Online dating is a huge trend now. Almost everyone has access to a computer, and online dating and matchmaking sites are a booming industry. Is it a good idea for you to sign up with an online dating site?

Here are the pros and cons of online dating:

Pros: If you’re too busy to get out to the usual places to meet women, online dating can be done from your home computer. You already know the women you meet online are looking for a relationship, and they’ll say up front what it is that they want. It’s also a great alternative if it’s physically hard for you to get out.

Cons: There’s no telling who you’re really meeting online – a person can say anything he or she wants to about themselves and you have to take their word for it. If your schedule is too full to go out and meet women in person, it might also be too full to maintain a relationship.

Without a face-to-face meeting, you miss out on tone of voice and body language cues. And, you might find yourself attracted to someone whom it’s impossible to ever meet. You also might build up a fantasy about the woman you meet online that she can’t live up to.

The women you’ll meet: Computer-savvy women who want a relationship, who are either too busy to look for one in person, or who are insecure about who they are in person. You may also find a few women who have trouble leaving home for some reason, whether it’s a handicap or a lack of babysitters for their kids.

The relationship you can expect: Casual and virtual. If it’s too much trouble to go out in person to meet, it’s likely to be too much trouble to go out in person to date. You’ll both be able to date other people, and the only thing that would change that is if you start meeting in real life more than you do on the computer.

What to avoid: Women who aren’t who they say they are. If there’s a picture of a fabulous model next to the profile, that probably isn’t really her. Smart women actually don’t put their pictures next to their profiles – it attracts too much of the wrong kind of attention. Pay attention to what she tells you about herself, and if the details don’t match up, something may be wrong.

The bottom line: The Internet is a great place for people to meet, but not always the best place for people to date. The importance of physical attraction is cut down to zero, so you do get to know the women who are being honest, but then you’re likely to create a fantasy about their appearance instead of being prepared to accept them for who they are.

(1) Post good-quality, flattering photos of yourself on your dating profile. Find several photos of yourself where you look healthy, attractive and confident and add them to your profile. You want your female matches to be drawn into reading your profile from your tasteful photos of yourself.

(2) Post photos of yourself smiling in which you seem friendly. Avoid posting photos where you have a neutral or negative expression on your face. Avoid posting photos where you have closed body language, such as your arms crossed tightly in front of you. You want the women looking at your profile to consider you as a friendly, approachable, down-to-earth guy.

(3) Spend a good amount of time and care while writing your profile. A primary goal to keep in mind is that you want your profile to be original and creative. Since there are thousands of men on the dating site competing for women’s attention, make sure that ladies reading your profile will become intrigued by your imaginative, carefully crafted descriptions of your personality, personal interests, career, life experiences and relationship goals.

(4) Reflect on the top ten qualities that matter most to you in a partner. In a welcoming manner, write a description about the characteristics that you are searching for in your future girlfriend or wife. Be careful however not to appear to be too demanding, too critical, or superficial. Superficiality is a major turn off for any self-respecting woman.

(5) Avoid being boring and uninteresting while writing your profile. Avoid writing something cliche, such as “I am just a nice guy looking for a good woman.” Write your profile in a manner that reveals your special personality. Use tasteful humor in your dating essay. Share several heart-warming stories about yourself that will make you endearing to your female readers.

(6) Avoid posting shirtless photos of yourself. Chose instead photos of you in action, doing favorite activities such as sailing, cycling or playing tennis. Most women will be turned off by revealing photos.

(7) Consider the characteristics that women are searching for in a long-term relationship partner. Communicate the following attributes while writing your profile:
a) Confidence: Show your independence and self-confidence in your profile. Remember to show humility and avoid coming across as macho or arrogant.
b) Ambition: Reveal to your matches that you are educated and intelligent with a good, stable career. Women want a man who is purposeful and goal-oriented.
c) Humor: Communicate through your profile that you are a fun and playful man who will be a fun-loving and entertaining boyfriend.

