.. you don’t have as much time to blog.

Blogs and Online Dating

That isn’t to say I don’t have time to read other people’s blogs.  One that speaks to my own heart, and is tied in not only with online dating but also much geekery is Geek’s Dream Girl.  There’s a series on online dating etiquette that’s a must read for everyone looking for love online.  While a few of the articles don’t apply to FlowMingle’s type of online dating, they’re all worth reading—it’s unlikely we’re your only stop on the online dating express.

If you have a minute, weigh in on her trigger words article.

Using google blog search I sometimes peruse the b’sphere to see what people are writing about online dating.  Articles are not usually enlightening, but sometimes amusing, such as this gem by The Hypocrite Bastard.  It’ll be interesting to see how that potential saga plays out.  More often, people using sites we consider somewhat dated are frustrated with their experiences.  If only they’d come to us.  

Mourning RailsConf

I didn’t get my stuff together in time.  I have no excuse.  As much as I’d have like to attend railsconf, there was simply too much going on and not enough free capital in my budget.  Maybe next year.  Here’s hoping.

Search Engines and Online Dating

On the internet, page rank is king.  For a growing site, it’s something we have to seriously consider, and search engines are getting smarter.  No more linking through traffic sites full of unrelated content (see the cautionary tale of JustSayHi, and, no, I’m not linking it), no more getting rank out of cute but inappropriate widgets.  It’s about content—and our focus (online dating and group dating) is a quite crowded space.  At the end of the day though, that’s where traffic comes from for a site like ours: search.  What makes things somewhat difficult is that most of our content is members-only, and as such not crawlable or searchable.  Nuts.

Ladies: Be In Our Focus Group

My partners and I are guys, and while our geekery varies (I’m an RPG and computer nerd), the fact that we’re a geek remains.  We’d like very much for some brave ladyfolk volunteers to help us figure out what’s the most intuitive Mingle interface, and we’ll throw in a t-shirt as tempting bait.  If you’re interested, mail me (ben@flowmingle.com) and I’ll get you set up.