In today's article, we will analyze the most profitable sources of traffic for dating offers. We'll also share successful case studies from affiliates who have made money in this vertical. Furthermore, we'll discuss places and ideas that can help you generate income in 2023.
The online dating vertical
In the affiliate marketing space, the dating vertical holds a timeless status. The need for communication, the attention of a partner, the desire to please, create a family, or satisfy sexual desires is what drives people to this route throughout the history of mankind. Therefore, offers promoting dating websites will never go out of style.
Dating websites cater to different objectives. Some of them position themselves as platforms where you can find a partner to build long-term relationships. Others present an opportunity to connect with a girlfriend or friend for one-time hookups. In general, many platforms combine both possibilities. As a result, the three main types of offers differ in the target audience
- Mainstream: These are the casual affiliate dating sites that most people know about. You've got places like Badoo, Tinder, and Mamba, which are really popular. There are other websites with lots of people using them, even though they might not be as famous. Mainstream websites try to appeal to all sorts of different tastes. Some people are just looking for quick dates, while others are hoping to find someone for a serious relationship.
- Adult: This comprises websites focused on adult entertainment and content, restricted to individuals aged 18 and above. Users of these websites openly share explicit photographs, allowing potential partners to appreciate their physical attributes. The primary goal of users on these platforms is to get partners for sexual relationships.
- LGBTQ+: These websites are made for LGBTQ+ people, like gays, lesbians, transgenders, and other non-traditional orientations. This kind of dating category is fairly new, coming up around the same time LGBTQ+ relationships got more popular in the US and Western Europe. While the traffic within this category can be costly, the associated payouts substantially exceed those of mainstream and adult websites.
The last two sub-categories, adult and LGBT+, exist in areas with some moral uncertainty. This means we need to use advanced methods such as cloaking to advertise them on platforms like Google and Facebook. But, on platforms like MyBid, these categories can still be promoted as long as the creatives you use follow the advertising rules.
On the other hand, mainstream dating is considered a whitehat category. You can promote decent websites like Tinder in popular traffic sources without having to hide the offer from the moderators.
Getting to know your audience: Who they are and where they are from
Mainstream dating websites mostly attract adult men over the age of 30. These platforms are popular among single people as they provide a way to meet potential girlfriends for casual relationships, without getting into the complexities of marriage and without giving up personal freedom.
For people looking for affairs outside of their marriage, these websites offer a chance to find a discreet partner without unnecessary complications. Both of these groups of men can explore a diverse range of women on dating sites and consider various preferences. Another advantage is the ability to chat and make connections online, which saves time that would otherwise be spent on face-to-face interactions.
Then, there are people who genuinely want to find a meaningful and long-lasting relationship on the internet, and they often succeed in finding compatible partners. However, this group tends to have a lower level of disposable income in terms of CPA marketing.
Mainstream dating is super popular in developed countries and Eastern Europe. But in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, not so much. So, if you're looking for these options in places like Afghanistan, Cambodia, or Eritrea, it can be pretty tough.
Adult websites, besides attracting teenagers (which is not good), also bring in people looking for sexual stuff, often the explicit kind. Guys usually go to these websites to find partners who can help them explore their unique sexual fantasies. And some people are into virtual intimacy. For women in the sex work industry, these websites are like a platform to promote what they offer.
Usually, the people who can afford it and are interested in adult websites are around 25 or older. But there's no upper age limit – sometimes, you'll even see visitors who are 65 and up.
Adult websites are popular everywhere, with no exceptions. They tend to get more people signing up from Tier-3 countries, while the big payouts come from people in the US and Western Europe.
LGBT+ dating is for a specific group of people. In Europe, places like Portugal, Spain, France, and Belgium are big on these platforms. There are also noticeable LGBT+ communities in Australia, Canada, Brazil, and the USA. But in Arab countries and Africa, the interest is not so high.
Even in countries where being LGBTQ+ isn't widely accepted and might even get you in trouble, you can still find people looking for same-sex relationships. So, it's a good idea to try different places when marketing dating offers. And don't forget to test out different websites, because their popularity changes depending on where you are.
