Deciding to join an online dating website can be a huge moment in your life. It marks the day when you got tired of waiting for fate to hand you love, and decided to go and find it for yourself. Well, congratulations, we think it’s one of the best choices you’ll ever made – but the choices don’t stop there.

With the explosion of online dating sites has come a virtual smorgasbord of choices. There are free sites, which generally aren’t recommended, because they’ll make money from you somehow. But if money is a real concern, they are better than nothing.

There are the large paid sites with many and varied features like chat, IM and even matching using profiles.

There are the less expensive paid sites with few features. There are special interest sites for almost anything you can think of…outdoor enthusiasts, couch potatoes, religious, non-religious, LBGTQ, people in uniform and people just looking for friends. Like we say, there’s no shortage of options, with almost anything you can think of available. So what should you do?

Here are some things to consider:

• How much do you want or how much can you spend each month for your membership (s)?
• Many websites don’t specify which age group they’re targeting, but in general you can use your common sense. Apps like Tinder target the young market, whilst websites like ours who focus on seniors dating.
• Which features are the most important to you?
• Profile matching systems. Is this a feature you really want or would you rather decide who is right for you all by yourself?
• Chat and IM’s. There are websites who offer chat rooms and IM’s on their sites, and paying for this feature is vital. Using your own private email to message, early days, is not recommended.
• Some websites allow you to limit who can view your picture or your profile. Does this matter to you or do you want as wide exposure as you can have?
• There are websites who do background checks of all subscribers and certify their age, marital status and background. Would you feel safer using this feature?

These are a few things but not all things you should consider when choosing a mature online dating service or services. Do your homework and choose wisely for the best results for you.