Why Free Online Dating Is Better
February 20, 2009 by Joseph Matthews
Filed under Dating Tips
If you decided to throw your hat in the ring and sign up for an online dating site, you’ve probably come across this problem:
You find a wonderfully maintained site, with pictures of members that seem too good to be true. You begin browsing and realize “hey, this isn’t too bad really!” You create a profile to write to the woman who caught your eye, and…
They want money.
It’s probably not a lot of money, but you can see the issue. Some sites won’t let you even browse without laying down a credit card. Others tease you like the one above, allow you to the door then slam it in your face.
The reason for this is pretty obvious. These pay dating sites are taking advantage of the fact that this is a HUGE industry. The amount of traffic dictates that you have a valuable commodity. Someone finally slapped a price tag on it.
What do you do about this? Well, the good news is that there are quite a few FREE dating sites out there. That’s right, not a penny to join.
There are some other wonderful upsides to these sites, and some downsides too though. I’ll show you the perks and show you how to deal with the issues.
One of the better perks is that you can see EVERYONE on these sites. All the pictures, and you can get a feel about someone without having to jump through hoops.
The down side of this is that there is a LOT of bad profiles. Many that don’t have pictures, or have pictures that are either old, or fake. Since these fakers can set up as many free profiles as they want, they tend to do a lot of them. Why? There are a multitude of reasons, but only a few apply here. Let’s not worry about that now though, but rather focus on how to deal with the issues.
The primary way to deal with this is to be specific in what you are looking for, first and foremost.
Do you like brunettes? Then search for them only. Start your search on specifics, then generalize upwards. And search only the listings with pictures, if that option is given to you.
Second, if a picture looks a little too professional, then there is a good chance it is fake. If it looks like a picture from a magazine, and it isn’t accompanied by a more realistic picture of the person from normal life, then count on it being a bad profile.
The last thing to watch for are solicitations. Rule of thumb: if they want you to leave the site, or email them off of it, then forget it.
You should be able to weed out the good from the bad easily, with some practice. This is important, as you don’t want to spend too much time having to weed through the multitude of profiles you encounter.
That brings me to another issue- high traffic means high competition. If a profile of a very attractive woman goes up, rest assured she’ll get bombarded with emails, more than she can read. She’ll be able to set some high standards. Don’t fret though, you can come out ahead of the curve, if you understand what to say.
The key is to get her attention fast. First and foremost, have a picture. Period. No picture, no response, I can guarantee you this.
Next, you need to quickly catch her attention with what you’ve written, and not appear typical. See my website for more information.
Make sure to mind your manners as well. Although I HOPE this should be obvious, I can guarantee you that a classy woman isn’t going to want to date some guy who starts off with a lewd solicitation.
Heeding the above should allow you to separate yourself from the first wave of riffraff she’ll encounter.
Beyond that, do not get discouraged if you get turned down. Sites like these are all a numbers game. Just keep going out there and plugging away.
So which free sites are good? It’s always changing. I have done well with plentyoffish.com. I have friends who like okcupid.com as well. Just do a search, and if the site seems legit, give it a whirl!