Do yourself a favor and don't make the same mistakes I made.



Mistake Number One: The Competition Ignored Three-fourths of the women in my zip code have a picture of themselves at a baseball game. If I hadn't gone weeks without looking at other women's profiles, it would've occurred to me sooner that I should one-up my competition and post a picture of myself playing the game. It's important to compare yourself to the competition.

Mistake Number Two: Never Changing Your Photo The first two times I was on Match I used the same photo. The third time I signed-up I searched men under 35 and found a guy I had seen on the first-go-round. Although I really liked him, I quickly changed my mind about writing him because his profile was exactly the same. I picked a new photo for myself and changed my profile a little every couple of weeks. I did this so guys who may have passed by me once, wouldn't pass by me again.

Mistake Number Three: Upload the Wrong Photo It's safe to assume that we've all been in relationships before, or have a friend of the opposite sex that likes to hug or hang on us. Avoid photos with other people or photos where it's obvious someone has been cut out.

I think that pictures with puppies and babies are cheap. Nice try.

And then, of course, are the photos of you in your bathing suit. It's great that you're hot and want to tell someone, but keep it classy.

Mistake Number Four: Novel Writing To let him or her know you're interested it's ok to write a novel in your second, third or fourth e-mail, but the written portions of your e-mail should never be too long. The 580 words describing your ideal date is too much for our attention spans.

Mistake Number Five: Putting on a Broken Record An important aspect of your online profile is to make yourself sound unique-even if it is difficult to do. Phrases like "My friends say that I'm" or "I'm laid back" are clich. Instead, focus on your distinctive attributes like the fact that your eyes change from hazel to green depending on what you wear.

Mistake Number Six: Wire Your Heart on Your Sleeve Keep your heartbreak to yourself-no one cares that you are getting over someone or that you've been hurt before. Your suitors will be scared away if you say things like: "After a horrible break-up, I'm looking to have fun" or "After so many Mr. Wrongs, I'm looking for Mr. Right." No one wants to get involved with someone new who obviously has baggage.

Mistake Number Seven: No Second Opinion For a small fee, a profile writing service can help you write your profile. If that's not an option you should definitely ask a friend to review what you've written because, let's be honest, it's hard to write about yourself.

Online dating shouldn't be hard and isn't scary. Like all types of dating, with the right expectations and attitude-the outcome will only be positive.