have good looks and a personality that combines vivacity and calmness – just the right measure of each to make the clientele feel welcome and at ease.
To give credibility to your service you should seek to assure the prospective clients that you have a large database of singles ready to meet them. Do this by compiling two classy looking scrapbooks filled with pictures of attractive ladies and gentlemen. It can be quite difficult to get these but with imagination it is possible. You can visit a local college and ask to take photos of good looking women and men. If you do so be sure to have them sign a release form, explain the purpose, and assure them that their names and other information will not be revealed to anyone. These scrapbooks should be placed on coffee tables in the reception area for the clients’ perusal.
3Advertising for the Matchmaking Service
Creating attractive ads is the only way to make your service a success. These ads should be placed in the ‘Personals’ section of a leading newspaper(s) on a daily basis. The ads should be two sentences long; the first should provide attractive details of the person while the second should basically provide his/her name and your contact number. Apart from the newspapers you can place the ads on bulletin and notice boards in various campuses, and those in the trendy parts of town, etc.
When calls are made you will have to have a ready explanation that will lead to an appointment. During this appointment you will take the potential date through a conversation and some questions to ascertain that he/she is indeed a match to the client.
4Starting an Online Professional Matchmaking Service
Starting this type of dating service is much simpler and certainly much cheaper. You can do the website design personally and then pay for domain name registration and web hosting. Alternatively, you can use web hosting plans that come with pre-designed websites that only require you to add content. Ensure that you have a large database of singles ready to be hooked up with searching partners. You can acquire such a database by connecting your new website to a site like http://worlddatingpartners.com/?refId=PARTNER-12291, which connects you to 20 million members.
Next, prepare articles that provide information on topics as diverse as the online dating scene, self confidence, love, relationships, romance, online dating safety, etc. These will help popularize the website and motivate many people to think of using the professional matchmaking service. Ensure that you always refresh the contents on a regular basis.
5Making Money with an Online Professional Matchmaking Service
This is achieved by joining dating affiliate programs, one or two to start with, and having affiliate links on the pages of your website. Complement this by creating the aforementioned contents/articles that will help send people to your site. The best affiliate programs are those that offer the most dating niches and with millions of members. Such a database lessens the competition for search terms and the availability of specific niches enables better conversion ratios. As the website owner you earn a commission when a free member purchases a premium membership. The quickest way to direct traffic to your website is with Pay-Per-Click advertising.
6Professional Matchmaking Service Certification
You can get certification from a matchmaking institute that is affiliated with the Professional Matchmakers Association. This will assure clients that you have met the guidelines and quality standards required of the profession. Refer to the Matchmaker Quality Standards and Professional Matchmaker Guidelines on the Matchmaking Institute website for more information.
7Pros and Cons of Running a Professional Matchmaking Service
Pros – Once you have consolidated enough experience as a matchmaker you can present your service as an exclusive one and set the fees to match this description. At such a specialized level, people will tend to seek your services via word-of-mouth referrals. There are so many niches you can explore including lesbian and gay, speed dating, Christian singles, millionaire dating service, senior citizen singles, etc.
Cons – It is quite difficult to make the right compatibilities at first. You need to know what qualities of both parties make them compatible or otherwise. You also have to contend with the fact that some ‘matches’ may in fact be ill-intentioned people. Additionally, you’ll regularly receive lots of false information.
