WHAT WE FOUND: As Match says, they are the “big kahuna” of online dating services. With more than 20 million members internationally and services that range from basic memberships allowing you to browse personals; premium match services that get very intensive in the type of questionnaires and matching capabilities, relationship and personal advice features including Dr. Phil’s “MindFindBind™” program; niche portals that include sections for straight, gay, lesbian, seniors and over a dozen culturally specific dating services, the online “Happen” magazine with advice articles relevant to today’s singles, and the branching out with the Chemistry.com service that is their exclusive personality test matchmaker system and even match Mobile that connects you to local singles through your wireless phone. I think my major complaint about Match is that with all the programs and services they offer it’s too easy to be overwhelmed and rush through the important but preliminary steps to start trying to find dates and even “The One” and find disappointment instead. Start your membership by taking the tour, it’s a nice introduction to the basics, and advanced services, of Match. Or start with a simple search to view the basic profiles (or Portraits) of members close to your location. Beginning your membership requires standard name and address information (that is kept confidential) and competing the basic profile questions. Have a digital photo handy to upload with your profile. Keep the “I’m ready” box checked to get almost immediate matches to your profile and emails that have new matches that have newly joined emailed to you. On the next page, if you’re not ready to subscribe, pick one of the options across the top of the page. I suggest starting with the “My Profile” section and completing the options as they are listed. Don’t pass up on the “Linked Accounts” option that integrates the Match Personals messaging to your MSN Messenger for instant messages from other linked members. Then it’s time to click on “My Portrait” and begin filling out your profile, your interest and the type of person (and personality) you’re looking to meet. You’re going to find 3 sections (“Me”, “My Match” and “In My Own Words”) of about 6 pages to complete, but be thoughtful, introspective and go for it! You’ll take 20 to 30 minutes to complete the three sections that need to be completed as they are presented, but it’s time well spent, maybe even life-changing! It’s free to send winks to other members (a message that you are interested) as well as search and browse profiles. Become a premium member to send and reply to messages as well as be notified of the members that view your profile and be able to hide your profile at any time. Additional options are available for extra promotion and visibility of your “Portrait”, as well as additional services to really be able to find interesting and worthwhile matches. Read the terms and select from these options as they interest you. If you haven’t joined Match Personals you haven’t really tried the best that online dating has to offer and that includes the 6 month guarantee to find someone special.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Free basic membership allows browsing and searching of member profiles and “Portraits”. Premium memberships allows full access, unlimited messages and replies as well as personalized search capabilities and the Match system of compatibility matching that brings like-minded singles to your inbox. Additional member features include “Portraits” that give you additional promotion within the Match service (up to 15 times more people viewing your “Portrait” than your standard member profile), Dr. Phil’s “MindFindBind™” 3 part online program of insights and strategies towards a better relationship with yourself and the match you seek. Match also has compatibility matching through the Chemistry.com branch, local mobile personals through Match Mobile, and personal matchmakers through Match Platinum, services. Straight, same sex, American, Canadian, UK and more than a dozen international culturally, language specific niche services (Match International may require separate membership fees).

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Complete the Great Expectations online confidential profile and you'll soon be contacted to discuss your matchmaking options. Once you become a member you'll provide a more complete profile, have at least one interview with a relationship counselor and make a video recording profile. Currently available in the USA only, in these cities: Atlanta, GA, Austin, TX, Baltimore, MD, Birmingham, AL, Bonita Springs, FL, Boston, MA, Charlotte (Fort Mill, SC), SC, Cherry Hill, NJ, Chicago Suburbs, IL, Chicago, IL, Cincinnati, OH, Cleveland, OH, Columbus, OH, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Detroit, MI, Ft Worth, TX, Ft. Laud/Palm Beach, FL, Grand Rapids, MI, Hartford, CT, Houston, TX, Indianapolis, IN, Irvine, CA, Jacksonville, FL, Kansas City, MO, Las Vegas, NV, Long Island, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Manhattan, NY, Miami, FL, Milwaukee, WI, Minneapolis, MN, Nashville, TN, New Hampshire, NH, Orlando, FL, Palo Alto, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Phoenix, AZ, Pittsburgh, PA, Portland, OR, Providence, MA, Richmond, VA, Sacramento, CA, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CA, San Francisco, CA, Sarasota, FL, Seattle, WA, St. Louis, MO, Stuart/Treasure Coast, FL, Summit, NJ, Tampa, FL, Upland, CA, Virginia Beach, VA, Walnut Creek, CA, Washington DC, Vienna, VA. Visit the website to see any new areas that Great Expectations has opened a new office.

