The Roadmap to Online Dating Success, Part 3: Before You Send Any Emails

I know, you're excited to start checking people out and sending emails and (oh, please don't!) winks. But hold your horses for just a few minutes and do these things first to set yourself up for success.

Check your profile once it goes live to be sure everything looks good. Tweak if necessary. You may find that your profile looks different when it’s up on the site. There may be a one word line at the end of a paragraph that you could remove with a little careful editing. You may realize that your chosen headline cuts off in the preview mode in an inopportune spot. ("You know you want to see my furry...... *click....loading, please wait* ...new puppy!) These are all things that can be neatened up in a few minutes before you get down to the fun part.

Set up your account preferences. Many sites allow you to customize what members can see you and email you. For example, PlentyOfFish allows you to block members who are only interested in casual encounters. OkCupid allows you to specify exactly what kind of people can send you messages, so you never have to worry about getting emails from people who live across the country, are way too old for your liking, or who don’t match you by at least a certain percentage. Match.com allows you to block certain users, for example, your exes, your coworkers, or anyone else you don’t want messing with you while you’re busy searching for love.

Set up your custom searches. I recommend at least three custom searches – one super specific, one specific, and one a bit looser. The search functionality will vary based on your dating site, but you may find my series called Finding Your Match on Match.com (see Story) useful even if you’re not a Match.com member:

Use your custom searches to find people who interest you, then favorite them. Yes, just favorite them. In the next installment of the series, we'll go over what to do next.

For more information on the dating site mention in this story, read our review of Match.com.

Related Stories:
The Roadmap to Online Dating Success, Part 1: Choosing Your Site
The Roadmap to Online Dating Success, Part 2: The Perfect Profile
The Roadmap to Online Dating Success, Part 4: Emails and Winks
The Roadmap to Online Dating Success, Part 5: The Daily Grind