Are you looking for some great tips and tricks to make your online dating profile stand out? You have come to the right place! Begin using these best practices and watch the interest in your profile go through the roof!
Tip #1: Choose a Good Username
This first tip is not something that many people will think about when they are putting together their online dating profile. I’m just going to use my first name, right? Or I’ll use my nickname. Well, there is a little more to consider beyond that. Begin viewing your username as a tool that you can use strategically to your advantage!
A lot of dating apps will list their users in alphabetical order, so it is far more advantageous for you to create a username that begins with the letter “a”! If you choose a username that begins with a letter like “t” or “w,” you are going to be featured in the back half of the results and therefore not as visible as you could be to other singles!
#2: Anything in a Large Group
Your profile bio is a place where you want to include enough information to give other singles a good idea of who you are, your interests, your pastimes, and your values. You want to include enough to generate some interest, but you also do not want to write out your entire life story here!
This is not the place to write about a bad breakup with your ex and how the experience made you grow as a person. You will probably not want to use this section to bemoan your difficult childhood or grieve the state of the political system.
The moral of the story is that you do not want to include anything too heavy in this section. Keep things loose and light. Give the reader enough to go off, but nothing that is going to scare them away either!
Tip #3: Be Expressive
Feel free to be expressive in your bio! This is a great opportunity to show off your sense of humor or your zest for life as you craft your profile.
- If you like baking or taking trips out West to go mountain climbing, be sure to drop some references in your bio for these hobbies.
- If you take a lot of pride in your career or vocation, include these details in your profile as well.
- You might even value loyalty and strong friendships. Don’t be afraid or hesitant to include things like that too!
The entire point of online dating is to meet new people and do so with excitement and positivity. Let the positive energy flow in the words you use to describe yourself. Be sure to include as many aspects of your character as you can. Add lots of facts about what you do for fun or in your downtime. This can give the readers a well-rounded picture of who you are!
Tip #4: Keep Things Readable and Concise
Use a conversational tone when putting together your profile. There is no need to sound formal and stuffy. Talk as if you are speaking face-to-face with the person in real life. If possible, include a lot of paragraph breaks so that your bio is super-readable and digestible.
It is also important to get straight to the point in your profile bio. As mentioned earlier, this is not a place to include every detail of your life up till this moment. Nobody wants to hear all that this early on in the game.
Keep it fun. Keep it interesting. Keep it concise and easy to read!
Tip #5: Positively Describe What You Are Looking For
Something that a lot of people do wrong when they put together an online dating profile is going through a long laundry list of dealbreakers. Saying that you do not want any cheaters, drinkers, or smokers can make you sound judgmental, bitter, and curmudgeonly. Plus, going through a list of things you do not want does not offer any valuable insight into what you do want.
The better approach is to describe what you are looking for in a future partner and do so using positive, non-judgmental language. Saying what you want in a partner instead of listing your dealbreakers provides a lot more useful information that the reader can work with. On the other hand, being so abrasive right off the bat could really give people the wrong impression and completely turn them off from wanting to reach out!
Tip #6: Avoid Tired Cliches
Cliched writing on your profile bio is going to come off as either lazy or wholly unoriginal. It will do nothing to help you stand out against all the other singles that you are competing for attention.
Singles want bios that paint an accurate picture of who you are in a fun, creative way. They do not want to see tired pop culture references or allusions. Cringey, cliched phrases like “I’m looking for my partner in crime” or “I love long walks on the beach” are so overdone to the point where it is just white noise.
Tip #7: Post About Five Good Photos
We feel that posting about five good, quality photos is the perfect amount for making you come across like you actually care about being on the dating app (users that post one photo are either super lazy, or it’s a fake profile). Posting five good photos doesn’t come off as overly vain either like you are cramming as well glamour shots as you can onto your profile.
Tip #8: Avoid Group Photos
When you post a bunch of group photos with family or friends, you are tasking those who view your profile with an unwanted game of Where’s Waldo? Today’s online dater is one who can be extremely impatient. Who wants the hassle and frustration of hunting down the right person in these pictures?
Another downside to this move is that you could be including potential competition into the mix when you add a photo of yourself with a group of attractive, single friends. You want all eyes to be on you. It’s your online dating profile. We highly recommend not posting group photos.
Tip #9: Post Good Photo Variety
You don’t want every picture that you post on your dating profile to be the same as the next. You will want to have some variety across the board to show that you are nuanced and interesting to the viewer. This does not mean posting five selfies of yourself in your bedroom mirror. As mentioned earlier, you do not want a bunch of pictures with you in the midst of a group of friends. That comes across like you’re not your own individual person.
We recommend mixing things up. Include one selfie, sure! Throw in some sort of action shot with you in the middle of one of your favorite activities, be it kayaking, volunteering at a clothing drive, or playing racquetball. Include a good variety of shots but make sure the focus stays on you!
Tip #10: Smile in Your Photos
We said it earlier, and we will say it again: online dating is all about positivity, possibility, and excitement. We cannot tell you the number of people whom we have talked to that said one of the biggest factors that drove their interest in other singles was the fact that they had posted photos where they were smiling.
Tip #11: Be Honest
Do not embellish facts about what you like to do in your spare time. Do not lie about your appearance or try to conceal what you look like. Do not be deceptive about what you do for a living. This is all pretty much common sense stuff, and it really goes without saying. Honesty is the best way to play it when using online dating sites.
Be honest in what you present in your online dating profile. If you do tell little white lies or even big lies, you will be found out eventually, and you will have to go through the process of explaining yourself. Avoid that hassle, and just be upfront with singles you encounter online! You owe it to them to be honest and to simply be you!
Tip #12: Strike a Middle-Ground Between Boring and Sexy
Speaking of sexy faces, both men and women alike were most drawn to profiles where the user struck a nice balance between being overly sexy and overly conservative. We advise striking this middle ground as a great way to capture as many interested singles as possible!
- For women, they were not really into the whole shirtless, six-pack, cowboy hat-wearing dude but did like a good photo of a guy simply looking confident with a well-fitting, short-sleeved shirt that showed off his biceps.
- For guys, there were a lot more than we expected who would take a girl with a nice smile and maybe a shirt showing just a bit of her midriff over a girl with heavy makeup and heavy cleavage.
Tip #13: Be Yourself
Stay loyal to who you are as a person. You might be a round peg, and you can do your best to fit yourself into a square hole, but you are a round peg at day’s end. What we are trying to say is to not project a certain image online that is not true to who you are. You could end up missing out on the person who will love you for exactly you!
Tip #14: Keep Your Information Updated
Be diligent with keeping your profile up to date. Add some new photos into the mix to keep things fresh and exciting. If there are any changes in your job or you develop new interests or hobbies, you will want to add these to your profile.
Tip #15: Have Your Friend Look It Over
When in doubt, it is always good to show your profile to a close friend who knows you well. They can help you to fill in any of the important gaps you might have missed. They are also going to be the ones to give you the best constructive criticism that you will need to hear if your profile needs some improvement or a complete overhaul!
