Two people enter a lounge where fish swim behind them in a large fish tank. A couple dances in the background. The conversation begins with a laugh, generated by an emoticon. This couple is enjoying a virtual date on OmniDate.com, where they can laugh, talk and flirt, all from the comfort and safety of their home.

“A woman can stay home on Saturday night and still “go out” on a great date. You won’t be lying to the office about your great weekend on Monday morning!” said Ravit Abelman, vice president and co-founder of OmniDate.com with her husband, Igor Kotlyar, Ph.D.

In a study by the Harvard University, the researchers found that virtual dates gave participants a more positive opinion of each other and these effects carried over into meeting in real life. 

“Nothing makes people happier than a satisfying relationship true connection is the greatest gift of life. It is our mission to give women better ways to find true love,” said Abelman.

Romance aside, safety is also a concern for daters. For single moms especially, getting to know a person before an actual meeting can add an extra layer of security. Through the practice dates on OmniDate.com, they can play compatibility games and chat, moving through those initial stages of filtering out the undesirables and encouraging the potentials.

“When the first step in getting to know someone is taken in a virtual setting, it substantially reduces the emotional and physical investment upfront. It can be so exhausting to deal with someone you don’t want to continue dating. And what mom has extra emotional energy lying around?” said Abelman. 

And there is the savings: no dating wardrobe required, no make up, no drinks to purchase, no car to gas up, and according to Abelman, the best benefit of all.

SweetSingles.com is a genuine Asian online dating website that acts as a mediator between single girls from Asia and single men throughout the globe. This site does not appreciate sexual activity, but it is popular for making true love, resulting in successful mating of Asian brides with Westerner grooms.

SweetSingles.com, an online dating and matchmaking agency, assures single men that the brides’ profiles available in the site must be worthy of caring and loving their prospective husbands as well as their family. According to member Mr. Brad Williams “I was single and looking for a bride for a while. After coming to know about Sweetsingles, I have created an account on the website and made search. I have found a girl who is beautiful, loving and caring, and proved to be a perfect wife”. For years, SweetSingles.com has been boasting of arranging hundreds of successful marriages.

SweetSingles.com is associated with a number of Asian girls, especially those with Thai origins who are willing to get married. The site is a popular dating and matchmaking agency and never appreciates sexual activity.

In addition, any Asian girl who registered on the site has gone through a detailed screening; which enables us to match her with qualified online dating male from anywhere in the universe. Sweet Singles can surely help to introduce you to many nice Asian women who are looking for foreign soul mates and lifetime partners.

Hackers and Scammers are on all internet sites, but they particularly target adult dating sites. Scammers know that horniness can overpower better judgment; sex sells. The promise of a casual tryst or readymade affair is enticing to most people, and shopping for a hookup online makes finding a partner twice as easy. Hookup site users are more likely to engage in unsafe internet practices; when you want a hookup you want it now. So rather than taking the slow and safe route, users send out their email or phone number without reservations.

Let’s say you receive the following email on an adult dating site:

“Hi, I’m Alice. I’m really close to you and am looking for a nice man to have no strings sex with. I’m never on this site, so please email me at hottie4u2boff@spammer.com. I can’t wait to share you with my girlfriends!”

It’s possible that she’s for real, but it’s more likely that she’s a spammer looking to collect email addresses. Why would anyone want your email address? Let’s say that the spammer in question is someone who works on a scam farm. Scammer farms typically employ many people (often young boys) who get paid to create profiles of hot women, and work online all day sending out emails like the one above. You respond by emailing her as instructed, and the spam farm collects those emails and pays their employee a small amount for each email address. They collect as many email addresses as possible, and sell each one to many different spam lists. Now, your email address is being sold to multiple sources; the spam farm makes a lot of money, and you will never hear from hottie4u2boff again… but can expect a sudden influx in spam about replica watches and penis enlargement creams.

Social Networking and dating sites are also seeing a surge in hacked accounts these days. You sign up for a site, and hackers are lying in wait. Within a few days of joining, you get a message via IM that says: “Thanks for joining! As a free bonus, log in here for access to hot cam shows for gold and silver members only!”

It looks just like the rest of the site, and when you click on it, it asks for your email and to log in…again. You enter your information, and suddenly you’re on a new, unrelated webcam page that asks you to join. And pay.

