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Technology

Flirtbox Plans Improvements as Millionth Member Logs on

Ciaran  3 min read
Illustration: greatreporter

Entering what will be its 10th year, the completely free and interactive global dating website Flirtbox has experienced steady growth in its number of registered users.

The site has now signed up over a million members since its initial launch, and is home to a vibrant and active community. Unlike other dating sites, members are able to delete their profiles directly from the website without contacting customer support once they have achieved their relationship goals. Members seem to appreciate the straightforward approach, and many users realize the great appeal to singles of a well-connected, resourced and supported network sans registration and user fees. The unconventional approach has proven successful, and the business side of Flirtbox has proven surprisingly solid in terms of revenue generated.

This despite British and world economies of the past three years that have stymied growth among the most stalwart. Many companies, virtual as well as brick and mortar, have struggled. That's not the case for Flirtbox.

"Flirtbox now has more traffic than commercial websites backed by millions of dollars, pounds or euros in venture capital," said Tobias Marx, founder and owner of Flirtbox.co.uk and other related domains. "And my plans include capitalizing on growth with a technical relaunch later this year. I plan to offer a new site design, general improvements and new features."

Through its enviable growth in popularity and revenue, Flirtbox has remained a one-man show, with Marx organizing, updating and servicing the million-member website twice daily. His technical savvy, entrepreneurial know-how and affinity for knowing what attracts singles to social connectivity via the Internet have helped Marx overcome obstacles common to most Web-based businesses. Certainly a considerable distance down the development trail from a new venture, both in years in operation and growth, Flirtbox has gotten to the point of viability unencumbered by the expectations of venture capitalists investing millions or the constraints imposed by developer fees and abilities. The ability to develop an unconventional product without the support of advertising also has paid dividends, so to speak.

"The more money companies can spend, the more they do spend; the ratio of revenue to investment decreases. The more money a company invests in a project, the greater the expectations to reach a decent revenue level," Marx explained. "This leads to decision-making, time frames and development that are based on what's best for investors, which in many cases involving a small company, shuts down the enterprise before it can even get off the ground. I was an investor of one with a clear vision of the need for a completely free singles website. I had no such trouble."

Marx has taken advantage of automation tools to retain the site's freshness throughout the 24-hour cycle. This has provided Flirtbox the ability to stand toe-to-toe with commercial websites and social networking sites such as Facebook. Marx has already refused several acquisition offers from large companies in the US, Israel, the UK and Denmark, preferring instead to retain control over his rapidly growing site through seeking franchise partners in other countries.

"All community sites suffer from the presence of Facebook, which draws most of the Internet traffic among singles and those in the dating game," Marx said. "Flirtbox, however, has managed a positive revenue stream, growth in user activity, with the duration of those users' visits to the site growing increasingly longer. All this, in spite of the growing number of online dating competitors with strong financial backing."

Founded in 2000, Flirtbox is a 100 percent free dating site for singles. Started in the United Kingdom with the www.flirtbox.co.uk domain, it has since expanded to multiple domains and trademarks in other countries, including flirtbox.se, flirtbox.es, and flirtbox.de. The website, for which over a million people have signed up since launch, features a complete dating service, a variety of user forums, picture galleries, web cam chat and online dating advice and information. Flirtbox remains privately owned and operated solely by founder Tobias Marx.

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