Whether you like it or not, dating has moved away from traditional meetings and off pairings set up by family and friends, but now we have collectively turned to online dating. And it’s a booming industry, considering in 2012, the industry as a whole made $1.9 billion! That’s a lot of singles out there who are trying to find the best dating website that meets their needs.

Now, this doesn’t mean that all that money is a result of people not having any luck on these sites, oh not at all! Did you know that, according to Men’s Health, of an online survey, 7000 recently married couples were surveyed, 17 percent of them found their spouses online? Another survey of 1,500 unmarried couples, 20 percent met their significant others online. So, while those numbers are incredibly high, but they are promising.

So, how can you find that ever elusive best dating website? Keep reading, and we’ll clue you in on what you should be considering when choosing the place that may help you find your love.

Consider the person you want as a partner.

We understand that online dating can feel like a gamble, but if you’re serious about finding someone that you may want to spend the rest of your life with. When you know the kind of person you want to date, you’ll want to go to the website that caters to that demographic. For example, if you want to be with an active senior, you could join a senior dating site. If you want to be friends with someone first, there are sites that work for that too.

Think about how much time you are willing to dedicate toward meeting someone.

Like all good things, anything worth having is going to be worth the amount of effort you’re waiting for. If you don’t have a solid thirty minutes to dedicate to responding to messages from possible matches, checking out the profiles of the people on the site, and popping into the chat rooms, you’re wasting your time. If you want online dating to work, regardless if you’re on the best dating website or the worst, you have to put in the time to get the most out of it.

Figure out how much finding love is worth to you.

Unfortunately, not all things in life are free. Fortunately, not all dating sites make you pay a fee to use their services. Many people believe that if they want to meet someone who is serious about love and relationships as they are, they will let their money speak for them, meaning they are willing to pay a high monthly membership fee. However, if you want to ebb on the side of frugality, you can find amazing people on free sites as well. It’s all really about what you feel comfortable with and how much you’re willing to shell out. We would just like to remind you that neither site can guarantee that you’ll find everlasting love.