The Guide to Online Dating
Forty million Americans had visited an online dating site as of 2003. The number is certainly higher by now. The industry raked in over $500 million in 2005 alone. If online dating didn't work, those sites wouldn't continue to make money. Word would get around that they're useless and revenues would drop off to near zero.
Yet, even in the face of new competition from MySpace and other social networking sites, online dating services continue to attract new members, and to retain the old ones. The reasons are not hard to understand.
The odds of finding a compatible dating partner in your hometown are slim. Even when the population is large, you have to know a lot of people, or visit a lot of bars, or carouse around a large number of social arenas to improve your odds. Who has time for that?
Internet dating services offer anonymity, safety and a wide reach. They also offer, in a way, a more narrow reach. They can use sophisticated matching algorithms to select potential partners. That kind of targeting helps increase your odds still further.
The sites themselves often have specialized areas or sub-sites that cater to an even more targeted audience. You can easily find a gay or lesbian site, a Christian site, a seniors site or an ethnic site. If you look a little harder, you could undoubtedly find a site that caters to individuals who enjoy eating apples while they play Nintendo on the first Saturday of the month. With short hair. Wearing glasses. While nude.
The point is, there's something for every person out there, whether your tastes and interests are as common as TV reality shows or as esoteric as a Proust poetry contest.
But beyond all this, many people, whatever their tastes and interests are looking for fundamentally the same thing: someone. That special someone whom they can relate to, who understands their jokes and shares their values. At the same time, online dating sites make it easier to connect with that special someone when they may be nearby yet unknown or far away and hard to reach.
With extensive profiles, photos and videos, it's possible to quickly sift through a large number of potential prospects. With matching software based on extensive psychological research, it's possible to narrow that field to a manageable number. And you can do all that from the convenience and safety of your keyboard.
Add to that the many newly expanded options, such as using dating sites via your cell phone or PDA, and you've got a service that is just unbeatable.
Now all you have to do is join.
Online Dating - How Online Dating Works
In the minds of some, there's still a stigma attached to Internet dating. The belief that it's only for losers, for those who couldn't get a date otherwise, persists. But the facts say otherwise.
Ten years after the Internet starting ramping up, online dating is still one of the most popular and lucrative Internet ventures. Millions of attractive, well-adjusted, successful people visit such sites daily. That's because it is designed to address a certain set of problems and it does fairly well.
It allows individuals who may otherwise never meet to get introduced. It makes it possible to find out a little about one another with a lower commitment of time and risk. People who use Internet dating are busy, tried the local scene and found it wanting, or just haven't found that right someone. Internet dating takes place in a safe, fairly anonymous setting, while providing a much wider variety of people to meet than 'real life' usually allows for.
The first step is to find a site that suits your goals. That means deciding whether you want a general service or one that, say, caters to ethnic or lifestyle preferences. You may not think paying money is worth the introductions, since there are now other venues like MySpace where you can meet people. That means deciding on a free versus a paid site.
You can get a rough idea about those options by just looking around, perusing sites that differ along those lines. Many won't allow you to get in-depth information, some won't even show you a photo. But most will provide enough information before you sign up that you can decide whether you want to explore that site further.
Once that initial research is done and you've plunged ahead, you'll need to create a profile that accurately says who you are and what you want. It's true that many people are less than fully honest in their profiles. The immediate result may be more initial contacts. But the final result is fewer successful matches.
On most sites, you'll fill out personal information about age, weight, height and some basic likes and dislikes. Photos are usually optional, but without one the odds of being contacted are much lower. At many sites, a video is the preferred way to get a much better view of the real person.
Numerous studies show that most people are initially attracted to a person's looks. Though it takes a while to get to know someone well, most people will project a lot about who they are by their appearance. You can't judge the whole book by its cover, but it does help you discover whether you want to start reading.
Providing contact information is necessary for the site, but many will provide a relay, so you don't have to invent a new email address solely for online dating sites. It might not be a bad idea, though, just in case.
Once you've provided enough information about yourself, with a photo, to make it possible for others to be interested, you start looking too. Sooner or later, someone is going to come across your profile. From there, things get interesting...
We can help you along each step of the way including Safety Tips for Online Dating, Building a Great Online Dating Profile, and Where to Meet fot the First Date. So plan on staying for awhile and take notes, there is a lot to go over!