
// Development
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Dating Website or App
// Development
How Much Does It Cost to Start a Dating Website or App
According to Statista.com, every fifth man and every tenth woman in the United States found a romantic partner through online dating. Even more people are registered on such services, but have not yet found a couple or are using them to search for friends or short dates.
We will estimate the cost based on the average hourly rate of the programmer - $ 30 per hour, as well as the average labor costs for a specific element of the site. Think of these numbers as indicative, not numbers for your project’s budget.
It is best to start building your site with an MVP (minimum viable product) with a set of key features. So you can check the concept for minimal money and test the software before launching it on the market. When this stage is over, you can freely improve your MVP and add new features to it.
Key features of the online dating site:
So that users spend less time, you can create a mechanism for registration and authentication through social networks. Thus, the service will be able to transfer part of the user information from the social network to your website (photo, city, age, friends). And so you can check the users - make sure that they are real people.
What should be added to the profile functionality:
As for the survey, it helps to find matches between users, and sites such as Zoosk and Match.com attach great importance to this. Since the survey can help find among all the available options "people that you may like".
Thus, the cost of this element of a dating site includes the development of the following functions:
What features need to be created to communicate users:
Safety features that you can use:
In addition, what can say a high rating on a dating site? That a user has met many people, has a lot of conversations, or has received a maximum of invitations for dating within a certain period of time is not the best advertisement for dating.
The basic tools of the administrative functions include:
You can create an application yourself, which gives more control over the process, or you can with the help of an outsourced development company. The latter option is preferable, since it will require less effort, will cost less and you will be able to get quality guarantees.
The basis of most dating sites is the same: lists of users, several filters and means for communication (basic functions). While they differ in additional features that may be unique or differently implemented.
Mobile Experience Improvement Tools:
Here's how it works on Zoosk:
Google Adwords: from $ 250 per month. It is necessary to attract new users - to increase the base of “looking for a couple” on your site. First you need to spend a rather large amount to get the first 10 thousand users (less if you are focused on a particular city).
Facebook ads: from $ 100 per month. Also needed to increase user base. It will be a big plus if you hire a specialist to set up targeted advertising. This will increase the effectiveness of promoting your site.
Paid banner advertising: from $ 150 per month. Placement of banners on sites that your target audience likes. These can be forums, eCommerce – sites, travel sites, etc.
Content on the site: from $ 500 per month. Relevant content on your site will help generate traffic from search engines. To create such content, you can hire an individual specialist, or you can use the services of freelance exchanges.
Marketing influence: from $ 100 a month. Ordering posts from media personalities costs $ 20–100 per post on pages with a relatively small number of subscribers (2–10 thousand) and $ 1000 or more on million-plus pages.
#1. The cost of developing the basic functionality of a dating site
#2. User registration and profile setting
#3. User search and mapping
#4. Messaging (chat, video chat)
#5. Safety features
#6. Monetization mechanism
#7. Admin functionality
#8. Mobile app
#9. Cost of developing additional features for a dating site
#10. Improved Mobile Experience
#11. Advanced search and selection
#12. Cost of promotion dating site
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