My last post where I mentioned that different sites had “genres” got me thinking. If a dating site is a song, what song would it be? Use this guide to find what dating site is right for you.

Match.com: “Toxic” by Britney Spears’

I don’t say this to imply that Match.com is actually toxic; but rather to say that Match.com is like a mainstream song that – as cool as you want to be – you just can’t help but love. Match.com has great brand recognition. As a result, it has a ton of members – and good features that allow you to sort through candidates and find what you’re looking for fast. Sure, the bleach blonde in glitter makeup likes it because she doesn’t know any better; but the low maintenance girl that looks good in jeans and a t-shirt isn’t too cool to be into it.

Continue reading ‘What Song is Your Dating Site?’ »

There’s a pretty extensive overview of Match.com’s membership features and pricing, as well as other reviews of online dating sites, written by Bonny Albo, over at About.com.

Bonny ranked OkCupid as the top dating site, supposedly because it is a fun site, and free.

I know I tried OkCupid a few times, and I could never get into it:

• You have to spend an awful lot of time playing the little “games” on the site to get good matches.
• It seems to attract a certain “genre.” Lots of hipsters on OkCupid.

Continue reading ‘Match.com Dating Site Review’ »

I get a lot of questions from faithful readers about Match.com’s “Wink” feature. Is it okay to use? What do you do if someone winks at you? What if you wink at someone and they don’t wink back?

For the guys, let me summarize it with this photo:

Well, that’s really simplifying it, but I’ll get more into that in a second. Continue reading ‘Match Winks: an Overview’ »

I came across something I hadn’t seen before: a woman’s profile who left her “body type” blank. Nuh uh, I said – you have to answer that one for me to consider you!

Of course, I know enough about looking out for the angles, that it’s hard to fool me when it comes to this question. But to me, it’s a self-confidence, and self-comfort issue if a woman doesn’t either answer this, or provide a clear body shot.

In general, do women sandbag in this category? This coule be a product of my aforementioned expertise, but in my experience, not really. Or, if they do, maybe I’ve just managed to adjust?

Continue reading ‘What online dating questions are okay to not answer?’ »

Ross Felix, a commenter on David Evan’s blog, Online Dating Insider, brought up an excellent point:

Match.com 15 mil users / 1.32 million premium members = 91% of the people can’t reply to your email without upgrading their membership.

That’s right, if you didn’t get a response to the last message you sent out to another Match.com member, don’t take it personally: 91% of the users are unable to respond to you. Wow. I’m surprised it’s that high of a rate.

Maybe I’m surprised, because I know that if you try to get winks on Match.com first, and limit the energy you expend when you do write messages on Match.com, you will have much better odds. There may be a small percentage of members who can write you back, but Match is still the best dating site, IMO.

If, try as you might, you can’t get a lady interested enough to wink on match.com instead of writing messages, and there’s a special woman you’re set on contacting, I’ve got a tip for you. Nothing I’ve found works better than “the one-line hook.” This is a one-sentence question that is relevant to something in the profile that interests you, that “hooks” your target into responding.

Remember, when you are making first contact, you have one goal, and that is to get a response, which will show that she is, in fact, also interested in you (while also helping build that interest), and ready to get a follow-up message, and eventually go on a date.

Some one-line hooks that have worked for me include: Continue reading ‘Writing Messages on Match: The One-Line Hook’ »

So an update on my progress with the match.com guarantee. My theory that, during the course of 6 months, someone is bound to have at least one love interest that makes them skimp on their end of the guarantee, has held up (your end is keeping an active profile, having a photo on your profile, and contacting at least 5 members a month). I did date one woman with whom things went so well that, after seeing her for several weeks, we became “official” and I deactivated my profile, thus forfeiting my chance at getting another 6 months free. When things ended up not working out a week later, as you can imagine, I was frustrated with that decision – but hey, it wouldn’t have been right to have my profile active, right? Continue reading ‘Match.com Guarantee Granted’ »

I saw a smart comment on a thread on MetaFilter.com, regarding whether or not to date on Match.com.

…you will be busy with having coffee here, a glass of wine there, and trying out a new dessert bar at some other place. You’re meeting people, finding out more about them and yourself. Someone else in another part of your life meets you and thinks, “Hmmm. He seems pretty fun. He isn’t too intense or brooding at home on a Saturday night. He’s been to that funky new wine bar, the one I’ve wanted to check out….”

This is a great point. Personally, if I waited until I found someone worth dating in real life, I would probably go on a date a year. Once I was on that date, I wouldn’t know what I was doing. Even if you don’t meet your perfect mate from Match.com, it least it gets you out of the house, and gets you into practice so that you won’t be tongue-tied when you do finally meet “the one.”

While I’ve clearly come up with some good theories on online dating success, I still suffer from being very selective. Thus, with my latest Match.com subscription, I signed up for 6-months to get the “Make Love Happen” guarantee. It’s simple. If you don’t have a girlfriend by the end of 6-months, you get another 6-months free – which would actually probably feel pretty pathetic :P

There are some restrictions though:

• You have to keep a photo on your profile. Easy.
• You have to keep your profile visible. Also, easy.
• You have to write to at least 5 members a month. Also, simple.

My initial thought is that it’s pretty unlikely for a person to get through the whole thing without slipping up. Even if you don’t find a girlfriend by the end of 6 months, you’re bound to have one or two that you see for about 6-8 weeks, lose interest in Match.com, and thus wind up skipping a month and blowing the whole thing. Well, so far, I’m just starting out on month 4. I’ll keep you updated on my progress (or lack thereof, whichever is which).

It doesn’t matter how well you write your profile, if you don’t present yourself attractively with your profile photos, women won’t even get to the part of reading about you. Period. A good main profile photo will ensure that a match click’s through to see more when you do The “Who’s Viewed Me” Shuffle. But, whether you’re good-looking or not, the quality of the photo can make all of the difference. Poor lighting, “red-eye” or the wrong facial expression can all make even Adonis look more like Quasimodo. Your profile photo should be the best (recent) photo ever taken of you. Here’s some advice for getting the right main profile photo Continue reading ‘Match.com profile photo tips’ »

So, you’ve browsed dozens of profiles, reading every last detail, and you’ve finally got your heart set on this one woman whom you’re sure is the woman of your dreams. You spend hours trying to craft the wittiest message that you can, and lo and behold – she never writes back. Now you’ve spent all of this time – and you’ve lost all of your confidence.

Don’t get too upset. Just because she didn’t write back doesn’t mean that she wasn’t interested. Keep in mind that only paid Match.com subscribers can read and reply to messages. So she may have a profile up, but no paid subscription.

The way to avoid situations like this, and to be in a more favorable position when first contact does occur, is to get her to make first contact – hopefully in the form of a “wink.” You do this by: Continue reading ‘Don’t Write Messages on Match.com – Get Winks!’ »

The trick to having a successful first contact with a potential match is getting her to contact you first; and for her to decide to contact you, she has to see you first. So, what I like to do is make a point of clicking through to alot of (attractive) women’s profiles – even if I don’t read them, so that I show up in their “who’s viewed me.” I know from experience that women check this pretty often, and I’ve even talked to some who only use that feature to find matches – they never search.

So, by showing up in her “who’s viewed me,” you give your dream woman a chance to make first contact: preferably a “wink.” Soon, you’ll at least see her in your “who’s viewed me.” Unless you are really strongly attracted to her at this point, if she hasn’t initiated first contact by now, it’s best to move on, because: Continue reading ‘The Match.com “Who’s Viewed Me” Shuffle’ »