So you’ve finally decided to make the leap into online dating. You have just chosen a handle and confirmed your email address. Now you are faced with the hard part: writing an online profile. What do you say and how do you say it? Should you paint the perfect picture of yourself or should you be totally honest in your presentation? How should you “sound?” Should you be funny or serious?
Writing an online profile may seem like tricky business, but if you follow these five tips to writing a successful online profile you will be on your way to a great start!
Honesty is the main ingredient to creating a successful online dating profile. For example, if you smoke cigarettes but plan on quitting, don’t mark yourself down as a nonsmoker. Instead, list yourself as a smoker and note in your profile that you are working on giving up the habit. This will prevent any let downs or surprises when it comes time to meeting someone face-to-face.
People enjoy seeing what a person looks like so use a recent photo of yourself. Don’t use a photo from your high school graduation ten years ago. It gives the viewer the impression that you are hiding your identity or that you are ashamed of the way you look today.
Also, avoid photographs of body parts. Many people, especially women, enjoy seeing a picture of a person’s face rather than a bicep or an eyeball.
Keep your past misfortunes out of your profile. Everyone has had either a bad dating experience or a disastrous marriage. Your potential mates don’t want to hear about your past troubles. They want to find out what good qualities you can bring into a relationship.
I know this one is a groaner for many people, but if someone can’t understand what you are seeking in a date, they aren’t going to respond. Write your profile in a word processing program and run the spell checker. Reread the profile out loud. Does it sound smooth? Does everything make sense?
There’s nothing to be ashamed of if you are using an online dating service because almost everyone who has access to the Internet has checked out, signed up, or is thinking of signing up to an online dating service. If you’re worried about someone you know seeing your profile, just remember that that person is also using the service to look for someone or to post his or her own profile.