by Jessica Parker
The dating world can be a scary and intimidating place. So, why not do it from home? Online dating has grown in popularity over the years; there are currently over 5.5 million Americans using internet-dating services. According to Jupiter Research, a New York-based marketing research firm, the online personals industry will have doubled in value from $900 million in 2008 to over $1.9 billion in 2012. With over 10% of single Americans searching for love in cyberspace, it can be hard to make a profile that out-shines the rest. Let’s go over a few do’s and don’ts, so you can hit the ground running.
Once you decide on the dating site to use, you need to start building your profile. Try to be as honest as possible – you do not want to be caught in a lie later! Besides not lying, here are a few profile no-no’s that may make you seem…undesirable.
• Do not leave you profile blank! How are you supposed to find a potential mate if you don’t tell them anything about yourself?
• Do not fill out every section of your profile with obscure poetry. It’s wonderful that you like poetry, but you should use your profile to introduce yourself, not to stoke your literary ego. The best thing to do when creating your profile is again to be honest. Try to inject as much of your personality as possible into the descriptions.
• Add your own flair to the responses by voicing your own character quirks. Those quirks can make you so darn endearing!
• Try to make your answers funny and inviting. Remember, the goal is to attract as many views as possible to your profile.
• Add pictures! Profiles with photos collect twice as many views as those without.
Next up on the list of things to do when building your profile: answer those pesky questions! Most sites recommend answering at least fifty questions to get a good start on matching with other users. Just remember, the more you answer, the better your chances that you will be matched with a compatible person. Most sites have over 400 questions to answer, and you can do as many or as few as you like. After you answer 500 questions on Okcupid.com, you have the option of creating your own questions.
Now that you have your profile built and have answered a few of those questions, you are ready to start looking for Mr. or Ms. Right. Have fun with this, and remember to send out messages that are fun and inviting. Show the other person that you actually read their profile and have a genuine interest in a possible relationship. Avoid sending messages that just say, “How’s it going?” or “You’re cute,” as they will not garner many responses.
Now that you have the do’s and don’ts down, it’s time to log on and meet that special someone! Have fun!
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