11 May Rebecca Dakin Match.com Dating Expert – Dating Profiles – this weeks good and bad w/c 7th May
My 5 Step formula for the Perfect Online Dating Profile:
1) Photos, smiling, clear 3 minimum – face, full body and action
2) Introduction – opening gambit
3) What you offer
4) What you are looking for
5) Invitation to connect
Match.com Profiles:
For Uk Match.com members: http://uk.match.com
This weeks pants profile goes to…
Username: Herman75 – Nottingham
Love having fun.going out and staying in looking for
Yes that is literally it! Nothing else.
1) Photos: This guy has 2 photos. His main profile photo is one that has been taken unflatteringly close – with a cheesy fake grin and in the second photo he is wearing a silly nose/glasses.
His age is listed as 37. Either the years haven’t been kind, or more probably he is much older than he states. He looks mid forties. If he genuinely is 37 then he should have photos taken a little bit further away, and not with such a strained expression. No one looks good with a photo taken that close. I know many people lie about their age, but I don’t agree with it, I think you should be honest to avoid disappointment and wasting peoples time.
His photos, combined with his poor profile tell me that he is immature, a lads lad and not really committed to seriously dating. His profile photos imply he’s a big drinker, because they are both holiday snaps. The first one you can see plane seats behind him and he does look potentially drunk, and the second is probably from a night out. Also he doesn’t come across as very intelligent because he’s made no attempt to expand on his profile. Yes I got all this from 2 photos! Now I could be completely wrong, but the point is, if you use bad photos people will rightly or wrongly judge you. It’s imperative to get them right.
2) Intro: Love having fun.going out and staying in looking for ‘A Few Words About Me’ er yes, that’s definitely a ‘few’. It couldn’t be any more generic. Try to avoid stating the obvious unless you can add substance. I.e: instead of saying ‘love having fun’ expand on what constitutes as ‘fun’ for you – ‘For fun I play 5 a side with friends, it keeps me active’, or ‘for fun I enjoy pub quizzes with my friends’.
3) What he’s offering – no clue
4) What he is looking for – no clue
5) Invitation to connect – none
This has got to be one of the worst profiles I have seen. Most of it has been left blank; he hasn’t filled anything in.
I’d give this profile a minus one out of 10!
If you’re not going to fill it in properly then there really is no pointing paying your money. It’s a complete waste, because no one will contact you or reply.
This weeks positive Profile
Username: Boardstupid78 – Hertfordshire
Friendly active guy looking for my snow angel. Plenty of hugs to give the right lady!
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you like what you read
I’m a big advocate of getting outside on a weekend and in the evenings to stop me going stir-crazy. Although i love living in the city, i love getting out to the countryside as much as possible. Anything involving a mountain, forest or river is likely to excite me, and i cant imagine just sitting around at home for the rest of my life, so i’d like to meet someone with a similar desire. Although i can be persuaded to stay in with a film and a Shiraz once in a while, i wouldn’t want it to be my complete life.
I love my friends and family and would rather be out being sociable with them. I can be a bit shy when i first meet new people, although it doesn’t normally take me long to get over it. I always try to treat others as i’d like to be treated myself and have been told i’m caring and considerate. I’m generally fairly tactile with my friends and family, and don’t really understand it when people aren’t the same. It wont feed the world, but a good hug always makes me happy.
So what else is there to know about me…. I love snowboarding and try and go away a couple of times a year with my friends. In fact, i’m up for most sporting and active pastimes ( canyoning for the first time in Austria recently was loads of fun!). This also means that i don’t feel bad about liking my food! I love to cook and bake, and tend to have a home-made cake in my fridge most of the time. I love animals and would like to own a dog once my life makes it possible. I work hard all week and don’t see the point of doing a half job, but i ensure that that i keep the work-play balance – what’s the point otherwise? I love spending time with my nephew although possibly regret teaching him to make silly faces when he has his photo taken – 3 years on and he still does it, sorry sis!!
Anything that interests you? Iits good to have some common interests but variety is the spice of life, so tell me what you like doing and i’ll give it a go!
1) Photos: this guy has many dynamic photos, lots of travel and ‘action’ shots. Brilliant! His profile pic isn’t the best as it’s quite dark, you can’t see his eyes because he’s slightly squinting and he has a tilted half smile. This is the only one I’d potentially change for one where you can see his eyes clearly (after all they are the window to the soul) and a broader smile. He’s actually got a black and white photo where he has a broader natural smile that would be better suited for his main photo. Despite it being black and white the lighting is good and you can see his eyes clearly.
2) Introduction: ‘Friendly active guy looking for my snow angel. Plenty of hugs to give the right lady! Thanks for stopping by, i hope you like what you read’
Friendly, inviting and targeted i.e he’s looking for a woman who is into snow sports skiing/boarding. His handle Boardstupid78 is a clever well thought out name and again hinting at what he is clearly looking for.
3) What does he offer? ‘I always try to treat others as i’d like to be treated myself and have been told i’m caring and considerate. I’m generally fairly tactile with my friends and family, and don’t really understand it when people aren’t the same. It wont feed the world, but a good hug always makes me happy.’
I love to cook and bake, and tend to have a home-made cake in my fridge most of the time.’
Most women are very tactile so it is appealing to mention as is the home baked cakes. I mean who doesn’t like home made cakes? It suggests that although he’s quite dynamic, he’s also homely.
4) what is he looking for? It’s a bit of a cop out but he’s saying he wants someone with similar interests, values. It would be nice to see him specifically mention the attributes he wants in a woman, after all we don’t want to go out with someone who is exactly the same as us that would be boring – so a few attributes that he is looking for that maybe he doesn’t have himself would be nice to see. For example I can be impatient so I like to date people with patience, so I would mention in a profile that I was seeking someone with patience …. so you get the ying and yang so to speak…
5) Invitation to connect; ‘Anything that interests you? Iits good to have some common interests but variety is the spice of life, so tell me what you like doing and i’ll give it a go!’
This is friendly and shows he’s open minded.
I’d give it a 6 out of 10. There are lots of careless typos, which is a shame, and it could do with shortening slightly, but generally it’s a well thought out and interesting profile.