Singles are turning on their computers instead of daytime TV as two of the dating sites with the most traffic found more people were logging in for love at 3pm rather than the usual busy time of 10pm.

Singles break the ice looking for love

Mysinglefriend.com says web site visits were up 55% on one afternoon, while Singles365.com says visitors were up by more than 25% on the same days last year.

January tends to be busy online as many people make a New Year resolution to find some romance.

TV property developer Sarah Beeny, founder of Mysinglefriend.com, says the snow was “proving to be an icebreaker for singles out there”.

“January has always been our busiest month, but this surge in traffic is unprecedented.”

The big increase in people using dating websites comes at a time when the industry is already booming.

Online dating set to generate £368 million

Forrester Research predicts the number of Britons paying to use online dating agencies is set to grow from 2.6 million people in 2006 to six million by 2012, creating revenues of around £368 million.

This surge is put down to more computer literate adults, the stigma attached to belonging to dating agencies has gone away, and the ease of joining up online makes people more comfortable and confident to take the plunge.

Less traditional dating websites also report more business during the cold snap.

IllicitEncounters.com – a web site for married people to look for an affair – says a record number of new members have joined – mainly from areas worst hit by the weather.

The firm says that in just under a week, 2,567 new members, 37% more than usual, signed up and as a result has needed to take on additional staff to cope with the rush.

He said that whereas the growth of online dating the USA seems to have stalled the same is not true of the UK where it grew by 20% last year and looks set to continue to grow for several years to come.  He should know.  His company is one of the most (if not the most) successful companies of its type in the UK.

He predicted that within a few years one in five internet users will be current or past members of a dating site.  When asked by the interviewer Rebecca why he thought it was such a growth industry he described how easy it is to use.

How else can you line up several dates for the weekend?  Dating websites are a doorway to a whole world of possibilities and they are not only easy and cheap to use (less than a price of a newspaper per day) but they work.  If they didn’t, people wouldn’t be using them in such large numbers.

Now is a better time than ever to join a dating site.  You’ll be in good company, it’s not unusual and it’s a perfectly acceptable and normal way to meet a new partner.

If you’re thinking of a business with small start-up costs then start your own dating site.  It’s something that you can do from the comfort of your own home, in your spare time, with little financial risk.  There’s more information about this here.

Full and free access to this sophisicated and powerful dating site with it’s state of the art matchmaking technology for four days!

DatingDirect.com is part of the France based Meetic network which has sites in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Luxemburg, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Asia, and Latin America. Due to the size of the network and their experience within the industry they are able to offer a large and popular general dating website for the UK. In early 2009 they launched the DatingDirect Affinity program which is a new approach to matching profiles. In July 2008 the DatingDirect.com recorded the most individual visitors to a dating website in the UK and the Meetic group’s websites contain a total of 28 million profiles in Europe of which 5 million are based in the UK. This is a slick and professional dating website which takes its role and responsibilities very seriously. If you’re in the market for cyber romance then DatingDirect.com should be on your list of websites to try.

Click here to search for your ideal partner