Finding That Special Someone

Looking for love in all the wrong places? Know someone who is?

Everyone seems to have that one friend or relative who just can't seem to find someone.

Dating takes a lot of work, and sometimes people need help.

All this week, The Early Show is taking a close look at "How To Date in 2008."

The special series, correspondent Susan Koeppen explained Monday, will give you a chance to see online dating like never before, including how a matchmaker works, what dating school is all about, what it means to hire a dating coach, and how to put your best look forward online.

There are more than a 100 million singles in the United States, double the number from 50 years ago, and all of them battling it out in the game called love.

Singles will spend more than $600 million dollars this year alone, trying to find love online. There are more than 1,000 professional matchmakers.

It's no longer just the bar scene, or getting hooked up through a friend: Love has, Koeppen observed, gone high-tech and high-maintenance.

"People don't really meet people in bars anymore," says professional matchmaker Samantha Daniels. "They find strategic alternative ways of meeting someone, because they're busy and they don't just want to leave it to chance."

What does it really take to find love in the 21st century?

To find out, The Early Show has found four singles who will take dating pointers from some experts: