Online dating is nothing but finding a date using a website. It can be used by both men and women to find a date. They can do so by browsing a site, and finding profiles that interest them. Some websites allow free browsing while others charge a small fee to allow users to access their databanks.

However, the basic model of an online dating site is the same. A user is required to enter his/her profile. This is then stored in the site’s server, and can be accessed by any authorized site user. All dating sites run a powerful search program that can match profiles on the basis of age, gender, community, interests etc.

The pricing strategy varies from site to site. Some sites provide unpaid users access to a few profiles; others insist on payment. The payment also has several layers. The maximum access is provided to those users who pay the highest rates.

Most paid sites are very particular about privacy. They route the contact mails through their mail server so that neither party will ever see the actual mail address of the other. Some advise opening a free e-mail account for online dating. This does not happen in the case of free websites. Your personal information is visible to everyone.

Another important thing about paid sites is that they allow people to post or browse profiles only after paying the subscription fee. Also, only members can contact the site users. Besides this, a paid membership also entitles members to a higher ranking in search results.

All sites advise you to avoid mentioning personal information like your full name, address, phone number, place of employment, social security number etc. This is sound advice, and must be followed in full. There is no point in exposing yourself to cyber stalkers.

However, there is no harm in entering your interests in full. It also makes sense to post a good photograph on the site. Profiles with photographs get better responses than profiles without photographs.

Your first communication should be through mail. The second step should be to establish voice communication. This should be done once you develop a liking for your online friend. Here too you should not give your landline number. The best is to use your mobile, which does not reveal your home address. The final step should be to invite your online friend to a date.

If you want to look for romance on the Internet, spend some time learning the secrets of online dating. They will pay you handsome dividends. To start with, keep the following tips in mind:

1.    Upload a good photograph of yourself. Select a pleasing photo that is sharp and has not been taken from too far. Use a realistic photo, not one that has been glamorized to make you look better than you are.

2.   Spend time writing a good profile, which will show people that you are really interested in finding an online date. If you are serious about online dating success, let it show in your profile.

3.   It pays to be truthful right from the beginning. If you write things about yourself that are not true, people will eventually find out about it. Remember that you want people to love the real you.

4.   Before you decide to meet your online date personally, talk to him or her on the phone a few times. Talking on the phone may make you change your opinion about meeting the person.

5.   Try to find people who are looking for the same type of relationship as you are. If you are looking for a life partner, don’t contact people who are on the look out for a casual relationship.

It can be exhilarating to meet new people online, who seem to be very attractive. Don’t let the excitement get the better of your judgment, but be cautious for the sake of your own safety. Watch out for certain signs that may warn you about the nature of your online date:

If the person does not respond to your e-mails or call you back quickly it may be a sign of a lack of dependability.

If a person is reluctant to give clear cut answers it may mean that he or she has something to hide.

If your online date is reluctant to exchange photographs, it may be an indication that he or she is concealing something.

An online friend who displays a lot of emotion and wants to meet you personally, right away, also needs cautious handling. It may be better to discontinue the relationship.

Be cautious about revealing personal information like your address and phone number, until you are more confident about your relationship. When you progress to the stage of talking on the phone, listen carefully to the person’s communication skills and his or her tone of voice.

Make sure that the person has answered all your questions. If something about the other person troubles you, ask for clarifications. Always meet your date in a public place.

There are over a 100 million singles out there, waiting to find the right soul mate. All that you need to do is to log on, enter your profile and make the right pitch. It wouldn’t be long before you get an answer.

If you are not happy with one online dating service you can join another. There are scores of them populating the net. Here’s a list of some of the more popular online dating services:

• Date.com - This website was established in 1997 and it has more than two million users all over the world. It offers a safe and easy to meet new people

• Dream Mates – This website has more than 3.5 million members and it is one of the largest North American dating websites.

• America’s Internet Dating – It has more than 3.5 million members and the numbers are growing rapidly. Its profiling service helps you find people you would like to meet.

• Mingles.com – A great place to look for dates or to have fun. It offers you free membership, two-way matchmaking, photo chat, boards and thousands of photo personals.

• PerfectMatch – This top site has helped adults who are serious about finding a partner for a long-term relationship.

• MetroDate.com – A safe website, which is easy to use and has advanced search options. It offers you access to five full size photos, voice and video, etc.

• Romantic Planet – This site offers you exceptional control over your own personal information and superior matching technology

• AmericanSingles.com – It has one of the largest and most exciting groups of members who are looking for strong relationships.

• ThirtyPlusSingles – It helps mature people to find their partners on the Internet. It can help you to find a real person in your own area.

• Wild Indigo – It allows you to browse millions of profiles for free. You can create a personal profile in minutes.

• iMatchup – It is one of the fastest growing websites, which gets about 500,000 visitors and adds about 10,000 members every day.

• AmateurMatch.com – It may be the sexiest adult dating group of like-minded people, who are looking for some action.

• Fitness-Singles.com – Offers you over 70 fitness, sports and outdoor recreation categories, from which you can choose like-minded people.

• DateCam.com – It allows you to communicate with members by means of live video.

• SoulMatch Beliefnet – A site that focuses on character, beliefs, values and spirituality.

• MyEMatch.com – Offers you unique proprietary software to help you to find the ideal match.

Some of the other dating websites you may like to visit are Love Access, Web Date, CoupleMe, Plenty of Fish, AppleMates Personals, Jumpdates.com, DateMatch.com, MatchDoctor.com, RatePeople.com, etc.

The online world is no different than the physical world. It is populated by people who are fun to know; it is also full of vain and pompous people who are best avoided. The difficulty is how to weed out the grain from the riff raff. Here are three online personalities who must be kept at a distance, both online and offline.

