The internet is a wonderful way to connect to people who you would not get the chance to meet in any other way. But you need to spend some time up front to create a good profile.
The better you know yourself, what you are about and your best bits, the more confident and together your profile and ad will sound. Write your profile from the heart. Think in marketing terms - say what the product is (you), what the benefits are (what you like), who is your ideal customer and who is not. You also need to look at your competition and see how you can stand out from the rest of the crowd. This works in advertising, so it'll work in the world of Internet dating.
You will know how effective your profile is by the type and number and type of responses you get. Some of them will be off track, so tweak your ad and profile.
Let your imagination run wild about the kind of person you want to be with and the kind of relationship you want to have. Write all this down in note form. Use this information in your profile to filter out the ones you don't want to meet. Also use it as the criteria to check against their profile and develop questions to ask them.
If you were a sales person, you'd expect to set up a meeting with ten out of every hundred letters and phone calls, to be asked to quote by five, and to sell one. The same happens in internet dating. If you are a woman you can expect to get a hundred responses to your profile. You might email back and forth with about a dozen, meet five face-to-face, and start a serious relationship with one.
But be warned, it can be addictive. So set yourself a limit, say one hour a day for one month and see what happens.
BE ANONYMOUS AND BE SAFE
- Think up a nickname. You must never give out your full name as they might be able to find you through the search engines.
- Create a Hotmail or Yahoo email account under your nickname.
- Get a cheap pay-as-you-go mobile number so you don't jeopodise your normal mobile number.
- Never tell them where you live or work, just use the name of the nearest big town.
- Never give them your real email address or phone number.
- Always meet in a public place and tell a friend where you're going and something about the person you are meeting. Get a friend to call you after an hour or so you have a reason to leave if you need it.
