This is the most exciting part of online dating (as after this, hopefully you'll be meeting in person). How you make first contact or reply to someone else approaching you can make or break your chances. Each contact needs as much thought as the rest of your profile, and needs to continue and enhance your branding.
Here are some general tips on how to make the first contact.
1. Be prepared to make the first move. A lot of women don't feel comfortable making the first move, even though they have signed up for online dating. However, don't be scared off if a girl contacts you. Accept her however she is, and let her approach or response teach you about her, and how she may want you to respond to her.
2. Ensure you've read her profile all the way through first! A number of times, I've been contacted by guys who've clearly just looked at my photo, and haven't read a thing I've written. This is insulting and immediately writes them off. It's made clear by the questions they ask - usually completely irrelevant things. To make it clear you're not one of those guys, try to refer to one thing in her profile in your message.
3. Make each message unique. It should be tailored specifically to the person you are sending it to. It is pretty obvious if it is generic, and once again is just insulting. Even if you are sending out a few messages a day, you should always be interested in each individual person for some reason, so focus on that.
4. Finish with a question. Remember, you are opening a dialogue, so you need to give her something she can actually reply to. This is something you need to do all the way through your email conversations. Always give her something to reply to, or she might not reply.
5. Try strong, positive, emotional words. The study by Rosen et al. (2008) found that messages with strong emotional words such as 'excited' and 'wonderful' had more positive impressions than those with weaker emotional words such as 'happy' and 'fine'. Just don't go over the top.
If you are not sure about your messages try wording your messages differently and see which gives you a better response. Keep track of the types of messages that get the best response, and see if you can improve on those.
Keep in mind that you won't always get a response. Don't take this personally; you don't know what is happening in their life, what bad experiences they are going through online, or what they are really looking for. It would be great if everyone responded, but it doesn't happen. I have to admit that I started off responding to everyone because I thought it was only polite. However, I then got a number of people trying to argue back why I should go out with them or being rude because I said I wasn't interested. So now I just don't respond. Don't let it eat your confidence - there are a lot of women out there who aren't right for you. The whole reason we're doing this is to find a gem who is.
Here are some general tips on how to make the first contact.
1. Be prepared to make the first move. A lot of women don't feel comfortable making the first move, even though they have signed up for online dating. However, don't be scared off if a girl contacts you. Accept her however she is, and let her approach or response teach you about her, and how she may want you to respond to her.
2. Ensure you've read her profile all the way through first! A number of times, I've been contacted by guys who've clearly just looked at my photo, and haven't read a thing I've written. This is insulting and immediately writes them off. It's made clear by the questions they ask - usually completely irrelevant things. To make it clear you're not one of those guys, try to refer to one thing in her profile in your message.
3. Make each message unique. It should be tailored specifically to the person you are sending it to. It is pretty obvious if it is generic, and once again is just insulting. Even if you are sending out a few messages a day, you should always be interested in each individual person for some reason, so focus on that.
4. Finish with a question. Remember, you are opening a dialogue, so you need to give her something she can actually reply to. This is something you need to do all the way through your email conversations. Always give her something to reply to, or she might not reply.
5. Try strong, positive, emotional words. The study by Rosen et al. (2008) found that messages with strong emotional words such as 'excited' and 'wonderful' had more positive impressions than those with weaker emotional words such as 'happy' and 'fine'. Just don't go over the top.
If you are not sure about your messages try wording your messages differently and see which gives you a better response. Keep track of the types of messages that get the best response, and see if you can improve on those.
Keep in mind that you won't always get a response. Don't take this personally; you don't know what is happening in their life, what bad experiences they are going through online, or what they are really looking for. It would be great if everyone responded, but it doesn't happen. I have to admit that I started off responding to everyone because I thought it was only polite. However, I then got a number of people trying to argue back why I should go out with them or being rude because I said I wasn't interested. So now I just don't respond. Don't let it eat your confidence - there are a lot of women out there who aren't right for you. The whole reason we're doing this is to find a gem who is.
About the Author:
For more great advice on how to present yourself online, see "The Nice Guy's Guide To Online Dating Profiles" on Amazon: Nice Guy's Guide To Online Dating on Amazon
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