Writing Your Best Online Dating Profile, Part 2: The First Draft

So you’ve done some brainstorming (see Story), and come up with a ton of useful information about you and your ideal match. Now that you’ve got this information, you need to use it to create the first draft of your dating profile.

“First draft? Oh no! Is this like English class?”

Oh yes, it is. But in English class, your only motivation was getting a good grade. (Or maybe just a passing grade, depending on your style!) This is a much higher stakes activity – if you do this the quick and easy way, you’ll end up getting very few dates. Do it the right way and you’re on your way to meeting the love of your life!

Grab your brainstorming page and take a look at the side about you. Decide on two or three things about yourself that you’d like to feature in your profile. For example, if I were writing a profile for myself I’d feature BUSINESS OWNER and WRITER.

Your profile does not have to tell your whole story! Resist the temptation to list every hobby, every activity, every facet of your personality. Think of your profile as the back cover of your autobiography: it only needs to give enough information to intrigue someone into picking it up and giving it a shot!

Once you’ve decided what you want to feature about yourself, start thinking about sentences you could write, using the information from your brainstorming map. Again, don’t worry about being perfect – this is a rough draft.

I might write:

• I started my own business a couple years ago to help people find love through online dating.
• I love to write. It doesn’t even feel like work most of the time.
• It’s great to be my own boss.
• It’s awesome when my clients come back later to tell me that their profile worked and they got lots of dates and met someone special!
• Having a business is stressful at times, but I love it.

Do the same process for the paragraph about your ideal match. Remember, you want to paint the picture of the kind of person you want to meet.

I might write:

• My match is the kind of guy who describes himself as a geek.
• He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t mind being a kid sometime and going out for mini-golf and ice cream.
• He loves cats (or at least loves my cats!).
• He’s educated, either school of life or higher education.

Once you’ve gotten your rough draft together, the only thing left to do is write the final, polished version and come up with a great headline! Are you ready?