The first type is the mama’s boy. You may not be able to recognize him until you meet him. But when you do meet him you will be aghast. Your date will be more concerned about his parents than about you. The parents will be equally concerned about their little one, and will call up several times to find out how the evening is progressing. You will never be able to live up to his parent’s expectations. If you have an argument with your date, the parents will be involved in it and they will never support you.

The second type of person is obsessed with his/her appearance, and is easy to detect. You can recognize this person from the photographs. If it is a man the photographs will show more muscles than the face. If it’s a woman, the photographs will show more curves than needed.

Such persons will focus only on your physical appearance. If you are not in good shape or if you are not very athletic, you will keep hearing about it. You will be valued for your physical appearance and your date may talk about your vital statistics, as if you are some type of a physical asset.

The third type of online personality is not easy to identify on a dating website. He is a smooth talker who is an expert in online dating. He will try hard to sell himself to you and he may not give you much time to talk about yourself. He will flirt with you and with every other good-looking person. His phone too will keep ringing all evening.

He may not remember any of the details you told him about yourself on the dating site. If you are looking for some excitement and are prepared to take a risk, you can surely go out with a person like this. Remember that this person will not be ready for a long-term commitment to anyone or anything.

The number and quality of responses you get from an online dating website depends largely on your profile. A good profile may help you find the romance you’ve been searching for, all your life; an average one may make most users move on.

The most effective way to be noticed is through the good, old photograph. A good, sharp photograph, which shows you doing something different, will make you stand out. You don’t have to use glamour shots or your old high school photographs. Instead, use pictures that show you as you look.

You are also likely to be noticed if you have a good opening line. The best way to decide your opening line is to scan the profiles of others. See what attracts you most, and then build an opening line. While going through the profiles see what points interest you. Include them in your profile.

Be careful about your language, spellings and punctuation. There’s nothing more irritating than to skim through a profile where every second word is spelt wrongly. Who would want to date a person who can’t even spell his name correctly?

It pays to take some time to enter your profile. A good idea is to write your profile on a sheet of paper, and sleep over it for a week. You would want to write it again when you read it after a week. This is not surprising. The best profiles are those where the user has applied his or her mind. Do the revisions, and then host the profile.

Also, make sure that you answer all the queries. Don’t answer in monosyllables. Spend some time to answer each question.  Think of your strong points. Lace them with humor, and host them. Don’t try to run your self down. Just be normal.

Remember, you have very little words to catch the attention of your online mate. Make each one count.

If you are single and are looking for a companion, meeting people on the Internet can be very rewarding. Whether you are looking for a casual association or a long-term relationship, it helps if you learn how to find the right online date. Online dating websites offer you a stimulating, enjoyable and safe environment, where you can mingle with like-minded people.

Here are a few tips to help you find the right date:

• Include your photograph in your profile. This will help you get a much better response than a plain text-based profile.

• Write a profile that brings out your personality, background, interests and hobbies. Try to go beyond the commonplace details and write about things that inspire and excite you. This will help people to discover what is unique about you and will help you find the right dates.

• When you are communicating with someone online, be positive and try to be honest about yourself. This does not mean giving the other person too many details about your life, too soon. It is better to let the relationship develop slowly.

• Don’t feel under pressure to meet the person personally too soon.   It is better to let the woman decide when the first meeting should take place. The man can tell her that he is interested in meeting her and then wait for her to decide when they will meet.

• Always ensure your safety and privacy by using a member ID or user name, so that you remain anonymous. You should also use that online dating service that offers you anonymous e-mail services. This will protect your e-mail ID.

• Once you have met someone you like, tell him/her you enjoyed yourself and arrange a second meeting.

When you are meeting someone for the first time, always arrange the meeting in a public place. Drive to the chosen place, instead of letting your date pick you up from your home. Before you go for the meeting, tell at least two people where you are going, whom you are meeting and when you will be back. It is safer to take a friend along, when you go for the first meeting.

Give the person an e-mail address or mobile phone number initially. Don’t reveal your home phone number or address. Be careful about what personal information you reveal on your first date. Always rely on your common sense and leave at once if you get a bad feeling about the other person.

You may be the most sought after man or woman in real life but you will remain unnoticed on a dating website unless you learn how to catch people’s attention.

To do so, you need to write a catchy profile. It should talk about you, your interests in life, your passions, your likes and dislikes. It should also talk about the qualities you are looking in a date.

Men should try to tell people about themselves and not just write about the sports they are interested in. They should avoid writing about sex. Creating an air of mystery about yourself may help you get more responses. Women can make subtle references to sensuality to catch attention. But they should never make the mistake of being blatant about sex. It will lead to the wrong kind of mail.

There’s no harm in hosting your photograph. In fact, you should post both a close up and a full-length photograph of yourself. Profiles with photographs generate far more responses than profiles without photographs. Be careful about which photograph you choose. Avoid hosting those pictures that may give people a wrong impression about you.

Use a photograph that shows you looking happy and relaxed. A photograph taken in a studio may look like it is doctored, so use one that has been taken by a friend.

If you place an advertisement on a dating website, make sure that you make it crisp and punchy. It should give reason for users to stop, and send you a mail. Casual or half hearted sales pitches fall flat or elicit the wrong response.

You should also spend some time on the website’s advertisement policy. Some dating websites put the latest advertisements on top. If this is true of your website too, then you must update your advertisement regularly to stay on top of the list.

Contact people who interest you. Don’t just place an advertisement and wait for things to happen. Remember that new members are more likely to respond. So, write to them first. Check for responses frequently and respond promptly to all messages, even if you are not interested.