Personal ads first originated many decades ago in local newspapers. It became popular for singles and bachelors to advertise for potential partners. Naturally, the Internet changed the whole thing to a new level.

Instead of just placing an ad in a newspaper, magazine or on a website, dating sites evolved that allowed personal profiles to be created with multiple photos, with facilities like instant messaging, flirting, speed dating, group meetings, and specialist sites to accommodate religions, hobbies, disabilities, high-earners (millionaires), seniors, and more!

The days of free personal ads in local papers are numbered if not long gone. The web has revolutionized the way we meet potentials partners – plus the variety seems endless and much more exciting and quicker than traditional sites.

I’ve noticed a new trend with dating sites – totally free ones! At first this seems like a good idea, but I suspect for many people it’s not. The cost of running a big site can be quite expensive because of bandwidth, employing staff to deal with problems, enquiries, concerns, aggressive members, etc, can be quite expensive too.

From what I’ve seen the free personal ads site are often one-man bands that support the site via advertising. It would be unfeasible for a single to respond to all queries, develop the site and maintain it, arrange advertising and promotion, plus many more duties, so, inevitably, certain duties will be neglected and certain will suffer.

So, because of this, I believe most people will be interested in paid persona ad or dating sites due to a better quality customer service, probably many more features including advanced facilities, etc.

The obvious benefits of free sites are no charge, but the downside, as mentioned, is very limited facilities and services.

The obvious benefits to paid sites include: diversity and variety, extensive features including member blocking, advanced search, better compatibility matching, etc.