Online Dating: What Makes a Good Profile?

Online dating starts with the creation of your profile. This is one of the most important steps to take when beginning online dating. It requires some soul searching as well as some creativity. If using a popular mainstream dating service your profile will most likely include: a username, headline, a section about you in your own words, a section about who you are looking for in a mate, a check box area of likes/dislikes/demographics, etc., and a photo area. Smaller singles sites often don't have as many facets to a profile.

Instead of logging into a dating site and composing the profile there, I would recommend thinking about and actually getting most of your profile ready before going to the site. That will give you more time to really put some thought into it and revise and perfect it before posting online.

Best describe yourself in a way that will allow a potential date a personal glimpse at seeing who you really are. Your profile tells the world what qualities you have that make you special, the qualities that make you...you! This online dating venue is so huge that you can be honest about who you are and who you are looking for. There are limitless potential opportunities to date men who also desire the same traits or qualities that you do.

I didn't put a lot of thought into my first profile except to complain, "Man, they sure want a lot of information". I quickly just plugged in the spaces, found a photo and threw it all together. I was kind of disappointed that after all that typing the profile didn't even get posed immediately. The powers that be on Yahoo! Personals have to review it to make sure you don't put anything inappropriate in it or link it to your personal email address thereby getting around actually paying for the service. After twenty-four hours when I opened my account and saw I actually had twenty-some emails and or winks (demonstrating interest) I had to admit my heart did a jump. I liked this attention and thought,

"Hmm, this might be fun". I wasn't smart enough to realize at the time that my nine-year-old photo (a big no-no on personals) and my first bumbling attempt at a profile sent out a raw message of "fresh meat."

I deleted my first profile long ago but it read a little something like this:

About Me

[I have not dated at all in over 7 years after a bad relationship. I have two children, a son and a daughter.
I like to have fun and go new places. I have many hobbies that I enjoy. I work part-time and go to
school fulltime. I am interested in a long-term relationship and I am just wanting to have some fun.]

While my first profile I posted got me lots of replies from all kinds of men, my current profile has gotten me less responses but from men with more of the traits I'm interested in. I get very few emails from players and more emails from men who are serious about dating. In creating your own profile you can avoid many of the mistakes others and I have made.