The increasing popularity of online dating has changed the way many people conceive meeting new people and looking for a love partner in our day and age.
In many countries, online dating platforms have become the primary way for people to connect to each other and, according to statista.com, there will be almost 280 million online dating users by 2024.
This is an impressive number, as it amounts to just a bit less than the population of the entire United States.
Some dating platforms can be used entirely for free while others require a payment (and usually include additional services that make it easier for you to find the right match.
Whether you plan to use online dating as the only way to look for a new partner, or you just see it as an occasional alternative to traditional ways of meeting new people, having the right guidance can really help you to increase your success rate significantly.
This article contains beginner’s advice about dating online. It will help you bring your game to a whole new level and find the right partner faster and more effectively. If you are interested in general dating tips, you may also want to check our article on the most common dating mistakes made by men.
1. Be Accurate When Setting Up Your Online Dating Profile
One of the biggest mistakes people do when first joining an online dating platform is setting up their profile in a way that is misleading and not realistic.
They forget that the most important thing is not getting as many people as possible interested in their profile but finding the people who are genuinely interested in you and with whom you have the highest chance of actually getting a real-life date.
Using pictures from many years ago, photoshopping your profile images, or using a profile description that doesn’t really reflect the kind of person you are today may increase the number of people who visit and like your profile but also risks creating unrealistic expectations, which can make things more complicated later on in the game.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t showcase the best and most attractive aspects of your personality and appearance, like a recent picture in which you look particularly good, a photo from one of your coolest holidays, or a profile description that mentions your personal traits that are most desirable for a person looking for a new partner.
Also, be very clear as to the type of relationship you are looking for. Different people use online dating platforms for different reasons and giving your profile visitors the wrong idea may turn out to be problematic later in the interaction.
Some people use dating apps to look for a serious relationship, others for casual sex, and others for something in between.
2. Don’t Look for Potential Partners Only in Your Immediate Area
Most people using online dating platforms tend to limit the search for possible matches to a very small area, usually ranging from 5 to 10 miles.
While it’s certainly handy having your dating partner living very close to you, expanding your search to 20, 30, or even 40 miles will double, triple, or quadruple the chances that you will find the right person.
After all, you’re only increasing the driving (or public transportation) distance by 20, 40, or 60 minutes, which is only a small sacrifice when looking for a fulfilling and rewarding love relationship.
This is particularly true if you live in a small town, which usually offers lower dating opportunities than a big city. In this case, it may be advisable to look for a potential partner in your whole county.
3. See Your Profile from a Visitor’s Perspective
After having set up your profile for the first time, it’s useful to visit again every once in a while and try to look at it from a visitor’s point of view.
You shouldn’t do this immediately after setting it up, but rather every couple of weeks or so.
This will help you understand whether your profile actually conveys the type of impression you want to give to its visitors, as well as insights on whether it needs some improvements or integrations.
When setting up their profiles for the first time, some people may miss certain elements or include elements that are not really helpful.
Regularly reviewing your profile will help you improve it gradually and make it increasingly attractive to visitors and potential dating partners.
Online dating is a skill that is learned gradually so the more you use these platforms and get feedback from other users, the more adjustments you will make to your profile to make it more effective.
4. Contact a Professional Photographer to Get Better Pictures
While it is true that appearance is not the most important trait when looking for a new partner, it does play a role, and this may be truer when you are meeting a new person online.
For this reason, it can be very helpful to have a professional photographer take your photos and use his/her expertise to make sure the pictures highlight your best aesthetic traits.
People who take this step tend to have a significant improvement in the percentage of matches and dates they get through online dating platforms.
Of course, a good picture alone won’t do all the work, but it certainly is a great starting point.
Take several pictures during your photo shooting sessions. Try to dress well and in a way that reflects your style but don’t pose or show off too much. It’s important that the pictures come across as natural and not forced or pompous.
5. Don’t Use Cheesy and Predictable Pick-Up Lines
When starting a conversation with another online dating user, the most important thing is to come across as original and genuinely interested in that person.
Don’t be lazy when reading the other user’s profile. Try to picture the person behind that profile and use that knowledge during the approach and the interaction.
Using boring and over-utilized pick-up lines tends to be very ineffective these days. It’s very likely they have heard that same pick-up line several times already and won’t be impressed by it.
