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How To Use The Search Bar On Dating Sites

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Online dating allows you to weed out dates that you do not have anything in common with. One of the most important skills you will need when you’re inside is how to work the  search function. Here are some things I do to get the most results in the shortest  amount of time.

What’s Your Criteria?

There are a couple of different searches you want to do when online dating. The first thing you want to do is set up a search based on your criteria. For instance, if I’m only looking for girls who are 25 to 35, I’ll put that in my criteria. I’ll be as picky as I want and then I’m just going to save those searches so I can keep  going back to them over and over again every week in search of singles.

Keyword Search

If you’re into certain sports or hobbies and you want somebody who shares that interest, you can search by keyword. On Match.com you can pull up all the women in your area who have that keyword in their profiles. Using this method to meet women is a great way to find the ones that you will have something in common with quickly.

Hit On The Newbies

Do you remember when you were new and you’ve just received a bunch of emails? You’re stoked. You’re excited. You email back ASAP. The women who  join the site are the same. You search “New” members because you want to hit these women fast before a lot of other guys get a chance to e-mail them.  Think about it. If you’re the 800th guy that has e-mailed her, then odds are  she’s probably not going to read your e-mail because she has 799 e-mails in front of you. You have to strike fast if you want a first date. You have to e-mail the “New” members quickly.

Search By Activity Date

A lot of guys don’t do this, but this is one of the most effective ways to ask a girl out. The reason why is because you get to see the women who are actively looking for dates. The women who frequently do searches or browse profiles are hot leads. In a sales background, that’s like somebody coming in to your store or calling up your business and telling you they want to do business
with you.

Hot Leads

The best search that you can do, the one that’s going to get you the highest quality women who are interested is what I call “hot leads.” These are the women who have searched your profile. On Match.com and PlentyOfFish.com, you can actually go into the site and check who has searched you. You want to e-mail these women because these are the women who have checked you out and sometimes they have e-mailed you.

How To Take The Awkwardness Out Of The First Date

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Online dating has become as mainstream as traditional dating over the last couple of years. If you are considering online dating, there are a lot of advantages that you can benefit from. Being able to easily find somebody that you’re interested in that has the same goals in life is essential to building a great relationship.

The problem with online dating lies with the first meeting. Meeting an online date can be awkward and disastrous when not handled properly. However, there are a few things that you can do to make your date go smoothly. Here are a couple of tips to making your first meeting with an online date go well.

Be Specific With The First Date

It’s all too easy to send out a message to get together while missing out on key details for the first date. The last thing that you want to do is show up for the date wearing something inappropriate for the occasion. Whether you’re going out to a nice dinner or just grabbing a drink, make sure that you know exactly what the date is going to entail beforehand.

This can help you avoid the awkward feeling of showing up wearing jeans and a T-shirt when a girl is expecting an elegant night on the town. Be specific whenever you message a potential date to let them know what you intend on doing.

Get REAL Pictures Of Her

Getting pictures of your date is essential to making sure that you are physically attracted to her. Although physical attraction is not everything in dating, physical attraction is important for every relationship. Online dating sites are notorious for having a crop feature. Cropping allows women and men to center the picture on their face. While they might have a pretty face, not being aware of what their body looks like can easily lead to a frustrating and awkward first date.

Make sure that you get pictures of your date and that you are posting pictures of yourself through your own online dating profile. It is never recommended to be deceptive or online dating. If there is anything suspicious about the girl’s profile make sure that you cover all of your bases before you meet her. Meeting a girl that you are not physically attracted to will not lead to a relationship.

Ask The Important Questions

One of the easiest tactics for having online dating success is to ask questions during the initial date. Not only will this allow you to gain further knowledge of the girl, it will also make the time go by faster. Have a few questions in mind before you go on the date so that if the conversation lulls you will be able to easily steer it back without complication. Asking her about her job, education, where she grew up, favorite music and movies are some fairly good staples of first dates.

Getting her to talk about her passions in life will easily help you avoid any awkward moments. Avoid trying to sound like you’re giving her a job interview. No woman wants to be hounded during a first date. Keep it casual and the first date could lead to a second.

