Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you can’t help but hear about the trials and tribulations, successes and failures today’s singles face daily when it comes to online dating.

Unfortunately, only a minority of men and women have success when it comes to dating online. In reality, most people (mainly women) give up within one month of joining their chosen dating site through frustration and disappointment.

Before we go on and let you in on a few industry tips to help you succeed with online dating, just remember, the quantity of available men and women is not the problem, in fact, there is a predicted 40 million active singles currently using online dating worldwide, it’s how you need to assess the quality of singles and how you need to present your image that really counts.

Becoming disillusioned with the online dating process is what you need to avoid – learn how to conquer online dating with our proven steps for success!

With new online dating sites launching every day, choosing the right one is crucial. There are many offers and marketing techniques out there that usually fail to deliver the message offering little more than hype. It is at this point people become disillusioned with the whole online dating process. As a result many people are put off before than even begin.

Search engines provide the most obvious starting point. Before you start Googling your way to your love destination, decide what type of dating site you’re looking for, start the process of elimination. Decide on what it is you truly seek. A long term relationship, just sex, a gay partner, certain ethnic groups, compatible religious singles, older men, younger women, tall men, rich women, fit singles, curious singles, looking for affairs…..get the picture? You want it, cyberspace has the answer!

There is no point joining a relationships dating site like eHarmony, for example, if you are looking for a bisexual hook up, or perhaps looking only for singles with Asian Catholic Orthodox beliefs. And believe me when I say this, there is an online dating site out there for every need, desire, fantasy or reality you could ever imagine. Do you like black men, Asian women, perhaps Eurasian, struth I’m sure if you looked hard enough you could Google your way to someone who was purple with pink dots.

Point being, the most important step you will take when dating online, is to be very selective in which site you join – does it fit your personality?

Once you are happy with your selected love location, check out some of the other member profiles for some ideas on how to create a winning username. The idea is to create a username the attracts attention and is interesting. Will anybody notice a username called Jane, John, Mike or Jen….No, they won’t! Avoid depressing and negative usernames such as “IHateMyLif” or ‘SpurnedDivorcee” Try using a username that reflects a positive image about yourself, for example, “LaughsAlot”

Your profile is the gateway into the life of someone very special who is just waiting to be found. Don’t drag out every detail about your life within your profile, rather, highlight the important details showcasing your personality, provide information about the type of person you are looking for and perhaps some of your hobbies and common interests that you would love to share with someone special. Be honest about who you are, don’t over sell yourself and risk a first date disaster. By adopting this attitude you are narrowing down the sea of online singles and are more likely to attract someone who is actually compatible with you and more likely to avoid lots of bad dates.

Needless to say, your online dating photo is the key element to conquering online dating. Make sure your photo is recent, and paints a very accurate picture of what someone could expect if they saw you in person. The main reason why 87% of first online dates don’t turn into second dates is because the person who turns up is not the same person they met online.

When you are online dating, save yourself and others a whole lot of time and just be yourself. Whilst the Internet provides some anonymity and a fantasy type of environment, you will never receive a bigger dose of reality when you take it offline and are rejected because you were not honest about the person you presented as online.

Singles chat rooms also play a very big part in mastering online personals. Make sure the dating site you decide to join offers chat rooms to enhance your interaction and experiences.