WHAT WE FOUND: The Yahoo Personals service is only for people that live in America or Canada (currently) although we do expect international versions to come out soon. To post an ad you’ll need to be a Yahoo member so you’ll be prompted to do that first before you join to post your profile. There are 7 steps to posting your profile but they don’t take very long to complete. Begin with the type of ad you want to post, or not post. What this means is that you can keep your profile private so it is not included in the general search results, but if you answer an ad that person can read it. Next give yourself a name for your ad. We recommend that you do not use your Yahoo username, but use something else for your ad. This will keep your privacy intact in that people won’t be able to easily guess your Yahoo email address. The next steps will allow you to post information about yourself, about the type of person you are looking for and the type of relationship you are interested in beginning as well as upload pictures and become a subscribing member. Posting your profile is free but to be able to send and reply to messages you must be a subscribed member. Once your profile is approved, this takes about 24 hours, you can also add a voice message and a video message to your profile. The search system is fast and easily customizable using zip codes, city names and “Importance Levels”, so you can narrow down your search and find the singles that you really want to meet. You can also “Be a matchmaker” and search for a match for a friend. The friend will then have to become a member, but it’s a start to not being single anymore. The “Mutual Match” system allows you to easily be matched with people that have the same likes and dislikes as you and will automatically alert you so you can send them a message (once you’re subscribed to send messages). And don’t forget about the Yahoo Instant Messenger chat program: once you have subscribed you can instantly chat with other subscribed members when they are showing as being online. With Yahoo being one of the largest web destinations, you should become a member to see all of the profiles of people that are in your area. You’ll be surprised there are so many singles so close to where you live.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: You’ll need to be a member of Yahoo to join and it’s free to post your profile. Add voice and video messages to your profile. Chat using Yahoo IM. Add up to 5 pictures with your profile. Become a subscribing member to send and reply to messages. Straight and same sex personals available.

WHAT WE FOUND: Date.com is a great service that includes private email and public and private chat rooms for members as well as a detailed profile form for your personal ad. A lot of flexibility is available for your answers to the profile questions, which will help greatly in meeting the right person for you. Once completed, it should take between 10 and 20 minutes, you will have access to Date.com, including the chat rooms and forums, but you have to become an upgraded member to send and receive messages. Did I say that this is a great service? It is. You can email in your picture, if you have one ready, to be added to your profile and let others see you. Adding your picture will increase the amount of messages you get and the number of people you'll meet. The main service is for straight relationships, but there is also sections for gay and lesbian members. More features include virtual gifts that you can send and receive free, Instant Messaging a powerful search feature for you to find someone that interests you and a weekly poll.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Place your ad for free, become a paid member to make contact. Private email and public/private chat rooms, pictures can be added to your profile. Instant messaging, online magazine. Straight, gay and lesbian sections for free and paid members.

WHAT WE FOUND: Join as a free member and take the psychometric test to begin the PARSHIP compatibility match system. As a free member you can take the test (about 20 minutes) complete your profile including adding pictures of yourself and send "Icebreakers" to members you're compatible with that you'd like to possible meet. "Icebreakers" are short 4 question messages you send, or reply to, that help to compare your personality types of individual members of interest. Free members can send 15 and reply to 15 "Icebreakers" a week as well as receive messages from premium members, but to reply to contact messages you need to upgrade your membership. The PARSHIP dating system of matching compatibility through the completion of their unique psychometric test (mandatory for all members) is the central feature that guarantees you will be matched to another member that shares ideal points of your personality. In fact, if you upgrade from a free member to a 6 month premium member, they guarantee that you will have contact with at least 10 other compatible members or you will receive another 6 month premium membership free (see PARSHIP for complete guarantee details). Our review found the PARSHIP website well designed to get around to all features, an effective help system and with most members being educated professionals between 28 and 55, this is the service for serious singles to find real compatibility in another person, for dating and love. Most members are in the UK but PARSHIP is expanding globally so anyone can join and use this service. We really like the detailed personality analysis that you can have sent to you, free to 6 month premium members or pay a fee for free members.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Free to join, take the psychometric test and complete your profile including pictures. Send "Icebreakers" to members that interest you, up to 15 a week. Premium members have additional features available including sending and replying to contact requests, viewing other members pictures (when permission is granted by the other member first) and 6 month premium members also have a detailed personality profile (80 pages in pdf format) emailed to them and a 6 month guarantee that they will have contact with at least 10 other members.