Actually, these cheesy, pre-made sentences may harm your online dating game and reduce your chances from the beginning of the interaction.
The conversation must feel authentic and personal and it’s your job to channel it in the right direction.
It’s also important that you use the right language for each stage of the interaction. Calling the other person “sexy” or “sweetheart” or “baby” too early in the interaction won’t probably have the effect you wish.
6. Don’t Be Too Self-Involved
Unlike what many people believe, talking excessively about yourself in order to display your positive traits is not very effective in dating, and especially in online dating. 
Your attractive traits are usually conveyed more through your behavior than through your words.
In contrast, asking many questions about the other person shows genuine interest and makes you potential dating partner open up to you and feel more comfortable about you.
This is especially true for women, who tend to be very attracted to a man who can listen to her and let her express their thoughts and feelings.
This doesn’t mean that you must completely avoid talking about your life, passions, and hobbies. It means that the conversation shouldn’t be centered around you.
Your goal is not to communicating to the other person “how cool you are” but rather to make the other person feel good in your presence and build enough rapport to move the interaction from the online dating platform to the real world.
7. Avoid Commenting on the Other Person’s Body Early on in the Interaction
As the conversation progresses, you may be tempted to make excessively direct comments on the other person’s body or physical appearance in general.
This is something that you should avoid as it can be a very big turn-off.
Having talked with that person for half an hour online doesn’t mean that you can already start throwing sexual references around.
If you want to make comments about the other person’s appearance, try to focus on less sensual things, like the smile, the haircut, the fashion sense and so on.
This as a good trick to communicate your attraction without coming across as rude, creepy, or obnoxious.
8. Don’t Act in a Way That You Can’t Replicate in Life
While using online dating platforms, you should not try to act in a way that does not represent who you really are in your life.
Due to the existence of a digital barrier between the two people, some online dating users may be tempted to put on a cool persona that is not really in line with their genuine self.
Not only is this very difficult to maintain in the long term but if potential partners become interested in this persona, rather than you, sooner or later they will notice the gap between the two and be extremely disappointed.
That’s why you should always be your genuine self from the beginning of the interaction until you two meet, even if this means that you won’t be able to attract all dating site users.
Of course, you can showcase the best and most effective parts of your personality, as long as these are parts of you and not a made-up character.
Practice at being the best possible version of yourself.
9. Don’t Take Things Personally
At the end of the day, online dating is still a number’s game. While you may become better at it with time, you’re often going to interact with users that are not going to reciprocate your interest or even respond to your messages.
This is particularly true for men who are looking for a female dating partner on these apps. The number of men on such platforms is way higher than the number of women and the more attractive a woman is, the higher the number of messages she receives on a daily basis.
Even if you get 10 negative interactions or non-responses in a row, don’t take it personally and don’t let it drag you down.
Read Our Guide On: How to Send the Best First Message in Online Dating?
10. Try to Move from Online to Real Life Interaction as Soon as Possible
When using online dating websites and apps, you should never lose sight of the fact that your ultimate goal is to meet and date that person in the real world and that these dating platforms are just a tool to achieve that.
Of course, it’s important to build a little bit of rapport when chatting and interacting online before moving to real-life dating but you should make sure that the online interaction doesn’t prolong itself excessively.
One way to do this is to ask the other person’s phone number once she feels pretty comfortable interacting with you online and has already displayed some signs of attraction.
Once you have the other person’s phone number, move the conversation from chatting online to texting and proceed to ask that person out after that.
If the other person is not willing to give you the telephone number, it may be a sign that she is probably not interested enough and that it’s better to move on.
If you want to learn more about how attraction works, check this article on what women look for in a man.
11. Watch Out for Scams
Like with many other things on the internet, you must watch out for scams when you are looking for an online dating partner.
First of all, make sure you are using a popular online dating app where men and women genuinely look for a dating partner and watch out for websites where the real goal is to arrange meetings between users and those who are looking for a new partner exclusively for financial stability.
Also, make sure you turn down any request from other users to send money to them via PayPal or other online payment methods.
Other users may present this request for money as buying them a gift but most of them are just trying to scam you.
Wait to know and date a person in real life before you consider buying gifts for them.
