Writing your best profile for Match.com

Every dating site has its own spin on the dating profile format. In this series, I'll take a look at some of the different profile formats and how you can write your best profile for that particular service. Match.com is one of the biggest online dating sites out there with millions and millions of members. It's no wonder why people join up every day looking for love.

Match has a pretty straightforward profile. The sections to fill out are as follows:

• About me and who I'm looking for
• In my own words
• for fun
• my job
• my ethnicity
• my religion
• my education
• favorite hot spots
• favorite things
• last read

The most important part is the About me and who I'm looking for section. Match requires you to fill out at least a few lines of this before your profile can go live. (Ironically enough, there are tons of profiles that reference the fact that they're writing just enough to qualify. Makes you wonder what kind of boyfriend or girlfriend they'd be if they are only committed to doing the bare minimum!)

You should have at least two paragraphs in this section - the first one detailing yourself, and the second detailing the person you'd like to meet. Remember, your profile is the back cover of the story of your life. Don't give people the whole novel! Write just enough to get them intrigued about your most interesting qualities and activities. When writing about your ideal mate, be specific about the kind of personality you want and state things in the positive.

As for the In my own words section, you need to know that you do not have to fill out ANY of it. Seriously, if your About me and who I'm looking for section is great, you can leave the sidebar totally blank and people will still contact you.

Beware of those sidebar questions, though. Keep your responses to one or two short sentences. If you wax on for too long, the typical reader on the internet will get bored. Once you've published them, check out your profile and edit down any that are longer than 3 lines. Keep things short and sweet. For example, here's how I'd write mine:

for fun

I read, write, and roll d20s. Bonus points if you do, too!

my job

I own my own business writing online dating profiles and other web content.

my ethnicity

Pasty Irish chick, blinding astronauts with the glare from my legs!

my religion

I believe all faiths have a piece of the Truth, but not the whole Truth.

my education

Hamilton College, Class of 2001. Music & Creative Writing double major - would you like fries with that?

favorite hot spots

Anywhere I can get really good Asian food!

favorite things

I'd be completely lost without my laptop, my BlackBerry, and my adorable cats.

last read

Desperately trying to get my RSS reader under 1000... help, I'm drowning in feeds!

Match.com allows you to have a TON of pictures, but at minimum you want four. One picture should be a close-up of your face, one full body shot, and two of your choosing (group shot, action shot, etc).

Best of luck on Match.com! Next in the series... JDate profiles!

For more information on the dating site mentioned in this article, read our Match.com review.