Joining an adoption profiles website is a proven way to connect with expectant parents who are looking at adoption for their baby.
But how do you find the best one?
Or rather, since there are so many ones to choose from, how do you find the one that’s best for you?
When we launched our first website 15 years ago, the internet was still in its infancy and there were only a handful of places to post your profile.
Since then, as more and more couples looked for ways to set themselves apart and increase their visibility, the number of sites has exploded—as have the number of parent profiles online.
From free services to ones that allow you to create your own updates, there’s something for everyone.
As with so much about adoption, there’s no simple answer on how to find the best website.
But before we get into that, let’s look at why you might need an adoption profiles service in the first place.
Why not just create your own website or have your agency or attorney do your outreach for you?
The truth is, adoption profile websites aren’t for everyone. If you’re uncomfortable with sharing details of your personal life online or worried about internet scams, chances are they’re not a good fit for you.
But if you’re one of the hundreds of couples who have adopted a baby after finding a match online, the benefits vastly outweigh the risks.
Here are some of main reasons to join an adoption profiles website.
Increase your visibility
When it comes to reaching out to expectant parents with an adoption plan, there’s no such thing as too much exposure. The internet is one of the first places that expectant parents go to learn about adoption and find adoptive parents.
Adoption profiles sites don’t compete with an agency or attorney’s outreach efforts. They complement and expand them.
Save time and money
Posting your profile on an online profile service is both easier and more cost-effective than creating and promoting your own website. Joining is simple. In many cases, all you have to do is send your material or upload it yourself.
No special technical skills are required and most sites offer you pay-as-you-go plans so you can cancel at any time.
Boost your marketing
Unlike agencies and attorneys, which offer a range of services, an adoption profile website is a specialty service with one goal: to find you a match with expectant parents.
By leveraging its marketing muscle with search engines and social media networks, it gives your profile more visibility and a better return on your investment.
Now that we’ve explained the advantages of joining an adoption profiles website, here are some tips on how to find the one that’s best for you.
1. Success rate
The main reason to join an internet adoption profile service is to find a match with expectant parents. So it makes sense that the site with the most matches is the best, right? Sometimes, but not always.
That’s because every website defines success differently. For some, it’s a match made directly through their site. For others, it’s an adoption that was finalized after a match made through their site. And for others, it’s just a match period, whether it came from their site or another one or an adoption agency.
When assessing the results, keep in mind that the number of matches is important, but so are the number of profiles listed on the site. For instance, a site that gets 2 matches a year with 10 profiles actually has a higher success rate than one that gets 30 matches with 300 profiles.
2. Online presence
Reach is another important factor when deciding where to post your profile. The more people who see your profile, the better the odds are of finding a match.
But how do do you know which site has the largest reach? An easy but unscientific way to find out is enter keywords that you think expectant parents would use to find adoptive parents into a search engine like Google and see what sites show up. Or, for more accurate results, do your own comparison on websites that measure online reach such as SEMRush and Alexa.
Generally speaking, older sites with keyword-rich content that matches the intent of users’ query tend to do better on search engines.
3. Fees
The fees to join an internet profile service stretch right across the board, from free to hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars. As effective as online profile services are, the truth is the majority of waiting parents will not find a match right away, or even at all.
Because of that, and the fact that most matches take months and even years to happen, you need to think carefully about how long you can afford to stay on a site and how much you’re willing to spend.
4. The number of other profiles
Every adoption profile website promises to make you stand out. But when you’re up against dozens and sometimes hundreds of other profiles spread out over multiple pages, how do you do that?
When it comes to calculating the optimum number of profiles a site should have, there’s no magic number. You don’t want the site to look like a ghost town. At the same time you don’t want to feel like you’ve got to fight against other couples to get noticed.
5. Marketing and advertising
One of the reasons to join an online profile service is to give your profile a boost. So how much marketing and advertising does the service do? Does it show up organically at the top of the search engines?
And finally, is the site’s marketing directed at expectant parents who are looking for adoptive families or is it designed to get more waiting parents to sign up for its service?
6. Social media reach
Social media is becoming an increasingly important way to connect with others, especially for millennials, So how big of a presence does your online proifle service have? How many networks is it on? How often does it post updates?
What kind of updates does it publish? Again, does the site’s information target expectant parents or is it purely there for marketing purposes?
7. Unique Features
Just like waiting parents, every adoption profiles service wants to stand out. One way they do that is by offering unique features. When you’re evaluating which service to choose, don’t only take a look at the fees and success rates. Look at what makes the service appealing—how it caters to waiting parents AND expectant parents.
For waiting parents: How easy is it to create a profile? How many photos do you get? What other add-ons are available? For expectant parents: How easy is it to navigate the site? To view profiles? To reach out to waiting parents?
8. Appearance
Creating a profile is all about putting your best foot forward and making a good first impression. Does the website you’ve chosen help you to do that? How does it look? Is it visually appealing? Do the pages load quickly?
Before you sign up, ask yourself this question: If I were an expectant parent looking for a family to adopt by baby, would I spend time on this site? If the answer is no, you’re in the wrong place.
Posting an adoption profile online is a tried-and-true way to increase your visibility and get noticed by expectant parents with an adoption plan.
But with so many services to choose from, it’s important to assess them carefully until you find the one, or ones, that are right for you. Good luck!
Find out what sets our online adoption profile service apart from others.
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