Bump....This has gotten off track, fun though, but the situation DOES need to be addressed.

TIA

Has Andres replied?

@Critter1211: not yet

Thanks for the feedback, folks. I'll take this opportunity to give you guys an update on where I'm at.

The problem we currently have is two-fold. We have too few active users, and new users aren't sticking around. The latter is, in part, a result of the former.

To have a lot of activity on the site, I need to fix both problems simultaneously. I need to add more features to the site to get new users to stick around, and I need to get more new users to join.

To get new users to find out about us and join, I'm trying to find out where I can advertise the site (for the first time ever), but I keep hitting walls. The most obvious targeted advertising platform is Facebook, but they stopped accepting Dating sites a while ago. I looked at advertising on other more active dating sites, but one of them shut down their advertising platform recently. So in the meantime, I'm working on Search Engine Optimization to get more people to find us when they do specific searches. To that end, I am creating a page for literally every city in the world so that when someone searches for Small Town Dating Site, we show up and capture that user. I'm still going to see where I can do targeted advertisement, so I won't give up on that, it's just more difficult than I anticipated.

I've also implemented the Free Birthday Credits e-mail feature to entice old users to come back, but I'm facing problems with our e-mail provider because a lot of the e-mail addresses of the old users are no longer valid and the bounce rate we're getting is above the accepted threshold. So that's something I'm working on fixing as well, but it means it won't be as effective as I first anticipated.

Now, to get users to stick around, I'm working on several new features. Coincidentally, one of them is similar to what MrWalkSoftly mentioned here in this thread and is an idea I had several years ago but never got around to implementing: Achievements. In short, Achievements would give Free Cupid Credits for important achievements on the site, and those Achievements can be anything from uploading your profile pic to logging in once a day to staying logged in for X number of hours. With Achievements, I should definitely be able to incorporate some of the ideas mentioned in this thread, so let's make it happen.

Another idea I'm considering is a bit out of left field, but I'm looking into possibly adding Games to the site in order to keep users logged-in longer. To keep it simple, they would be single-player games hosted inside our site and would serve to keep users entertained after they've checked all their messages and threads and therefore keep them logged-in instead of leaving the site. The longer users stay online, the greater the chances of two folks connecting, so anything that can keep users online is a plus. One of the games I'm looking at implementing is Sudoku and another is 2048, among others. I've even considered a Blackjack game and the possibility of allowing users to "gamble" with their Cupid Credits. I'm not fully convinced about adding Games because it doesn't have much to do with Dating (unless they are multiplayer, but that's very difficult to implement), but it's something I have looked into and that I'm considering to help keep folks entertained and logged-in longer.

I'm also working on implementing the payment feature which is very time-consuming as I have to tie the site in with the new payment provider and their specific code and specifications, but we'll get there.

Lastly, since folks nowadays are accustomed to opening an App instead of going to the browser and then opening a Bookmark, I'm working on adding a super simple but effective feature that will add the site bookmark as a "Web App" to your phones so that visiting the site is as simple as opening an App. That should help get more folks to keep coming back as it's much easier, direct, and less cumbersome than having to go to the Browser.

I have more features I'm very close to launching, but I want some of those to be a surprise.

So it's going to be a busy summer, but I won't stop until Dating.mobi is hustling and bustling like never before! I'm just very aware that to get to that point, I need to tackle both problems I mentioned simultaneously and the ideas in this thread are awesome, so let's make them happen and keep 'em coming! Thanks!

@Andres: Thanks for the explanation and progress report.
We excitedly await the features and surprises!

I personally love the ideas of games on the site, it'll keep me logged in longer i know.

agreed!

Now.... back to glorious hotdogs!

@Andres: As far as promotion goes, couldn't you put out a blast on the site's Facebook page? There's probably some former users that forgot to unfollow it.

I tried a Gator dog when I was in FL once... it was pretty good