This week marks the biggest online dating week of the year (combined with the biggest divorce week of the year).Whether it’s a failed relationship or the urge for a new beginning that has propelled you into the dating wilderness, online dating almost certainly has someone waiting for you. Match group now owns Tinder, Plenty Of Fish, Ok Cupid and, of course, Match, making it the biggest player in the online and app dating industry.match is the most widely-used online dating site in the world and has nearly 1.8 million subscribers.It works in the most traditional way: Simply create a profile, check out your potential matches, send them a few messages and then arrange to meet for a date.However, they do have a live help service at their homepage to talk you through joining.Pros: Uses compatibility testing to match you with someone who shares the same worldview as you.No longer embarrassing or, God forbid, cringe-worthy, half of all single people now use online dating sites to find love. There are literally hundreds of dating sites out there. The experts say: This is a great site for those who are looking for personality matching.So, to make it a little less overwhelming, we’ve trawled the Internet for you and sought the advice of online dating expert Sloan Sheridan-Williams to find the 12 best online dating sites making the rounds. They’ve even patented The e Harmony Compatibility Matching System. They’ve taken 35 years of research to come up with a Relationship Questionnaire and pride themselves on matching users with people who are actually compatible with them. e Harmony takes the hard work out of trolling through 100s of photos and delivers compatible dates directly to your inbox.

The love-gods at match also arrange singles events and provide online dating advice. It is well known and therefore attracts a wide demographic, allowing you to widen your dating pool or limit it with their advanced matching facility. Lovestruck helps you target potential partners according to location and it covers many of the major cities across the world.

It’s aimed at time-starved professionals, who due to busy work and social lives simply don’t have the time to date.

Lovestruck helps put you in touch with people who are near you – be it where you work or live – to save you precious minutes or hours travelling to and from a date. The experts say: Perfect if you are looking for love in the city and want to approach dating with an informal first meet in your lunch break or after work.

URL: Putting a price on love: A minimum of £16 a month.

Doing Something Dating profile: A creative crowd with hipsterish leanings. Possibly not as great as it is on other sites, given that this one has fewer members than most.