Success in online dating depends totally on how you project yourself in that little personal ad you put on a dating site. What you put in that personal profile can be the difference between having dates beating a path to your door, or nothing but tumble weed blowing through your online dating life. Do not under estimate the importance of your personal profile or just ?throw something up? and hope for the best.



How many times have you shied away from hitching on to a dating site only because you didn't think writing personals ads was your forte? A whole lot of people are dissatisfied with the way they wrote their ad and they may not be entirely wrong in feeling that way.

Your personal profile (or personal ad) is the most important part of your online dating experience because it is your advertisement and your sales pitch! It is that little ad that is going to be the first thing noticed by other singles. So the better you write your ads the higher is the possibility of getting more singles interested in you. You want it to be unique and you want it to have the bling factor! Let the net in shining amour bring you your dream date with these eleven top tips!

1) Know Thyself

A lot of people get stuck or get a bit of writers block trying to write their own personal profiles. It can be a daunting task to write an add about yourself that is intended to attract your dream date! Here is a helpful tip for you; Ask your closest family and friends about how they see you. You want them to be honest but you also want them to focus on your positive qualities that would be attractive to your potential mate. Really listen to them because how we see ourselves is often not how others see us. Their perception of you is valuable information, because they know you better than anyone! You may find that you thought you were a great dancer and your friends may all mention in their description of you that you dance like a scared octopus. Then again they may say your charming and have a great sense of humor when you just thought you were childish and loud! Listen and use this great information in your personals

2) Create a unique and descriptive username

Many people skip through this bit giving it no importance at all but your user-name is the first hint at what kind of person you are. It needs to be original, memorable, and try to get across a hint of who you are in just a handful of letters.

What you do not want to do is use clich's or sound desperate for a date. (I recently saw (honeyimhome) and (Icouldbetheone) which both sound pretty desperate to me and also (aloneinLA) which is an instant turn off! As well, you don't want to write meaningless usernames like (CK1923)

None of these examples tell you anything about the person at all and this is what 70 ? 80% of usernames are like. Browse through any dating site and you'll see it's true.

You want to describe a little piece of who you are in your user-name so think of things like your personality type, hobbies or interests and those kinds of things. Be positive and go ahead and flatter yourself and write about your great qualities.

Here are some examples of great usernames I have seen around?There is CoastalBoyRacer ? This is a guy who lives by the beach and is passionate about racing cars

Zest4life ? This is a woman who is very adventurous and outgoing and it describes her well.

EasyGoingCowboy ? This is a guy who lives in the country, loves everything country, drives a ute and just loves to have fun.

So you can start to see how you can use your username to start to paint the picture of who you are. Give yourself time: think of a name before sitting down to complete your profile. Try not to use numbers or unoriginal cheesy stuff

3) Tips for creating your description of yourself

You really have to approach writing this as if you were writing a resume or a marketing piece. It's a sales pitch to a potential mate. Great ads are the ones that grab eyeballs and push people into action. A great advertisement should be a like a personalized invitation asking others to get in touch. Stand out by being creative in your personal profile. Instead of doing the regular age and vital stats thingy, use personalized exiting copy telling people why they should want to date you.

Don't be afraid to tell all the great things about you. You're aloud to flatter yourself. Confidence is one of the most attractive traits you can portray in your writing. That being said, keep the next point in mind?

4) Be honest

Make sure you resist the urge to embellish the truth too much when writing your online personals profile. There's really no need and it only makes things complicated later. There are plenty of fish in the online dating sea and you have got a great chance of meeting someone who's attracted to the real you. Of course, there's no need to tell your darkest secrets ? just keep it real. The last thing you want is to have to worry about all the lies you've spun when you're on the dates you've scored. This is a trap many people fall into. Don't let it happen to you.

5) Write a compelling headline

Along with your picture and your username, this is what people view when browsing dating sites so it's your chance to get them to open your full profile and find out more about you. Your headline should compel people to read on and find out more.

Don't be shy about being there and write - ?I'm new to this sort of thing? - and don't write boring or uninteresting information like ?My name's Jan, I'm 40 and am looking for love in NSW? This isn't compelling. It's boring and will most likely be overlooked by your dream date. Again, like with your username, think of getting positive things about who you are across to the reader. What are you passionate about? What are your attractive personality traits? Hobbies? Who are you in a nutshell? Even things like your favorite book or movie can work to say a lot about who you are. Make it intriguing if you can. You want the headline to tempt people to read more. Take your time and have fun with it!

Jan (from above example) is actually a beach addict so she should try writing more about herself. Maybe something like ?Friendly fun loving surfer gal, always up for an adventure? that wasn't so hard was it?

Browse through dating sites and check out what other people are writing for their headlines to give you some ideas of what works and what sux.

6) Know what you want

What are you looking for in an online dating? There are people out there looking for one night stands, fun casual dating or a life partner. Be specific and let them know what you're after. Do you want to meet someone for long chats curled up on the couch, and romantic dinners by candlelight, or would you rather find someone that likes skydiving and camping? Make sure get across in your ad what you are looking for in a person. So if you're not into partying in clubs or nude scuba diving, then don't write it just so you can try and impress the other person. It will come back to bite you on the bum later!

7) Have the right photo (And yes you must have a photo)

It vitally important to have a good quality photo if you're serious about online dating. Statistics show that it will increase your click through rate anywhere from 20% up to 45%. You must have a good photo. Now when I say ?good photo? it doesn't mean you have to look like a rock star. It means it clear and good sized picture of your face. You want to look friendly so please smile. Another thing?.don't pick your favorite picture of you if it isn't a realistic portrayal of how you look day to day (you know what I mean, we all have them)

Remember, you are dating and may meet these people in person later so you want them to have a realistic portrayal of your looks. Oh and don't use one where your ex has been cut out but you can still see their arm around you!

8) Make your meaning clear

Be aware that 75% of communication is lost when all we have is words. People cannot hear your tone of voice or see your body language so sometimes it's hard to get across your meaning in words alone. Be especially weary of using humor or things like clever lines out of movies, that sort of thing. What may sound funny to you as your writing it may actually sound completely crazy or even offensive when read by someone else later. I have seen people make this mistake a lot in internet dating and its one of the biggest mistakes. If you must do it, please get a friend or family member to read over it before you submit it to give you a second opinion.

9) Check out the competition

Have browse around dating sites and see what kind of things grab your attention and make you enticed to read more, and what kinds of things just don't work or turn you off. Let some people be an example for you and some people be a warning what to steer clear of. Those which usually stand out are original, personal, and direct. Take a look at others and then apply that to your own personal profile. What can you say about yourself in a single sentence which makes you irresistible to a potential partner?

10) Spelling

It is obvious but it needs to be said. Make sure you give your personals a check over before submission for spelling and grammar. People do notice and it can be a real turn off.

11) Avoid clich's and corny lines

And lastly, please avoid clich's and corny lovey dove talk in your personals. This is a big warning to you all because it is surely the number one turn off. There is nothing original or interesting about writing things like. ?Are you the woman I have been waiting all my life for?? or ?looking for love online? Maybe I could be the one?. It doesn't tell anything fun or interesting about you and frankly, it only makes you sound a bit desperate.

If your on an internet dating website already everyone knows your there looking to date so avoid the temptation to write things like the above. Your ad should be all about you. It should be a fun and punchy piece of writing that is original and fresh. Just let it come from the heart.