1. Get a great photo
Lets face it, when we're looking through hundreds of listings the thing that we all notice is the photo. You have to click into the listing to read what they have to say but a photo you can evaluate in just an instant. Therefore unless someone is going to take the time to read every single listing you're probably going to be judged by your photo. You need to get a good of a photo as possible. Have your hair done. Put on nice clothes. Show your best side. Take a lot of photos and select the best one. Consider professional photography. If you have a friend of the opposite sex who is willing to help you, let them.

2. Be different
Unless you are a professional model, you will need to do something different to get your listing to stand out from hundreds of other listings. The best place to do this is with your photo or you tag line because those are the things that people will see without clicking into your listing. For instance a cowboy hat will stand out to anyone looking for a cowboy or cowgirl. A man in a suit or a woman in an evening gown will also stand out as will anyone with bright green hair. Find a way to stand out in a way tht is genuinely you.

3. Tell the truth
Whatever you do to get noticed or to get a date, you will eventually be found out eventually. There is a tendency to think that if you do whatever you have to to just get a date with that person that once they gt to know you they will find out how great you are. What they will really see when you meet is that you lied to them and they will not likely see nothing else. This approach never works. Be honest.

4. Choose the right dating site
The dating sites are not all the same. They have different features, a different vibe and they attract different people. Sample more than one site to get a feel for them and the people that are there before purchasing a subscription. In addition to selecting a site that has the right members you want to select a site that has a large enough group in your area that you're likely to find someone. Don't just go with the largest site. Sites have tricks for building up their numbers such as providing offering free profiles and requiring a profile in order to sample the site. Many people will create a profile and then never return to the site. Some sites actually make it difficult for you to remove your listing or will even steal listings from other sites to build and keep up their numbers (I had a problem with this when I married someone online and then ended up with listings on sites that I didn't even know about and couldn't remove). Therefore you want to get a feel for how many active members there are. A site with 1000 members who check in daily is better than a site with 1,000,000 who never come back.

5. Write a personal response
When you respond to an ad write something personal to the person that you are responding to. Read their listing, read their correspondence, and write something specifically to them. Composing an general message and responding to many listings with the same response almost never works. If you're responding to someone who is likely to get a lot of responses (if you are a man responding to an attractive woman) then you'll again need to set yourself apart. Be funny, be original or in some other way be noticeable.

6. Don't get stuck in Email Communication
Different people have different guidelines, 3-5 emails is passed around a lot. Personally I think a few more are ok. The objective of exchanging emails is to get to know the person enough to decide whether you want to meet them or not. This is typically based on shared interests. A secondary objective of emailing is to find some conversation points for when you do meet. You are not going to be able to evaluate whether they have long term potential through email. Even if the other person is completely honest they are still not going to give you a perfectly accurate representation of who they are because we all see ourselves differently than the rest of the world sees us. You don't want to fall in love with what someone writes and then find out that there is another side to the story. If someone goes on and on with email or phone calls but will not meet you there is probably a reason.

7. Spell Check
Write your listing and responses in a program that has spell checking. Then paste it into your browser or email program. Some people don' care about spelling, punctuation and gramar but some do. It's too easy to check not to.

8. Don't Give Out Personal Information
This is paticularly important for women. Don't give strangers information that would allow them to locate you until you are comfortable with them. Many people will not give their real name until they are ready to meet someone. Don't be offended by this and consider doing it yourself. Definitely don't give out an address or any information that someone can use to look up an address. .

9. Avoiding Married Daters
Many of the listings that you read will be from people who are married looking to have an affair. If that is what you are looking for then be please be honest. If you are not then you need to have a strategy for screening out the people who are dishonest about their marital status. A rool of thumb that I like to use is that if a man is afraid to give out a home phone number then there is probably a reason for it.

10. If you're not sure, check them out
There are many tools on the internet that you can use to get information about someone, and if you're willing to do a little work you can do it for free. Most courts have records online now. There are also investigation firms that will run a profile for you for a nominal charge. Of course this only works once you know that you have a valid name, and many people who are running ads will use an alias for valid and suspicious reasons. You should expect a real name by the time that you meet. Therefore on your first date if you can get a peek at a creit card while someone is paying it should match that name you've been given. If not, there's probably a reason. You can probably also get a license number from their car. If they've given you a phone number then you can do a reverse lookup on that.

11. Meet in a Public Place
When you first meet someone that you becamse aquainted with on-line, select a safe place. Meet them somewhere where there will be people around. Make sure that you can get back home safely. If you don't feel safe, consider meeting them when you will have friends along. If someone insists on meeting you in a place or in a manner where you do not feel safe then the very best that can be said about them is that they are insensitive and inconsiderate. If they can't be considerate of this they probably won't be considerate about anything else as time goes by... not a good way to start off a relationship. Insist on it.