Nothing makes more of an impact on a prospective date than your profile picture (no, not even that incredibly witty joke it took you hours to write). You can have it all - from the great job to the adventures abroad - but an unflattering photo can score you a left swipe before anyone even makes it to the profile.

There’s a science to getting it right. Researchers have discovered all kinds of strange and hyper-specific facts about the perfect online dating photo (women who wear red, for example, are considered more attractive by men). But at the end of the day, few of us would be happy treating our love lives like laboratory experiments.

Dating needs to be more natural, more spontaneous, less calculated. The goal is somewhere between the extremes - a picture that’s flattering and thoughtful, but not engineered down to every detail. Avoid these four mistakes and you’ll be on your way to achieving the optimal balance.

eHarmony is offering a 6 day trial of their dating service which includes the website and dating apps in both the United States and Canada. All you need to do is just sign up for a free membership starting October 5th and then you can start communicating at no cost once your profile and questionnaire is complete. The free trial ends October 10th.

As one of the top dating services eHarmony has many members looking for long-term relationships. The key to eHarmony's success is the matchmaking algorithm and the research they have put into it. This is why the eHarmony questionnaire which members are required to fill out is so important. It asks the questions which helps eHarmony to determine what type of personality you have and what type of person when matched together has the greatest chance of success in a long-term relationship. Most people take about 30 - 40 minutes to complete the questionnaire (you can save it and come back at a later time) and once finished, eHarmony will send you your first batch of matches. At this point you can then review your matches and communicate with the ones you wish. Photos and skipping the guided communication process are not included with the free trial.

For more details about this online dating service please read our review of eHarmony.

Animated GIFs may help with Online Dating

The internet has fully embraced the GIF - a form of visual communication so ubiquitous it’s second only to the omnipresent emoji.

And why wouldn’t they be? It’s hard to carry on a conversation between screens, to read emotion in text, to interpret the difference between “K” and “K.” and “K!” An image, moving or not, goes a long way to making your message clear.

And then there’s online dating. Dating apps and websites come with their own special challenges. Users are not only faced with the worries of regular online communication, but also the fears and anxieties of dating. How do you find the delicate balance between flirty forwardness and respectful tact when you’re talking to a total stranger you can’t even see?

It’s good news all around for MeetMe. The social discovery service, founded in 2005 to connect users on mobile devices, has posted better-than-anticipated financial results for the second quarter of 2016. The company also announced plans to acquire Skout, a leading global mobile network for meeting new people.

Wall Street’s initial projections predicted $15.27 million in revenue for MeetMe. Instead, revenue exceeded expectations, climbing 48% from last year and clocking in at $16.4 million. Mobile revenue rose 82% to $15.1 million year-over-year. Mobile represented more than 92% of MeetMe’s total revenue in the second quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA increased 109% year-over-year to $6.0 million, reflecting a 37% adjusted EBITDA margin. Non-GAAP net income reached $4.8 million, a 103% increase over Q2 of last year.

Are you disappointed with online dating? Are your messages not getting responses, or are you just not getting enough matches?

You might wonder why you aren’t getting the kind of responses to your online dating profile that you imagined when you first signed up. Instead of wondering whether or not you picked the right service or app, a new study shows you might not be getting the results you want because of your profile and how trustworthy you seem to other online daters. In other words – do they actually believe what you have to say about yourself?

A new study published by Routledge takes a closer look at what we think of as our "idealized selves," which is what we project on our dating profiles. The researchers found that online daters are less trusting of people who post photos that appear too carefully crafted, preferring matches who appear more carefree and natural in their online dating photos as well as how they describe themselves.

Bumble Boost with BeeLine, Rematch, and BusyBee.

Female-focused dating app Bumble has been available for free to its users, but now the company is offering a premium paid service for those who want to use its brand new features.

The paid version of the app includes three important features aimed at competing with other popular “tiered” dating apps like Tinder, which also offers optional paid features to help provide a premium matching experience.

Bumble’s first feature, named “Beeline,” will offer its members a line-up of users who have already “liked” them, so they can skip swiping and match with their likes by choosing “yes,” with the intention of making the process more efficient.