Advice for Online Daters from an e-Dating Web Master
Check out any of the online community message boards, and you’ll find a steady stream of questions from people seeking relationship advice, tips and suggestions as they find their way through the online dating jungle. As a Web master looking after a portfolio of niche dating sites, I can sympathize with their indecision when it comes to questions such as:
Which site is best for me?
How do I create a good profile?
Are all guys/girls on this site to be trusted?
Choosing a site
This is a tricky one as so much depends on the type of person you are and what you’re looking for in a relationship. There are two main types of dating site:
The large, non-specific dating sites
The niche or speciality dating sites
Niche or speciality dating sites tend to focus on people based on particular criteria e.g. age, location, hobbies or professions. There are dating sites for those of particular body type, religions, or cultures. In so doing they create dating sites that are pre-populated with people who already have something in common. The larger, less specialised sites contain more members but they will be spread over a wider area and many members will not be compatible with you either because of their differing interests, or geographic location. Their main advantage is greater numbers of members and therefore more choice, but more quantity doesn’t almost mean more quality. In the end it’s down to personal choice but whichever you choose, make sure you stand out by creating a good profile.
There are some good review sites that can help you with your choice. Try Love Services, My UK Dating and The Love Garden, for example.
Creating an online profile
The first step on your road to success with online dating is creating a profile, so it’s worth spending some time on this process. Once you have found a site that interests you, browse through it and examine other peoples’ profiles. Which ones look more interesting to you? I’ll bet it’ll be the ones that are . . . .
Complete. A blank space on a profile says ‘I can’t be bothered’, and that sends out the message that the member is not that serious about finding a partner.
The right length. Too short, and there’s nothing worth reading so the browser moves on. Too long and it becomes a chore to read it in its entirety and again the visitor chooses another to view.
Cheerful. Who wants to read about someone’s problems? Don’t list what you perceive to be your ‘bad’ points. What you think as defects might be attractive to another person. Stick to the things you and others find attractive in you.
Attention grabbing. Want to stand out from the crowd? Then make sure you upload at least one picture. It should clearly show your smiling face. Don’t use a picture that has obviously been spliced from a picture of you and your ex. Get a friend to take a good head and shoulders shot in good light, with you looking your best, and SMILE! You’d be amazed at the amount of people who upload a picture that shows a face that is either gloomy or fuzzy and out of focus.
It’s worth keeping a copy of your profile on your own computer for reference or in the event of a problem with the dating site. It’ll save having to type the whole thing out again, and you can copy and paste sections into other sites in the event that you join more than one dating site.
Also, update your profile if it’s appropriate to do so due to changes in your life, and log into the site on a regular basis so that other members can see that you are a live and active member and not some old, forgotten profile. Each time you log into a dating site you ‘timestamp’ your profile. So the administrators and the other members can see that you’re still participating.
Far too many people join dating sites and fall at the first hurdle simple because they don’t put a little bit of effort into completing their profiles, so make sure your profile is not passed over because it’s incomplete or because it makes a negative impact of the reader. Follow these tips and you’ll be increasing your chances of success with online dating by multiple factors.
There’s millions of daters online, so make sure your smiling face stands out in the crowd!
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