Don’t Get Physical Unless Called For

Physicality is important for every relationship. It bridges the gap between friendship and a significant other, but this doesn’t mean you should instantly have sex with her during the first date. If there is clearly chemistry and you feel like you should get physical with her, or that she wants you to, then by all means go ahead. However, trying to go in for the first kiss is usually not recommended as it could lead to a very awkward moment if she turns you down.

Wait at least until the second or third day before you try to kiss her. The reality is that she may not even want to go back out with you. End the date with a hug and skip the kiss. If you get the handshake, you’re probably not going to get a second date.

Don’t Be Awkward During The Date

One of the best tips that anybody can give you is to simply not be awkward. While this may seem like an all too obvious piece of advice, there are ways that you can avoid awkward moments through body language. Smiling as you meet her and maintaining eye contact throughout the date can easily avoid any awkward moments throughout.

If you’re constantly looking away from her, checking the score on the TV behind her or allowing the conversation to dive into awkwardness then you’re asking for trouble. Maintain eye contact throughout the date, smile when she tells you something mildly funny and pretend that you’re having a great time even if you’re not. While this might be a little deceptive, it can get you through the evening and out the door before you know it.

What You Need To Know About Social Media Dating

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Online dating usually involves using special websites – but can you utilize dating tips for popular social media sites such as Facebook?

I had a lot of guys interested in online dating asking me when MySpace was hot, “How do I meet women on MySpace?” Now that Facebook is hot, it’s “How do I meet women on Facebook?”

The reality is I use online social networking sites for that—social networking. Not online dating. I use them to build up a connection with just guys and girls for when I want to throw parties. I don’t really use these sites exclusively for dating because when I’m on Match.com and PlentyOfFish.com I meet more women who are on the lookout for dates.

Why Social Media Sites Aren’t Your Best Option

The other thing is I always look for is the low-hanging fruit, the path of least resistance. What does this mean? A woman on a social network is there because everyone else is. It’s free. She doesn’t have to pay a membership fee to put up a profile and idly browse her friends list for photos or anything else that might interest her. On the other hand, a woman who’s paying $25 a month to receive e-mails from guys is definitely looking to date. Who do you think will be more receptive to my advances? The second one, obviously.

“But Dave, I REALLY want to date girls on Facebook and MySpace!” Alright, I hear you. And, I can’t say I haven’t tried it. In fact, I got dates through social networks frequently enough to develop a good strategy for it.

Social Media vs. Online Dating Websites

The big difference between these sites and dating sites is they’re not really traditional dating sites, so some of the rules don’t apply. For example, a good-looking girl on Facebook may not be looking for a boyfriend right now, which means she might freak or “unfriend” you if you try to pick her up the way you would in a traditional dating site. The trick: be discreet.

A lot of women are on social networks and they might want to meet guys. However, they’re not going to blatantly come out and say, “I’m on here to date somebody!” You have to play the same game. When you’re emailing these women, and when you build your profile, be mindful not to be too obvious that you’re on there for hooking up.

How To Structure Your Profile

On your profile, remove anything that has to do with dating, and basically just talk about yourself—things you’re into and how great life is, etc.

Have some pictures of you and your friends. That’s what is important. If you just remove all the romantic stuff and all the needy type of stuff, you’ll do just fine with that.

Keep your profile description very short. Keep your e-mails friendly, but short. Here’s why. You don’t want to come off like you’re trying to pick them up initially.

One thing that works really well on social media websites is requesting to be included in a girl’s friends list before you e-mail her. This way, she’ll check out your profile first. Once you e-mail her a day later, she will already be a little bit more familiar with you so you’ll have a much better response.

What To Look For In An Online Dating Site

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Online dating is becoming more and more popular – but is every dating site as good as it says? Of course not! Here’s what to keep in mind for success.

Popularity

My favorite paid dating site is Match.com. The reason why I like it is, first of all, it’s the biggest paid site on the Internet—period. If you’re going to go fishing, do you want to fish in a small pond or in a big pond with a lot of fish? If you’re going fishing, obviously you want to fish in a big pond that has a lot of fish. That’s what you’re doing when you join a site like Match.com. They have millions and millions of members all over the world.

