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Online Dating Sites – How Do They Work?

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Online dating sites have made meeting potential mates a lot easier, but it can be difficult to learn your way around. Here’s how online dating sites REALLY work!Dating has become much easier thanks to the invention of the Internet. Before then, people were limited on where they could meet potential dates by physical means. You would have to find dates through physical interaction, such as through friends or by meeting each other at places where both of you frequent. Many people would find dates through work, school or another regular activity.

What Online Dating Sites Are For

However, when online dating sites began appearing on the Internet, things were made a lot easier for people who may not have the time or social skills to meet a potential significant other. These sites allow people to find other singles that have the same interests as them, some of whom they may have never had the chance to meet any other way. While you may think that online dating is for lonely people or computer nerds, this is a common misconception. More people every day are using the Internet to find love and this is nothing that you should be embarrassed by, as it is a logical and convenient way to find love using technological advancements.

How They Work

Online dating sites work similar to social networking sites like Facebook or MySpace, in the sense that to start using them, you must register for the site and create a profile for yourself. Most dating web sites allow you to create a profile for free, but you may be restricted on what activities you can perform with a free profile. Once you have registered, you can begin adding information to your profile, such as a description of your personality, physical characteristics, interests, hobbies and other information that a potential date will be looking for when browsing the site. Make sure that this information is as accurate as possible, as you may find that your online dates will stop responding to you if they find that you are not what you described.

Your Profile Picture

Once you have finished adding text information about yourself, you can upload a profile picture. Some sites will require you have to a picture before you can begin finding dates, but it is always a good idea to include a picture or even several pictures on your online dating profile. This way, other users know exactly what to expect from your physical characters and can make sure they are attracted to you before making the commitment for a date. This may sound shallow, but physical attraction is a key component to healthy relationship.

Browsing

After this information is complete, you can begin browsing the site for other users who meet your criteria for someone you would like to begin dating. While it is always best to look for users who are within the area where you live, you can even find potential matches that live farther away, if you do not mind the idea of having a long distance relationship with someone. Online dating sites will usually allow you to set how far away a potential date can live from where you located, showing all of the users who are within a certain radius of your zip code.

Some sites even help you out in the process of finding a date by providing a series of questions or surveys that will help gauge how compatible you are with other users on the site. If you and another user who shares the characteristics you are looking for both answer these questions in similar ways, you will be determined as compatible and recommended to each other. There are also other ways to go about doing this, depending on the site. For example, you may be asked to rate other users based on their profiles. If you rate a user highly and they rate you highly, the site will send both of you messages recommending that you contact each other.

Congrats, You’ve Found Someone!

When you find a user on an online dating site that you want to get to know, you can start sending them messages. Again, whether or not you will be able to contact a potential match on online dating sites varies from site-to-site. Some sites will allow you to communicate through the messaging or chat service on their site, but you will not have access to their contact information.

After communicating with a potential date on the site, you can then mutually decide whether or not you would like to take your friendship to the next level and meet for a real-life or “offline” date. It is always best to have your first date in a public setting, such as a restaurant, coffee shop or museum, as having a date in your home or their home could become very awkward. Once you have met in person, you can then decide whether or not to continue your dating relationship. If it doesn’t work out, you can always try contacting another user!

Online Dating: How To Choose The Right Site

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Online dating doesn’t have to be difficult with these simple recommendations on selecting the right dating website for you! We are entering the glory days of a revolution, virtual love abounds and is just a mouse click or two away. The requirements are simple, easy. A good photograph will do and, of course, an unabashed heart that works. (Even if it is “bashed,” don’t worry. Anticipation will warm it up, and lots of blushing!)

How To Choose An Online Dating Site

How does one choose an online date site? There are really too many out there, a handsome, or rather, pretty variety primed right for every kind of yearning, lost or, just unengaged heart. What’s more, there’s a high – probably, even “huge” – success rate. This is because this “new thing,” online dating, has certainly become the acceptable thing.

It’s a way of avoiding the lonely, barely-lit confines of the corner bar stool and stepping into the light of what one may say could be immediate gratification. It’s a way of not having to close one’s eyes on the first few minutes of a blind date set up by a cousin. You can be “blind” or unseen on your computer screen for awhile as you “see” various photos of possibilities.

Whereas in the past there was auntie the matchmaker, there was some high school friend of your brother or sister, their next door cube mate at work.

Online Dating Is The New Black

But let’s face it. Online dating has become acceptable. Around the world it has become a convenient norm. It is amusing, really, quite amazing how far human relations – personal relations – have become primed and acceptable – normalized – via wireless, the Internet. All you have to do is figure out what category you want to be in, what kinds of relationships you want to attract and what kinds you want to stay away from. You decide the age, gender, race, religion and, of course, the income level. Then you click the button.

