Thoughts on writing a profile for an online dating site!

This weekend Natasha and I spent a little time looking at profiles of men on Elenas Models as we were talking about one of her friends who is having a hard time getting over a relationship with a foreign man living in Moscow (seems like he was telling her that he's getting divorced and promised her the world only to find out that none of it was true, anyways that's a story for another day).

What struck me by looking at these profiles was how many of the men have not clue how to write a good profile (OK, I know this is really subjective and I might be the one that has not clue ). So people might say that there are lots of men online, but a lot of them would not seem like too high quality based on how they present themselves.

The things that jumped to mind for both Natasha and myself were the following:

Pictures or should we say a lack of pictures?

It seemed like the majority of profiles only had one picture and very few of them were ones where you could see the persons eyes well which all women want to see. Also, a side comment from Natasha, she mentioned that she would delete any pictures of men with their cars as this made her think he thought his possessions made him important. In my case, I used as many good quality pictures as possible, made sure they were recent (if I could add a caption I would add where and when the pic was taken), and had no self-portraits (you know the ones where the person takes picture of themselves in the mirror with their cell phone) or chopped off picture (these would be the ones with your ex where you could see part of her hand on your side). Oh, I did have one secret weapon picture of me and another women, but that women was my 96 y.o. grandmother...

Profile Content I was surprised by how many wrote very little about themselves and how most of them were pretty similar in that they like sports, travel, and family blah, blah, blah. The one profile that jumped out at me was one where the man wrote that the other men the lady is talking to might have just been released from prison (it made me laugh).

Anyway, I have read others mention about being brutally honest, well if you are an opinionated person who might have multiple failed marriages behind you, then I would say this is a good way to go, but I feel honest, interesting, and funny are the best way to go with a profile. The brutally honest part can come later as you are trying to sell yourself and separate from the crowd.

Bottom line, you need to put a little effort into it as you need to think of it as your online dating resume. So proof read it and correct those little errors (very important for a person like myself whose thoughts are sometimes totally different from what my fingers write).

OK, just to share what I came up with as I don't want to critic anyone else without putting my own work up for review so I logged into a site I used in the past and was surprised my profile was still there, despite being hidden for a long time. Anyways, my goal was to scare away the typical coach potato American and attract an active, interesting, and educated lady (maybe it worked too well as some that I met and few other that were WAY ahead of me ).

A Cheesy example of an online profile!

Yes, I might be an anomaly as I love to exercise (running, swimming, and weight lifting), would rather jump on an airplane and see another part of the world then sit home for a weekend (OK, taking a weekend off from time-to-time it's not a bad thing either), and truly care about living life in a way that will leave the world better off then when I entered. But then I think being an anomaly is not a bad thing. I believe life is short so you should always live for today, but don’t forget to keep an eye on tomorrow. I think it’s better to do the right thing (ethical) even though it might cost more and take longer to reach you ultimate goal. Additionally, I think it’s important to be involved in activities that make you happy and provide a good laugh as it’s easier to live life with a smile then without. I feel variety is another important part of life as I’d rather say that “yes I tried that” or “been there and done that” when old then regret that I left an opportunity on the table. But, this does not mean I don’t have a few favorite activities such as traveling overseas, running, or just eating out with good friends. Mostly, for me, every day is different as you can find my activities ranging from participating in some kind of endurance sport to being curled up and reading a book. When looking for someone to spend time with, I probably need you to value living a healthy lifestyle and keeping yourself in shape, being outgoing and kind, plus having the intelligence to challenge me and enjoying being challenged yourself. Big turn-offs for me are people who seem to thrive on negativity without offering solutions for making things better, try to make themselves look better at others expense, or just hate change. In other words if you want to live life with a smile and don’t mind doing the right thing then I just might be a person for you. Lastly, I'm hoping for a loving, loyal, sensual relationship.

I do not feel distance is a problem at first in a relationship as I have done crazy things like fly to Chicago for breakfast, Paris for Lunch, and Kyiv for a good bowl of Borscht. It's our opportunity so lets take it as I might be the person you are looking for, to date at first and then see what happens in the future.

The picture I had used in my primary photo, not sure if everyone liked it, but I know it was a hit with Natasha as I noticed she has it on her iPhone tied to my number. BTW, I would leave it as a high res pic when possible.

Have to admit that your profile must brought a lot of interesting ladies your way and you probably had a problem deciding who to meet......

I agree with you that people who are on the look out should pay more attention on how they present themselves.........especially when they break the ice with the first letter otherwise how else you be noticed?

Your secret weapon is very good and clever.........showing the opposition how you care.....

When I was dating I always observed the ladies to see how they behave and treat the members of their family....... so now I know what to expect!

Sure puts my profile to shame.

Enjoyed reading.

Nice one Cheesy :)

Wiz,

It's surprising how women reacted to that picture as it was worth a 1,000 words (like you mentioned, they wanted signs that we treat other people well). Now to those who might be wondering if grandma knew her picture was being used by her grandson, the answer is yes as I think it was always her weeks highlight to see what was new in my dating life. It's just too bad that she passed away not that long ago as I think she would have provided two thumbs up after meeting Natasha.

Just a heads up on using a 'secret weapon' photo on EM. They approve your photo but blank out the face/faces of other persons.

Yes, pictures of other people are not approved on EM.

I think it's the only site I have run into where this is true. That's where the issue of having cut photos comes into play as it's usually obvious that the picture is cut leaving the viewer always guessing who was cut out of the picture. That reminds me of a profile of an American lady who had pictures of her and her ex-husband (so labeled) and then other pictures which were of her as a cheer leader (only problem was that was from her University days and at the time she was in her mid 30's ).

I think it's the only site I have run into where this is true.

I'll add to the last statement as I think Mamba network might be the same as well, but my memory does not serve me well at the moment...so my statement might be incorrect.