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The easiest way to do this is to ask yourself the key questions, starting with:

(1) What am I after? Why am I on this Dating Site?

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(2) Who am I here to attract?

These two questions are the most important because they determine what parts of your personality your dating profile should emphasize, what tone of voice you will use in writing it, and what details you will disclose. For example, if you decide that you are after sex (usually termed intimate-encounters) you might not waste your time highlighting what a sensitive new-age guy you are. If you want to attract a 19 year-old you might use a lot of 19 year-old typography, like LOL. Clearly these aren’t going to impress someone in their 30’s.

One starting-point is to look look look at different people’s profile-pages to get an idea of some dating profile samples. Really assess the things that people say they are after- the qualities they look for, their ideal evening-out, the sorts of pictures they have up. If your target-member is a 22 year-old party girl, whose idea of a first-date is the club-scene, likes to drink and ‘hang-out with my friends’, then you should list similar things in writing your dating profile. You should write in a fun, adventurous style, and highlight how outgoing and cRaZy you are. As mentioned, if you are too extreme in your profile, you will be an immediate turn-off to other groups of members- so you just have to decide what’s right for you. If you are interested in attracting a 35 year-old Christian man, you might want to appeal to his (assumed) need for stability, support, and an ‘escape’ from his responsibilities. You might want to cast yourself in a relaxed, well-centered light. (and join our top reviewed all-Christian Dating Site)

Many of you won’t have one answer to questions 1 and 2. Often, you will be satisfied with a range of goals. For example you might select a few things: intimate-encounters, new friends, short-term dating, and pen-pals. Similarly you might be happy to meet people within an age range, for example: 20-35. This means you will need to adjust your profile to appeal to a larger cross-section of members, and this is obviously more difficult.

Here you have to pick and choose. For example, if you’re going to list four hobbies on your internet dating profile, you might want to pick a hobby that highlights different parts of your personality, eg: the adventure-freak, the responsible guy, the romantic, the intellectual. So you might list: rock climbing, playing with my niece, cooking, going to Borders and looking at the art books. Now, those four things are not going to be particularly appealing to that 22 year-old clubber, but it might be perfect for a 25-35 year-old university graduate.

One thing goes without saying on a dating profile: at all times be honest! You have to think ahead, eventually, you’re going to strike-up a friendship with someone online, and guess what happens next? That’s right!, things progress! When you chat online, talk on the phone, and eventually meet you, they’re going to be really scrutinizing to see how honest you were. The trick is to highlight, emphasize, and bring attention to certain features of your personality and your life- not to lie!!

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This is a good time to ask yourself a few more questions regarding your Dating Profile:

(3) What are the elements of my personality?

(just like we did before, ask yourself if you are: responsible, adventurous, affectionate, outgoing, take-it-easy, and so on. Try and think-up some interesting twists to make yourself stand out, like ‘philosophizing’)

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(4) What are the best things about your life?

(do you enjoy your work?, have you had travel experiences?)

…if you haven’t got much going on right now, then use that to your advantage:

“Things have been a bit too dull/slow/boring/uneventful (insert a word you like) for my tastes, so I’ve decided to put myself out there and meet some new friends.”

There’s nothing wrong with admitting that you are trying to improve your life (as long as you don’t write up a whole sob-story!) Whenever I move to a new city, I start a new account looking for ‘friends’ and I write that I’ve just relocated and am looking to meet some ‘cool new people’.

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Ok, so look at your answers to questions 3 & 4, and pick and choose the elements you want people to know about you, your on your way to a great dating profile. Don’t give it all away too soon, you want there to be things for your new friends to discover! Now all you have to do is write it up. It’s easy once you know which ’snippets’ of your life you’re going to use on your highlight reel.

Often times, the dating profile page will make it really easy for you by letting you fill in designated boxes for favorite books and movies and music. This is strongly recommended. First of all, the better sites out there (like lava life) use this data to calculate ‘likelihood’ that you will hit it off with someone, and report the statistics to people with similar interests. This means the program will actually be out there advertising on your behalf. Get on it! Be comprehensive.

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Don’t list one or two things, put up a whole bunch. The same rules apply- if you want to appeal to the artsy-fartsy college-student, you might want to throw in a few indie bands, foreign films, and literary type books. If you want to appeal to the party-girl, you might list some pop tunes, some action-adventure films, and say “the only thing I read is the bus-timetable!” Though it might seem that there’s room for a few little fibs here, we’d suggest against it. You never know when someone will want to start a conversation with “Oh my god! You like Phillip Glass too? I love him!” (and you think to yourself, ‘who on earth is that?!?’, not remembering the random google search you did for ‘contemporary classical composers’).

Just remember – keep your dating profile fun, interesting, and honest. Good luck party people!