What online site should you use? That depends on whether you want to go “standard” or whether you are merely surfing and just checking out what’s out there.

Standard Dating Sites – The Ones You’ve Heard Of

The standard sites are enthusiastically advertised. You know them. You have heard about them. Any search engine will bear you the top five or ten popular online dating sites. You have seen wonderful faces of great story-telling unions. Fact is, some of these stories are true.

The standard sites have various monthly fees. But they have specials and discounts, too. If you place your name on their email lists, you will probably get a free offering on some popular holiday weekend. In general, the fees are reasonable, and it’s a good idea to try one for a month. See how it works out.

Free Dating Websites

There are a bunch of free dating sites. Place an asterisk beside the word “free” in your online search and you will come up with lots of selections. Whether you want to limit yourself to a certain location is up to you. Perhaps it is good advice to put together an alternative email from one of the popular email sites and use it to register with the dating site. This is just in case you change your mind in mid-ship and just want to make sure entirely new islands are possible.

Or if you are feeling confident and are used to social networking – you have a daily addiction to virtual socializing – then you may as well avoid the different mask layers and use whatever email and identity you have. Either way, the most important step would be to prepare the profile that will locate and attract someone you may like and want to go out with.

Your Profile Is Important – Choose A Site That Lets You Pimp It Out!

The profile is serious stuff. You will tell your habits, things you enjoy, foods you love, sport teams, if there are any. Depending on the website, your profile will be as exacting as possible or just a mere sketch. Some of the sites are based on “assured” algorithms drawn from psychological studies. They guarantee, to an extent, that you will find the most attractive “other.” It all depends on the approach you bring to this project.

The point is that you want to have fun. You want to at least meet someone whom you can talk to a bit and find out, for yourself, if compatibility is possible. This is the main attraction of the online dating site. It is convenient and you don’t have to commit. It allows you some pretty good ways of checking out new people and you decide for yourself if you want to go any further or not.

How do you choose an online dating site? Take your time. Don’t jump in. Read the site’s material. Compare it with others. Make sure, in general, it matches some of your profile. Toss a coin if you want to. Understand that it’s no big deal if you don’t commit.

Then, jump in!

Top 5 Places To Meet A Great Guy

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So you’re a girl and you’re prowling the dating scene. You want to find yourself a great guy, but where do you go? How do you find him without losing your mind?

What She Said:

  1. The Gym
  2. A Sports Bar
  3. The Library
  4. A Farmer’s Market
  5. Through Friends

The Gym

The gym is a fun place to meet men. It instantly shows that you’re both into taking care of yourselves physically – and being physically fit usually leads to a healthier frame of mind. A gym membership also gives you the opportunity to run into the guy you’re crushing on. Perhaps you’re in the same spin class or are hitting the treadmill at 6 PM everyday. It’s a great opportunity for flirting.

A Sports Bar

A bar might sound like a no go – but I find a sports bar to be a great place to gather socially. There’s a reason to be there, as well as a community spirit in watching a game. Most guys are sharing pitchers of beer instead of shots – not always the case, of course. But loosening up over a few brews is a little more civilized than tequila shooters. This is you looking for a mate – not Spring Break. Much like the gym, frequenting your local sports hangout during football season gives you reason to run into your crush again and again.

The Library

I’m a fan of a guy with smarts – thus the library is a favorite haunt when on the hunt. In this day and age of endless media, Kindle and iPads it’s nice to share camaraderie with someone who still appreciates holding literature in his hands.

A Farmer’s Market

A Farmer’s Market is usually held on the same day of the week during the season – which, once again, provides the opportunity to seek out your gentleman crush on a regular basis. Plus all that organic produce is good for you!

Through Friends

While the set up via friends can be rife with complications, it’s also been known to create love matches as well. Besides, it’s free – unlike an online dating service, which doesn’t come with friend-approved references. Ultimately, the best way to meet a great guy is to be a great gal. Be happy with who you are and the right guy will most likely gravitate towards you. Don’t be afraid to take chances in the meantime!

What He Said:

Let me start out with where NOT to find a guy: through your friends. Yes, yes, I know. Jenna recommended it, but for my money, finding a mate through a friend is like borrowing money from (or loaning money to) a family member: it always ends badly.  It’s best not to add that dimension to your relationship. That being said, the top five places to meet a guy are:

  1. The Gym
  2. Hardware/Grocery Stores
  3. Classes
  4. Online Dating Sites
  5. Sports Bars

Gyms & Sports Bars

The gym and sports bars are by their definition, sausagefests.  Yes, I know women go to the gym, but they take classes more than they work out. Dress like as hot as possible in the most flattering workout clothes you can find, and your set. Sports bars are even easier. Just get yourself a jersey and the tightest jeans you can (they should make your butt look ah-mazing), grab a beer and wait. Men will be all over you.