Why would they want your adult dating site account? Remember the message above that read “hey, I’m never on here, get me at hottie4u2boff@spammer.com?” Well, sites that allow free accounts limit the number of emails that free accounts can send out per day, and scammers are the reason. But your gold account can send out unlimited emails, so they can contact hundreds of other members by hijacking and utilizing your account. They take down your personal information, upload their hot scammer pics and fire away at other members until they’re reported and shut down.

New to Bravo! TV this year is “The Millionaire Matchmaker” starring Patti Stanger, well-known American match-maker and president of The Millionaires Club. Patti Stanger founded The Millionaire’s Club in January 2000 because she felt that successful men in the dating arena needed a private, exclusive club where they could come to find their beautiful and intelligent wives.

Stanger realized that busy, upscale men simply didn’t have the time to go looking for a relationship, weren’t meeting the kind of women that they dreamed about, or were looking for a certain “type” that they couldn’t find. These men needed a service where they could be introduced to exceptionally beautiful women in a relaxing, discreet and confidential manner.

She also saw that, in the dating service industry, the odds of a beautiful woman joining a premier dating service on her own were very low–so she set out to recruit women from across the country and around the world through advertisements, magazine articles, dating scouts, and television appearances.

In 2008, Patti signed a deal to have her own reality show titled “Millionaire Matchmaker”, on the Bravo TV Network. The premise of the show is to follow her day to day movements at her highly successful business, Millionaire’s Club. Not only does Patti star in the program but she also produces the show.

An early adopter of the Internet in the Web 1.0 world, with nearly 15 years of online dating experience, Julie Spira seeks to empower singles everywhere to try Internet dating with her new book, The Perils of Cyber-Dating: Confessions of a Hopeful Romantic Looking for Love Online.

Recently signed to Morgan James Publishing, a New York publisher, Spira’s tell-all cyber-dating memoir is set to be released in February 2009. Entertaining as well as informative, The Perils of Cyber-Dating delves into the newest technologies of the Internet dating scene including text messaging, the BlackBerry, MySpace, Facebook and more. From setting up an online profile to the best practices for responding to an online personal ad, Spira provides an exclusive look into the world of online dating based on her personal experience from more than 250 dates.

Author, entrepreneur and cyber-dating expert, Spira was involved with several Internet startups in the 1990s. The first on her block to put up an online dating profile in the early days of Internet dating, Spira continues to embrace the newest social networking advancements in the world of Web 2.0. For more information, including Spira’s “Rules of Netiquette” for successful cyber-dating, visit her Web site at www.cyberdatingexpert.com.

About Morgan James Publishing:

Morgan James has revolutionized book publishing — from the author’s standpoint. Their Entrepreneurial Publishing™ model enriches authors as well as the company. Morgan James Publishing was selected for Fast Company Magazine’s Fast 50 for 2006 for their leading creative thinking, significant accomplishments and stands to have a significant impact on the industry for the next 10 years. For additional information, visit http://www.MorganJamesPublishing.com.

So what does soul food have to do with finding a soul mate? “Everything!” says multi-talented entrepreneur and movie producer, Carlton Enoch. “Our food is our soul expressed, bathing our hearts with images of love at home. Finding a soul mate is no different.”

With online dating becoming one of the fastest growing environments on the internet, the opportunities for the growth of new dating sites is enormous, especially those developed for niche markets. According to the US Census figures, 44% of adult Americans are single, equaling over 100 million people. More than 40 million of those singles are now using the internet to find love and companionship.

Carlton cooked up his own brand of soul specifically designed for African-Americans using the one aspect of our culture we all tremendously enjoy; our food. He mixed the latest technological ingredients, with the most entertaining seasonings, to bake a revolutionary concept in Internet dating in an easy to use web solution offering features such as audio and video chat, video, photo and MP3 uploads, blogs, and online video gaming. Aside from the main course the site also incorporates delicious sweets such as auctions and classifieds for members to gain the greatest exposure through the GreensandCornbread.com network.

From its name to its services, GreensandCornbread.com is a virtual experience with Soul, and is one of the only online dating sites actually owned and operated by an African-American.

Men aren’t always the easiest to work with when it comes to Dating and many women argue that they do it much better than men. I don’t know how sure I am about that but I’m pretty sure there are some pretty keen daters on both ends of the spectrum.

Here are some basic tidbits of advice for women seeking guidance before a date.

Looking great is some thing which can turn the heads of the guys. You need to understand what makes you look beautiful and smart. Then you can wear them while going on a date with a special guy. A mild touch of lipsticks and eye-liners can work wonders to your personality.

