Wоmеn ѕhоuld always bе cаutiоuѕ when it cоmеѕ tо the dаting ѕcеnе, but fоr оnlinе dаting this fаct iѕ much truеr. Thаt dоеѕn’t mеаn that уоu ѕhоuldn’t trу tо mееt ѕоmеоnе оnlinе оr mоvе the rеlаtiоnѕhiр tо аn оfflinе tуре оf mееting, but it dоеѕ mеаn that уоu ѕhоuld ѕtау ѕаfе аnd tаkе the right рrеcаutiоnѕ.

Prоtеct Yоur Pеrѕоnаl Infоrmаtiоn

If ѕоmеоnе iѕ аѕking уоu fоr mоrе infоrmаtiоn than уоu’d like tо give, dоn’t bе аfrаid tо tеll them nо!  It ѕhоuld rаiѕе ѕоmе rеd flаgѕ if уоu chооѕе tо nоt give оut уоur infоrmаtiоn аnd the реrѕоn аѕking уоu bеcоmеѕ аngrу. Mоѕt реорlе lооking tо mееt ѕоmеоnе оnlinе wоuld understand the nееd fоr рrivаcу аnd will mоѕt likely wаnt tо рrоtеct theirs аѕ wеll until а cеrtаin lеvеl оf trust iѕ еѕtаbіlѕhеd. Kеер уоur hоmе аddrеѕѕ, рhоnе numbеr, finаnciаl infоrmаtiоn, fаmilу mеmbеr’ѕ nаmеѕ, аnd аnуthing еlѕе уоu fееl iѕ реrѕоnаl tо уоurѕеlf until уоu knоw уоu’rе rеаdу tо ѕhаrе it. Thе grеаt thing аbоut chаtting оnlinе iѕ that if ѕоmеоnе mаkеѕ уоu fееl uncomfortable, mоѕt ѕitеѕ will аllоw уоu tо ѕimрlу blоck them, оr уоu cаn rероrt them tо the ѕitе аdminiѕtrаtоr. Evеn if уоu just gеt аn оdd fееling frоm ѕоmеоnе, уоu cаn chооѕе nоt tо rерlу tо their mеѕѕаgеѕ аnd mоvе оn tо mееting ѕоmеоnе nеw. Sоmе реорle mау think оnlinе dаting cаn bе tоо risky, but it can actually be ѕаfеr bу аllоwing уоu tо gеt tо knоw ѕоmеоnе well, bеfоrе mееting them.

Mееt In а Sаfе Plаcе

Onе оf the mоѕt important ѕаfеtу аѕреctѕ of оnlinе dаting iѕ creating а ѕаfе еnvirоnmеnt fоr the firѕt dаtе. Mееting in а рublic рlаcе iѕ а muѕt аnd if the person уоu’rе mееting iѕ оvеrlу рuѕhу аbоut mееting in рrivаtе, it mау bе а gооd idеа tо cаncеl оr аt lеаѕt dеlау the mееting. Mоѕt prospective date’s will bе understanding аnd will wаnt уоu tо fееl ѕаfе, ѕо mееting ѕоmеоnе that dоеѕn’t cаrе аbоut уоur ѕеnѕе оf wеll bеing mау nоt bе the tуре оf person that’s wоrth mееting. Tаkе ѕераrаtе cаrѕ tо the mееting рlаcе аnd hаvе а friend chеck in with уоu раrt wау through the dаtе tо mаkе ѕurе уоu’rе оkау. If уоu fееl uncomfortable аt аnу роint, dоn’t hеѕitаtе tо mаkе аn еxcuѕе аnd lеаvе. Yоu mау fееl that уоu dоn’t wаnt tо оffеnd уоur dаtе, but it’s bеttеr tо kеер уоurѕelf ѕаfе аnd trust уоur intuition.

Trust Yоur Inѕtinctѕ

When dеciding when it’s the right time tо mоvе уоur rеlаtiоnѕhiр frоm оnlinе tо оfflinе, uѕе уоur judgement аnd inѕtinctѕ tо dеcidе if уоu’rе rеаdу. If уоu fеel that уоu’vе mаdе а cоnnеctiоn аnd cаn trust this реrѕоn, it mау bе time tо organize a live dаtе. It’s important tо still be wary and on your guard, but mееting uр with ѕоmеоnе уоu’vе mеt оnlinе dоеѕn’t mеаn уоu hаvе tо bе раrаnоid gоing intо the dаtе. Kеерing а fеw ѕаfеtу tiрѕ in mind will аllоw уоu tо рrоtеct уоurѕеlf while hаving а grеаt time mееting ѕоmеоnе nеw, and enjoy the experience.

