by Zima

No longer available.

Bad news for all aspiring on-line dating moguls. Chinese soldiers are now banned from finding their love matches on the Internet. As I wrote a couple posts back in the SkaDate Dating Software Blog, with the ever growing popularity of virtual dating services it is essential to find an unoccupied niche. And the Chinese Army would have been a perfect choice for such selection. Alas, no more. Apparently, on-line adventures are as big a threat to the armed forces, as a foreign invasion. Who knew?

Although, not everything is lost here. The army of Chinese troops can be replaced with… a legion of baby boomers. Which is kinda ironic. (Dontcha think?) According to several industry studies, the number of older daters is rapidly growing, creating an entirely new market for website owners. In fact, several major networks that were exclusively serving seniors, are now busy creating additional branches, separating boomers from the other crowd.

If you think of it, the evolution of this new thriving niche makes perfect sense. Sure, mature singles were slow to jump onto this virtual bandwagon, but most of them were likely already happily matched when the craze started. Fast forward a few years and the on-line dating is no longer frowned upon; it broke into mainstream, and now it is actually a perfect tool for someone in the 47 to 68 range to find a suitable partner on-line. Especially so because of the perceived notion that it is harder to embrace real-life dating as you grow older.

At the same time it was revealed last week that mature singles are becoming primary targets for on-line dating scams. This is really unfortunate, since scammers seem to hit where it hurts the most. Vulnerable divorcees, widows and widowers are especially prone to getting into the risk zone due to not being versed in secrets of psychological profiling, as well as their inherent emotional investment in the healing process.

Coupled with the revelation that over 41% of older daters are ready to openly welcome risky adventures, it is thus your opportunity to get friendly with the community and shield it from bad stuff. Give daters a few tips, warn about potential dangers. It can’t hurt if your members will see that you really care about them and make their on-line interactions as comfortable as possible.

And if you think this is too much work, think about the potential benefits. Both Match.com and eHarmony reported earlier this year that they saw enormous increase in clientèle over the age of 50 (as much as 90 percent for Match). The trend is obvious, thus it might be a good idea to launch a SkaDate Dating Script-powered network targeting older communities around you. I am not saying it’s a sure bet, but with the Chinese military off the map, this niche seems to be ripe for consideration.

If anything, this new trend just shows that in oder to succeed site owners have to be vigilant for ideas that can shape the future of the business.. Baby boomers might be the force that drives the industry right now, but you have to look further. Everyday news stories tell us what to expect from tomorrow. In the very least stuff like the Chinese Army signing-off can give you ideas of where to go next. For instance, last time I checked, American soldiers were still able to date on-line all they want.