The most effective turn-off for men is the topic of ex-boyfriends of his date. Never make the mistake of comparing him or discussing about your previous boyfriend as this will spoil his mood completely and he might loose interest in you.

It is important to keep a small brush and a small pack of perfume inside your purse so that you look as stunning as before even when you are way back to home. This will keep him interested about you and facts have shown that men often go crazy about women who are enigmatic.

The span of a date should be small and this will make a man long to meet you.

You should not show your eagerness to meet him or talk to him as this will make him feel that you are falling for him and he will start taking you for granted.

One important thing to always remember, whether you are a man or a woman, is that respect and knowing what to talk about and what to steer away from, are keys towards having a successful date. Open up and be yourself and the rest will follow.

For hours you’re typing right now: About YOU, your first day at school, your first kiss, your work, your problems…you’re typing and typing and your hand gets tired. Jesus, you just want a DATE !!!

Can you think of better ways to waste your energy ?

Haveyourdate.com: Create your perfect date for free and every user will be able to see you. No more long chats without results…just say where you are and what you want and wait for them to come to YOU…

Dating is easy with haveyourdate.com: You post when, where and how you want your DreamDate plus your description and photo. Additionally you are able to see other users, the most wanted, best recent dates and much more. If you are interested in someone just send your invitation for dating including your own photo and description. Thousands of dates are waiting for you and best of all: Everything is FREE.

Wanna see how easy it is?

Visit. www.haveyourdate.com

Dating can be rather frustrating for men, as it’s hard to figure out what women want. The Laws of Attraction aren’t always something that all men are familiar with and a majority of failed dates are in fact due to the male side of the spectrum.

Alright guys, well here is your cue. Take a look at this solid set of rules and advice for your next date. Read it carefully and take notes!

1. Look your best. Get some decent clothes and shoes. If you can’t take care of yourself, how are you going to take care of her?

2. Get your hygiene and styling sorted out. Down to the barbers and sort out your hair. Men are often criticized for smelling bad. Get into a regular showering routine and smell good always. Women appreciate it.

3. Sort out your job if you have one. Women want a man who has some ambition and goals in life.

4. Get your knowledge levels up. Make sure you are up to date with current affairs, watch the news and read quality papers. Current affairs are important in showing you know all about the world outside.

5. Do not extol the virtues of drinking in the bar 5 nights a week. Taking your lady for a drink is fine, but give them the impression that you live in there will get you absolutely nowhere – fast.

6. If you love your sports then fine. But If you are serious about dating then ramming the subject of soccer, ball games or football down your date’s throat will put them off in record time.

9. Never expect sex on a first date. If all you are after is sex you have come to the wrong place for reading material. If you are looking for the girl of your dreams there is nothing more sexy than a patient man.

10. Sort out your educational knowledge of manners, courtesy and chivalry. A woman likes being treated well, particularly with respect. Lose the coarse language and the swear words. Show her respect and manners at every step and you should not go wrong.

11. Start listening and stop talking. Listen to things she tells you about her and remember them. Women love to chat so you need to learn to listen to her. Remembering things she told you will impress her.

12. Give up smoking now.

13. Learn to dance. even if you have two left flat feet. Women love to dance and dancing is a physical contact sport (or can be). It is also romantic and sexy.

Lets face it; men have an inherent attraction towards promiscuous women. Not that this is a bad thing, after all we’re lust-smitten animals driven by testosterone. So it should be no surprise that it happens as often as it does. You start dating that girl who seems too good to be true; she’s sexy, confident, and always seems to have plenty of money.

Well, obviously she’s a stripper, but you didn’t have a clue. Now you have to suffer through months of humiliation from your friends because of that night your girlfriend gave them all “lap dances”. You have the same affliction all men share, you think with the wrong head. So as not to be caught off-guard again, here is a fail-safe checklist for all men to use, memorize it and apply it to every woman you meet.

1. She knows how to pick a pool stick. (Roll it on the table and make sure it’s straight.)

2. Always conscious of her arched back and protruding chest.

3. She’s people who know people…in fact she seems to know everyone… everywhere, and all the men she greets seem overly enthused.

4. Buys those easy access panties that untie on both sides.

5. Has an array of multi colored, 4-inch, stiletto heels and she’s always looking to buy more.

6. Pays her rent (and everything else) in singles.

7. Over tips bartenders ’cause she knows what it’s like.

8. Drinks like an Irish soccer fan.

9. Drives the most expensive model of the most inexpensive car manufacturer like a Hyundai Tiburon.

10. Dresses like she might get tipped for just walking down the street.