Whether you’re new to online dating or you’ve been at it for awhile, there are some common practices you should follow to ensure you’re making the best impression. You may not know where to start or you might just not be getting the responses you’d like, so starting out strong or even trying a new approach may help you meet the woman you’ve been looking for.

Honesty Is the Best Policy

Meeting people online may seem like a good opportunity to reinvent yourself and maybe falsify a few aspects of your life to seem more interesting since the person on the other end can’t see you. While fudging the truth might make you feel more confident and draw more online attention to yourself, it can come back to bite you if you ever want to meet the woman you’ve been talking to or start a serious relationship.

Using misleading photos or claiming to have an important job title with a large salary could be very awkward to try explaining when you go out on your first date and she realizes you aren’t who you say you are. Your best bet is to be yourself and make a strong connection with someone who wants to meet the real you.

Honesty regarding your expectations is very important as well. You can save a lot of heartache and hurt feelings for both parties if you’re clear about your thoughts on dating a single parent, a divorcee, or someone who smokes or drinks. You don’t need to make a big red warning sign to post at the front of your profile, but gently putting your requirements out there will weed out the people you just won’t be compatible with.

Quality over Quantity

Rather than sending out a mass e-mail to every woman you find attractive, take the time to read through their profiles and determine first if you think they’d be a good match for you. If so, send a personal message and add some tidbits in there that show you’ve read her profile and have taken a sincere interest. Sending her something that is easy to respond too, for example asking her questions regarding something you’ve seen in her profile, could make a response more likely.

If At First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again

With online dating, you’re not always going to get a positive response from someone you message. Don’t let interactions like this discourage you. The best approach is to show your interest, but avoid sending e-mail after e-mail if she doesn’t reply back. The beauty of online dating is that the possibilities are endless, so while one woman may not be interested, you have the opportunity to meet many more who may be.

When it comes to online dating, your profile is everything. This is your first impression and will be the reason someone decides to contact you or not. Creating an excellent profile for yourself that stands out from the rest will be the first step in getting the responses you’re looking for and meeting that perfect guy.

Be Thorough and Interesting

Leaving your profile completely blank could make it seem like you aren’t committed to the dating process and it might make you seem lazy or uninterested. In many cases, men browsing your profile will want to know a little bit about you before sending you a message. Fill out as much as you can in your profile and be sure to be honest with your answers. Fibbing on certain aspects of your life could be awkward in the future if you ever decide to take your online relationship further.

When you’re creating your profile, try to stay away from the standard answers you see in everyone else’s profiles. It might be a good idea to read through a few of the other women’s profiles on that site and look for any pattern of average answers. Creating a profile that catches the eye and that isn’t boring shows you’re a fun and interesting person before you even start chatting with anyone.

Don’t Highlight All Your Flaws

Some of the more modest types like to get all their flaws out in the open so they don’t feel like they’re going to disappoint later. While it’s great to be honest on your profile, you don’t have to lay out everything in your life that you don’t like about yourself. A profile full of self-deprecating comments will show that you have no self confidence, and as a first impression, it may scare away some potential suitors.

Nobody’s perfect, but when creating your profile, try to be flattering to yourself while still sticking to the truth. In most cases, many of the flaws you think you have aren’t going to be flaws to someone who’s interested in you so just let him decide for himself.

Use At Least One Picture

Even if you don’t think you’re a bombshell, post a picture anyways. So many people out there, men and women alike, will not contact a profile that has no picture, and may not even respond to messages from one either. Using no photo at all may make it seem like you have something to hide or could make people think the worst. A clear, well lit photo shows you’re comfortable with who you are and a lot of men will appreciate that.

It’s good to be clear about what you want and don’t want to weed out those who wouldn’t be a good match for you, but it’s best to try not to sound too snooty or demanding. Keeping your profile light and friendly will make you sound approachable and will generally give you the largest number of replies.

Just like dating out in the real world, online dating has its own set of rules and customs. Quite often these rules will be the same, but in some cases there are a few guidelines you may want to follow that wouldn’t always apply to your everyday, offline life.

Online Etiquette versus Offline Etiquette

Some people may think that because you’re talking to someone online and you aren’t face to face, you don’t have to be polite. When chatting online, manners and courtesy may even be more important. Because all of your contact is through messaging and e-mail, a lot of your tone may be lost so acting even a little snotty could make you sound extremely rude. And if you don’t care how you sound, keep in mind that getting a bad online rep for yourself may limit your chances with some of the nicer guys out there.