For example, check out the screenshot below to see how people are spread out among dating websites in the United States:
Payment models in the dating vertical
When it comes to promoting the top dating affiliate programs or offers through CPA networks, there are different ways affiliates get paid. Here are the most common methods:
- SOI (Single Opt-In): Affiliates get paid for each user who registers on the website without needing to confirm through email. It's the easiest action to get paid for, even though the payout is the lowest.
- DOI (Double Opt-In): Affiliates earn money when users sign up and confirm their registration via email. If users don't confirm, affiliates don't get paid.
- CPL (Cost Per Lead): Affiliates pay for users who subscribe to the website. This could be a one-time payment or a subscription for a specific time. Sometimes, there might be free trials or special offers.
- CPA (Cost Per Action): Affiliates are compensated for specific actions users take on the website. This could include things like installing an app or filling out a form.
- CPS (Cost Per Sale): Affiliates get paid when a user they referred makes a purchase on the website.
- RevShare: Affiliates receive a percentage or fixed amount from every purchase made by a user they referred. This can continue for months or even years after the user signed up.
Factors to consider when choosing offers to promote in the dating vertical
When it comes to picking the best dating affiliate programs in 2023, there are a bunch of things you should definitely think about. Let's break it down:
First off, let's talk about payment models. The simplest way to get conversions is by simply sending your traffic to CPA offers that only require account registrations. Here, the users are only required to register an account on the dating platform, and you get paid. Even if the payout for Single Opt-In (SOI) and Double Opt-In (DOI) registrations might not be super high, the key here is to send traffic in large volumes. You can definitely find these kinds of offers within any of the top affiliate networks.
But here's the thing, some people out there like to play shady games and use bots to generate fake registrations on affiliate marketing dating sites. So, the advertisers put a cap on things. They buy a certain amount of traffic to check if everything's on the up and up. They look at stuff like the users' age, where they're signing up from, the language they're using, and more. Each best dating affiliate network conducts this check too.
If you're considering offers that involve Cost Per Lead (CPL), Cost Per Action (CPA), or Cost Per Sale (CPS), keep in mind, it can be pretty tough to convince people to take a specific action on a website. Sometimes, people might just look at explicit content and not do what you want them to. And it can cost you money, especially if you're running paid ads on popular websites like Google or Facebook.
To cut down on your traffic costs, it's a smart move to run your traffic through advertising networks like MyBid. They've got helpful affiliate managers who can guide you through this process. The advantage here is that you can get more precise with your targeting without needing to cloak your links. With a bit of testing, you can figure out which websites are giving you the best conversion rates.
You can promote mainstream dating CPA offers through various traffic sources without any issues since these offers are considered legitimate. However, it's important to note that the payouts for mainstream dating offers are generally lower compared to adult dating or LGBT+ offers.
Traffic sources
As mentioned before, there are several ways to an online dating affiliate program. One is through paid advertising platforms such as Google, Facebook, or TikTok. Another approach is to use ad networks like MyBid. However, many affiliates nowadays also send organic traffic to these offers. To learn more about the most popular sources of traffic, keep reading below:
Social networks
It's important to note that Facebook and Instagram are better suited for promoting products related to health (Nutra), gambling, or betting. This is because these verticals tend to have higher payouts compared to dating offers. However, with the right strategy, you can still attract traffic to offers on these social networks at a relatively lower cost. One effective method is by promoting within mobile applications. These apps have already been approved on the app stores, which adds a layer of trust on platforms like Meta. Ads within these apps tend to have a longer lifespan and a higher engagement rate.
TikTok, on the other hand, has a manual moderation process and is quite strict when it comes to promoting dating offers, even the mainstream ones. You can navigate this hurdle by using a workaround, like concealing the offer through a cloaked link. Another option is to try to get organic traffic by sharing videos of girls across various accounts and asking users to follow a link in the profile description. We shall discuss more about organic traffic strategies later in this article.
Google UAC
Similar to the Meta social networks, Google also allows the promotion of mainstream dating offers. However, advertising adult offers through Google is challenging, unless done through mobile applications. It's worth noting that Google users aren't accustomed to downloading apps for adult content access. Also, traffic from Google can be more expensive, especially when acquired from apps.
