Let's Talk Profiles (Page 5)

For the past several weeks, I've been writing to the theme of your online dating profile. It's a big deal, and for many of you, it’s the most daunting part of online dating. My goal is to make something that seems hard much easier and more effective. Your dating profile is often your single opportunity to tell potential dates about you and attract them, so you don't want to take it for granted. If you want to go...

Holidays are a great opportunity to go out and have fun. And St. Patrick’s Day can be one of the most fun days for singles to celebrate, flirt, and connect with each other. In the days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, it’s time for you to ramp up your online dating flirting techniques. Maybe create a dating profile on Match to see if anyone wants to grab a green beer or partake in any other local festivities. St....

The conventional rules of writing a good dating profile go something like this (loosely paraphrased): Don’t use 10-year-old photos — no matter how hot you used to be. It’s delusional. Get a photographer to take pictures of you, since you’ll appear the age you truly are — in a classy way, with barely noticeable photoshopping. Don’t be negative, bash exes, act desperate or appear to dislike the opposite sex. If...

My philosophy that online dating is just personal marketing is not without cause. I consistently use a ton of marketing techniques to get daters more dates through online dating. As a former marketing executive, it shouldn't surprise you this article is going to be all about brand positioning. Before you can write your online dating profile, you must position your brand. If marketing isn't your thing, you may...

All right, in my “Don't Write This Profile” series, we've moved on to #4: The Angry Profile. Let's see if you can recognize this baby: "PLEASE READ MY PROFILE: I'm on here looking for someone who matches my description. Don't contact me if you don't first read my profile! Please don't send me a wink just for the sake of ‘winking.’ Let’s save each other’s time. I have plenty of friends and I'm on this site...

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - When Jill Jesse Futrell, 35, was single and using online dating sites to meet potential mates, she came across a few Pinocchios in her day. “A million years ago, when I did online dating, this guy said he was like 5 feet 10 inches or so,” said the now married mother of two. “He clearly was not when I towered over him while wearing flip-flops.” Mark Twain once said, “If you tell the truth, you...

If you’re a midlife single woman who wants to dive back into the modern world of dating, there are a few tips I always suggest you do before making the leap of love. If you’re in your 40s, 50s or 60s and it’s been more than a few weeks, months or even years since your last romantic first date, then that tells me you aren't dating regularly. Your sizzle may have lost some fizz. It’s time to get more sizzle into...

So I've been writing a series of articles exposing some common written profiles of daters that aren't doing them any justice. Take a look at the next one and see if you can figure out what I'm talking about: "I am looking for my partner, my best friend, my lover, my everything. I need someone like myself. I want someone who likes to stay in and likes to go out. I love my friends and family. They mean the world to...

Reader Question: I’m looking for that special person to grown old together, as friends first is important. When writing my profile for a dating site, should I mentioned how long I was married? It was a long time — 22 years and separated for two of them. I also have a daughter who is 21 with her first baby on the way. -Donna (Alabama) Dr. Wendy Walsh's Answer: Dear Donna, Absolutely! And if you’re thrilled...

Hi. I'm Gina. I'm smart, fun, funny, kind, considerate, honest, goal-oriented, clever, crunchy, purple, descriptive and…oh so frustrated. Why? I hate adjectives. Whatever English teacher told you adjectives were the words you use to describe something were terrible people and liars. I'm just kidding. Adjectives have a place in language. However, that place is not in your online dating profile. I know,...

Take a look at this dating profile and tell me if it looks familiar. This is the Factoid Profile: "My name is ____. I am an easygoing guy. I just moved here from ___ for my job. Don't really know very many people yet, so I'm just on this thing looking to see what else is out there. I was born in ___. I went to college at ____ and studied _____. Right now I'm working for ______ as a_______.  What can I say, it pays...

Some online dating sites allow you to select your own screen name, subject to availability. Others use your first name or the site comes up with a computer-generated user name, along with a long series of numbers. This can make your profile look like more like a library card instead of someone whose personality should be shining. Just like a great magazine headline, in order to grab his or her attention, you need...

Here's a quick tip to all you guys who online date. When you scroll through a woman's profile pictures, check to see if she’s got a few of those “artsy” ones. You know, the one where she’s wearing a hat and her nose is protruding through the hair over her face. Or her head is turned the other way around so you can see her hair in a bun. Or she’s lying down in a dimly lit room with her head tilted to the...

My last article enumerated the three mistakes women make in their profiles. Well, just like how celebrities die in threes, I've got three more deadly mistakes for women to avoid to encourage more men to contact them. 4. Making demands. So many female's profiles have very strong language about who shouldn't email them. It goes a little something like this: "Do NOT contact me if you: don't know the difference...

Ladies, I am writing you this article today from the POV of the man, of whom I've worked with many to understand how they view women's profiles and what prompts them to write a woman. Here are three lessons learned to help you get more men pursuing you. 1. Bad pictures. Men are visual creatures. You must accept and use this to your advantage. Get good quality photos taken of yourself — especially for your...

