You Had Me at Hello? The First Sentence of Your Online Dating Profile

What does the first sentence of your online dating profile say about you? The first impression only happens once, and your first sentence is the first thing someone learns about your personality.

What you say and how you say it can determine if someone stays on your profile or clicks to find someone else.

When I’m playing tennis, I often think about the quote, “It’s better to be lucky than good.”

I say it when I make some bizarre shot or motion or even a mistake that creates an unbelievable angle, spin or position.

I never could have replicated those shots with any conscious effort — they just happen. I get lucky.

And I’ll say to myself, “Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good,” because ultimately those freak shots help me get points.

I have my own version of that quote for online dating I’d like to apply now:

For writing the first sentence of your online dating profile, this could not be truer.

It’s no secret people who are funny get passes for everything in life and online. If you make someone laugh, they forgive your grammar, your imperfect body and your bad dye job.

Humor is, above all else, the great equalizer. If you can’t be good looking, you can be funny. If you can make your first sentence fun/funny, the rest of the profile will flow so much easier.

Why? Because you’ve already set the tone you’re a fun person and people like fun people. You’ve set the mood and they will hold that feeling as they read the rest of your profile.

Try something like, “My grandparents met on Match.com, so I felt like this was a good way to keep a family tradition alive.”

Or say this, “They say we are all made of stars, so if you like stars, then we are already off to a good start.”

“Roll around with some of your favorite

quotes and see if they can set the tone.”

If you are not naturally witty or don’t care for humor at all, you don’t need to reinvent the writing wheel. You can still have a powerful opening sentence.

There are thousands of years of brilliant, or even lucky, writers who have held every emotion you have and expressed it better than you could. Use them.

“I shall never be ashamed of citing a bad author if the line is good.”~ Seneca

I have my clients give me movie quotes, author quotes or song lyrics that resonate with them. It’s a surprisingly effective way to get someone to reveal how they feel about life and love.

It is no coincidence I just quoted a famous philosopher to start my conversation on using quotes in dating profiles.

Using quotes and lyrics offers a two-fold effect. For one, it’s an easy to way to express yourself and your innermost thoughts. Furthermore, who or what you’re quoting speaks to the kind of person you are.

Quoting Nietzsche versus Oscar Wilde tells a lot about you. If you quote Trent Reznor versus Willie Nelson, it also speaks to the type of person you are.

I quoted Seneca, which sets a tone a little different than if I had quoted Ozzy Osbourne.

(Authors note: I could not find any quotes or lyrics from Ozzy about quotes, hence Seneca.)

Roll around with some of your favorite quotes and lyrics and see if they can set the tone for how you want to talk about yourself in your dating profile.

Have you seen any clever or interesting ways people start talking about themselves in their online dating profile?

Photo source: deviantart.net.