Huge Improvements to No1Reviews.com!

No1Reviews.com is currently undergoing a facelift! With a new tabbed design, including tabs for the editor's review, user reviews, screenshots and videos on all our product review pages, we hope that No1Reviews.com will provide you with an enhanced user experience. Our user review system allows you to not only post your own ratings and reviews, but also comment on the reviews left by others and vote on the usefulness of those reviews.

Each of our review categories now also comes with a buying guide, giving you more information on the category as a whole and tips on what you should look for and what you should avoid when making your decision.

We've also moved the site to a brand new dedicated high-speed server and stream-lined much of the code that drives the site, making No1Reviews.com run faster than ever. 

From our point-of-view, No1Reviews.com will now be much easier to maintain, allowing us to spend more of our time keeping our reviews up-to-date and adding more and more categories and reviews in the future.

And that's not all - we also have many new and exciting features on the way, so stay tuned for more updates!

Zoosk Review

Zoosk.com is by far the most noteworthy of these new online dating sites. Launched in December 2007, it is the fastest growing social dating network/community, with a jaw-dropping database of 50 million members (A.K.A. 'Zooskers') based in 40 different countries around the world. As we noted in our recent review of Zoosk.com, online dating is a numbers game: the larger (and geographically broader) the database of members on a dating site, the greater your chances of finding someone, in your locale, that appeals to you. So a database of 50 million Zooskers based in 40 different countries around the world is an incredible achievement for a site which is a relative new-comer to the online dating scene. 

A key ingredients in Zoosk's success is the innovative way in which it integrates with social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Hi5. In fact, currently, Zoosk is unique in allowing users to connect across multiple networks: a Facebook user can interact with a MySpace or Bebo user. By piggy-backing on these well-established social networks, it has quickly gained a large market share in online dating.

Zoosk.com also offers a virtual gift giving feature; a common idea in the social network domain but relatively uncommon amongst conventional online dating sites. According to Zoosk.com, in 2009, Zooskers exchanged more than 1 million virtual gifts. The revenue generated from this virtual economy must surely have contributed to Zoosk's success. 

Another factor which was central to Zoosk's rapid growth was its ability to raise millions of dollars from investors, much of which was then ploughed into advertizing campaigns to rival those of Match.com, eHarmony.com etc.

Zoosk Mobile is another great feature which allows Zooskers to remain in the loop, even when they're away from their computers. Zoosk.com certainly seems to represent a new breed of online dating site; one that is geared to the world of social networks which we now inhabit. 

Zoosk has an enviable 50:50 ratio between male and female members. At present, 65% are less than 30 years of age; 24% are between the ages of 30 & 39; and 11% are aged 40+. It is impossible to determine whether or not the 50 million Zooskers are as active as the members of other online dating sites such as Match.com, because Zoosk.com does not, currently, provide a facility for seeing when exactly someone was "last online". This is one of the few shortcomings of Zoosk.com, but it is a significant one in our view. It's pointless trying to find your perfect match in a 'ghost' community of people who signed up with Zoosk.com to see what it was all about, but now rarely use it. We're hopeful that this shortcoming can be addressed by the creators of Zoosk.com because it is undoubtedly a site with incredible potential.

Read our full review of Zoosk for more information.

Mainstream Online Dating Reviews - Updated & Extended

Online dating continues to go from strengh to strengh, as millions of people come to the realization that it's a superbly efficient means of finding appropraite people to date, off-line. It's a market that's still in flux, however, so we decided to update our reviews of the best online dating sites on the web to see if there were any new contenders on the scene. Not surprisingly, there were some mergers in the field, the most notable being the rebranding of AmericanSingles.com as Spark.com. (In fact, Spark.com seems to be expanding quite rapidly, as it has also taken over the UK dating site, Date.co.uk). There were some new additions to our online dating category too: LavaPlace.com, FastCupid.com and Zoosk.com.   

