Feb. 14--As Valentine's Day arrives, the online dating business is in the midst of an extreme makeover.
Internet dating was once scorned as the last resort of nerds and losers. No more: about 16 percent of all US Internet users -- or roughly 33 million people -- visited a dating site in 2006, according to JupiterResearch, and Americans spent $650 million last year on digital hookups.
But only about 5 percent of US Internet users purchase paid subscriptions to online dating services, and that percentage has hardly budged for several years, forcing industry leaders and tiny start-ups alike to try new gimmicks to coax more revenue out of existing customers and attract new ones.
EHarmony.com of Pasadena, Calif., is fighting back with science. Founded by psychologist and marriage counselor Neil Clark Warren, the company is best known for its high prices -- $60 a month -- and its questionnaire. Members must...
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