Pet-Loving Atheist Seeks Green Geek

Oct. 2, 2008— -- Forget tall, dark and handsome. Try geeky, wealthy and Wiccan.

As the online dating marketplace continues to flourish, up sprout more and more sites that cater to nearly every belief system, hobby and lifestyle.

According to a February 2008 study conducted by JupiterResearch, a media research firm, the online dating and personals market will increase from $900 million in 2007 to $1.9 billion in 2012.

"Two to three new online dating services open every day," said Joe Tracy, publisher of the Online Dating Magazine. "It's so hard to compete. The last seven, eight years, the same people have been at the top of the bubble and no one has been able to break into that."

Recognizing that it's difficult to go head to head with the heavy hitters in the industry, such as Yahoo Personals, Match and eHarmony, Tracy said companies increasingly seek success by launching niche online dating services.

Are you a hardcore sci-fi fan? Trek Passions might be for you. Interested in meeting other atheists? Try Free Thinker Match. Hung up on horse lovers? Maybe you'll find Mr. or Ms. Right at Equestrian Cupid.

According to Internet traffic monitor Hitwise, the top-five dating sites enjoy about 46 percent of the market share. But literally hundreds of niche sites populate the rest of the online dating world, including services for vegetarians, farmers, plus size singles, geeks, golfers, Wiccans, bikers, the goth community, the incarcerated and the very wealthy.

Founded more than four years ago, the Passions Network has built its business model around supporting niche communities. The network includes 110 networks and nearly 800,000 members.

"The whole concept of the network is that it should be easier to break the ice," founder Michael Carter said.

With a couple hundred thousand members, the Large Passions site is the most active and popular, but other quirky sites also seem to be doing well.

Just this summer, Carter launched sites for lovers of pirates, horror flicks, guns and even mullets.