Things You Should Know To Build A Successful Online Dating Profile
So you’ve decided to join one of the online dating services. Great! Lots of people today use the opportunities of online dating to find their half.
Well, if the theatre begins with a hanger, than online dating begins with a profile. With your profile. I mean, you can of course just surf other people’s profile and write to them without telling much about yourself in you own profile.
Your profile is an extremely (if not the most) important thing in online dating. Here I’ll give some advice on how to create an effective profile making your message inbox to burst with incoming messages.
Hardly anybody would be interested in a person who didn’t even try to write anything about what kind of person he is and it’s always more fun to receive messages with offers to meet and get acquainted. So let’s get started writing a successful online dating service profile that will attract attention!
1. Maybe the most important thing is being honest. Do not lie about your most obvious features: weight, height, social status, hair color and so on. The only feeling a person feels when he realizes he’d just been deceived is aggravation. You would want to count on any kind of continuation of communication.
2. Create a creative screen name. Maybe something about your personality will do or something about interests. Choose something that describes you in a best way.
3. While creating your screen name the main thing is to avoid being usual and boring. Be unique! How many “You may be the one I’m looking for” and “Looking to meet new people” you’ve seen? Use bright and ingenious words that are descriptive.
4. Don’t be afraid to stand out against the rest. Many people tend not to stand out in any way. Well, in internet it is unacceptable. Simply Nobody will notice you. Like Tchaikovsky, play blues, collecting coins? Tell about it! And besides you will surely find people with the same interests as you.
5. Describe yourself not just fully but also correctly. In the end, you are looking for a person that really matches you in all ways, not with fake interests and traits of character that you made up.
6. Don’t try to make up a perfect person which you want to seem. In a long-term period you simply won’t be capable to act all the time. Just be your best self.
7. Try to change you header message and photo often. Don’t be afraid to experiment. This will keep your profile fresh and keep people interested in you.
8. Don’t be negative in any way! Nobody wants to chat with a person who always has troubles at work, who thinks that life sucks, who is always disappointed. Instead be positive! Remember that being positive and fun is like a magnet.
Tips to date with confidence
Thousands of men and women enjoy the services of an online dating provider. Thankfully many end up in the “Happily Ever After” category, some the “No way“, and unfortunately, some in the “Tragic mistakes“. It is no secret that there are identity thief’s and sexual predators lurking on the Internet. Well, let them lurk. I’m going to give you some pointers on how NOT to become any body’s victim.
I first mentioned the Identity thief, why is this so important? Glad you ask. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) released a report last year that stated in 2005, over 8.3 million Americans had their identity stolen. All it takes is your name, your Social Security Number, or date of birth for them to make your life miserable. Often the thief will sell your information to the highest bidder now many perpetrators can make your life miserable. Therefore, in your dating profile, do not put your real name (make up a catchy nickname) do not include any personal information such as your date of birth (including your “Sign“). Leave out your address (the state is O.K) or where you work. Beware of innocent leading questions such as, “I really want to know your birthday so I can send you a card or flowers.” Your personal information is no body’s business. Most (if not all ) of the dating provider web sites has a place to report abuse. Contact them if your feel you are being pressured to give out personal information.
If you decide to meet someone that you have been communicating with, arrange to meet him (or her) in a public place that you feel comfortable and safe being in. Always provide your own transportation to the date site. This puts you in charge of when you leave, and if this date is falling on the “NO WAY” category, this is a good thing. It goes without saying, do not get into this person’s vehicle or agree to go to their home until after you have gotten to know this person very well.
Tell a family member or a friend of the date arrangements (date, time, place). Ask them to call your cell (or send a text) 45 minuets to an hour after you are to meet this person. This is not only for safety reasons but can give you an excuse to end the date early if you so choose.
Getting a “pre-date” background check done before the date, just to make sure this person is not a criminal or a sexual predator, maybe a good idea. You can find dozens of “information vendor” sites on the Internet, but you must be careful, there are laws that apply to what you can and cannot access when checking into someones background. To avoid the tables being turned against you, I suggest using a licensed private investigator or a licensed background screening company. I will leave it to you to decide what techniques you use to get the information you need to do a “pre-date” check, but being honest is probably the best.
Gentlemen, while your guys probably will not fall victim to a sexual predator, you can have your identity stolen very easly if you are not careful. When ever possible use cash when paying for dinner or drinks( and no it is not a good idea for your to flash a wad of bills around to impress your date) If you must use a credit card, you hand it to the waiter, you sign the receipt, and you accept the approved copy for your records..don’t leave this priceless bit of information laying around for just anybody to copy. Remember a identity thief only needs one of the following: your date of birth, your name, or your social security number and your identity belongs to someone else.
Searching the internet to find someone who you can enjoy a relationship with is fun and exciting, and if you follow these easy steps and use your good common sence, you will have lots of excitement.
About the author:
Sandy is a retired police detective from the Metro-Atlanta area. She is not a licensed private investigator and owns her own agency that specializes in background checks for many occasions.
Dating Service Demographics Research
Who visits those dating sites? Who buys their services? I used to ask these questions browsing through thousands of profiles. It is not that easy to draw some common dating service persona profile.
But once you are a member of a few popular online dating services – you can give a try. Well, at that point I guess one does not need any research for an average online dating service visitor/ client profile. Or need it?
A rough sketch of an average dating service customer:
FEMALE AGED 30-45
MALE AGED 30-45
Female vs. male ratio: 60% vs. 40%.
There are some nice online tools that will help us to check it if I am right or wrong. Certainly, these are not 100% exact research results, but much better than nothing.
One can get idea who visits general dating services and who frequents religious or gay/ lesbian services. We will apply Quantcast & MSN AdLab Demographic Prediction tool. It is god to compare data that we will get from these tools – will they be similar? Let’s see.
I will check a number of services reviewed at this website and you can go on if you find this research interesting and, most importantly, useful:
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Dating Service |
Quantcast |
MSN AdLab Demographic Prediction |
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US traffic: 651.5K Males: 55% Females: 45% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
Males: 56% Females: 44% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
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US traffic: 7.8M Males: 57% Females: 43% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
Males: 47% Females: 53% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
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US traffic: 302.9K Males: 43% Females: 57% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
Males: 40% Females: 60% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
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US traffic: 657.2K Males: 47% Females: 53% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
Males: 43% Females: 57% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
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US traffic: 550.0K Males: 41% Females: 59% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
Males: 35% Females: 65% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
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US traffic: 7.5M Males: 45% Females: 55% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
Males: 44% Females: 56% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
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US traffic: 998.0K Males: 82% Females: 18% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
Males: 86% Females: 14% Popular Age Group: 35-49 |
Well, I was quite right about age, but mistaken about male vs. female ratio in certain cases. And it is a surprise that some dating services (see AmericanSingles) can boast of large male customer bases (I do not speak of Gay.com)
Another surprise – most data that come from two tools are nearly identical – and we can accept this as a sign that these tools are reliable sources for research and competitive intelligence.
You can certainly use these tools for much deeper research – for examining dating services or other sites. Quantcast provides heaps of valuable data to analyze:
- Traffic
- Demographic
- Business
- Lifestyle
- Geographic
Nice charts, cool interface and all FREE. I really enjoy this service and I think you will find it useful also.