Tuesday, October 12, 2010

My first dating profile optimization! The Holy Trinity

So I received a message through POF a couple of days ago from a lovely gentleman who had read my blog (the URL is on my dating profile ... it also states that I don't list real names!), and wanted to know if I could assess his profile and offer feedback.  He stated that his strategy was simply to message girls that appeared in the row of "online users", and that he didn't necessarily read what was in their profile as he assumed it was a load of crap.  Ahem ... I'll have you know my profile is most certainly not a load of crap!  Except maybe the suntanning on the beach part I discussed in a previous post.

What I find interesting about this is that women and men obviously have very different strategies and behaviors when it comes to online dating practices.  I would wager to guess that most men employ similar tactics as CareBearCountdown321 (This is not his real user name, obviously I'm protecting his identity ... and his ego).  They look at the profile pictures of online users and message the ones they deem attractive, which means if us ladies want to get noticed we better have a smokin', close-up profile picture.

But how does a man get noticed?  How can CareBearCountdown321 improve his "online to face-time" conversion rate?  Let me break it down piece by piece!

First of all, let's talk about the profile picture, username and tagline.  The holy trinity of the online dating profile.  This is your bait.  Your sales pitch.  Your one chance to peak that girl's interest and make her want to know more.  321's profile picture is a classic example of what a profile picture should be.  It's close-up, he's looking directly at the camera, he's smiling and it looks natural.  This is the kind of shot that will catch someone's attention.  You have to remember that when you appear on a list of matches for someone, your shot will only be shown as a thumbnail, so it's important to clearly show your face up close to stand out amongst the crowd.  When I see a list of matches, I usually pass right on by the ones whose profile picture does not show them clearly enough to determine if I'm attracted or not.

You do not want to be passed by.  That is so important, I started a new paragraph just to make it stand out.  You ... do ... not ... want ... to ... be ... passed ... by.

Next, the username.  Obviously, I cannot reveal 321's real username.  However, he did explain to me that he had no idea what to use so he picked something at random he was looking at on his computer.  Well, that's one way to go.  You could also choose a name that reveals a little something about you, is somewhat catchy and will make a girl smile.  Just a thought!  I've come across some usernames that were so clever, I couldn't resist clicking on them to learn more.  Based on 321's profile (which we will get into below), I could suggest something like MarketingMan, ManBrand, MediaMan, MediaMarketingMan.  This reflects his professional passion, which anyone can tell is important to him upon reading his profile.

Now we come to the tagline.  This is where click through rates are won and loss my friends.  Above all else, please do not use one of the typical taglines you see on every second profile.  This is a sure fire way to make every girl pass right on by.  Example, "Looking for a good hearted woman", "Willing to lie about how we met", "Still haven't found the one".  These might all accurately reflect how you feel, but any girl who sees this will think you just didn't take the time to come up with something on your own.  Be creative!  321's tagline is "mellow fellow".  This could very well be an accurate description of who he is, but it doesn't really stand out. Remember, you have a bit of space to work with so why not use it?

"Mellow fellow seeks laid-back lady for life" or if we continued on with the marketing theme, "Lots to see beyond the banner!"

Online dating requires that you sell yourself.  You must distinguish yourself from the crowd with an eye-catching image, a catchy yet revealing name, and an original tagline that will leave a girl wanting to know more.  Nail these first three steps and it's like feeding candy to a baby.  Of course, this only gets you so far.  Once you've got a girl's attention, you've got to keep it.  But I'll talk about that in the next post, "From online to face-time".

Until next time and happy fishing ;)

1 comment:

  1. "In God we trust, all others bring evidence" - W. Edwards Deming

    OkCupid did some interesting research on the best photos to use. http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-4-big-myths-of-profile-pictures/

    That's why my photo has me, in running gear, looking off to the side of the camera, with a waterfall in the background. To add to the mystery the waterfall is in fact Mystery Falls.

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