Advertising networks
Most websites that publish ads from advertising networks have a focus on adult-oriented or entertainment content. Advertising networks like MyBid provide a wide range of targeting options, ensuring your ads reach the right audience with greater precision.
When creating ads for these networks, you can use more aggressive creatives, as the audience is accustomed to such content. Surprisingly, the inclusion of suggestive images can actually enhance the conversion rate for adult dating offers.
Push ads perform particularly well in advertising networks. You can use various strategies to engage users and encourage them to register for CPA offers. For instance, when users click on a push ad, instead of directing them straight to the registration page, you can lead them to a questionnaire where they answer questions like:
- “Are you sure you are 18 years old?”;
- “Are you from such and such a city? This information is needed to pick up girls for you to get to know better”;
- "What kind of girls do you like?" and so on.
Setting up a tracker is important when promoting through advertising networks to optimize your campaigns. While setting up a tracker yourself requires access to third-party services and some programming skills, having access to an internal tracker within the ad network simplifies the process. Notably, only a few networks offer this feature, with market leaders like MyBid being among them.
The budget needed to start working with these networks is generally lower compared to other paid traffic sources. You can begin by testing Tier-3 countries with a budget of $150 - $200. Expanding to test the USA and Western European countries would typically cost around $800 - $1,000.
Organic traffic
Let's look at the ways you can boost your organic traffic. We'll focus on using platforms like TikTok and Facebook to achieve this.
For TikTok, the strategy involves setting up multiple accounts. Begin by creating a couple of hundred accounts. Over the span of a few weeks, fill these accounts with videos, preferably featuring engaging content related to girls. You can curate content from sources like Instagram. Aim to share about 2-3 posts daily for each account. Encourage your audience to follow your content.
Once your account gets over 1,000 followers, you're ready to include a link in your profile. However, avoid using an affiliate link directly, as this could lead to a ban. To work around this, purchase a domain and set up a redirect to the affiliate program's referral link.
Now, after following the steps above, use the Beacons service to process the link through your personal website. This generates a unique pad that should be incorporated into the header of your TikTok account profile.
With this in place, you can seamlessly integrate a call-to-action in your videos, encouraging viewers to follow the provided link. This CTA can be delivered through voiceovers or text within the video.
Shifting our focus to Facebook, the approach involves creating a new profile. Set a captivating photo of an attractive girl as your profile picture. Consistently share images of the same girl on your profile. You can source these pictures from various social media accounts.
Simultaneously, become an active participant in groups and discussions. Engage by leaving comments on posts targeted towards men's interests. This interaction can help elevate your profile, eventually leading to several dozen subscribers over a few weeks.
Once you've built a reasonable following, it's time to strategically introduce your link.
Participate in dating groups on Facebook and send private messages to users with a link. Similar to the TikTok strategy, ensure your link is prepared in a manner consistent with the previous approach.
Case studies
Remember how we mentioned earlier that we'd share some examples to illustrate the potential of dating affiliate marketing? Well, here are a few cases that showcase just how much you can achieve.
Case Study: Earning $7,000 Profit in Just One Month By Promoting Dating Offers with Push Notifications
In this case study, an affiliate marketer used push notifications to generate a profit of $7,000 in just a month. The affiliate focused on promoting offers related to adult content, targeting audiences in India, England, and Colombia through an advertising network.
To kick things off, the affiliate decided to test the waters with three different adult-themed offers. Interestingly, all three offers showed similar results initially. Instead of focusing on optimizing for a specific offer, the affiliate continued running all three offers simultaneously.
The advertising network the affiliate worked with included various adult-oriented websites, including the well-known PornHub website and other affiliate dating websites. As a result, the affiliate opted not to get too specific with targeting. Instead, the audience was divided into three categories: 18+, 25+, and 30+ age groups.
To engage the audience, the affiliate introduced a pre-landing questionnaire. One version of the questionnaire that yielded the best conversion rates included the following questions:
- "Are you 18 years old?"
- "Are you open to an intimate relationship without obligations?"
