Named 'Best Overall Dating Site' by the professionals at Consumer Research, www.consumerresearch.com, Match, www.match.com, has garnered quite a reputation. Consumer Research describes it as 'the largest and most refined online dating service,' and praises it for its simplicity, diversity, and unique features. The site's recent popularity boost seems to be a result of not only increased media exposure, but more people than ever giving online dating a try. Before you decide to sign up with Match, it is important to fully understand what this site has to offer. There are many things to consider before committing to a particular program, such as: how it works, what it costs, what kinds of people it caters to, how it is unique from other sites, and how successful others have been using it.

Match.com and Consumer Research report that the website serves more than 15 million people each year, which means access to a large selection of potential mates. It caters to people of all different interests, backgrounds, and ages. It also provides one sense of anonymity, which many consider to be one of the major benefits of online dating. On Match.com, you may contact the person you are interested in via email, or by what they refer to as a 'wink.' To send a person a 'wink,' simply click on the smiling wink icon connected another person's profile. This allows the person to immediately see you are interested without actually writing him or her an email or instant message. Other Match.com features include: video profiles, instant messaging, video emailing, keyword searches, and two-way matching, which means the service ensures that not only are your matches precisely what you're looking for, but that you are precisely what they are searching for as well.

One of the things a person may appreciate about Match.com is how easy it is to sign up and connect with other people. In fact, they make it a three-step process: browse, create a free profile, and subscribe. When you select 'browse,' you will have the opportunity to search for people in your area for free. This serves as a great opportunity to really see who uses Match.com, and may help you to determine if this site is a good choice for you. To see more extensive information about people in your area, just create a free profile for yourself.

If you decide you would like an opportunity to get to know other Match.com users, consider subscribing to a service plan. A personal subscription allows you and other dating hopefuls to contact one another directly. Subscribers can choose between a one-month, three-month or six-month plan, which, as of 2005, cost $29.99, $50.97 and $77.94. Becoming a subscriber allows you to: send and receive both standard and video emails, access to restricted subscriber profiles, track who has viewed your profile, view all photographs, and use a one-click 'search-by-type' feature.

Match.com provides many people the opportunity to interact and connect with other dating hopefuls. The service's website reports that the service helped 200,000 people meet their match last year-evidence that searching for true love through the Internet really can be worthwhile.