Writing Your Best Online Dating Profile, Part 1: Brainstorming
Contributed by: EFoley on Wednesday, July 08 2009 @ 07:20 pm
Last modified on
One of the toughest parts about online dating is writing your profile. So many people stare at the blinking cursor on the screen and have absolutely no idea where to start. No wonder so many online dating profiles begin with variations on a theme!
“I don’t know what I should write here...”
“I don’t even know why I’m doing this...”
“What should I tell you about myself?”
These are not the first impressions you want to be making on your potential matches! (Especially if you’re a man – remember, confidence is very sexy and there is nothing sexy about those three sample introductions!) How can you get your brain jumpstarted into profile writing mode? Easy! Brainstorm.
Grab a piece of unlined paper and a pencil or pen. (Seriously, we’re going to go old-school here, and you’ll see why in a second.) It’s important that it’s unlined paper because we’re not going to be making a list or anything linear for this exercise.
Draw a circle in the center of the paper and put your name in it. Now, start thinking about the things you are and do. For example, I’d put a lines out from my name and write things like “WRITER,” “GEEK,” “COACH,” “BUSINESS OWNER.”
Now, branch out from those into ideas about those items. For me, branching out from “WRITER” would be “love language,” “love to read,” “copywriting,” “short fiction,” “creative non-fiction,” “blogging,” and “dating profiles.”
Once you’ve filled in all the good stuff about you, flip it over and do the same for your ideal mate. Brainstorm up what you’d like as far as physical attributes, personality, and activities. Don’t censor yourself – just jot things down as they pop into your mind and move on to the next idea.
Got it all out? Sit back and take a look at what you have – a paper full of awesome ideas to use in your dating profile! Now you don’t have to start with “I’m not sure what I should write here.” You have tons of things to write about both yourself and your ideal match. So now what? How do you take this information and make it into an awesome profile that gets attention? Stay tuned for my next article to learn how!
Image from Brycej's Flickr page[*1] .