Like looking for a new job, looking for a new match via online dating requires some time, effort and persistence. It’s important to have an online dating strategy and plan when you go into online dating.

Use these cues to help develop your personal strategy in some of the more common trouble zones for new online daters.

Picking an Online Dating Site

Picking an online dating site is a very important to your online dating success. Each site functions a little differently with nuances catering to different relationship types, how you can search and communicate even emphasis on privacy, religion, etc.

Don’t just plop down your credit card to the first site you see, or whose commercials you’re familiar with. Use free trials and free online dating sites to familiarize you with what each offers before you pay for any dating site. You’ll find components you like more than others.

Writing an Online Dating Profile

This can feel like the scariest part of online dating. Explore your site’s settings; you can often set your profile to private. This will allow you to edit your profile to your liking before it goes out to the world.

You can also copy the profile questions to your own word document before you sign up, and write your answers there in your own time.  This helps alleviate the pressure to be brilliant on the spot.

Either way, take some time to think about your answers and your audience’s interpretation of what you say. Tell stories to show your personality. They are more interesting to read than adjectives.

Choosing Pictures

First of all, you must include pictures. You’ll have close to no luck online dating if you don’t. Attraction is a large component to meeting someone. Make sure your primary picture is your best shot. You’ll want it to be a close up shot, as distant shots make it harder for someone to determine if they are attracted.

 

People click on the profiles with the picture they find attractive.

You’ll need a handful of photos. Daters will want to see at least one face shot and one full body. Make effort to look nice but don’t be deceptive.

Allocate Time and Set Goals

Online dating takes time. Make sure yours is proactive and productive. Don’t get stuck in a mode where you always just look, day-dream and never talk to anyone. Designate a reasonable amount of time to go online at least a few times a week. Stick to those times and try not to go over.

 

You can get burned out.

Your online dating strategy involved reaching a goal: meeting people for dates.

Don’t Stalk

On many sites, other users can see that you viewed their profile. Doing this repeatedly is frowned upon and appears as stalkerish. You’ll want to engage in polite online dating behavior because people will judge you on this whether you it’s true to your personality or not.

Move to a Date

Remember why you’re there. It’s fun to chat with new people and look at pictures and imagine what they are like, but you signed on to a dating site to meet a partner. Create conversations and ask questions that will get you to meet sooner than later.

There are no hard and fast rules for when that time is but it’s safe to say after a few emails or weeks, the date should be imminent. The online dating strategy here is to get a sense of a person enough to go out on a date.