How much does a FREE lunch cost?

I am expecting some news later this week from the web-team on the readiness of the beta test environment, and I’ll share that when I have it.

Meantime, for you long time readers, this debate is not new: will Free dating sites kill off Paid for dating sites? Based on your feedback, we came up with a system that hasn’t been done before. And it’s a fee-based model, with some twists that seem to make everyone happy.

Just remember: Nothing on the internet is EVER free!

A brief history of internet business models:

• Remember the chain email? (Pass this on to 1,000 of your contacts or else! Email this to 100 contacts to get $1m from Bill Gates!) There used to be big bucks in selling lists to advertisers, but then our spam filters got better (even if I “d1sgu1se the *v-i-a-g-r-a* su8ject”).
• Google monetised organic internet search with “Sponsored links” (even in your Gmail!) and that lead to bidding wars over keywords companies think will lead you to their product. (When Google ad-word revenue started dwindling, my embedded YouTube videos grew a search box as Google looks for other ways to monetise internet search and content).
• We then move into a period of banner ads, affiliate marketing, commercial link sharing, social mapping, customer journey (how many clicks til you buy something?), analytics, IP-sniffing and more.

Nearly all of today’s “free-to-use” technology is mapping our habits, and like the movie Minority Report, we are being served advertising deemed more relevant to what marketers think we want when we’re online. (When I changed my Facebook status from “single” to “engaged”, I got served banners for UK wedding photographers and venues, instead of single UK females who were “dying to meet me”.)

But let’s look at the bigger picture… Do you use public health care or private medical insurance? Do you watch commercial-free public TV or commercial-heavy channels? Do you read shallow, ad-heavy free newspapers, or cough up some coins for a trusted broadsheet? Do you eat at cheap, crowded, self-serve buffets or fine dine at a gourmet restaurant? How about your video consumption: IMAX, cinema, DVD, iTunes or illegal download? I still use a costly mobile, and I’m always on (often unreliable) Skype.

You take my point: there is room for all kinds of business models in any industry. Competition is the spice of life. The real question here is what do YOU - the end user – want out of an online dating site? … Assured privacy? Quality of members and experience? Age verification? Barriers to entry for time wasters? Something fresh? A site that constantly changes based on user feedback?

At this time, AreYouMyPartner.com has no technology on it that will pass on a user’s IP-number, email address or identity to third parties. Our focus has been on building a site that will be organic and adaptable to change, so that every pixel – and we mean every pixel – of AreYouMyPartner.com is dedicated to user experience. We have no intention of cluttering up your screen with ads, flashing banners or commercial links. We will also do our level best to make our database a vault.

There can be no doubt that we are open to ideas on how to monetize the site in order to re-invest in improvements, new functionality and potentially reduce fees, but never at the risk of losing people’s trust and respect, and indeed (because my own face is associated with this start-up brand) our own self respect.

Your views are always welcome.

Related material
> The AYMP debate and proposed solution for free vs. paid
> A debate on Mashable
> Tech Crunch article
> Telegraph article

Meantime, if you haven’t already signed up to become a beta tester, don’t be shy: