Thursday, February 18th, 2010
Hello all,
SkaDate Team is glad to present a new SkaDate dating software build – 7.5.1550.
It comes with new features, usability enhancements and minor bug fixes. This is what you will find in SkaDate 7.5.1550:
-
Improved User Points system
- New Latest Activity items
- Integration of Honesty Online background check service
- Possibility to disable the ‘Latest Activity’ feature in the Admin Panel
- Possibilitiy to add emoticons to the status line on the Memberhome page
- Possibility for Site Administrator to set the number of profiles displayed in the ‘Friends List’
Learn more about the new SkaDate dating script build, check the Live Demo and ask your questions from our pre-sales operators 24/7 at www.SkaDate.com.
Best regards,
SkaDate Team
<a title=”Dating and Community Software” href=”http://www.skadate.com” target=”_blank”>SkaDate dating script</a>
Posted in Miscellaneous, News, Products, SkaDate | Tags: dating script · dating software · new build · release · SkaDate · skadate features
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
Dating and community software market has expanded greatly influenced by overwhealming success of such website industry giants as Facebook, MySpace, Match.com and eHarmony. An idea of starting a dating site or a social network that would grow into a multimillion-turnover business sounds incredibly tempting. Live examples of such dream-come-true models add more fuel to the web site-building fever.
The variety of community and dating site solutions offered in the market today is amazing: freeware, CMS, paid software 
solutions and hosted web platforms. Each has its own advantages and shortcomings. And before you start building a site of your dream you have to think carefully which way to go as to choosing the platform for your project. Let me walk you through pros and cons of major site-building solutions to help you make the right choice matching your expectations and opportunities.
Let’s start with freeware, which is a free community/dating script. Before you dig for details it looks like a perfect chance to build a website without spending a penny. But in reality it doesn’t work exactly that way. Freeware solutions are normally developed with potential for further improvement by webmasters. Which means that most likely you will not get some of the desired site features in the default package. It is usually a platform with basic functionality accompanied by development manuals and requiring a professional programmer touch to turn into a competitive dating or community network.
Pros: Since the script itself is free – you actually lose nothing by giving it a try. Pretty often the essential plugins for a free platform are offered by a vendor for extra fee. However, if the software is popular – you will face no lack of support communities and freelancers knowing the given code’s inside outs.
Cons: If you don’t have skills in coding, or at least a dedicated developer who you can trust – think twice before starting with freeware (especially if it is not so well-known). Chances are, you will not be able to get it work the way you need without proper customization. Another unpleasant ‘might-be’ is that after weeks (or months) of studying the code architecture and developing plugins for it you come to a conclusion that this particular script is still not doing it for you. This can be a huge disappointment, especially if you are limited in time. Also, quite possibly you will find yourself unable to remove the vendor’s copyright or advertisement, as the code (even stated to be an open source) may contain licensed or encrypted files.
Advice: Better forget about an idea of creating a really professional and competitive community site for free. This will never happen, even if you go with freeware. If you want your project to work for you – be prepared to invest. And a free opensource script may become just the right platform for building your dream, but only in case the software is of a good quality, and there is someone who knows what he’s doing when it comes to web programming.
Now, let’s move to paid software. Usually these are turn-key solutions that just need installing to a server for you to get an up and running site. Sounds like magic, and this is why they cost money. Paid dating scripts are supposed to have all essential features to make your site complete and ready for the first visitor. On top of that, you should get a variety of professional site templates, which will ease the designing issue.
Pros: are obvious. You have all chances to build a ’serious’ website even if you don’t have extensive skills in coding. Paid dating software vendors normally offer installation services, so you won’t need to bother about getting the site up. Plus, you get support service and regular updates and version upgrades, which means that your site features will always be up-to-date.
Cons: Having a ready-made website you might still want its conception to be unique, which means that you will go for custom design and probably want to add new features and integrate third-party applications. And here we are stuck at code modifications again. Most paid dating script vendors offer customization services though, so you shouldn’t have problems with finding a skilled developer.