WHAT WE FOUND: When you join Millionaire Match you’ll be pleased with the options for membership, contacting others and the control you have over your own personal profile. Registration easy an easy two step process once you’ve selected your millionaire (annual salary) and celebrity status. Birds of a feather flock together and Millionaire Match is going to make your financial and personal success an asset towards finding your match which is a refreshing change to many of the other services available. When you join for free you’ll have access to an enhanced profile including additional information sections about yourself and adding pictures to your profile, sending people winks (a note of interest), joining in the chat room and reading the member forum, creating a personal blog and basic search results. When you upgrade you’ll have complete access to sending and receiving messages, an enhanced photo album and detailed search results, reminders of whose profile you’ve seen and who has seen yours. As well you can hide your profile if you’re not ready to meet others or want to take a break from all the messages you’re receiving as well as hide from others if you’ve visited their profile. We like that type of privacy control.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Free to join and begin your membership, interact with other members by sending winks, chat and post in forums. Upgraded membership allows you complete control over your profile and sending and receiving messages. Members are divided into 3 groups: Not a millionaire (annual salary under US$150,000); Millionaire (annual salary over US$150,000) and Celebrity.

WHAT WE FOUND: WealthyMen.com is a dating service that helps to take off the board one of those inconvenient questions that everyone tries to find a way to ask, “How much money do you make/have?”, through their verification process. Becoming a member is actually quite easy, there isn’t a whole lot to the signup form beyond the basics and your membership page contains just two text areas, “About Me” and who you’d consider to be your “Ideal Match”. Overall it’ll take you about 5 minutes to become a free member. (Note: remember to reply or click on the link in your member confirmation email.) As a free member you can begin the financial and personal information verification. You need to be verified before you can send or reply to messages from other members. There are three membership accounts available. Free membership allows you to join and post your profile. Browse the other member profiles and once you have completed at least one identity verification step you can reply to messages sent to you from Gold members. The Silver membership allows you to read and reply to messages from other Silver and Gold members. Gold membership allows you to browse and profiles, send and reply messages to all members including contacting free members. In your member account home page you have a message center that keeps track of all your inbox and outbox messages and there is also a “Network Center” that keeps track of people you have added to your network and who is requesting you to be added into their network. This helps keep track of the people you’d like to exchange messages with as well as find the profiles of other members that have viewed your profile. The verification steps are the basis of WealthyMen.com in that you need to be have your identity, photo and income verified to be a participating member. Without at least having your photo verified (by faxing into WealthyMen.com a copy of your driver’s license) and/or your income verified by faxing in any type of completed tax form or bank statement. Because verification is required for members to be able to make contact and a paid membership is needed to make initial contact with other members, WealthyMen.com is a safe, fun service to join for men and women.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Verified identification and financial information of the members makes WealthyMen.com a standout of an online service. We like the basic tools provided that get you meeting the type of people you want to meet fast as well as the very easy to use member photo gallery uploading tool. 7 day full access membership available or become a Silver or Gold member to contact others. Straight and same sex members. Most members in America and Canada but there are members from all over the world as well.

