Smart Niche Dating Sites

There are a few other cool intelligent themed online dating sites, but I think mine - BrainiacDating.com is the best of the free ones. Let me know if I am missing any. This data is from Alexa.com

Site	Reach*	Free/Paid
gk2gk.com	0.00207	Paid
BrainiacDating.com	0.00037	Free
IvoryTowers.com	0.00017	Paid
IntellectConnect.com	0.00012	Free
SweetOnGeeks.com	0.00008	Paid
NerdPassions.com	0.00007	Paid
RightStuffDating.com	0.00004	Paid
IntellectualPassions.com	0.00001	Paid

* Reach is the Percent of global Internet users who visit the site in the past month according to Alexa.com

Darn, it's really a pretty small niche!

Top Geek Dating Site

The leading site for geek dating is geek to geek (gk2gk.com). I found them advertised all over the internet on various geek related sites like wise geek and nerd passions. Membership runs at $20 per month, so it's not exactly cheap, especially in comparison to my site - BrainiacDating.com which is completely free. However, geek to geek probably makes money, so maybe I also need to start considering a small fee, at least to cover the cost of advertising which will allow my site to grow and ultimately offer a better service.

I found one of their ads as shown in its full size: The orange color is really horrible in my opinion - it looks like pumpkin pie, and I can't even discern the small images. In fact, I don't
like the orange - yellow - brownish color scheme on their site, and think that brainiac dating looks much nicer. I know that not everyone likes the black background on the site, but there is a way to completely change the color scheme by clicking on a color selector at the bottom left of all pages. My website may be the only online dating site that offers such a feature.



Another difference in philosophy is that a brainiac is not necessarily a geek and vice versa.
According to the definition on wiki:

The word geek is a slang term, noting individuals as "a peculiar or otherwise odd person, especially one who is perceived to be overly obsessed with one or more things including those of intellectuality, electronics, etc.

Compare with

Brainiac is a common modern term used to describe someone exceedingly knowledgeable in a certain field. Also a slang term, indicating a highly intelligent person. It can be used in a complimentary manner, or it can be used pejoratively depending on the context.

Well I am not sure I exactly would agree with the way these are defined on wiki, but it does illustrate the common notion of the two terms. I liked to think of a brainiac as someone who is out of the box, who thinks differently, is creative, and values intelligence and learning. I also think of a geek as a misfit, and not necessarily intelligent.

How to get the word out - Chapter 7

In the ongoing battle on how to spread the word to my site Brainiac Dating , I have recently started to find opportunity on LinkedIn. This is the #1 site for professional networking, and not obviously set up to handle anything to do with personal relationships, such as on a site like Facebook. I call this chapter seven because the story is on-going - hopefully one of these days there will be a breakthrough in virally spreading the good word about brainiac dating.



I looked for singles features on the site, but didn't find any. They don't even store that kind of information.
However, given the professional demographic segment that uses the site, it would be an ideal target for
finding smart singles --- if I could only find an easy way...

At first I asked one of my friends to help, and he politely said "no" because he'd like to keep his personal life separate from his private life. But I proceeded on my own, and found several singles related groups.
The groups feature on the site is relatively new, but it looks like it has many cool aspects, and is perhaps even better than the groups feature on Facebook. The only problem is how to bring people to these groups!

So I created my own called Intellectual Singles. So far it has four members, which is not bad for a few days, but hopefully more will start to join. I also joined a few others which are mostly for the business side of online dating, but I think there could be some useful information exchange. I have been reposting some of my blogs here to that site, just like using this site to promote that one. It's all a full circle, but hopefully an expanding one.

I am keen to see how this experiment works.

Science Dating Sites

I randomly came across this site today, and it looks fully functional with features such as instant messenger and a chat room.

Their home page has the following quote:

Is Carl Sagan a hero to you? Is E=mc² more than just some obscure formula you forgot in school? Yell "cool" when lightning flashes close by? Strange and unfathomable implements populating your basement? Yep, you've got it bad and need someone to play with.

I wish them luck, but they have no idea the huge amount of investment in advertising required to bring members to their site. So far I have spent close to $50,000 to bring around 16,500 members
to my site Brainiac Dating. My goal is 100,000 members, so there is still a long way to go.