Advice: Choosing a suitable paid script you should pay attention at two main aspects – source code encryption and features included in the default community software package. Quite often software vendors that state providing an open source code still leave some files licensed or encrypted, which makes it difficult or even impossible to perform certain code modifications. So be sure to confirm this before purchase. Also, don’t get immediately attracted by a low price. In most cases it stands for a basic-complectation package that might not include such essentials as chat, forum, blogs, video sharing, events etc. As a rule, these ‘additional’ features are sold as plugins for extra fee. So the full-featured package cost with the necessary plugins included might get twice as high.
Hosted web platforms are quite popular, as they can be a great solution for those willing to start a communtiy site in a fast and easy way. This is usually a service allowing you to build your own site hosted on a vendor’s server.
Pros: Site-building process is simple, and requires almost no efforts from your side. No coding knowledge involved. If you are seeking to start your own social network that would be easy and fun to manage at minimum expenses – a hosted web platform might be the perfect solution.
Cons: Your site will be hosted on a vendor’s server, so forget about access to the software source code. This means that you will not be able to customize your web site (change design or add new features), and the only option is to go for additional plugins that might cost extra. Developer’s branding and advertisement removal is either impossible or requires monthly payments. Often you are not allowed to use your own domain name, so your site URL will be a vendor’s subdomain. Besides, as the number of site members reaches a certain limit – you will most likely be asked to pay for hosting your network.
Advice: If the reason you are starting a web site is not just a spontaneous wish to check what it’s like, but a mature decision to build your own business – better find out all details before stepping into this. Confirm how vendor’s conditions will change once your network grows really big. Make sure that you will be able to transfer your members database to another software should the need occur. If you are building a web site with specific conception – check if this kind of content is accepted by the service provider, otherwise your network might be deleted.
To sum it up, a hosted web platform can be a great solution for the newbies in online dating business provided they can handle all
the cons.
CMS stands for Content Management System, which sounds quite self-explanatory. This is a basic platform with a standard set of features that can be modified into a web site accomodating your needs.
Pros: You can turn it into almost anything, starting with a dating site, and ending with an e-commerce shopping cart.
Cons: It’s not the right choice for those with no coding skills. Just like any universal system, it might be fairly good for a great lot of projects, but never too good for a particular one. In other words, it will not have that specific set of opportunities a specialized script provides.
Advice: If you are seeking to build a specialized niche web site with a CMS – call for a good developer. If you do not have enough coding skills – it will be hard to impossible for you to get the site work and look the way you need.
Of course, this is not the ultimate software solutions guide. There is much more to find, test and learn. But at least it is something to start an online venture path with. Be sure to choose the right solution and the right script as it forms the basis of your future success.
If you have questions, or a piece of experience to share – feel free to post your comments.
Image sources: i.ehow.com, granite5.com, ukvirtual-college.co.uk
Posted in Miscellaneous | Tags: cms · community software · dating script · dating software · dating software solutions · freeware · hosted web platform
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Those of you having a community website inevitably have to deal with processing users information such as name, e-mail, telephone number, sometimes residential address and even billing details. It’s not that everone is happy to share it with a site owner, but almost any registration form requires a user’s private details. In order to gain trust of your existing and potential members from the very start you have to explain (clearly and honestly) what kind of personal information you keep track of, why you need it and how you use it. That’s what a Privacy Policy is needed for: to reassure users that their private data is safe in your hands. Nothing sophisticated of course, but requiring serious attention.
If we speak about a ‘king-size’ business attracting special attention of law-keepers – it is better to hire a professional lawyer for writing a Privacy Policy, as an incorrect privacy statement may seriously affect your business. Otherwise, you can perfectly handle writing a Privacy Policy by yourself. As an option, you can take one of the numerous Privacy Policy samples on the Internet, and adjust it for your website. Just take into account the tips given below.
1) Tell what personal information you collect from your website users, and why.
Your website members have a legal right to know what types of their private data you will have access to. You have to list everything: name, e-mail address, telephone, IP address etc. Then you should explain what you need that data for, and how it is going to be shared within and probably outside your company. Your aim is to assure users that their personal information will not be used in any way abusing your privacy. Give special attention to this part to avoid any possible legal issues.
2) Give an explanation accompanied with certain examples on why members’ information is safe in your hands.
