Online Dating Success Tips

There are thousands of great people on Smingle waiting to hear from you. Consider these suggestions for finding a meaningful relationship and creating your Smingle Lifestyle. 

1. Create an Appealing Profile. When writing your ABOUT ME on your profile page, provide few specific pieces of information about yourself (e.g., “I love watching Glee, but I TiVo Jersey Shore (so I can rewind)”) and describe your preferences (e.g., “I am looking for a man who is not afraid to show his affection in public”). You only have 300 characters to do this so keep it specific. (If you run out of space – use your CREATE PAGES to tell more. Being specific will help others understand the type of person you are and will give them something to connect with you. Stay away from meaningless statements, such as “Tell you later” or “I’m not sure what to say here.” What else? That is a signal to other members that you are really not taking this approach seriously.

• Share Your Interests. Tell others about the interests you are passionate about, whether it’s cooking, gardening, or sports. What’s your favorite food? Flower? Sports team? You can use your CREATE PAGES to personalize your profile and make it more about you (e.g., “What I Love to Do” Fill it with pictures, links to your favorite places, embed videos, and add quotes.) You can also ADD IMAGES and share your favorite tunes in MY AUDIO. 
  


• Show Your Sense of Humor. People love those with a sense of humor. Use your profile to display your sense of humor in a tasteful manner. Don’t wait for your VIRTUAL DATING AVATAR to upstage you, lol. For example you could Embed your favorite comic YouTube video to your profile pages using the embed feature in CREATE PAGES.
  


• Be Honest. Describe yourself as you really are, not as what you think others would be attracted to. If you are really looking for a meaningful relationship, you want to find a person who loves you for who you really are! CREATE A DATE is fun way to post an event, party or your ideal date experience then invite others to join you. When someone comes along and thinks your date is their ideal date too, you connect offline for the perfect experience.
  


• Be Positive. Don’t focus on your negative characteristics. Be honest, but show your confidence and sense of humor. For example, if you tend to be impulsive, you can write “I tend to make decisions on the spot … and sometimes not the best ones.”

2. Post Your Profile Photo. People who post pictures are MUCH more likely to get noticed and tend to receive MANY more messages. Upload a photo of yourself where your face can be clearly seen and you are looking approachable and happy. People who appear self-confident tend to be regarded as more attractive. Since you can also upload photos, save your pet, cartoon, car and abstract photos for your MY IMAGES and CREATE PAGES.

3. Actively Message Other Members. The best way to get others to notice you is to message those you are interested in getting to know. Make sure to read their profiles and personalize your messages (e.g., you can ask a question about something in their profile). Do not hesitate to contact others you find interesting; that’s what online dating is all about!  To make it easy there is a message button on the blue toolbar under their profile photo.  Here are some fun ways to interact with other singles on Smingle:
• Virtual Dating - See someone online that you like?  Invite them on a date.  When ONLINE NOW appears in blue next to their picture on the members page simply click on their picture and Start Virtual Date.  It is that easy! 


• Chat - You can start a private chat by clicking Send IM on the blue toolbar under their profile photo or go into GROUP CHAT


• Video Message - Send a video message from your Smingle email account


• Video Chat - Before you take your date offline invite your potential love interest into video chat


• Create A Date - Avoid boring dates.  Create your ideal date experience and post it for others to find.  Join other dates.


• Anonymous Call Feature - while in private chat you can click the phone icon and a number comes up to call.  You can call in and talk on the phone prior to meeting in person


• Smingle email - Communicate with your friends or message people who are not your friends to start a conversation or schedule a virtual date. You can also invite your Facebook friends and your MySpace friends right from your Smingle email


• Friends List - Make new friends, comment on their status and post comments on their pages


• My Space App - Already on MySpace? Try our Smingle app on MySpace

4. Be Smart with your privacy. Smingle protects your PRIVACY but what you do from here on out is up to you. We provide a safe place with interactive tools for you to get to know the person behind the profile. If someone is sending you their private email address before speaking with you or getting to know you – be leery and please report them. Smingle does not tolerate spamming and if that member is going against Smingle's privacy policy and terms and conditions, they will be removed from the site immediately. If you should receive this type of communication and notice they have been removed from the site they are most likely a spammer.

5. Invite People on Virtual Dates. Virtual dating is a fun and safe opportunity to really get to know another person. It is easy to see who is online. Go to MEMBERS and look for the blue ONLINE NOW icon. Don’t be limited by your zip code. The world is in your backyard! Start dating!
6. Always Reply to Other Members. Be polite and reply to everyone who contacts you (unless, of course, another member is being rude, in which case you should consider BLOCKING or REPORTING that member). You can block or report any member directly from their profile page. It is in the blue toolbar under their picture. If you are not interested, you can simply say "Thank you, but I'm unable to correspond with you at this time."
7. Create a Blog. BLOG on Smingle and link it to another blog.
8. Create Your Own Group. Create a GROUP and connect to other singles who share your interests! Open the group to the community or keep it private. Join a group today and Smingle!
9. Actively Post on Forums. Smingle offers a variety of topics in FORUMS. Post and let people get to know you through your comments. Forums are a great place to make friends!
10. Start Smingling. Enjoy the process and make new friends.  Finding a meaningful relationship can take time. Have fun and don’t get discouraged. You can't be everything to everybody, so learn to dust yourself off and move on when things don't go your way.  There is someone out there who is your Soul Mate!