Craigslist Personals Tips for Men

Using Craigslist's personals section to get dates seems easy enough. One look at the men's section, however, makes it painfully obvious that a lot of men need some tips to be successful at meeting women. If you don't know what to say or do to make a date or casual encounter on Craigslist, the following tips will help you get started.

Be Honest

Be upfront and clear about what you're looking for. Don't be afraid to post that you're looking for short term encounters or long term dating if that's what you want. There are women who look for both. If you are married, mention that upfront but don't go into a long justifying explanation. Whether or not a woman finds that acceptable, you'll have more success if you let her know upfront.

Saying that you're looking for someone who is fit and active is fine, but avoid putting height and weight requirements in your listing. Seeming too focused on stats is a huge turn off for women. If a woman who you aren't physically attracted to responds, you can always decline politely.

Also, be aware that the phrase "height-weight proportionate" or HWP is not only a vague and subjective term, but it will turn off many women who are in great shape. Consider how many women have insecurities about their body - someone might think that her curves are too ample while you think they are fantastic.

Be Original and Creative

Use good grammar, but write in a conversational tone. Actually, this may be the single best piece of advice for men using Craiglists's personals section. Don't use text speak like "ur" for "your" and "2" for "too". Some women don't care, but you'll turn off a lot of women who do. And avoid the temptation to just list a series of facts about yourself and what you're looking for. It's efficient but boring.

Take the time to write a little about yourself, your interests (even if you think they're lame, someone else might not), and why you'd be fun to hang out with. Don't be just another guy looking for a girl. Convey some personality and tell her why she should contact you. Run anything you write through a spellchecker and proofread before hitting send.

Post a Good Picture

You will get more replies if you post a picture of yourself (not your dog, car, or avatar) in your ad, or have one to send in reply to someone. You can use graphics software to crop or obscure your face if you don't want to show it online.

Good pictures are those that show you clearly and without anyone else in the shot. Keep your shirt on and take your sunglasses off. The picture shouldn't be blurry or show you so far from the camera that details get lost.

To protect your privacy, don't post a picture that you have ever used anywhere else. Some image search engines make it possible to look up where else a given picture is available online. Your privacy will be at risk if you have the same picture available in a public profile or photo album. Merely removing the picture from your public album won't always scrub search results either, as it can remain in a search engine's cache for weeks or months.

Don't post or send an overtly sexual picture (unless you don't mind your boss and family seeing it) even if you are posting in casual encounters. Also, women, even those in Casual Encounters, are surprisingly less concerned with a man's genitalia than most men realize. Save those pics for a time when she asks.

Target Your Posting

Use keywords that people might be looking for, especially in the title. Think about what makes you unique. Terms like geek, athletic, transgendered or kink can help women who are looking for you find your post. Be specific about the part of town you live in, and mention nearby suburbs. You're more likely to put time into getting to know someone nearby, and so will the women looking at your post.

Time Your Post and Put in the Time

One of the best tips for success at using Cragislist's personals section is to post at a time when your ad is most likely to get viewed. The best times are early evening to late night. And don't post and run. If you post an attractive ad at the right time you should start getting replies within a few hours.

But don't give up if you don't get the replies that you hoped for right away. Try posting again the next day, or even just a few hours later, with a different email address and different text. Craigslist won't let you post several ads in the same time period, and it can detect if an ad is too similar to one that's been posted recently. Keep replying to ads and try different versions of your own.

Protect Your Privacy

One of the wonderful things about Craigslist personals is the variety of people you will meet. This is also one of the downsides. Crazy comes in all forms, and it might not be obvious at first, so take a few steps to protect your privacy.

First, set up a dedicated email just for corresponding and leave off your last name. This will also keep your main account free of spam. Then, get a free forwarding number from Google Voice or a similar service and use it when you're ready to exchange numbers with someone.

Also, don't give out your social networking profiles or your instant messaging screen names right away. If you plan to chat online, create a screen name especially for chatting with potential dates.

Don't Waste Time With Scams

Craigslist's personals section is a popular place for scammers. Replies from people asking you to sign up to a website to view their pics, unless it's a well-known social networking site, are almost always spam. Legitimate networking or dating sites do not ask for a credit card before you can view a person's profile. Even if some of these are legit, there are plenty of free dating sites where you don't have to give credit card information.

Recognize ads that are probably fake by their lack of detail and similarity to other ads. And if it sounds too good to be true, remember that it probably is.