UK Dating Reviews Updated & Extended

Online dating sites continue to grow in popularity, with new sites emerging all the time. With this in mind,  we revisited our reviews of the best UK Dating Sites on the web to see if there were any notable additions to the field. Since we last surveyed the field, there have been some mergers  and acquisitions, (e.g. Date.co.uk has been taken over by the popular international dating site, Spark.com); there have also been two new additions to the field, MakeFriendsOnline.com and MySingleFriend.com, both of which have stormed into our top ten listings.

 

As you'll see in our MakeFriendsOnline.com review, this site ticks lots of boxes for UK daters. It has a decent membership base in the UK, lots of added value, user-friendly features, and ways of getting the membership involved. For instance, Make Friends Online has a novel feature called Mutual Match which is particularly useful. If two members both show an interest in the other, the site emails both members to let them know that a Mutual Match exists. If only one member shows interest in the other, or if neither shows interest, then there are no email alerts. So it's a useful way of identifying compatibility between members, without anyone feeling like they've been rejected. One of the key selling points of MakeFriendsOnline is that fact that it makes some advanced features available to Standard members. We rated the site highly for facets such as activity/involvement, contact options (especially for Standard members), and the quality of profiles and photos. It would have ranked more highly in our top ten listings if its membership base were larger than 1.5 million. Still, MakeFriendsOnline.com is growing fast, so it may well move up in our rankings on our next update. 

As our review of MySingleFriend.com suggests, this new addition is making waves with its lateral thinking approach to online dating. The site has recognized that we all have a few single friends who are amazing people, with lots to offer a partner, but these friends of ours haven't yet managed to find their perfect match, through no real fault of their own. If you're single, then why not ask a trustworthy friend, who knows you very well, to sign up at MySingleFriend.com and write a testimonial about you (hopefully glowing and preferably witty). It's highly likely that your friend's testimonial will appeal to other single members on My Single Friend and you can take things from there. You may discover some great attributes or talents which you never realised you had or never considered valuable (e.g. your ability to bake delicious cakes, organise fabulous parties or always remember your friends' birthdays, anniversaries, etc.). MySingleFriend.com is definitely something to try out if you're interested in online dating but want to try something a bit different.

Our No. 1 Choice Award was retained by UK.Match.com, the UK's largest dating site, with close to 5 million members based in the UK. The size of its membership base is one of the main factors accounting for its success.  A recent poll of 1,000 former members of UK.Match.com revealed that, "every day the equivalent to one hundred and sixty members leave the site as couples." Those are impressive results. Another important factor which has contributed to the growth of UK.Match.com is the range of powerful search features it offers to its members. As you can see in our review of UK.Match.com, these include novel features such as MatchWords which allows members to add up to 50 searchable keywords with which they can be associated. So if you're after someone with Celtic heritage, for instance, all you need to do is use the MatchWords search feature then view the results for which that word has matches. This is a quick and easy way to find people with specific (and perhaps quirky) characteristics or associations which may not appear in a standard profile. You can save your searches too, making it easy to search for the same features in future. Match.com UK also offer polls, sex tips and other relationship advice to enhance your online dating experience and help you find your perfect match. It is not surprising that they remain in pole position in our UK Dating Sites category. They have achieved a critical mass in terms of membership and have earned a reputation for achieving great results.

Asian Dating Website Reviews

Our No. 1 Choice award went to Asia Friend Finder in our recent reviews of the best Asian Dating websites out there. With a massive database of enthusiastic members,  extensive range of user-friendly features, excellent value for money, and admirable customer support, Asia Friend Finder is streets ahead of its nearest rivals. For example, DateInAsia.com (a popular free site which ranks highly in our top 10 list) does not offer any winks, chat, video, games or funky interactive features. These kinds of things can make getting to know your favorite Asian ladies both fun and fruitful.

A small number of the websites in this Asian Dating category (e.g. AsianGF.com) cater for Western men who want to find sweep a foreign bride off her feet and take her home with them to a better standard of life. This facet could be compared to a "Mail Order Bride" service. If that niche category appeals to you, when we suggest that you check out our reviews of the best mail order / foreign bride websites around before deciding which Asian Dating site would be best for you. 