By filling up your Privacy Policy with broad security statements wrapped in technical language you make it look ’sophisticated’, which is not a synonim to ‘good’. Remember that most of your site visitors are not experienced webmasters, and reading something like ‘Security Socket Layer’ and ‘encryption’ they will most likely have a feeling that you are hiding something behind the technicalisms. So, better build your explanation on plain English clearly indicating what measures you take to protect their private correspondence and billing details, and what makes your servers secure. You should also give a try to explaining special terms, but don’t go too deep though. Being brief and clear is a key point.
3) Give the site members access to viewing and editing their private details.
Having an option to access and change the personal information at any moment site users feel more confident about sharing their personal details with you. So you should tell where and how they can do this, and how editing profile info might influence their membership status and profile page availability.
4) Show your members a ‘way out’.
In other words, specify how they will be able to terminate their site membership in case of being dissatisfied with your services,
or due to any other reason. It is always sad to lose customers, no doubts. But if you give users an option to leave whenever they want, and with no headache – they will definitely feel more relaxed about subscribing for your service. From your part it is required to indicate where and how they can delete a profile or unsubscribe from mass-mailing, and what will happen to their private data after they are no longer on your team. Remember that most site visitors would read your Privacy Policy just for finding that out.
5) Keep your site member aware of possible Privacy Policy updates.
Some companies practice periodical Privacy Policy revising that results in minor or global changes. If you have plans for such occasional or regular updates – let your members know by including a notification that would sound like: ‘Our Privacy Policy is revised on a regular basis, so please check for updates’.
My final advice is – make your Privacy Policy honest and easy to understand. This will help you gain trust of your site users, and will give them a good feeling about your business.
I hope this information will be helpful for SkaDate community and dating script customers, and for those only thinking to start their own online dating business.
Best wishes,
Irene
Image sources: destateparks.com, mistera.co.uk, elitewebmail.com
Posted in Miscellaneous | Tags: dating script · how to write a privacy policy · online dating · privacy policy · privacy statement · SkaDate · writing a privacy policy
Tuesday, December 1st, 2009
Greetings everybody!
Finally, we have crossed the finish line of the WIN SkaDate Contest.
First of all, we would like to thank you all for taking part in the competition. Your comments and positive feedback have been a great encourage for us to provide even better service, and keep improving SkaDate software to meet all your needs.
Now it’s time to announce the contest results, and the fact that this event has coincided with Skalfa eCommerce Birthday (we are 5 today!) makes the moment even more festive.
Here come the winners.
3d place and SkaDate Mobile Edition goes to Lawrence and his comment:
Skadate helped me very quickly build a great website and it saved me the huge effort of building a site on my own from scratch. Now my site has over 13,000 members in just over one year – http://BrainiacDating.com.
When I started I had no idea how to build a dating site, but the skadate support was very helpful to get my site up and running.
Sure there are several other dating site software packages out there, but skadate’s php code and database are efficiently designed, so that with only some basic knowledge of php – you can easily modify it yourself, or if necessary it relatively inexpensive to outsource small enhancements.
2nd place is taken by John, who gets SkaDate Software License:
Yuch! vs Yum! Let me explain….
After wasting time installing & running on Ning (yuch!) and Boonex (yuch!) as well as testing the online demos of many other software vendors and service providers, I settled on JomSocial for my Joomla-powered site.
But there’s a problem now: it has limited features, which now means I am integrating several other extensions with their own set of hacks & additions that I’ll probably have to repeat when JomSocial release a newer version. (yuch!)
So I would *only* migrate to SkaDate (yum!) because it *flexibly* (creative!) and *logically* (time-saving!) integrates video, photos, templates, search, admin panel and user news/updates (to name just a few).
So after all, it seems like site publishers invest well in SkaDate – I really look forward to using it to bring health-minded people together!
And the 1st place winner is Sibel, who gets SkaDate Software License along with SkaDate Mobile Edition:
Hi,
Me and my partner we discovered Skadate 1 year ago and we are very happy with it…since then!!! We wanted to find the right software, the right server, the best provider and wanted to create a dating site that works 24/7!!! There are many dating site providers out there… After researching for 3 month and trying out many site-demos, we felt like Skadate covered what we were looking for!!!
This is our dating-site and we wanted to have control!
