Writing and responding to online personal ads - do's and don'ts, pros and cons

Expediting the Internet Dating Process Online personals really work. Everyone affiliated with this site has hooked up via internet personals, which is why we're passionate about what we do. With the amazing advent of the Internet, there's no reason why "anyone" "anywhere" should be single. My 65 year old mom is now dating (after almost 15 years) becasue I placed her ad in ALL the major dating sites and match services. She was overwhelmed with responses, from all over the planet! She's been dating ever since, and finally found a nice (keeper) gent she claims she'll hang on to a spell. :-)

Total Cost? Nadda. Zip. Zelch. With the millions...and millions...and yes, millions of singles now getting hip into the Internet dating scene, you'll surely hook up in a very short period of time, but you must follow some basic guidelines. (My high end sites sometimes average over 10,000 new singles joining daily!)

The trick and ultra hot tips to being successful can be broken down in three basic steps. Follow them closely, and you WILL succeed! How do I know? I ran a professional Online Matchmaking business for two years. We basically wrote and placed "very creative" personals all over the Web for busy professional clients who didn't have the time/or know how to deal with it. We also created personal websites for these clients with a biography, photo's and witty banter regarding who and what they seeked. All the client had to do was open his or her email, and boom! There were singles from all over wanting to know more about them. It was a smashing success! We managed to hook up 99% of our clients within a months time. The business got so large, so quick, that it became overwhelming. I halted that biz because for the time spent, it was more lucrative to create e-commerce websites, and a lot less stressful! We would have over 100 inquires to our services daily! And we were only a four person operation. Yes, we kept raising the prices, but they kept coming! I simply couldn't hire enough staff to keep up with the work load. Burn out factor 101. But, that's how I knew how popular online dating was going to be. 3 years and almost 100 websites later, here we are! The largest dating, and "totally free" personal ads network on the Internet! Let's rock....

The Almighty Personal Ad - Your first impression... your connection to millions off potantail lovers, soulmate or spouses. Wow, I've seen hundreds and hundreds, and the majority of them, well, SUCK! To be totally unbiased, I'm going to grab a personal from one of our sites, and paste it right here. I swear, this will be the only one I grab, making it a complelety random selection. Be right back....

Here it is, so help me!

Headline: looking for true love Profile ad: i live in fayetteville,nc,i am seperated, divorce pending,i want a caring and honest woman not afraid of love or commitment

TaDa! That's it! Can you believe that? And I bet he wonders why he nevers gets a response? Sheesh... Take The Time to create and craft a funny, witty, and somewhat mysterious profile and for goodness sakes, Spell Check! You must set yourself apart or you'll never any luck. The most "important" thing is to use proper spelling and syntax when responding to ads. You only have the one first chance to make a good impression. Most folks do not like sloppy letters. USE YOUR SPELL CHECK for every outgoing message! One of the reasons I use Love mail for my clients is because it has a good spell check feature. It only takes a minute, yet can make all the difference. Also, people are visual creatures. Use the stationery feature as well. Give your email some color-you have many to choose from. Be creative! Let them remember you as the cute single that had cute little hearts in his email! Stand out from all the rest, and always come across as a nice human being!

Now, let's look at a couple personal ads we wrote for our clients:

Gemini Juggler
Are you a liberal or conservative? A laugher or cryer? A licker or biter? I'm both. Always both and yet neither. I'm an atheistic lover of many gods. . . a sophisticate with toys in my bathtub . . . a genuine evil twin who loves to perform missions of mercy. Honey, I always prefer paper and plastic. In fact, there are so many sides to me that I often find I'm beside myself. Think you can handle having five lovers in one? Being monogamous with me is just like being totally promiscuous.

Zodiac Killer
We Virgos rarely brag--except when there's something we want. And I want you. So I'm going to tell you what my astrologer said, which is that we Virgos are the smartest lovers and sexiest geniuses in the entire zodiac. Now tell me about yourself. Are you a frequent bather with strawberry breath and jet pilot's eyes? Are you equally at home in silk and grunge, equally knowledgeable about El Greco and L7? Do you have a slow hand but fast fingers? Know lots of short cuts but have a long attention span? Then get over here now. I want to bite you with my wit

Power Play
I've got the heart of a mountain-climber and the mind of an entrepreneur. You're a timeless beauty who thinks the most fun thing that two people can have together is to build things from the ground up. How about it: Want to work and play together? Want to share the spiritual joys of powerwalking, powershopping and powermongering? Let's gaze at the bottom line by day and oil up each other's charisma by night. Please: no dice-rollers, white liars, or compulsive jaywalkers. Must be willing to lose at chess.

Jungle Love
Tasmanian devil seeks sleek fox or wily coyote for interspecies communion. It's a jungle out there, baybee. But I know some great trails, and I ain't afraid of the deep, dark stuff. Put your little paw in mine and together we'll wade the creeks and scale the cliffs amidst swinging on the vines of destiny. Are you ready to have even more fun than merely being in love? Two grunts mean "yes, dear." Two grunts and a howl mean "yes, dear, NOW!" *Schwing*

So, Which would you pick? The first example? Or one of the above. Nuff said.

Uploading Pictures - I don't care who you are, where you're from or What you look like! Upload your photo's (at least two) so you give an idea of what you look like. There's someone out there just for you, and if you write an intelligent personal profile, your pics don't matter that mush. It only matters that you DO have a picture to relate to the words.