As of September 30th 2009, there were over 730 million people using the internet in Asia. This represented 42% of internet users worldwide. (Source: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm). Online dating is becoming extremely popular among 18-30 year olds in Asia - especially in countries like India. There has long been a tradition of match-making in many Asian countries, but online dating sites have taken that approach to a whole new level. Not only do online dating sites massively increase the number of potential partners for you to get to know, they can also cut across geographical, social, economic and religious borders (that is, if you wish to bridge these barriers of course). So whether you are an Asian based in Asia, or a non-Asian based in America, Europe, or elsewhere, you are now extremely likely to find someone special on one of these popular Asian Dating websites. Some sites also make it easy for divorcees to find new love online (circumventing social barriers in the off-line world which can make it almost impossible for divorcees to start over with someone else). Never before have so many people had so much potential (for finding a partner), available to them at their fingertips, quite literally.

As you might imagine, the category of online dating does not have clear boundaries: there is often a degree of overlap between mainstream online dating and more specialized dating (e.g. by country, region, religion, sexual orientation, fetishes, body-type, etc). So you might find it useful to look at our top 10 lists in a couple of categories that are likely to be closely associated. (In this case, Asian Dating, Interracial Dating, and Mail Order Bride Sites). You can find a full list of our specialized online dating categories on the homepage of No1Reviews.com. We wish you well in your online dating endeavors!

Anastasia Date Review | AnastasiaDate.com Review

Finding love on the net these days (just like in the real world) can be tough going. And that's why more and more eligible bachelors from the US, Europe and other Western countries are turning to mail order bride websites like those reviewed on No1Reviews.com. With the number of women in Russia and the CIS countries like the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova vastly outnumbering the men, and with economic hardships making life in those countries very difficult, more and more beautiful young women from Russia and the Ukraine, etc., are looking to start new lives with kind, caring, eligible men from the West. Western men in turn are turning to Eastern women for their feminine beauty, their traditional values, their renowned loyalty and their desire to start a family and a new life with a caring husband.

At No1Reviews.com, we have detailed reviews of some of the most popular mail order bride services on the web. The term "mail order brides" is itself is misleading and conjures up images of unwilling wives being sent abroad into forced marriages. In reality, however, nothing could be further from the truth. But whether you want to call them mail order brides sites, Russian brides sites or simply lonely hearts dating sites that cross borders, these sites can offer happiness and fulfilment to both Western men who are looking for love and Esatern women who are looking for a better life.

Brand new at the top of our list of mail order bride websites is AnastasiaDate.com (pictured), Anastasia International's new flagship site. Ansatasia Date is a beautifully crafted site filled with youthful beauties from all over Russia, the Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, as well as far Eastern countries like Thailand and the Philipines. With advanced features like 1-to-1 video dating via your webcam and the ability to view videos of women as well as photographs, Anastasia Date has become the web's most popular mail order bride service in a surprisingly short space of time.

Check out our review of Anastasia Date for more information, or check out our mail order bride reviews for our top 10 list of the best mail order bride websites on the web!

Photo Sharing Website Reviews

Brand new at No1Reviews.com are our expert reviews of the latest and greatest photo sharing websites. Whether you're an amateur photographer wishing to share your snaps with friends and family or a professional photographer looking to sell your photographs online, you'll find our photo sharing website reviews on No1Reviews.com invaluable in helping you make your choice.

Our expert reviewer has signed-up to 34 of the web's leading photo sharing services and has decided that SmugMug (pictured) is the top choice for the amount of disk space they give you (unlimited), the quality of your pictures, the formats you can upload your pictures in, the viewing options for browsing your uploaded photographs, ease of use, technical support and value for money. With a variety of subscription options to suit everyone from happy-snappers to professional photographers, SmugMug is a beautifully crafted site which will showcase your photographs in a way that will make you want to drool! And not only does SmugMug cater for your photographs, but you can also upload video too, with Pro users being able to upload their videos in Full HD! Very few other sites will let you do this, and that's why SmugMug is not just for photographers, but is highly recommended for amateur and professional videographers too.

Our expert reviewer also decided that Phanfare, Photobucket and the infamous Flickr also deserved 5 stars for their ease of use, disk-space, presentation and value for money. Check out our photo sharing website reviews on No1Reviews.com for more information.