I guess I could call myself an online dating site conisuer. I have profiles everywhere: Jazzed, Okcupid, eharmony, zoosk, chemistry.com, plentyoffish, ect. With that being said, I see a lot of bad etiquette as I scan through a potential mate's profile.
Women especially have a certain criteria that they look for before sending the man a message. Each list is different but it might look a little like this:
*Picture (Is he cute?)
*Age (Too young or Too old)
*Smoke (Yes or no)
*Drink (Yes, socially, rarely, no)
*Height (Tall or short)
After the list has been met, she proceeds to read the "About me" portion. She asks herself: Is he outgoing? Does he have a job? Is he making something of himself? Could I see myself dating him?
Pretty easy right? WRONG! There are some red flags when it comes to searching profiles for a mate. Here are the top __
PICTURES
A profile picture is everything on a dating site. Is it clear? Who's in it? What's in the background? Does it display what you look like now?
All too often do I see guys pictured with kids and it may not be their child. Most sites give you the opportunity to write a caption simply say me an my niece/nephew or whoever it is. If you don't have kids, try posting pictures of just you. If you're single look single. If i go across your page and I see you pictured with a girl, I'm going to automatically think she's more than just your friend. This is a dating site not Facebook. Women connect stories to pictures. Some will give you a chance to tell her who it is in your picture but others will just pass you by.
Blurry pictures don't say anything except "I am a real person". She can't tell if you two fit because she's looking at a blur. She needs to capture your face so she can set you apart from the other guys sending her messages.
Check your background. Is there an instrument in there? I can't speak for other women but men dressed up and men with instruments in their picture usually get messages because talented and sharp dressed men are my for sure weakness. So look around you before you snap the picture. Is the toilet back there? Crop that out. Is your messy room showing? Block that out. Tell your story through your picture.
PROFILE
Advertise yourself. If you sound boring in your profile then you might not get as many messages as you could be getting if you let your interests shine a little bit.
Don't contrast yourself. If your profile says that you don't smoke but when I look through your pictures and you're smoking, that tells me that you lie.
Don't over do it to make yourself sound great. If you're jobless and broke, don't put Mr. MoneyMaker as your username because you're not. You're online to find someone to be with which means eventually you will meet that person which means eventually they will find out that you're jobless and broke.
Put in your profile what you want. If you prefer a certain type let it be known because potential daters are going to read it and automatically compare it to them. I'm not going to message you if you say you prefer skinny girls, I'm going to respect that and move on. You know what you want so let it be known.
MESSAGES
Nobody likes being ignored. So if someone messages you and you answer and they message you back and you don't answer, that becomes a problem. They're going to be waiting for your message and you're not going to send one and that's just rude. If you know you would not like to talk to them don't message back at all and they will get the picture.
Follow these guidelines and you should have a nice online dating profile on your hands.