Reader Question: I'm a single father who has raised all three of my children. My youngest is now 18 years old. I have been out of the single arena by choice and dedicated myself physically and mentally to raising my children. Now I'm 42 years old and feel completely lost on how to meet mature women. With all the single websites, that seems to be the place people are meeting. I have to admit it is a little...

If a picture is worth a thousand words, your online dating photos are your opportunity to tell the most about you. Why then does someone sit in their car and take a picture? Or in the office? Or in the bathroom mirror? Or at dinner? These things have told a viewer that you drive, work, use the potty room and eat. Holy cow, what an adventurous life. Since you can post multiple pictures, I like to use the photo...

Reader Question: I am 65 years old and have not dated in years, not even a casual date. I am so lonely. I guess I don't turn heads anymore. I don't feel that I am that ugly. I have started my profile on one of the dating sites. Should I write a "GRAYING'" profile? How do I start? -Alberta (Alabama) Dr. Wendy Walsh's Answer: Glad you asked. There is an art to online dating. When writing your profile, be as...

Online dating is now common place to meet people. In the past, dating agencies were whispered behind very closed doors, quiet mutterings about placing a personal ad in a certain newspaper. Now, everyone of every age has had, and maybe still does have, an online profile. But there is a whole gambit of websites for you to choose from. If you are looking for love, companionship and a long-time relationship, then...

Reader Question: It seems like no matter who I've tried to connect with, I don't get any response. I even made an attempt to someone I already knew who popped up as a 90 percent match for me. He didn't respond. I’m getting completely disheartened. I fit many of their profile requests but still have no luck. What are men really looking for? -Carla (Florida) Dr. Wendy Walsh's Answer: Without seeing your online...

Grandma’s got a profile! And she’s no longer sitting home with a crochet project. Today, when seniors become widowed or divorced, they are more likely to be online looking for love. Online dating has long ago lost its stigma among young people as a creepy place for anti-social people to meet. Today the vast majority of young, single people have visited an online dating site. But the news this year is that...

When it comes to writing an online dating profile, suffice it to say nobody’s going for Pulitzer Prize-winning content. But you should still put some decent effort into composing an attention-grabbing profile that paints you in an honest yet flattering light. It’s also not a bad idea to add humor — just be careful how far you take it. Here are four funny things women put in their dating profiles: 1. Food...

In short, screening is the investigation of a great number of something looking for those with a particular problem or feature. When it comes to the world of online dating, a "great number of something" means women and a "particular problem or feature" means those you wouldn’t want to date. Guys, learning how to screen women’s profiles on an online dating site is one of the best ways to weed out the undesirables....

Having a good — make that great — online dating profile is like trimming the fat and refining a job resume. You’re going to take the extra time and effort to have that resume dotted at the i's and crossed at the t's if you’re on the serious job hunt. If you’re just a look-loo, nobody’s going to take you seriously. No matter your sex or sexual preference, the same rules apply for creating a stellar online dating...

Now that online dating is no longer taboo and senior women are joining one or more of the thousands of sites available to find the future Mr. Right, the next task becomes creating a stellar online profile. Your online profile is a delicate dance between creativity, honesty and couth. So without posting a naked photo of yourself swimming in hundred dollar bills, how do you catch the attention of potential suitors?...

Reader Question: I have been divorced for almost two years after being married for 33 years. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and went through chemo, radiation and surgery. I am cancer free and feeling great. I want to try a dating site but am in a quandary of when to tell the person of my illness. Do I state it in the profile or wait until a few dates? -Kathy Dr. Wendy Walsh's Answer: Congrats on...

While appearance is much more important to men than women, the ladies do care about looks. Almost every online dating or social networking site gives you the opportunity to post a picture and you should take advantage of such an invitation. For starters, posting one or more great pictures of yourself significantly increases your chances of connecting with quality women. Most of us completely ignore guys who have...

Online dating profiles are complicated. It’s hard to balance being honest with oversharing, and finding the right profile picture is like picking an outfit for a first date that also lists all of your favorite books and movies. Before you settle for that picture of your cat, here are a few tips to help you locate a picture to showcase all of your best sides. 1. It should be a picture of you. More and more often,...

Ladies, while it might be tempting to Photoshop your pictures and make dramatic changes to your appearance, don’t do it. Too many women these days are altering and posting pictures to their online profile to make themselves look better in hopes that such a move will increase their chances to land a date. The last thing you want to do is start off any relationship with deception. You may be unhappy with your weight...

Online dating offers a great opportunity to meet high-quality men you would never encounter any other way during your normal daily life. Yet creating an online dating profile does not solve all your dating problems. Popular online dating websites will offer those high-quality men access to hundreds, if not thousands, of attractive, eligible women to choose from, and if you want to snag the kind of guy you’ve...