How To Be Sure Your Personal Ad Gets Noticed

How To Be Sure Your Personal Ad Gets Noticed

After much nail-biting and pacing, you’ve finally made the decision to join an online dating service. Now you face the seemingly monumental task of writing your personals ad. Sheesh, you say. How do I do this—especially when the personals you’ve taken the time to read through are so, well, let’s be honest, awful. All those abbreviations! All those long paragraphs! All the fluff that a over-sexed seventh-grade boy could see right through!

The trick to writing personals ads that get noticed are to be original and creative when it comes to writing yours. Think about it. Does a Volkswagen ad read like a Mercedes ad?

Of course not. That’s because though they’re both cars, they are completely different cars—just like two short, blonde women or two tall, brunette men. Other than sharing some physical characteristics and being the same sex, they’re going to be as different as a BMW and a Jeep.

So before you even start pecking away at the keyboard, think of yourself as a brand. This is easier for most people if they stick with the car metaphor. If you were a car, what kind would you be? If you consider yourself to be a Beemer, then your personals ad should be written to highlight your Beemer-ish characteristics. For example, you’d want to include your love of fine white wines and Prada shoes.

On the other hand, if you’re a Beemer wannabe (and don’t feel bad, many of us are), don’t give in to the impulse to describe yourself as Beemer. Not only does this set other people up for a disappointment when they find out you don’t share their interests or meet their expectations, you may, worse, get stuck having to drink a lot of red wine at a cocktail party or theater when you’d really, honestly prefer is cold beer, pizza and a movie.

After you’ve defined yourself as a brand and can describe yourself thoroughly, from your tires to your, er, headlights, you’re ready to start writing that personals ad. You’ve already done all the hard work, so the writing will be very easy. And you didn’t think it would be, did you?

Some other things you want to keep in mind as you write your personals ad are:

• Keep it positive. That is, unless you want to attract someone who reads Sylvia Plath poems for kicks. Which, hey, is no problem if that’s your idea of a good time.

• Be short and to the point. This isn’t the place for your life history. Let that part come later.

• While keeping it short, don’t overdo the abbreviations. A few are fine, but too many are irritating.

• Hit your high spots. If you have the sleek lines of a Jag, say so. If you’re as trustworthy and loyal as a Toyota, speak up! Let your chrome wheels shine!

• Voice your passions. Yep, if you’re wild about 4-wheeling to the point you’d rather than have mud on your tires than eat when you’re hungry, don’t be afraid to say so.

• Creativity rules. You’re clever. Just that fact that you’ve found this marvelous way to meet people and find dates shows it! So you want to stay away from clichés in your writing, and think of new, fresh ways to describe yourself and your attributes. Saying you’re loyal will most likely get a yeah, yeah, but say that when it comes to your friends, you stick like mud on tires, now that will have people eager to know more about you.

Following these tips will help you write a personals ad that won’t just be noticed—it’ll guarantee you not only get replies, you’ll get dates!

BONUS : How To Check Your Online Date’s Honesty

Online dating can prove to be a wonderful experience but you have to remember certain precautions in dating people over the Net.

How would you know that the person you will be meeting for the first time is honest and is not deceiving you? Here are some tips to guide you.

1. Listen to what your gut is saying. If something does not feel right when talking to the person, then most likely, something may indeed be wrong and that he or she is not saying the truth. If something does not feel right when communicating with him or her, it is probably an indication to move on. Trust on your instincts.

2. Do not give out your personal home information too early. If he or she is an honest person, he or she would understand this. He or she knows the danger that lurks in online dating, so it is just understandable that you take enough measures to protect yourself. In fact, he or she might admire you for that. It just shows that you are not that cheap and desperate in hooking up with dates.

If you want to meet that person again on a second date, arrange for another one. From there, assess if you can give him or her your contact information.

3. To maximize your safety, make an anonymous electronic mail account in services like Yahoo or Hotmail. Try not to give your complete name. This would increase your privacy information. If you think someone is trustworthy enough to give out your main email address and other information, then you can give him or her the information.

4. If you think you have gathered enough information about your date, then you could try doing a background information check of that person. If your date knew that you are giving him or her a background check, he or she won’t give a big deal about it. After all, honest persons don’t have something to hide, do they?

Keep in mind that there are people out there who lie about their profile and lie on the things they are saying over the Internet. Some lie about their marital status, some over their physical appearances, and some about their intentions. Be alert at all times. Not all people in online dating services are good people. Trust your instincts. Hopefully, you find one over the Internet that is honest and has good intentions for you. He or she might be your destiny.