Meeting women online sounds like an easy prospect to most men - almost like shooting fish in a barrel, right? So you go online, set yourself up a profile, bang out a few emails to a couple hotties you see on the online dating site, and sit back and wait for the emails to start pouring in. You wait few minutes, and nothing happens. A few hours, ands till nothing. Oh, then tomorrow you may get the email from the "stranded girl in Nigeria who desperately needs YOUR help"….

You get the picture? It's not as simple as it looks to get a response from an email in an online dating environment. Why? Number one - dude - she is getting a LOT of emails, especially if she is attractive. Why should she pick yours? Number two - email is not a naturally expressive medium. You need to be able to dial up attraction using plain text and a few words - and I am betting you do not know how to do that. Number three - your email got buried in the pile under the last 200 that came in and she has not even gotten to it yet because you sent it at the wrong time.

So how does one overcome these obstacles in meeting women online?

First, you have got to know HOW to craft your email. Your goal in your email to the woman you want to date is to get her ATTENTION and spark a little ATTRACTION. You are not writing to her to sell yourself, to tell her how good you are, how perfect you are for her, how you match her profile or anything else. Grab her attention and let her come to YOU with the questions and the "buy me" attitude.

Here are two short and sweet examples of what I am talking about:

How are you? My name is Jim Jones and I thought your profile was great! I would like to get to know you better, so feel free to say hello. You have a great smile, too!

Or this:

Hey! Come and chat…It's as simple as that. You caught my attention. Most people on here come across as totally self-obsessed…you seem a little different…;)

Another key to getting a woman's attention is to be the first to get to her! Stay current on the additions to your chosen dating site, and as soon as you see a woman's profile pop on there, email her and start the process. Do not fall prey to attempting to respond to her profile in a way that demonstrates that YOU have what she is looking for, either. Women typically write sappy profiles about how they are looking for someone to "connect with on a deep level, take romantics walks with, fill that void in their life" etc. BUT - if you respond to her in that same sappy, drippy tone - you are NOT going to attract her. You, as a man, need to maintain the Cocky/Funny attitude of the alpha male in order to spark and then maintain attraction.

Keep in mind too, that the timing of your email matters. The very best time to send an email to a woman is on a Sunday, typically between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm. Why? Chances are, she went out on either Friday or Saturday night… maybe both. And chances are, she is either feeling discouraged because she met a bunch of loser guys she wasn't interested in… or feeling depressed because guys weren't hitting on her at all.

Also remember that she joined the dating site to MEET A MAN and when she logs on to her computer on Sunday, she's hoping to make up for her weekend by meeting a guy she actually likes.

And that, my friend, is where you come in. You will have your nice little attractive attention getting email waiting for her when she pops online and viola! It has begun! Remember, too, to get her phone number FAST - and take this from the virtual world to the real world as fast as you can. Virtual relationships are fun for a few days, but then you have to meet her to keep her interest and to avoid her making her mental picture of you too far fetched for you to ever fit (and vise-versa).