A Successful Dating Profile
This dating profile was tested on an online dating agency, and
achieved a 40% response rate from the girls viewing the profile.
A photograph was not included in the profile. A 40% rate of
response from your profile really is incredible when you're
dealing with online dating agencies, and especially where a
photograph has not been submitted! In my opinion, you need
knowledge to create a profile that works and gives you
responses, which can come from experience, as in my case, or
from getting tips from articles such as this. It's worth the
time and the effort to create a good profile, because otherwise
you are wasting your time, and possibly your money, on online
dating sites!
The dating profile is as follows:
The tag line: "Isn't it time you found a man of mystery?"
The description: "With interests in martial arts, dancing,
clarinet playing and flying, you could do worse than to get to
know this software engineer! Cool, suave and sophisticated are
the watch words. Dubbed as the next Johnny English, er... James
Bond by his friends, you're sure not to go far wrong by clicking
through lots of ads to send him a message! Be quick, because
he's sure to be snapped up soon by the millions of women here!"
Let's analyse the profile in detail:
1. The tag line is the first thing people see on this particular
dating site. You want to get them to click through and view your
profile. There are probably more successful tag lines than this
one, but you do want yours to tie in well with your profile if
possible. It's a little like search engines. If you are
searching for information, and click through to a page that
didn't contain useful information for you, what did you do? You
headed straight for the back button on your browser! This is
what you don't want your profile readers to do, if you can help
it.
2. Note that I have not used the word "I" in the dating profile.
Instead, I talk about myself in the third person, and I've used
the word "you" a great deal more than will be seen in your
average profile. Who is the one person you're most interested
in? It's you. If you can factor the word "you" into your
profile, it will help. The reader is asking the question,
"What's in it for me?" This also makes the profile more unusual.
3. The dating profile is short, snappy, and to-the-point.
Nobody's going to read an essay, however interesting you think
you are! However, if you can make your profile compelling
reading, it's OK to make it longer. There are differences of
opinion here, but my personal belief is that you should not
reveal too much about yourself in your profile. If your profile
contains all there is to know about you, what would be the point
in somebody sending you a message to learn more?
4. I have listed some interests that girls would especially find
interesting. With regards martial arts, the attraction is
obvious. Girls like to know their man can take care of himself!
Secondly, dancing. Plenty of girls really enjoy to dance, but
it's a skill that many men won't pluck up the courage to try, or
even admit to. I actually play a wide variety of musical
instruments, including the keyboard, saxophone and drums, but I
think the clarinet has the most romantic and warmest sound of
all these instruments. Lots of people in my position may have
chosen to write about the saxophone at this point. Finally, what
girl could resist a date with a pilot? I haven't actually stated
that I am a pilot, although in actual fact, I am a trainee
pilot, but I could equally well be someone who enjoys travelling
a lot, which would also be very attractive.
5. Many girls are not interested in geeky software engineers,
but I've written about my hobbies that show I'm a well-rounded
person who has other interests besides programming. Also,
software engineers do pull in a respectable amount of money.
Girls are partly looking for someone who is financially secure,
and this goes some way to showing that this is the case.
Finally, by writing about something that may not appeal to girls
that much, I've given some credence to the dating profile, and
have essentially suggested that I'm telling the truth in it.
6. I have added some humour to the dating profile. In case you
don't know, Johnny English is a James Bond spoof film, where the
main character, played by Rowan Atkinson, is a complete idiot!
The part about clicking through lots of ads is specific to a UK
dating agency where you can choose not to pay for the service
if, instead, you view advertising emails that they send you, and
visit the advertised websites. You earn credits by doing this,
and once you have enough credits, you can send someone a
message. Probably the most requested trait in personal ads is a
good sense of humour.
7. I am lucky to be a skilled writer. There are no spelling
mistakes or problems with grammar that I am aware of in the
above dating profile. If you are not very good at writing, you
can quite easily check for these by writing your profile in Word
for Windows, and checking spelling and grammar. Even better
would be to have someone who is good at writing look over your
profile for you!
You have to think like an advertiser, but you also have to try
to paint an honest picture of yourself, and your profile should
be a mixture of these two elements. Think what makes you
attractive; perhaps ask your friends; and then write about it!
Put in some of the elements that I've used, such as humour, and
you're sure to get results!