Chivalry and Being a Lady

This isn’t old fashioned dating and you don’t have to wait for the guy you have your eye on to message you. Since he can’t see you batting your baby blues at him from across the room, sending the first message is perfectly acceptable. On an internet dating site, everyone is there to meet someone. Making the first move as a female is not only okay, it’s expected. You can make your profile stand out as much as you want, but there’s no way to know if he’ll ever stumble across it, so even if you want to still have a lady-like demeanor, send him a short and sweet message expressing some interest.

Be Honest and Be Yourself

It can be tempting to stretch the truth a little when talking to someone online since they have no way of seeing you or verifying who you are. However, if you have any intention of ever meeting up with anyone you’ve met from an online dating site, being honest is your best bet. It might be very difficult to try to explain yourself if any inconsistencies are discovered later on. Besides, if you’re trying to make a connection that could turn into something serious, wouldn’t you want them to be interested in the real you?

The main thing to stick to when dating online is just to be generally respectful. Sometimes you may get rejected, or you may reject someone else, but not everyone is going to be compatible and there shouldn’t be any hurt feelings. Accepting that someone may not be interested in you and being polite when turning someone else down will give you a much more positive online dating experience and will just get you that much closer to finding the right person.

For those who have little dating experience both online and offline, using a dating site can be a much easier approach to finding that special someone. Online dating removes the first question that comes with dating which is “Where do I go to meet someone?” Setting up an online profile and putting yourself out there is your first step through the door to that big online singles bar known as internet dating.

Deciding on a Site

With so many online dating sites out there, it’s important to choose the one that will be right for you. Some sites are free and some you pay for. Pay sites may weed out the less serious online daters but you may prefer a free site if you aren’t sure what you’re looking for yet. Every different site will offer their own set of dating tools, e-mail servers, and messaging services, so browsing through a few before signing up for anything will give you the opportunity to get started on a site that suits you best.

Some niche sites cater to specific interests you might share. These sites could be religion specific or focus mainly on those looking to get married. The more popular sites will generally have more members you can browse through, but if you are looking for a specific type of woman, the smaller sites may have a more particular group of members.

Creating Your Profile

Setting up a thorough profile is a must. Leaving everything blank and not including a picture will give the message that you either aren’t interested enough in the dating process to invest some time into your profile or that you’re trying to hide something.

Fill out what you can on your profile, without being painfully long-winded, and post a few recent, well-lit photos of yourself. The women you message will want to have an idea about who you are before writing back, and if you want to receive any messages, you’ll have to give them a reason to initiate contact.

Meeting the Right Woman

Once you’ve chosen a good screen name that suits you and you’ve created a confident yet modest profile for yourself you’ll be ready to start looking for that special someone. Be sure to read her profile before sending her a message and keep your messages short, polite, and personal. Most women can tell when you’ve created a generic message that you send out to every profile you come across so mention something you liked about her profile or ask her some questions about herself.

You may not always get a response back, so give her some time to respond. Sending one more e-mail a week later is alright if you’re particularly taken by someone, but there’s no sense in spamming anyone who isn’t interested. If you still don’t hear back, accept that she isn’t the one for you and try making a connection with someone else.

A lot of people may think it’s just women who need to be safe when it comes to online dating, but men should take some precautions as well. Predators can also be female, and sometimes it isn’t always a woman you’re talking to online. The best policy is to keep caution in the back of your mind and question the things that seem suspicious.

Getting to Know Her

The first thing you should do before getting serious about anyone you meet online is get to know them and develop some trust. Follow your instincts and if something seems strange or sends up red flags for you, you may want to re-evaluate that online relationship. There’s many other women out there, so don’t compromise yourself if you think something seems off.

Anyone asking for too much personal info who won’t give you any about themselves may be trying to deceive you. On the other hand, if they’re giving out way too much information, it could be to give you a false sense of security. Your own judgment and instincts will be what guides you, but you don’t need to be so wary that you refuse to get to know anyone.

Meeting Someone in Person

If you’ve decided to take your online relationship to the next level and meet, it’s a good idea to meet in a public place and take separate cars. Keep your home address and home phone number to yourself until you think this is a person you can trust. Sticking to cell phone and online communication can help you protect your privacy.

While you’re out on your date, having someone call to check in at some point can be a good safety net. While you may not feel threatened by meeting a woman somewhere keep in mind that she may not be alone or could have someone watching her. You don’t need to spend your whole night worrying about these things, but keeping them at the back of your mind and taking precautions will keep you safe.

Sending Money

Someone asking for money should send up a huge red flag. No matter what her reason is, how desperate she seems, or how heartbreaking her story is, she shouldn’t be asking for money from someone she recently met online. There are a lot of scams out there and while you may think you’re being a nice guy, it’s important to protect yourself when meeting someone through online dating.