Maybe it's just me, but affiliate programs for books, DVDs, even computer gear make sense to me. Even an affiliate program for a flowershop or bicycle dealer. But did you realize that matchmaking sites also offer affiliate programs? To find out more about it, I signed up for eHarmony.com, one of the top-rated dating sites.

The signup process was through CommissionJunction, one of the best affiliate management systems, and it took about two weeks to be approved. Once I was accepted by eHarmony, though, I found out these nice details:

"Join our Affiliate Program now and get up to $100 for every subscriber you refer. In addition, you will get paid $.50 for every registered user that completes our relationship questionnaire."

A very nice payoff if you have a site that has anything to do with dating or finding compatible partners.

As is typical with affiliate programs, the eHarmony program has lots and lots of different banners and they make it pretty darn easy to integrate their advertising into your existing content. For example, here's one of my favorite graphical adverts:

Also interesting to note is that the affiliate id information is masked (click on the graphic, you'll see what I mean) so that it's a bit harder to hijack your link through spyware or other malicious applications users might have without realizing.

You can also utilize text links like this:

Dating For A Serious Relationship

which means that you can easily integrate your affiliate information into your prose - perhaps even in a weblog entry about dating, finding a good partner, soulmates, etc. It might look like this:

"After three months of trying the personals section of the local alternative newspaper, I was just about ready to call it quits. I mean, who knew there were so many weird women around? Fortunately, a pal of mine confided that he found his girlfriend by signing up for a great online matchmaking service. I was a bit self-conscious about it, but, yeah, I signed up, and ...."

You can see how that can be much more effective than a banner or graphical advert with many audiences!

Also, specifically with eHarmony, it's good to know the target audience for the site before you begin to market aggressively. The introductory letter qualifies this very well:

"In order to successfully promote our service, it is essential to market the eharmony service to our target audience with an appropriate message. eHarmony is a service geared towards serious, mature-minded singles who are looking for a long-term relationship. We are especially successful with adult singles between the ages of 30 and 55. From time to time we will send you tips and suggestions for promoting our service and to help you maximize your referral efforts."

So if you were managing a Web site for 19-24 year olds, this wouldn't be the best choice for a dating service, nor would it be for the AARP crowd!

Fortunately, Commission Junction has that covered too. A quick click on "show me advertisers like this one" and you find out that there are a ton of different choices in this segment, from Yahoo Personals to Cupid Junction, Dating Direct to Platinum Romance.com. And even more unusual options, like Get Married Now, Gay.com and NeoDates (presumably, dates with people who really liked the film The Matrix?).

All joking aside, if you have a site where singles visit, you can definitely monetize that traffic and offer your visitors a valuable service too. And that's a win/win in my book!