When you're dating online, your profile is your resume, and it better look good.  Online dating is very competitive and everyone is trying to look more appealing than everyone else.  Some people work so hard to "win" at internet dating that they will resort to lying in their profile and post old or phony pictures.  Please, don't go that far just to get an internet date!  Online dating should be fun, and if desperation is playing into the mix, then you know something isn't right. So, within the realm of honestly, how can you ramp-up your profile so that it has a fighting chance amidst all the others?  Read the instructions below.

My first suggestion is to keep everything positive on your profile.  When you resort to negativity about anything from politics, to work, to your social life, you're raising a huge red flag to those who might potentially go on a date with you.  No one wants to be stuck on a date with someone negative, so don't go down that road!  If you are sarcastic, people are going to sense it and not want to be around you.  That is unless you're looking for an equally negative person to share in your misery.  If that's the case, perhaps online dating isn't the best place to find other negative people.  You might want to just go to your local dive bar.

My second suggestion is to make everything sound as unique as possible.  Don't use clichés like "I like long walks on the beach".  When you make things more personal, they automatically become unique because you are naturally unique.  So instead you could say, "I love to walk my dog Sparky on the beach around sunset.  There's something about the colors of a sunset that I find so beautiful."  You get the point?  It has more personality right?  It says more about the person than just the cliché.  Try to word things different whenever you sense that you wrote something typical.  This will draw more people to your online dating profile. 

Another suggestion is to make clear people you're not interested in.  Don't be afraid to be blunt and say you don't date smokers, or you don't like people who curse all the time.  These are good things for potential online dates to know ahead of time.  You can seriously save yourself a lot of trouble by doing this.  Be very specific when asked what you're looking for.  If you're general and you say "I want someone fun and good looking", you're going to be hearing from a lot of people.  If you say, "I'm looking for someone dark and striking, with a love of dogs and amusement parks" then you'll narrow your search quite a bit.  It really saves you some time because it can be overwhelming when you first start dating online. 

The last suggestion is to keep things fresh.  Change your photo and statement of what you're looking for every so often to keep people interested.  Update your profile whenever you can, and that way other potential online dates will know that you're still interested in the process.