Dating sites are a simple but effective solution available to anyone daring enough to try their luck online. It’s pretty straightforward — all you have to do is find a site you like, make an account, and start chatting!

What Are Dating Sites?

By now, everyone should know what dating sites are. But if you are someone who lived in a cave up until now, dating pages are places where you can advertise yourself to other people. According to single people, dating apps are the single greatest invention ever since sliced bread! Whatever your sexual preference may be, you can find someone to your liking nearby.

Websites have evolved into mobile apps, so they are more convenient to use. People have also evolved through the years, so it’s not as much of a taboo anymore to have a profile on a dating site. Don’t be shy and give it a go!

The industry is just so saturated that there are many different sites and apps — everything for everyone! You wanna meet someone for a short term, long term, or for a quickie? Do you have a specific kink or a fetish? No worries. If you know what you like, just shoot your shot, and someone will come by.

You know what is the difference between a Kink and a Fetish? Read this Huffpost article.

Take Your Pick

Tinder is the most popular choice among the younger crowds. All you need to do is sign up, add a brief description of yourself, put up a few flattering pictures, and bam! You are ready to date.

Tinder has this gimmick where you swipe people. You like someone; you swipe right. If you don’t like them, you swipe left. You don’t care and just wanna meet people? Just keep swiping right, my friend, keep swiping! And voila — you hit a match. Confidence is a key on dating sites, so send a message and hope for the best.

Next up is OkCupid. This one is the same, but different, but still the same. Making a profile takes a little more time since they are more detailed than most other dating apps.

You can answer an infinite number of questions that will help you find your perfect match. Of course, you don’t have to answer them all, but the more comprehensive your profile, the better.

On your profile, you can answer some quick questions where people can see what you’re like. For example, they can see your likes and dislikes, a brief summary of your personality, what you’re good at, and in general, learn a bit more about you.

Now Bumble is different. Usually, people can message each other on most dating sites if they match or if they have the same score or some other gimmick. But on Bumble, women shoot first. If a woman likes a guy, she has to send a message first, and the said guy has 24 hours to answer. Otherwise, he loses his chance. You snooze, you lose. The time limit is excellent for some people, as it’s a great incentive to contact your potential dates. For others, it might be their unfortunate doom.

What to Do on Dating Sites

There might be people who are a bit intimidated when writing their profiles or who just don’t know what to say because they can’t tell if it’s too much or too little. Well, I can tell you first hand, I’ve been there, and I know how it is. But, after some time, you finally get a gist of how it works and what to do.

Make It Balanced

There really isn’t “the right way” to do this. Everyone will tell you what this thing is better or that other thing. But in reality, it all depends on what kind of fish you are fishing for, you know. First and foremost, and I can’t stress this enough, take a good selfie. This isn’t just a tip for guys, but for girls as well. On most of these apps, the first impression is the most important one. Usually, people will just swipe off someone who has a bad first picture. They won’t even bother to scroll through the rest of them. So get that done ASAP.

After that, writing a captivating self-summary or description is your best bet. In short, notes mention interesting things about you. For example, you can tell people you like rafting or clubbing. Don’t go all big talk and boast about yourself. That can be quite a turn off with some people. Yes, everyone likes confident types, but there is a difference between confidence and arrogance. Also, don’t go on for ten pages about how you like pugs. In short, don’t do anything that seems like you are overly obsessed with something. Stuff like that can resonate with someone online, but it really limits your potential dating pool.

Well, the only thing left for you is to prepare for the first message. When you match with someone, take the initiative and be the one to say hi. Of course, don’t just leave it at hi. Try to connect to the other person with a story or an anecdote that they can relate to. And voila — you are a step closer to date!

Meeting Up

As you all know, online privacy is an important thing. I mean, it’s the same as how your parents have taught you not to talk to strangers and not to take candy from strange people. It goes without saying that it’s the same principle as that with people online. Although some people can seem genuine, friendly, and seem like they would never hurt a fly, they can turn out to be weird and strange individuals who might be stalkers. It doesn’t happen often and to everyone, but you could always end up being one of the certain unlucky individuals. So be careful with sharing your information such as where you live or other sensitive information.

As you meet people on dating sites, you will want to meet up with some of them in person. Weeding out those who are trustworthy and those who are not might be challenging, but don’t let that stop you from meeting with them face to face. Talk to them for a while. Getting to know someone will undoubtedly help you make sure that they are okay people, and it’s okay for you guys to meet up. You can always just meet with them in a public place, like a coffee shop in the mall or a public park. And if you feel uneasy that someone might follow you after the date, you can always ask a friend to pick you up. It’s not so bad outside, but being careful can’t hurt. So, don’t give up on online dating just yet!

Conclusion

Now you have all the info you need to make it big on the dating apps. While they are easy and fun, they might not be for everybody. But don’t give up before trying it yourself!