Contributed by: Jet on Sunday, January 08 2012 @ 08:42 am
Last modified on
So you’ve decided to plunge into the world of online dating, and you’re incredibly excited. You carefully write an edit a profile, and you’ve got a great default picture. With a just a few butterflies in your stomach, you post everything, and wait expectantly. Then you go on a business trip for a month.
When you return home, you’re excited to check out your profile. How many messages will be waiting for you? You’re dismayed to discover you don’t have any emails at all, and only a few nudges. Online dating is supposed to be easy! What did you do wrong?
Online dating is, indeed, a good choice for someone with a busy or unusual schedule, but that doesn’t mean you don’t carry any responsibility. First of all, a few people might stumble onto your profile, but really the only way to ensure it’s seen is if you email people in whom you’re interested. Some people seem to think that they shouldn’t be the one doing the pursuing; they’ll only wind up with more wasted time in the long run. You can sit around and wait for Prince Charming or Cinderella to come sweep you off your feet... or you can be a little proactive and do a lot less waiting.
Secondly, most online dating sites have a way to find out how recently someone logged on to check their profile. If you leave town for a month and don’t check in, others will know. They might think you’ve abandoned your profile, or that you’ve already found a match, and not bother with the time it takes to send an email. It only takes a few seconds to log into a website - don’t let complacency be your downfall!
At this point you might be thinking, “But that’s work! I thought online dating would do all the work for me!” Well, consider this: a good first-contact email is only a few sentences long. There’s no cost to sending emails, and even many online dating websites are free to use. Compare that with weekends hanging out at a bar or club, spending money on overpriced drinks, tired from a long week. What sounds like more work now?