Online dating is one of the most profitable niches avaiiable to internet marketers. You can make a lot of money as an affiliate, but you could potentially make more money by launching your own dating website for a specific market.
When I launched my first dating affiliate website in the 2000s, there was money to be made; however things have changed so much from then. When I first launched websites to make money from referring people to dating websites, there was still a lot of stigma against people who used them.
Today, dating apps and services are so commonplace that people will wonder why who is someone single is not using one.
I have did several reviews of dating applications in the past and they continue to be popular; so it is clear that many people are still trying to tap into the lucrative dating market.
There are dedicated dating applications available, but with thousands of amazing plugins and themes at your disposale, WordPress continues to be the content management system I turn to when building new websites.
I would therefore like to share with you what I consider to be the best dating designs available for WordPress.
Sweet Date – $69
First released in 2013, Sweet Date is one of the best selling dating WordPress themes in the market. It’s a responsive design that includes membership functionality via Paid Memberships Pro. You can use this to restrict content and create unique dating packages for members.
The design works well with BuddyPress, bbPress, and WooCommerce. Recurring payments or single payments can be accepted via Stripe, Authorize.net, or PayPal. The Slider Revolution plugin is also included to help you publish beautiful slides.
Without doubt, Sweet Date is one of the best dating designs on the market.
LoveStory – $59
Launched around the same time as Sweet Date, LoveStory offers extended profiles, a built-in membership system, WooCommerce integration, and a chat system that uses live notifcations.
The theme has many cool dating features. For example, users can login via Facebook and message each other and send each other virtual gifts.
Dating Theme – $79
Premium Press clearly did not spend a lot of time discussing their dating theme’s name when they launched “Dating Theme“; however do not let that put you off.
The theme has useful features such as advanced member searches, private messaging, virtual gifting, and online statuses. A chat room is available too.
You can restrict content and create unique membership packages at different prices. Multiple languages are supported too.
DateBook – $55
If you are looking to launch a dating service for a particular country or city, DateBook is a good option. It has a range of profile options for displaying related profiles by city, country, and more. This can help you create a regional dating website such as Go Date Now.
Paid subscriptions can be set up for members. Once they have signed up members can enhance their profile and make it a featured or top profile to gain more exposure. It is a nice way to get members to spend more money through your website.
A private chat system is built into the theme too and members can display their online status.
Gwangi – $59
Gwangi is a BuddyPress powered dating WordPress theme that lets you make design changes via the WordPress theme customiser.
The theme lets you restrict access to certain areas of your website and set up subscriptions and charge a weekly, monthly, or yearly fee.
It uses a Tinder inspired like system that matches members based off of their profiles. Members can manage groups, see mutual friends from Facebook, and upload as many images as they wish.
DatingLite – FREE / $32.99
A child theme of HospitalLight, DatingLite is a free dating design that has a built in homepage slider, social media integration, and WooCommerce support.
A premium version is available for $32.99 that adds landing pages, bbPress support, testimonials, and more.
Whilst the DatingLite design does have a dating theme, it does not the membership functionality and other features you would expect from a dating WordPress theme. It could, however, be used for a dating blog.
The Template Monster Themes
Template Monster have several dating WordPress themes. Out of the box, they are not the best option for launching a membership based dating website. You could however use one of these designs and integrate them with a WordPress membership plugin to add functionality for restricting content.
Annoyingly, TemplateMonster have a ridiculous naming system for their themes that takes laziness to a new level. One is called Dating, another one is called Dating, and another is called, you guessed it, Dating. There is also a theme called Dating Agency.
Other dating themes available from TemplateMonster include Online Romance, Love Romance, and Love Hearts.
Final Thoughts
WordPress may not seem like the right application for a dating website, but there are a few good dating WordPress themes out there that take advantage of WordPress’s custom post type system and its ability to be extended by membership plugins.
Any WordPress theme can be modified and branded as a dating website, though I believe the true dating themes mentioned above are more suitable as they add private messaging, online statuses, match making, and more.
As always, do your research about each design before you click the buy button :)
Good luck.
Kevin