Hardware/Grocery Stores

Home Depot and other home improvement stores are great to meet guys. You don’t see many women there, and if they are there they are with their mates. Go in and look clueless and ask a hot guy for help. The same goes for any store, really. Grocery stores, anywhere. Just ask a guy for help and you’re good.

Classes

Classes are a great place to meet guys. Figure out what kind of guy you want and figure out what he might be interested in and take a class in that and you will have an organic reason to talk to each other and you might even get put into a study group!

Online Dating Sites

Online dating sites are great! I know, I know. There are a lot of creepy guys out there, but the odds on most online dating sites work in your favor. You just put up a profile and pick and choose who you want to meet.

Trust me, if you consistently put yourself out there, you will find someone!  Enjoy the process!

5 “Hacks” Online Dating Websites Are Terrified You’ll Find Out

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Between you and me, online dating is a hoax.

No, I don’t mean you can’t meet ladies online. In fact, you can meet so many girls online, you can have a full time sex life without ever leaving your house! I mean the companies who own online dating sites have a dirty secret: They’d like you to fail over and over again. Because they want to make sure you are frustrated, so they can bill your credit card.

In this article, you’ll discover 5 “hacks” you can use to dramatically increase your success in online dating. You’ll find out how they’re trying to keep you down. And you’ll discover how to show online dating sites who’s boss:

The Perfect Profile Picture

Ever wonder what the perfect online dating profile picture is? Well, it’s not the 6-pack pic (studies show most females aren’t into guys with 6 packs, strangely enough). And it’s none of the pictures that show how rich or powerful you are. (They’re the worst kind of bragging)

INSTEAD, it’s a secret picture no sane man would ever think to use: The sleeping picture!

Here’s how you get it:

  • Have a friend take a picture of you while you’re sleeping
  • Then, add it in to your profile pictures (Not your main one, try making it picture three or four)
  • Watch your response to your messages shoot WAY up!

(It’s the quickest way to show your vulnerable side)

Why the online dating sites are hiding it from you:

I’ve got to give the online dating sites a break on this one – they actually have no clue. In fact, I discovered this secret a few years ago, myself. And I kept it to myself, until I decided to “retire” from online dating. So I guess technically I’ve been hiding it from you. Oops. However, those online dating sites don’t get off the hook!

They bombard you with pictures where girls fall for jacked, rich guys. In this case, they’re lying to you. Even though their research tells them the truth! (I stole the six pack study from a Match.com result)

Where To Find Smart, Sexy Chicks

Ever wonder where the ladies with brains AND beauty are hiding? Hint: You’ll never find them if you look through profiles. You’re going to get “booby blinded” and veer off course. The truth is, it’s impossible to tell whether a woman has a good personality or not when you look at her profile. Because she probably rewrote and edited it four or five times.

Turns out, most online dating sites have a section where men and ladies share their opinions about dating, sex and relationships. And these “forums” can be goldmines when you want to meet girls. In fact, just looking through posts can tell you loads about the woman who wrote them. (You may even find a woman you really like – a woman with a good head on her shoulders, and a pretty, curvy body to boot)

Why the online dating sites are hiding it from you:

In this case, it’s your own damn fault. Because survey after survey tells dating sites that forums are “nerdy,” so dating sites don’t promote them hard. Most dating sites don’t even link to their forums. You might have to dig through a few links to find these magical places.

So how can you cruise for smart, sexy chicks without looking like a nerd? It’s easy:

  • You find her profile on the forums
  • Then you send her a message “out of the blue,” like you stumbled across her profile in the search menu.
  • You reap the benefits of the forums without the social risk of posting on them. Genius!

(And for the record, I’m a total nerd. You can be nerdy and proud and still meet girls. You just want to keep your nerdy side in check until she’s falling for you. Then it’s cute, instead of nerdy.)

They’re Sabotaging Your First Message

A major feature on most online dating sites allows you to send a woman a “gift,” along with your message. They tell you this gift makes females respond to messages better. In fact, most sites give you a message format to follow.

They’re WRONG!

Do the exact opposite of what they recommend: Never include any “bribe” for reading your message, and keep your message short and to the point. Tell her, “Hey, I saw your profile and had to message you. Here’s why…” and then tell her what you liked about her and her profile. Finally, ask her a question so she can message you back.

