Moving Forward
My intention with this guide has always been to help others get to those often elusive first online dates. While I felt like an expert at “getting” dates near the end of my internet dating experience, I never felt like an expert once I was actually on the date. Because of this, and because of the massive amount of honestly good literature already available on the subject, my guide ends here. I hope it has been helpful!
Guide Review
Often after reading any instructional information, I’m often overwhelmed if the document was of any significant length. For those out there who are like me, I’ll recap the steps I mentally took when dating which I have covered in my previous posts:
- Listen to your gut before you listen to anyone else’s advice on any kind of dating. Most of us who offer advice are just better at hiding our confusion.
- Be yourself! A cliche but important - any thing else is a lie to yourself and your dates.
- Be sure to try more than one service if the first doesn’t work out. There are enough differences to warrant another try.
- Contact and date as many people as you possibly can. In my opinion, this is the most important advice I have to offer.
- Try to be clear in your profile and as brief as you can be while still providing some substance. Include a photo. Many people won’t even open a profile without one.
- Guys: My experience shows that winks only slow things down.
- Your first email/contact with someone should be short and concise. It should serve as bait to view your profile.
- Don’t be hard on yourself over a small number of responses. There is a lot more going on than you think.
- Ask for that first date sooner rather than later and establish solid parameters around how long you will be meeting just in case things get…interesting/scary.
- Do not look for reasons for failed dates. They are what they are. It’s better to think about your next date than dwell on your last.
- Plan things in such a way that your comfort level is high! You want to represent youself as well as possible, especially early on.
Finally, picking up a book on dating in general is a great idea. I gained insight from everything I read (even the books I wasn’t thrilled with). Check out reviews at Amazon or a similiar site and I think it would be hard to go wrong. I will continue to blog about online dating but there are other great resources out there well worth your time.
Helping Others
If you have any experience in the online dating field and have discovered something you think others would find helpful, please consider sending it here to share! I would have given a lot when I was dating online to know what other people were experiencing. I suspect this feeling is shared by many of those who are dating online today! See the User Submissions page for ideas on what might be helpful.
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