Online Dating Tip #1 ? Stay Positive and Pace Yourself!

When e-mailing and IM-ing (Instant Messaging) with others, be positive, upbeat and honest. Just like when you're meeting people for the first time in "real life," it's never a good idea to bombard someone with the unadulterated story of your life complete with every road bump and detour. Keep the honesty, but don't overwhelm your online friend with too much information too soon. Pace yourself!

Online Dating Tip #2 ? Photos are Powerful!

Pictures say a thousand words. Include one! Profiles that include photos get many more responses than text-only ones!

Online Dating Tip #3 ? Demonstrate Why You're Unique

Round out your profile with interesting information that highlights your unique personality, background and interests. Everyone enjoys walks on the beach and snuggling up by the fireplace?. so go beyond the ordinary and offer up detail on authors you're inspired by, places you've visited or dreamed about seeing, etc. Go beyond the ordinary and you'll reap the rewards!

Online Dating Tip #4 ? Meet People at Your Own Pace

Don't feel pressured to meet face to face before you're ready. Men usually do better when they let women control the pace of the online relationship, since a woman may need a little more time to feel safe. Men would do well to let women know they are interested in meeting face-to-face, but then to step back and let the woman say when.

Online Dating Tip #5 ? Close the Deal !

After you meet someone that you like, cinch a second meeting after the date, by looking directly into his or her eyes and saying, "I had a really great time with you, it was a lot of fun."

Online Dating Tip #6 ? Safety First!

Be sure to assume an anonymous handle, i.e., member ID or user name, so that your privacy is assured. Never sign up with an online personals company that doesn't provide anonymous email services!

Other safety tips include:

Use an e-mail address or cell phone number as an initial means of contact. Do not give out your home phone number.

If you're planning on meeting someone, tell at least two people where you're going, the person's name, their general description, and your expected time home.

Always meet someone in a neutral location. Never have them come to your home or place of work to pick you up.

Always meet someone in a public place, such as a restaurant, or a movie theatre.

Always be aware of the personal information you're revealing to a date.

Use common sense. If you get a bad "vibe" maybe it's time to end the date.

Bottom Line: Forget about acting cool, and think about acting real. The dates (and maybe even true love) will follow.

Here are some additional dating tips and advice to help you find what you're looking for...

More Insider Dating Tips from a former Online Dating Site owner. These tips are interesting and useful...

My Top 10 Dating Tips

After having run my own dating service for several years and having had the opportunity to study the reaction to various advert formats, responses etc. I am now giving you the opportunity to benefit from the collective failures of thousands of people! Free! You're welcome.

To get the most out of a dating service and find a lifelong partner check out these top 10 dating tips.

Many dating services encourage you to upload a photo. This is good for their business but it is also ESSENTIAL for you. The vast majority of searchers will exclude adverts without a photograph from the search so you may never even be seen without one.

If you do use a photo, think carefully about which pictures to use. Guys - don't use that picture of you after a joyous amount of beer. Let her find out the horrible truth of who you really are in her own time. Ladies - don't use a photo of you with your ex-boyfriend snipped out. I know you like the dress you were wearing in that picture but trust me on this one.

Get a friend to take a photo of you on your own. One facial and one full-length if possible. Make an effort to look happy, relaxed and natural. Don't go to a studio and have a model shoot as they may be assumed to be fake.

When I had to check the adverts for my site I was really struck with how badly they can be written. The truth is they are generally rushed. We write them like we do e-mails and so quality suffers. Write your advert in a word processor first - use the spellchecker, proof read it and when you are happy with it - post it. This also has the advantage that you can cut-and-paste it into several sites.

Think about what you want to say. Tell the person a little about yourself and what you are looking for in a partner. Guys - try to say a little more about yourself than what sports you like and do not mention sex. Really. Ladies - just keep on writing them like you do. You can hint at sex if you like. Really. One guy wrote on my site that he had an unusual hobby and would tell you about it if you replied to his advert. I loved that. It threw in an air of mystery and a desire to contact the person to find out more. Clever huh?

Two more quick points about writing adverts. Be positive. Don't write things like "Just checking out the site" or "Bored and lonely". Secondly, do not write one or two line adverts. Frankly if you can't put in any effort then you are either lazy or you can't really be that interested in meeting someone and the reader will pick up on this.

Find out how the site orders the adverts in the search results so that you can manipulate it to come out at the top of the list. For example some sites list in the order that the adverts were created or updated. If this is the case then go in and save the advert again so that yours jumps to the top of the search results. More people will see your advert and will know that you are still looking to find a partner.

As with writing an advert it is important to write a good response to other people's adverts. Use that word processor again to create a well written piece about yourself and then for each advert you respond to, add an extra paragraph that relates to what the other person wrote and show an interest in finding out more about them.

Next, don't always think that putting your advert up is all you need to do. If everyone were to wait for someone else to contact them then there would be no point to it all. Browse around and if you find 5 or 6 people you think you could connect with then JOIN the service and send them a message. You are more likely to get a response from someone who joined the site recently so keep checking back, every night if you can.

lways respond to messages you receive, even if you are not interested. Remember that it is another human being that wrote to you and they will be checking their mail box for the response. It can be disappointing to get a 'thanks, but no thanks' but it is less stressful than waiting for a response that never comes.