WHAT WE FOUND: ePersonals is one of the better of the online services. You’ll have to join to be able to search or browse the current personals, but that only takes a second or two to fill out the first form and it’s free. Watch as you do though, because you’ll be led to the payment form and encouraged to at least purchase the 7 day trial membership that gives you complete access for about a dollar a day. To avoid immediately deciding whether to pay or leave, just click on the “My Profile” link at the top of the page and complete your profile. From there you will be able to search the other members. This is a fast search based on the zip/postal code that you entered when you first joined. We really like having local searches appearing first in the results, it makes you feel that much closer to meeting someone. If you select to “clip” any members as you browse the results, they’ll be saved in your favorites area for later viewing and contacting. It’s free to send messages but to view any replies to your profile or to messages you’ve sent you must become a paid member. You also need to be a premium member to chat with others. Sent messages are also saved in your “outbox” so you can refer back to them at a later date. A unique feature is the “Profile Meter” which will tell you how much of your profile still needs to be completed. There are points for every part including uploading your photo with your profile, when you get to 100, you’re done. Another great feature is the “Last Login” date that is with every profile. If you’re interested in someone, but it’s been 2 months since they’ve logged in, don’t expect a reply. So, be sure to check in every week or so, at a minimum. The Connect “Who’s Online” features let’s you see who’s visiting right now and where they are located. A new PrivateCall features that allows for telephone contact between members is available. A great way to phone other members while keeping your phone number secret since the call is made through the ePersonals system. Check out the site for details. A great way to make quick friends through messages and the phone.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Free to join, become a paid member to chat and to reply to messages. Include up to 4 pictures with your profile. Cheap 7 day full access trial period. Anonymous telephone calls available between members using the PrivateCall feature. Straight and same sex personals.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Free to join, post your profile and add pictures. Free to send and respond to “Show Interest” teasers. Become a paid member to send and reply to messages. Straight and same sex personals available.

Read the full review here

WHAT WE FOUND: Friendster is currently in beta mode, which means it’s free to join and make contact with others that are members. This is a connecting community based on friendships and friends of friends. When you join you are creating, or joining, a network that only works as hard and as good as you do, since any and all contacts you can make have to be in your Friendster ring of interpersonal friendships. Think of the ‘degrees of separation’ game that allows you to be a friend of a friend of anyone in the world. At Friendster, if they are a member, you can meet them too! To make this service work for you, you will invite others to join or have been invited yourself. Your membership consists of a gallery that has the information of members in your network, a message center to check incoming emails and save replies to messages, an events calendar that your network of friends puts together and an online store of recommended merchants. You can have up to 5 pictures available in your profile. The profile questions are quite basic, but allow you to describe yourself well, leading to introducing yourself to others. 3 types of searches will help you create or join your network of friends, search by email address, name and by interests but remember, they have to be in your network of friends before you can find and contact them.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Friendster if currently free (while in beta mode), has the basic features of an online service that allows you to create a network of friendships to meet people. If your nervous about joining and don’t want to have to email a lot of your friends before you can see what it’s all about, follow this link and you’ll be invited into the aLoveLinksPlus.com network of friends. Straight and same sex contacts available, depending on your network of friends.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: A great way to get connected to peers, friends and friends of friends. You'll love logging in, watching your network grow, searching and browsing other members that are connected to you. Free to join, contact others, but you have to be invited first by another member.

WHAT WE FOUND: Black Planet Love is one part of the larger Black Planet community site. (3 distinct areas, “Community”, “Love” and “Jobs”.) At Black Planet you’ll have access to the community, jobs and love sections included with your free membership. Start your visit with the guest preview that is a 25 page self-guided tour of all the services and features available to members. Once you have seen 25 pages, or any time before, you must join as a free member. The Black Planet Love service allows you to become a free member and post your own profile. To make contact you’ll need to become a subscriber, but free members can reply to messages and send crushes (a form of anonymous short message). The search feature for a compatible match can be as quick or comprehensive as the options you select to search with. Additional features include “Instant Love” chat with other online members, weekly matches emailed to you, topical news, plenty of forums, chat rooms and contests to keep you busy. This is one of the best and comprehensive community services we’ve ever reviewed. You’ll like it too. For subscribers there is even a two week money back guarantee that you’ll like BlackPlanet, so joining is a no-risk option.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Large community section with a variety of public and private clubs, chat rooms, games, personal page about yourself, voice dating. Free to reply to messages, become a subscriber to initiate contact. Plenty of activities at this service.

WHAT WE FOUND: Regular membership fee is $75.00 for a 6 month membership. A discounted fee of $35.00 applies to full time graduate students and undergraduates from class of 1998 or later. Currently there is no charge for membership in Georgia, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington State, Texas, Florida and Canada. A $20 registration fee applies.

Read our complete review here.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Very private and exclusive dating service for single graduates and faculty of colleges and universities. Paid membership is required. Proof of graduation is required. Form is simple and easy to fill out with information about yourself including location, education, travel and interests. Members are required to reply to all communications.

WHAT YOU'LL FIND: Free to join, become a paid member to make contact. Photo gallery, voice ads and plenty of room to complete your profile. Lots of areas on the site to keep you entertained. Straight and same sex personals.