We wanted the site “to look” professional and inviting to our customer…and at the same time we wanted to have easy access to the control panel. We have a bi-lingual customer and it was very easy to translate text to the second language. And we like the easy payment option with PayPal or any creditcard company, when customers wanna sign up as Gold Members…
Our site is fast, secure and we have a good overview on everything. Anyone at any age can use the site. Buttons & pages are easy to access and clear to understand. If my customers are happy, I am happy!!!
With the help and support from Skadate we were able to change many things on our site. We worked very close with their tech-support and designers to re-design the look, the colors, the text and the layout at very affordable price rates. We also made changes to the admin panel. Sometimes I spend 10hours a day in the admin panel! It’s easy to work with and I get the job done.
The Skadate team is very nice and always there when you need them. They are a great help, explain or fix things very fast.
I am overall a very happy customer and I would highly recommend Skadate for all your datingsite-needs…
Our Congratulations to the contest winners!
Although winners are only three, we appreciate the contribution of all participants. This is why each of you will get a personal coupon code with a discount for purchasing SkaDate community and dating script.
Your feedback is a great motivation for us to keep working on the software quality. Thank you guys for building the great community of SkaDate users!
Best regards,
SkaDate Team
Image sources: http://monevator.com,
Posted in Miscellaneous, Products, SkaDate | Tags: community software · dating script · mobile edition · SkaDate · skadate contest · win SkaDate
Wednesday, November 4th, 2009
Looks like there is a chance to start your own Facebook while sitting on a favorite chair 
SkaDate Dating and Community Software Company is glad to invite those of you who believe our product is a key to success to take part in a competition – WIN SkaDate.
We give everyone a chance to get a SkaDate license along with Mobile Edition for free. All you need to do is tell us why you think SkaDate is the perfect solution for your online community business. Tell us what features, characteristics and special qualities make SkaDate the best dating script and community software for you.
If SkaDate software has already helped you build a community site of your dream – you are also welcome to share your success story, as you have an opportunity to win another license for implementing one more great web site idea.
Post your comments about SkaDate here and you may win SkaDate license with the Mobile Edition.
There are going to be three prize positions in the contest:
1st place winner will get a free SkaDate Community Software package and SkaDate Mobile Edition ($500 value)
2nd place winner will get a free SkaDate Software package ($350 value)
3d place winner’s prize is SkaDate Mobile Edition ($150 value)
This is how we are going to process your feedback and choose the winners:
The contest will last from November 4, 2009 to December 1, 2009. This is when you are welcome to post your comments about SkaDate community and dating script, and vote for the ones you find worth winning. We will take into account all your support votes and choose the comments we like the most to announce the contest results on December 1, 2009.
Get a chance to build your own community site for free – WIN (Why I Need) SkaDate!
Good Luck!
SkaDate Team
Update: SkaDate Team would like to thank you for your activity in posting all that positive feedback. We have decided to make a small surprise for all of you taking part in this contest even if you do not win a prize position. What kind of surprise it’ going to be will be revealed on December 1, 2009 – the day we announce the contest results. Carry on!
Posted in News, SkaDate | Tags: best community software · best dating script · community software · dating script · dating software · free SkaDate license · SkaDate · win SkaDate
Monday, November 2nd, 2009
The good news to share today is that the next great event in Online Dating Industry is coming up. The iDate 2010 Awards will take place on January 28, 2010 in Miami during the Internet Dating Conference, where the CEO of Skalfa eCommerce Emil Sarnogoev will participate to answer your questions and tell more about SkaDate Dating and Community Software. This is when the best dating sites and dating software companies will be chosen from candidates in 11 industry-related categories.
Most important is that your votes of support can help a company meriting nomination be included in the list of finalists, and get the position it deserves.
If you find SkaDate Dating Software Company worthy of election in the ‘Best Dating Software Provider’ category – nominate it now at http://www.InternetDatingConference.com/nominations-miami-2010.php and leave your votes for it from November 22, 2009 to January 7, 2010.
We appreciate your support and contribution in helping SkaDate Company get rewarded according to the merits in providing professional and reliable community software and dating script.
Best regards,
SkaDate Team
Image source: http://www.internetdatingconference.com
Posted in News, Products, SkaDate | Tags: best dating software · community software · dating script · dating software · idate awards · internet dating conference · SkaDate