- "Are you prepared to ensure your safety during in-person meetings?"
Each question had two response options: "Yes" or "No." Regardless of the choice made, the user was directed to the relevant offer.
For the creative aspect of the campaign, the affiliate used an image of a partially covered nude model. The background of the image was replaced with a street scene from the targeted geographical area where the traffic was coming from. The intimate parts of the model were discreetly covered with text, as depicted in the image. Also, logos of popular social networks in each specific country were strategically included in the ad creative.
Over the span of just one month, the affiliate invested $10,000 in advertising. About a third of this budget was allocated to testing different geos, ad creatives, and landing page-offer page combinations. The total earnings from the three promoted offers during this period exceeded $17,000. As a result, the return on investment (ROI) stood at approximately 70%, with a net profit surpassing $7,000.
Case study: Generating $2,100 by promoting a dating offer using organic traffic from Facebook
In this case study, the affiliate took an innovative approach by manually creating Facebook accounts and filling them with posts featuring natural-looking images of women as avatars. An interesting discovery from their experiments was that followers were more attracted to photos of naturally beautiful women, rather than those with overly enhanced features like lips or breasts. The same trend occurred when it came to the posts themselves – unaltered, real images received more clicks on the provided link.
Once a solid number of followers had gathered on these accounts, the affiliate took things a step further. He actively joined dating groups on Facebook and cleverly included a link to their offer within their posts. The strategic use of emojis in these posts turned out to be a game-changer, significantly boosting the conversion rate.
Check out some of the creative examples used in this case below:
Over a span of just two weeks, this marketer managed to accumulate a total of 26,147 clicks on their posts. Out of these clicks, a noteworthy 903 were successfully converted into actions, resulting in a revenue of $2,103. Now, let's break down the main expenses incurred by the dating website affiliate for managing this flow of traffic:
- Antidetect Browser: $100 per month
- Proxy Services: $60
- SMS Service for Account Registration: $70
Considering these costs, the net profit tallied up to $1,873.
Case study: Earning $5,996 in 2 months with Google UAC through a mobile app
Now, let’s look into a case study where an affiliate managed to pocket $5,996 within 2 months, all thanks to Google UAC and a nifty dating mobile app. This affiliate guru directed traffic to countries like Romania, Portugal, Czech Republic, Italy, and the USA using a smartLink approach.
Instead of going for the regular promotional tactics, this guy went ahead and rented a mobile application. But there was a twist – Google UAC, the traffic source of choice, had some strict rules for promoting dating ad creatives. They didn't allow anything too flashy or over-the-top. So, our hero had to put on his thinking cap and craft creatives that were both click-worthy and got the approval from the moderators. Below are the screenshots of one of the ad creatives he used:
Below are examples of landing pages that he used:
The mobile app needed a bit of warming up. Our champ wasted no time and decided to boost the app's reputation and trust factor by buying reviews. Clever move, right? And guess what – not only did this hike the app's visibility, but it also attracted some sweet organic traffic.
Of course, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither were big budgets allowed right from the start. Google put the brakes on our affiliate's initial campaign spend. But did that stop him? Nope. He went full-on launch mode, setting up multiple campaigns to rake in the volume. And as soon as some campaigns started showing promise, he cranked up the budget – a smooth 10% increase each day.
Now, let's talk about conversion magic. Our guru wasn't content with the status quo. He tinkered with the app's push notifications, trying to find that sweet spot. Sending out two push notifications daily – one in the morning and another in the evening – turned out to be the golden ticket. He fired off these push notifications to the UK audience, resulting in some impressive stats. The following screenshot shows statistics for the entire period of the advertising campaign.
In only 60 days, the campaign delivered 3,433 conversions at an average EPC of $0.28, resulting in $5,996 in revenue. After deducting expenses of $4,268, he remained with a profit of $1,728 making it a 40% ROI campaign.
Conclusion
Dating is one of the evergreen verticals in affiliate marketing also known as traffic arbitrage. For this reason, it is never too early or too late to choose an offer you like and start testing different GEOs. If you're not sure how to begin, don't worry – the MyBid affiliate managers will be there to lend you a hand and guide you through the process.
