- PlentyofFish
Infobox Company
name = Plenty of Fish
type = Private
foundation = 2003
location = Vancouver, Canada
industry = Internet
key_people = Markus Frind, Founder and CEO
revenue = $5-10 millionUSD cite web | last=Gomes | first=Lee | year=2007 | url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117987775136211487.html | title=PlentyofFish Owner Has the Perfect Bait for a Huge Success | publisher=The Wall Street Journal | accessdate=2007-05-23] (2007 estimated)
num_employees = 1
homepage = [http://www.plentyoffish.com/ www.plentyoffish.com]PlentyofFish is a free
online dating service . The founder and sole operator, 29-year-old Markus Frindcite web | url=http://onlinepersonalswatch.typepad.com/news/2006/02/online_personal_1.html | title= ‘‘OPW Interview - PlentyofFish-CEO Markus Frind’’ at Online Personals Watch | accessdate=February 21 | accessyear=2006 ] , runs the site from his 83-square-metre Vancouver apartment.cite web | url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=6ea70f26-747a-45b2-a111-671de5b398d8&k=44884 | title=The new Internet millionaires | accessdate=2008-03-09] The site pulls in more than $5 million a year from Google advertising.cite web | last=Surridge | first=Grant | year=2007 | url=http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=0e18c4f6-9880-4e0e-9349-64424e372b70&k=30784 | title=Kingdom of the Online Cupids | publisher=The National Post | accessdate=2007-07-28]History
Markus Frind, CEO and Founder of Plentyoffish Media Inc., graduated in 1999 from
British Columbia Institute of Technology with a diploma in Computer Systems Technology.cite web | url=http://www.bcit.ca/cas/cst/ | title=School of Computing and Academic Studies: Computer Systems Technology | publisher=B.C. Institute of Technology | accessdate=2007-12-09] Over the next few years, he worked for several dot.com companies as the number of them in Vancouver began to wane. Markus ended up working at a company as a website anddatabase administrator where he found and fixed errors.cite web | url=http://www.plentyoffish.com/about_team.aspx | title=About the Team | publisher=PlentyOfFish | accessdate=2007-12-09]In 2003, Frind had to learn
ASP.NET and to better learn the language, he built a dating website. The free dating website quickly grew in Canada and then spread, via word of mouth, to theU.K. ,Australia , and theUnited States .cite web | year=2007 | url=http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=331501 | title=ARCast.TV - PlentyOfFish.com How one man beat the big guys | publisher=Channel 9 | accessdate=2007-08-03] His firstAdsense check arrived in July 2003 and was for $1,100USD .cite web | url=http://www.canada.com/topics/news/politics/story.html?id=6ea70f26-747a-45b2-a111-671de5b398d8&k=44884 | title=The new Internet millionaires | accessdate=2008-03-09]In 2004, PlentyofFish became a full-time business for Markus.cite web | last=Lehman | first=Michael | year=2007 | url=http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=300230 | title=IIS Show #10 - PlentyofFish.com and IIS 6 = Plenty of performance | publisher=Channel 9 | accessdate=2007-04-12]
Features
Members can add
photograph s, if they choose to do so. Members can flag another person's photographs if they are not clear photographs of that person. There is a rating system in place similar to the site HOTorNOT.The site also has a chat feature which allows members to chat with other members, regardless of age, sexual orientation and location.
An extensive forum discussion group allows members to discuss dating experiences and organize local events.cite web | url=http://forums.plentyoffish.com/ | title=PlentyofFish Forums| publisher=Plenty of Fish | accessdate=2007-08-28]
Be warned that it is the policy of this site to send a plain text copy of your password to members by email every month. Anyone that has access to your email can easily get your plentyoffish password.
Revenues
PlentyofFish generates money three ways:
banner ads ,affiliate marketing , and Google’sAdSense . According to Markus, the site brings in $5-10 million a year. Also, the AdSense revenue is roughly $10 000 per day.cite web | last=MacManus | first=Richard | year=2007 | url=http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/plentyoffish_one_billion.php | title=Plentyoffish: 1-Man Company May Be Worth $1Billion | publisher=Read/Write Web | accessdate=2007-12-09]Technical Details
The website uses the following technology:cite web | last=Frind | first=Markus | year=2007 | url=http://plentyoffish.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/looking-for-3-senior-software-developers/ | title=Looking for 3 Senior Software Developers. | publisher=PlentyOfFish Blog | accessdate=2007-12-09]
*ASP.NET 2.0
*Microsoft SQL Server 2005 The chat (aka
instant messaging ) feature is [http://www.userplane.com/webchat/ Flash-based and is provided by Userplane] .tatistics
* Active users: 500,000 logins per dayFact|date=November 2007
* Registered users: 600,000cite web | year=2008 | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/business/13digi.html?_r=3&ex=1357880400&en=9a69f05cdc551c11&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin | title=From 10 Hours a Week, $10 Million a Year | publisher=The New York Times | accessdate=2008-01-18] Verify credibility|date=July 2008
* Dating site ranking in the U.K.: 1 (Comscore June 2008)cite web | year=2008 | url=http://mashable.com/2008/07/29/plentyoffish-us-uk-comscore/ | title=Plentyoffish Has Plenty of Users: Top Dating Site in US and UK | publisher=Mashable | accessdate=2008-07-29]
* Dating site ranking in Canada: 1 (Comscore June 2008)cite web | year=2008 | url=http://mashable.com/2008/07/29/plentyoffish-us-uk-comscore/ | title=Plentyoffish Has Plenty of Users: Top Dating Site in US and UK | publisher=Mashable | accessdate=2008-07-29]
* U.S. overall site ranking: 82 (Hitwise, June 2007)cite web | last=Surridge | first=Grant | year=2007 | url=http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/financialpost/story.html?id=61afd33c-cff9-4770-9c13-98ee55ca170d&k=27530 | title=Making money making dates | publisher=The National Post | accessdate=2007-07-20]
* U.S site by market share: 2, with 10.64% of the market (Hitwise, February 2008)cite web | last=Albo | first=Bonny | year=2008 | url=http://dating.about.com/b/2008/02/18/top-five-us-dating-sites-by-market-share.htm | title=Top Five U.S. Dating Sites by Market Share | publisher=About.com | accessdate=2008-06-24]
* Number of page views a day: 30+ million (August 2007)Verify credibility|date=July 2008
* Google AdSense earner ranking: 1 (May 2007)cite web | year=2007 | url=http://www.dewittsmedia.com/seo-blogs/search-engines-seo/largest-google-adsense-checks-plentyoffish-earns-901k-per-month-and-digg-earns-250k-per-month/ | title=Largest Google AdSense Checks plentyoffish earns 901k per month, and digg earns 250k per month | publisher=Dewitts Media | accessdate=2007-05-10] Verify credibility|date=July 2008
* North American Daily Visits: 36,825 (Comscore June 2008)cite web | year=2008 | url=http://mashable.com/2008/07/29/plentyoffish-us-uk-comscore/ | title=Plentyoffish Has Plenty of Users: Top Dating Site in US and UK | publisher=Mashable | accessdate=2008-07-29]
* UK Daily Visits: 8,025 (Comscore June 2008)cite web | year=2008 | url=http://mashable.com/2008/07/29/plentyoffish-us-uk-comscore/ | title=Plentyoffish Has Plenty of Users: Top Dating Site in US and UK | publisher=Mashable | accessdate=2008-07-29]Awards
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