Whether you are new to online dating or you’ve been around the online dating pool there are some frustrations you will encounter. It’s all part of the process of finding the right one online. All good things come to those who stick it through and put their best dating foot forward.

1. Feelings like you’re just another online dating profile

There are literally thousands of online daters and thousands more entering the world of online dating. For some, the idea of this is already too much. What you need to understand is there are search criteria and filters you can use to narrow your pool of potentially suitable candidates.

Filters such as age range, ethnicity, height, body type, and geographic location will allow you to close the gap from thousands to a more targeted search. In order to give yourself the most advantage, be sure to carefully complete your profile and use a recent, flattering and clear, professional photo of yourself.

2. Not getting responses from people you are interested in

Don’t fret, this is very common in the world of online dating. One thing to consider is how long has it been since this user was last “online.” Many profiles are what we call “abandoned”; these are profiles where the person is no longer active or monitoring their profile. Basically, they gave up on online dating. Unfortunately some people give up too easily with online dating and what’s left behind is their profile which is collecting virtual dust.

3. Getting flooded with messages

When you open up your inbox and you have hundreds of messages to filter through, it can really seem like a lot of work. It becomes more frustrating when the messages are one or two-liners such as “Hey” “Hi” “What’s up?” “You’re hot” or “Nice (insert body part)” and you sit there in awe. What was the purpose of the message?

What’s most frustrating is the messages are coming from men/women who you have no interest in, nothing at all in common, or they live hundreds of miles away. You wonder to yourself if they even bothered to read your profile! The trick here is to set some decent time aside in order to read your messages and skip through profiles and people who you can clearly tell you have nothing in common with.

4. The ongoing email courtship

When you read online profile remarks like this: “I am not interested in starting a virtual pen pal or emailing for days before we meet each other” it gives you a sense some people online have no intention of ever meeting you in person. There are people who use online dating as a chatting platform or a way to engage in conversation with the opposite sex online, but never offline. If this person constantly makes up excuses and reasons they can’t meet in person, I would advise you move on to someone who will.

5. When the profile doesn’t match the real person

I’ve heard hundreds of stories where the person they expected to meet looked nothing close to their online profile. I recently heard a story from a woman who ended up meeting a 68-year-old man who used his high school photo to get her to agree to go on a date with him. His explanation was he could never meet a girl like her otherwise. Uhm, yeah, O.K. Watch out for online dating profiles where he/she is using one profile picture and it looks a college photo. Online daters who are really seeking real relationships tend to include a few photos of themselves in various backgrounds, engaging in different activities, to give you some insight into who they are as people.