How to Get Dates Online

By Melanie on April 19th, 2011

When the online dating industry was in its infancy, the general opinion was that online dating was for “losers” or people who had failed to get mates in the accepted, traditional way. One can never know whether online dating was really for losers in the past, but today, it is just not true. Online dating is for anybody looking for a serious, long-lasting relationship with someone special. What’s more, online dating has several advantages over traditional dating in that it is safer, anonymous, cost effective, and more interesting. Singles dating online have at their disposal a wide range of research-based dating tools such as compatibility tests and personality tests, enabling them to find their special someone easily and quickly.

Simultaneously, it isn’t as easy and as magical as it sounds. You cannot expect to just register at an online dating service and find your special someone in a matter of minutes. Online dating requires patience and effort. According to an OkCupid.com study, singles’ chances of getting responses to their messages is only 32 percent, which means that finding a date online is not a magical pill. This is still real life, you may still face rejection, but by the numbers, you will have a much easier time finding potential matches.

In addition, Facebook and Myspace have prepped people to interact online. This has broadened the appeal of online dating as being a socially accepted way to meet your partner. As a result, singles dating sites continue to rise in popularity, which means more and more possible matches.

Choose Singles Dating Sites That Are Right For You

If you are determined to try online dating to find your special someone, choose your online dating service carefully. The Internet is literally bursting at the seams with online matchmaking, relationship, and dating services such as Match.com, FriendFinder.com, Chemistry.com, eHarmony.com, Yahoo! Personals, OkCupid.com, and others.

Some of the online dating services are 100 percent free, some of partially free, and some are 100 percent paid. Choose an online dating site after researching it well and based on how much you can afford to shell out for online dating services. You should also choose your dating site depending on what you want. For instance, if you are a single parent with kids looking for another single parent with kids, you will stand a better chance of finding potential partners at dating sites created exclusively for single parents such as SingleParentMeet.com.

We have taken a lot of the work out of it with our online dating site reviews to help you choose which singles dating sites is best for you.

Create an Effective Profile

Your profile speaks volumes about you; so invest some time in creating an effective profile. If you want more people to get interested in you, you must ensure that you profile stands apart from the sea of profiles at the online dating service. When creating an online dating profile, be honest and truthful, but do not reveal any contact details. Be specific about what you are looking for to avoid getting unwanted attention.

Picture Perfect

The worst mistake a single can make when creating an online dating profile is failing to attach a photo or worse still, post the wrong photo. When people visit your profile page, the first thing they notice is your photo; so you have to pay special attention to it. The photo you choose for your online dating profile should be a photo that best represents you. Preferably, you should be dressed in your best clothes and smiling at the camera. The photo should show your head and shoulders clearly and should not be dark, cloudy, or blurred. Moreover, it should be the latest photo of you, and the viewer should be able to make out your facial features perfectly. More profile picture tips.

This may sound obvious to most, but do NOT post a misleading picture, especially a picture of someone else. Posting the right photos is of paramount importance if you don’t want your first date with an online contact to turn out into a disaster. Singles hunting for potential partners online invest a lot of time and effort, and you don’t want your potential date to turn away from you when he/she realizes that your photo doesn’t match the real you.

We recommend at least one standard picture that someone could easily identify you from, the rest can be anything, pictures from vacations, candid shots with friends, etc. Be sure to choose pictures that show your personality and best represent who you are as an individual.

Initiate Communication

Once you have found a profile that interests you, do not hesitate to initiate communication. Throw out the old dating rule book, women don’t have to wait for a man to contact them; they can get in touch with a man who interests them first. That is perfectly OK.

Don’t contact someone and suggest a date on the first contact. Even though you may meet a perfect stranger in the store, library or club and ask for a first date. You don’t have to do that with online dating. You can ‘court’ a potential partner and get to know them a little bit before you actually secure the first date. We suggest this for the serious dater.

You can use emails, instant messages, video chat, flowers, pokes, smiles, flirts, and any other tool your online dating service might provide to communicate with the one who interests you and get to know him/her better. When you feel that you can trust the person, suggest a date.

Date Safely

Just as with any new person you meet. You cannot trust a potential partner you met online even if you feel that there is some chemistry between you. After all, you still don’t really “know” them. If you have no common contacts, friends, co-workers, etc. You have to remember, they are still a ‘stranger’ until you know more about them. This shouldn’t scare you, but just be smart and use common sense. Follow all the rules of safe dating when you go on your first date with your potential partner. Arrange your first date at a public place, keep your mobile phone with you, and inform friends and family members that you are going out on a date. It’s better to keep the first date fairly casual. Lunch dates work really well as first dates. They are less pressure than an evening date, because they tend to be less formal and they create for a much more casual atmosphere.

Be Yourself and Have Fun

Be sure to be yourself, this just doesn’t just apply to first dates, but anytime. There is only one of you in the world and there is no one better at being you than you. Don’t pretend to be something you are not. That will only make for a difficult situation and disappointment later in life. Even if you are an extremely unique person who may not ‘match’ with a lot of people, don’t compromise who you are just to get someone to like you. Be sure to show genuine interest in your date and if they are a worthwhile partner, they will show interest in return.