Libertine

I am considering starting a (local/niche) dating site, and I'm wondering how to get over the problem of finding initial members.

The site will be free and I will invest in advertising, but it seems to me that when I start the thing, with 0 members, the first people to sign up will leave rather quickly when they realize there are no other members.

What I'm considering doing right now is spending a good chunk of the money allocated to advertising in the first week, with two small bursts of ads during the week and a bigger one in the following weekend. The first two bursts will probably not be extremely productive, but hopefully they'll deliver enough members to make the weekend advertising more productive.

Also, I'm considering starting up a related magazine-type site a few months in advance, and using that to gather a mailing list to get a bunch of initial joins.

Any thoughts?

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