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Supposedly they'd separated very recently, but he was still living in their house and she very much thought their relationship was intact. No doubt you have a terrible dating story or many stories of your own. Ultimately, I decided that was ridiculous. If I was looking for someone to spend the rest of my life with, why wouldn't I be as choosy as possible? So I began a month-long experiment, analysing the profiles of popular online daters and their behaviour on dating sites. What I discovered surprised me, to say the least. It also led me to my husband. Here are my top 10 tips for online dating based on my experience.
Develop a strategy before you begin. What, exactly, are you looking for? Create a shopping list and be as specific as possible. Rather than saying "someone who wants kids", get granular. Say that you want someone who wants two kids, about three years apart and is willing to go through fertility treatments with you should pregnancy become a problem.
Part of making your list is defining what you want. Once you've thought of all the traits you want in a mate, prioritise them.
Think about the characteristics in the context of previous relationships, your friends and your family. Develop a scoring system.
Decide the lowest number of points you'll accept in order to go out on a date with someone. This is basically developing a handcrafted algorithm, just for yourself. Pick a few websites to use. People who use Tinder tend not to be looking for long-term relationships. It's OK to use two or three sites at a time.
Bear in mind that you'll want most of the features activated, and that some sites can be expensive. For the most part, dating sites aren't doing anything particularly mysterious. Sites mostly create taxonomies and match users based on their answers. In some cases, sites look at the gap between users' answers and their behaviours. For example, you might say that you prefer a very tall man with dark hair who is religious, but mainly click on profiles for shorter atheists. The algorithm in that case would try to match you according to your behaviour.
But maybe you're clicking on all of the profiles, even those that don't match your preferences, or sitting next to your sister, and she's also looking for a boyfriend — one who's short and blond. In that case, the algorithm won't work either. It's best to treat dating sites as giant databases for you to explore. Long profiles typically didn't fare well in my experiment.
I think that for thoughtful women, or women who are quite smart, there's a tendency to give more of a bio. Popular profiles were shorter and intriguing. Ever wondered why Upworthy and Buzzfeed are so popular? It's because they're masters of the "curiosity gap".
There are lots of quality singles online. If you hope to meet one of them, speak to them, not the masses! Imagine that your ideal partner is going to read your profile. How will he or she recognize you as their perfect match? Give a snapshot of who you are, how you live your life and the relationship you are seeking.
Your profile should start out by describing your most prominent and positive character traits. Choose 3 or 4 adjectives that best describe your personality.
Is the number one destination for online dating with more relationships than any other dating or personals site. Find single man in the US with footing. Looking. These people claim to have joined said dating site on a lark (“my friend suggested it and I figured why not?”). These behaviors suggest this.
If you're at a loss, ask your friends for help describing you. How would they describe you to someone they were setting you up with? Be sure to also include what you care about. Don't use the crutch of describing your job and moving on.
It's not a resume, and your job should get little focus. If you love your job, say so.
But more importantly, what are you passionate about? Do you care most about making music? Winning a pro surfing competition or rescuing stray dogs? If you care about learning new languages and taking trips to test your skills, say so! The right people are going to think that's awesome. Lastly, be honest about what you are seeking. Don't hedge and downplay you desire to be in a committed relationship, or your desire for the opposite! Remember - you want to attract the people who are looking for what you are looking for. If you want a relationship, say so!
I can't emphasize this enough. Please be sure to say who you want to meet in your profile, without sounding overly specific as to their characteristics. Avoid listing your ideal partner's hobbies, height, body type, education and interests. When you focus on character, you are being specific as to your values, which will resonate with like-minded people. If you focus on characteristics you risk sounding superficial, rigid, or overly picky. These are not attractive qualities!
For example, rather than specifying the characteristic of "having a fit body," you should state the character trait of "active" or "valuing health and fitness. The former excludes people who don't want someone who is overly concerned with appearances even if they themselves are fit , and the latter includes those fit people who care about more than the superficial.
Remember - you have already started your profile by saying who you are and what you're into - if someone is still reading, they're already intrigued by you and what you care about. If you really want to meet someone who loves sailing because sailing is your passion, that person who also loves sailing is already hooked as soon as they read that sailing is your passion! If they hate sailing, hate the water and hate sailors, they're already gone. When you are writing about who you are and how your live your life, be sure to show the reader what that looks like in action. You are trying to attract the right people to you, and to do that you need to be specific.
For example, many people say in their profiles they like to travel. Don't assume that the reader is going to know which of these you'd be into! Talk about your favorite travel destinations, your dream vacation or the best trip you ever took - the person who loves your kind of travel - or is intrigued by it - will take note! Rather than saying "I love to have fun" say "I love having fun - my ideal weekend includes bowling, a Netflix binge and a pancake brunch.
If one of your defining values is loyalty, show what that looks like in your life. When you are in love, are you your partner's biggest cheerleader? Have you stood by your beloved losing baseball team? Or your childhood best friends? Look to your life for actual examples! The added bonus of specificity is it gives people who want to reach out to you a "hook" to mention in a message to you.