Being honest like this works better than most online dating website’s template messages. (I’ll explain why in a later section)

Why the online dating website are hiding it from you:

It’s in their best interest. You see, most “gifts” cost something. Sometimes it’s a certain amount of “points” you get from being on their site. Sometimes it’s real, live cash money. Either way, these sites make money when you send gifts. Sometimes it’s your money and sometimes it’s advertising money.

Most Websites Hire Dozens Of “Fake” Women

Ever notice that six gorgeous girls with big breasts are just WAITING for you at whateversite.com? And they live right in your area, too! Lucky you, lucky you! Truth is, these ladies are called “plants.” Bigger dating sites use “Geolocation Tracking” to figure out which city you live in. Then, they’ll show you stock pictures and tell you these girls are waiting for

It’s a lie!

Instead of joining a website you haven’t seen for yourself:

  • Try a website like bugmenot.com
  • Use a trial password account
  • And check out the girls  there, for yourself
  • Only join if you see girls you like.

Why the online dating sites are hiding it from you:

Cold hard cash, baby.

They assume men want to meet HOT ladies online. We don’t surf online dating sites to meet average looking girls. So, to get you to sign up, they put “plants” in their ads. Even worse – most sites employ a few hundred “plant profiles.” Fake profiles with fake pics, designed to make you message them. They think once you send your first message, you can’t quit.

So if you don’t get a message back from that SUPER hot girl, you could have sent a bad message. Or you could have sent a message to a plant.

The Male/Female Ratio Secret

Think it’s some sort of cruel prank your messages never get returned? Even by girls who are average looking at best? Well the dating sites don’t tell you: The ratio of ladies to men is something like 1 woman for every 4 men. Why is this ratio so screwed up? Because a hot woman can meet men wherever she goes.

In fact, dozens of men approach HER for dates. So you’ll see less girls online dating than men. This means every woman is getting four times as many messages as her profile “deserves.” This makes your message “just one of a hundred.” Instead of something special or unique. To make her read your message, you gotta use some hacks: Make your messages look personal, and don’t hit on her right away.

Try using the subjectline: “Hey, noticed something about u…” Then use the message you learned in hack three.

Why the dating sites are hiding it from you:

Would you sign up for an online dating website if they told you “We have four times as many men as females!” Nope. Didn’t think so. You now have the tools to make online dating much, much easier. I can hear you thinking: “If only there were a way to “hack” real life dating, as well.”

Q&A: Online Dating – Can You Fall In Love Without Meeting?

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There are a lot of questions when it comes to online dating, but very few answers as online dating is still new, uncharted territory for many people. Can you fall in love online, or do you need to meet them first? How can you stay safe if you do end up meeting them in person? Here’s what you need to know about love and online dating.

Question: Hi Dan & Jenn, I have an online dating question. I signed up for a dating website last week and a man, two years older than me from California e-mailed me a day later. We’ve been e-mailing each other constantly and texting/talking ever since, and he’s just told me that he wishes to be with me until he grows old- he even mentioned flying me to California whenever I wish to visit. The problem is, is it possible for a man who’s never officially met me to develop such strong feelings for me so quickly? I’m honestly really baffled by this.

–YouTube Viewer

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU1_gfYF8Lo[/youtube]

Possible But Not Probable

While theoretically it is possible to fall in love online without having met them first, but it’s definitely not probable. There are too many unknowns when it comes to a relationship with someone online to really say for sure if you love them or if they love you. You may really like them and even have strong feelings for them (or vice versa) but is it really love? If someone tells you they love you before you even meet them, take it with a grain of salt. Often, people are unable to accurately express strong feelings for someone and may just be using the word “love” because they don’t have any other way of explaining how they feel.

In Love With The Idea Of You

When using online dating sites, there are lots of things you and your partner don’t know about each other and it’s difficult to say you love someone without knowing these things. For example, your partner may know what your favorite color is and what you like to eat for dinner, but he doesn’t know how you smell or how your hand fits in his. He’s unaware of your mannerisms, how you move and how a hug or kiss from you feels. These are all essential components of a relationship that can’t be obtained over the Internet. Generally, when someone says they love you when they haven’t met you in person it means that they are in love with the “idea” of you. Their imagination has filled in all the blank spots, and naturally they are in love with that person. But that’s not the real you! The way you kiss or hold his hand may be completely different than the way he’s imagined it.

What To Do If You Do Meet

If you do decide to meet in person, it’s important to consider online dating safety first until you’ve met a few times and have gotten to know each other. Meet him in a public place during the day for a short amount of time. A half hour coffee is probably enough to get your feet wet and allow both of you to decide if you want to meet again. At first, pay your own way so you aren’t indebted to him in any way, and make sure a trusted friend knows where you are and when you plan to be back. Take it slow and get to know them before being alone with them.