Taking the plunge and deciding to join an online dating is one of the most exciting things you can do as a mature dater. It signals your decision to take control of your dating life, meet new people and hopefully turn a page on your dating history. The only thing that’s standing between you and all that promise is, er, your dating profile.
Studies have shown that very few of us enjoy the process of filling out our dating profiles and even fewer still really know what to say when it comes to putting our best selves forward online. So, to help you along we’ve put together this guide to help you get it right. So, let’s dig in.
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Always upload (recent) pictures
Don’t be afraid of looking vain, uploading recent pictures is an absolute must. Many people simply won’t click into a profile to see more without a picture and many more will simply not talk to you if you’ve chosen to upload an old picture of yourself. Keep your pictures fun, light hearted and most importantly, keep them recent. If you can, ensure there’s at least one picture of you on your own, so that any prospective dates know which one is you in a group picture. Oh, and smile, everyone loves a smile.
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Tell stories
There’s a tendency with online dating profiles to treat them as though you treat your CV – another thing that very few of us enjoy writing. We write a list of our basic history, what we get up to in our spare time and what we’re looking for. Whilst that certainly gets the job done, as it were, it doesn’t exactly paint a picture of who you really are. Almost all of us ‘love to laugh’, but what if you told a story about the funniest thing that happened to you recently? That’s a much better way show what kind of person you are, and creates much greater connection with a potential match.
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Don’t lie, ever
Tempted to tell some half-truths or lies in your online dating profile because, hey, it’s only online dating? Well, don’t. Lying at any time is far from recommended, but online, a single found out lie can undermine everything else you said. If you add 4 inches to your height online, what else might you be capable of lying about? Keep it on the level and you’ll be getting your relationship off to the right start.
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Keep it light
Lots of us come to mature online dating with deep frustrations about our dating experiences in the past, but you need to leave those are the door. Imagine speaking to somebody at a bar and their first 15 minutes spent talking to you was about how nobody ever talks to them, how they’ve gone out with some right idiots and that they usually hate dating. That’d put you off, wouldn’t it? Well then, don’t make your online dating profile sound like that. Be positive, optimistic and friendly. You catch more flies with honey, as they say.
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Don’t be afraid to ask for help
The days of being embarrassed about online dating are well and truly gone, with one in three UK relationships now forming online first. If you aren’t sure about anything on your online dating profile, try asking a female family member, friend or colleague. Listen to their advice and build your profile around their opinions.
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Be yourself
‘Being yourself’ might well be one of the most overdone clichés of the dating world, but it holds true for online dating especially. Your online dating profile is the only real way for a potential match to work out exactly what kind of person you are. A carefully constructed profile of what you think somebody might want could impress at first blush, but as soon as you don’t live up to it, everything falls apart. Being yourself is absolutely essential, so don’t be afraid of doing it.