You've made the decision to improve your love life, to seek romance ond companionship among the millions of single women and men online who are looking for just the same... Well, don't expect your soulmate to just come knocking down your e-mail door, you have to grab his or her attention !

A Picture is Worth Thousand Words Yadda Yadda-

Of course your great face in your photo personal ad will help, but that is only the beginning. Thousands of singles are advertising themselves with the same headlines "SWF age 35 125# 5'6" seeking SWM 35-45 for friendship and possible ltr". That's great, but what does it say about the writer, besides the fact that she's a single woman looking for a single man? Nothing that a personal ad doesn't imply by itself.

You have to stand out from the crowd, advertise your finer points, your best qualities, and your honest wishes and desires. That is the only way to attract the single man or woman who is most likely to possess those same qualities and is likely to be scanning the personals looking for someone just like you.

So what are the keys to writing a successful personal ad ?

Be Honest - Don't Brag - Mind Your Cyber-Manners

Not many savvy singles will believe something along the lines of "Harvard educated multimillionaire seeking somebody, anybody, to shower with gifts and attention." If you write such a personal ad you are setting yourself up for failure, as few will think of you as honest. Think about it: honesty is one of the first traits that any single man or woman mentions when describing someone with whom they wish to share friendship, a deeper relationship, and long lasting love. So don't shoot yourself in the foot from the very start.

In your personal ad, write honestly about who you are, but just as importantly, write about the single woman or man you seek. Include all those characteristics you value in a partner, as well as more pragmatic criteria, like geographic location, whether he or she smokes, has children, etc. In short, make it possible for those that fit your criteria to be able to say "that's me, and that's what I want too!" when they see your posted personal ad. Do not set up any possible relationship for failure by lying from the beginning. Any self-respecting single will pack his or her digital bags and move on, sooner or later.

Write an attention-grabbing headline, stressing positive facts contained in your personal ad. The first step in capturing someone's imagination lies in capturing their attention, and for this, you need a clear and concise statement setting yourself apart from the crowd. Use wit here, and stress a quality which you believe singles would find most appealing. What can you say about yourself in a single sentence which makes you irresistible to the opposite sex?

Relevant Singles Information

Another important factor to weigh when writing a good personal ad is the amount of of specific information you should include. It is clearly best to avoid posting specific personal information about yourself like addresses, phone numbers etc., but usually other specifics, as to your occupation, hobbies, interests, and background, are not only ok, but will greatly increase your chance of piquing the curiosity of a like minded single man or woman.

Be Specifc about who YOU are and what YOU seek

Be specific about who you're looking for too: if you know your soulmate is a Buddhist, say so. If you are adamant about remaining childless, convey that too. State your willingness to travel. The woman in Paris may not respond when she notes you live in Rio, if you fail to mention that geographic location is no barrier. The man in White Plains may skip your personal ad if he thinks that you're only seeking a friend to chat online, when you're looking for more, but your ad doesn't say so. What is your personal mantra ? Share it. The man or woman who understands and appreciates it best, is the one who will reply.

Finally, do not underestimate the power of a good first impression: write your personal ad so that it is easy to understand, articulate, and to the point; avoid making grmmar and spelling mistakes: didn't you just wince when you saw that one? That is how most people react, and it does not speak well of the writer. Remember, be honest, be specifc, be positive; these three qualities will make your personal ad a solid one, and a bit of imagination will make it a great one! online dating tips for women

Free Dating Sites versus Totally Free Dating Sites

Defining "FREE" Dating Services - I'm a firm believer in online personal ads, and found my true love via Internet dating sites, but remember the confusion and frustration of clicking on sites claiming Totally Free Personals only to find out that wasn't the case. For the most part, the majority of sites claim Free Personals when marketing which can also be misconstrued as meaning that all site features are free. To make it clear, let's define the industry standards of the word "Free" being used.

• Free Dating Service - Typically means that it's free to join, place personal profiles, and free to search the ads. However, different sites require various paid upgrades to use advanced site features such as chatrooms and sending messages.

• Free Dating Service Trials - Usually means that singles can join the site with no restrictions using all site functions for a predetermined amount of time. Your profile can remain in the database, but your downgraded to basic memberships after the trial.

• Totally Free Dating Services - "Should" mean that all site features are available to all singles with no restrictions, no registration, (to grab that email), and no limits on sending messages. All of our listed totally free personals sites meet this definition.

Recommended Dating Sites - Well, for maximum results, we suggest you place a free profile on ALL the high end dating sites that fit your criteria. ALL dating sites we promote are considered high end, best of the best and you should consider downloading the Roboform automated form filler. It's totally free to download, and makes Internet life so much easier. You can cusomize it for online dating site use. Just fill in the information once, then go to all the dating sites, and use roboform to fill out the questionnaires. It also remembers your passwords, so upon returning, it logs you in with a click, instead of having to manually type your login and password. I did it, and saved tons of time. Think "Quantity and Quality" . The more sites you register with and place free personals profile ads, the more exposure you'll get. Power in numbers, Mi' amigos!

Totally Free Personals - No Charge to Send Messages

naked-pictures-single-girls.com offers these free personals as a way to thank our surfers for using our site for all love and romance related products and services. To be effective, be sure to place your ad in the correct catagory on the drop down menu. Also, these ads will be placed in a search engine that spiders in 15 other free dating sites, so it's imperative that you put your city and state of residence in the Subject field so other singles can find you when searching for specific regions. There is NO membership required to search, place, and contact singles in the database. Enjoy!