You are seriously considering joining a reputable online dating service. You are hopeful at the prospect of possibly meeting your soulmate. You are eager to get started with the process of receiving matches and reading dating profiles. However, you want to stay safe and approach online dating in a smart way.

Although the majority of members of online dating services are honest, good and genuine people, unfortunately hundreds of thousands of people are taken advantage of by internet dating scams. Be aware of any “red flags” that you notice with any of your matches.

Follow these helpful tips to avoid an online dating scam.

Be observant of discrepancies in your match’s emails. Be very cautious if you experience any of the following problems:

a) The email communication from your match is difficult to understand, is repeated or is oddly vague.
b) You receive a response from the match within ten to twenty minutes every time you send him/her a message, even though you never discussed when you would be online again.
c) You notice that emails from your match change in grammar, spelling, style, language or overall tone throughout your communication with him/ her.
d) Early on in your communication, your match shares a heart-wrenching story that quickly turns into an emergency, and he/she informs you that you are the only one who can help.
e) Your match fails to offer you any personal or detailed information about himself/herself.
f) He or she does not respond to your emails or messages in a personal way, but instead change the topic each time he/ she sends another email.
g) You sense that the emails or messages that you are receiving from this match don’t contain meaningful and appropriate responses. Consider whether or not the person is sending you copied-and-pasted responses from a pre-written script or outline.
h) The person asks you to cash someone’s money order or check for him/her. Say no!
i) The person asks you for money. Avoid giving anyone any money.
j) Be weary if the match’s profile photos look fake or unrealistic. It likely means that the photos have been tampered with, or worse, the photos might be of another person entirely and just used to hook potential matches into communicating with him/her.

Safety and Privacy Tips

Be very careful not to reveal you actual last name to a match until you feel that you have gotten to know the person and you feel that they are trustworthy. Be careful not to reveal your personal email address until you have been communicating for a good while through the online dating service and you feel comfortable sharing your email address with them. Do not share your phone number with a match until you feel very safe and comfortable with them over email. Never reveal your personal address until you have gone through the process of communicating online for a good amount of time, have had many successful phone conversations, and have met in person in safe, public places a variety of times.

You are at a place in your life in which you are ready to settle down. You have a good college or university education, and you are established or getting established in your chosen career. Something, more precisely, someone, is missing though. You long to be in a long-term committed relationship with a loving, intelligent, caring woman or man who would one day become your future spouse. You have had several long-term relationships, but unfortunately they didn’t work out. You are busy with your career and you don’t have any friends or co-workers that would be good possible girlfriends or boyfriends. Several of your friends from university suggest to you that you join an online dating service. They were able to meet their wives through online dating services, which is a good testimonial in itself.

Your friends try to encourage you to register with an online dating service. They offer you several compelling reasons why you should give online dating serious consideration.

1) As a member of an online dating service, you are enabling yourself to be matched with and interact with possibly hundreds if not thousands of fellow members. Many popular dating services have millions of members. You are increasing your potential “dating pool” of possible matches exponentially.

2) As a member, you are expanding your geographical search for your future mate beyond just your own city or town to include your state or province, your entire country, or even several other countries if you choose to look for love in a broader geographical setting. Many online dating services allow you to list the states or provinces or countries that you would like your matches to live in, and some services allow you to type in a specific distance, such as a 500 mile radius or a 1000 mile radius.

3) A high percentage of men and women discover their wives or husbands through online dating services. Many people met their current girlfriend or boyfriend online.

4) If you take a relaxed and positive attitude, joining an online dating service can be a fun and rewarding experience. It is an easy and exciting way to receive matches from various states, provinces or even countries, all from the comfort of your home computer. Members find it to be a memorable time in their lives, as they look forward every day to discovering their new matches and reading new messages from matches.

5) Online dating services offer helpful and easy-to-use features. Members are able to easily access a tremendous variety of personal profiles which contain information about each match’s personal interests, career, relationship goals, religion, age and place of residence. Members can view one another’s photos, which is a popular feature.