Credibility

As far as credibility goes, a website that can stay in business for decades without losing its mass appeal and popularity is sound. A rule of thumb I live by is to join the biggest ones and avoid the smaller ones.

With smaller websites, there may be a lot of fake profiles there that only serve to keep you trudging on blindly with the hope that you’ll get these “fake” women to email you back. And, they probably will, when you’ve reached the end of your membership and they want you to upgrade.

Then, of course, if you renew, the emails will stop and you’ll get no response from the women who previously emailed you. This has probably happened to you. I know it’s happened to me. You’re not getting any messages on the sites and then you have like a week left and then all of the sudden as soon as your membership expires and you don’t renew it because you’re not getting any messages and that’s when you start getting a lot of messages from these women.

You kind of have an idea that something sketchy is going on there. What I’ve read online is that these sites will hire employees to pose as females and e-mail male members who have cancelled their subscriptions to try to get them to come back. That’s a trick that some of these lesser known sites use.

Number of Female Members

The worst thing that could happen to you online is paying for an expensive membership on a site that doesn’t have a lot of female members. That’s a situation that happens with guys all the time. Some sites will say that they have a lot of women and they’ll show you a lot of women but the women aren’t active on the site.

Sometimes they don’t let you see the exact number, or if they do let you see that, the numbers might not be accurate. That’s what they do to fool you as a consumer, as a guide to sign up. You see a lot of hot chicks and you think, “I’ll be able to e-mail all these girls,” when it’s just a bunch of BS. Stick with a popular site that you KNOW women are actually visiting.

Features For Men

Look for features that are set up for guys, such as searching using your mobile, and the really nice ones: the “who’s online” and the “who has viewed me” features. Some of the coolest features around are those that allow you to check on your results. You can see who checked out you and you can e-mail them.

What About “Winks?”

On Match.com, they call it a wink. Other sites have different names for this, such as flirts, teases, pokes or hellos. Whatever they’re called, they don’t work! A lot of guys try to do this and they wonder why they’re not getting any results. The reason why they’re giving them to you for free is because they have a proven low-response rate.

They know these things really don’t work but they’re going to appease you because you’re getting something for free. If they worked, believe me, they would charge you for it. So don’t send out the winks.

How To Create An Online Dating Strategy That Works

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Online dating can be fruitful if you have a plan that actually will garner you success. Here’s what you’ve been doing wrong – and how to do it RIGHT!

Create A Swipe File Of Emails To Test

I can’t stress enough how important this exercise is. First, come up with your own emails, each one different from the others. Aside from the e-mails you wrote yourself, go back to the “girl” profile you set up and see what your competition is doing. When you get to the dating site, you can test every email to find out which emails get the best response.

This way, you won’t spend too much time writing hundreds of different kinds of e-mails when you’re there. You can tweak and re-tweak the e-mails for sending to different girls, or to the same girl (using different accounts).

Soon, you will start noticing patterns; not only in the way your emails get received by the girls you send them to, but also in the personality type of girls who reply in a certain way. After this, you will know exactly how to handle an email correspondence based on your tests and personal experience with the women you met.

Why Testing Is Important

Just like when people who own a website test ad spots and promotions to see what works best, you need to test your email correspondences in the same way. Testing allows you to completely weed out what doesn’t work and keep and use what DOES work.

This is a must have plan if you really want to succeed. If you simply continue to send out emails that you don’t know are successful or not, it’s going to be hit or miss. By testing and eliminating the emails that don’t work, you’re going to be hitting a lot more often.

Choose A Dating Site That Attracts The Women You Want To Meet

Every online dating site has a certain “ambiance,” not unlike a new bar you’re visiting. Some dating sites have communities or chat rooms that give off a different vibe from the rest. What you need to remember is that not all dating sites will fit your goal.

If you’re after a quick hook up and you read on the site that they’re in the business of making sure only serious-minded individuals (those who want to get hitched legally ASAP), consider yourself warned. On the other hand, if you’re looking for something deeper than a one night stand, feel out the site for a few days (or during the trial period) and observe how the women there build their profiles.

If you have an idea how to play the dating game on a matchmaking website, you will have a clearer vision of how you can tweak your testing plan.

So, are you ready? If you are, grab your fishing rod and sign up for a dating site now!