“Sell The Sizzle. Not the Steak they say”. We are always selling something in life. Whether organising a birthday party and trying to sell a fun time to others and inviting them, selling our selves in terms of our skills to an employer, selling our cookies in a charity event, selling our own products at a flea market or garage sale etc. However, when it comes to looking for a partner in life we don’t sell ourselves enough.

I am not saying be arrogant and conceited. I am saying to be assertive and show your strong points. Sell your sizzle! You certainly have it. We all have it. We all have certain talents we are born with whether we like to accept it or not.

One of the sad things which happen in online dating is that when anyone is single and lonely, they sometimes are not in a best state of mind to think of the strong points about themselves due to past negative associations from their past relationships or just simply have a low self-esteem. Not all but some of us do this. We end up selling ourselves short and settling with anyone who walks into our life

That’s quite ok. What is not ok is to continue to NOT show your positive points when looking for a partner.
So right now we are going to discuss how we can make our online dating profile shine with pride and makes us an attractive potential target for a partner who is suitable for us and looking at our online dating profile

Step 1) Have a completed profile
Ok this is the most obvious step, but some people completely ignore this step altogether. They think they are going to be doing the searching on the online dating site so they don’t really have to have their profile completed.

This is one of the key steps which a lot of people forget or don’t take the time to do it. Because they feel either they don’t have the time to write a detailed profile, or they think they are going to be contacting people anyway so why bother or they think what is the point etc.

Your profile is your first impression you give to a potential partner who maybe browsing that dating site when you have joined that particular dating site. When a potential partner is looking through profiles if they see an empty profile even without a picture, how could they get to know you when you don’t even present yourself let alone make ANY impression!?

But please do have something in your profile without having just a single line like some people, which says “hot guy looking for a hot girl” or “are you cute? Then email me” or “sexy girl wants her cute boy friend” or “just looking”!

Step 2) Highlight your desires
In your profile details define what kind of person you are looking for. When your potential partner is reading your profile you want them to contact you by winking or sending you an Instant Message or by emailing you via the online dating site. You don’t want them to hit the ‘next’ button. You want them to hit the “Contact This Person” button.

Step 3) Avoid Incompatible partners
The same logic for attracting your compatible partner applies when we are talking about incompatible partners. By mentioning your requirements as in step 2) applies you are writing whom you are looking for at least in a broader sense. If you have a deal breaker rule which you would never break such as if you would never date a smoker, then please mention it in your profile. This way, the person looking at your profile who is a smoker can hit the ‘next’ button saving you and their time by not contacting you.

By making your profile only attractive to those whom you want to be attracted to you, you are only focusing your attention on those potential partners and making your profile sizzle to the right person
This way you don’t have to sift through 20 partners who contact you to find 2 potential dating partners.

Step 4) Add the best photo you have of yourself
We all heard of making the best first impression. Why not take this concept to your online dating? When we go on our first date with someone, wouldn’t we try to look our best to impress our date? Why not use the same concept when setting up our own dating profile?

It is an obvious saying that a picture is equal to a thousand words. If you are looking for a long-term relationship, try to match your picture to say what you want it to say about yourself in the best light possible to your potential partner. For example: if you are looking for long-term marriage minded relationship on your online dating site, suggestion is not to post a nude photo of yourself else you will attract all kinds of unwanted short-term dating bed hoppers.

Step 5) Highlight some of your strong interests
It is always great to find someone on an online dating site who has most of your passions and interests at heart. They don’t always have to match 100% with your interests. They can have their own exclusive interests too. But it is great to have some overlapping interests.

By highlighting your interests you will attract a potential partner with those interests. This is obvious but has to be said as it is amazing how many people ignore this important step.

A potential partner can put together a mental picture of you with your interests and this will make them want to share those common interests and activities with you. They say we seek people who are like us. If you go to a mountain climbing club field trip or a yoga meditation boot camp you will know what I mean!

Step 6) Show Off Your Talents
We know our strong points and talents. But does a potential dating partner who is looking at your profile for the first time know those talents? So spell it out. If you make an amazing pie, say it. If you make the your city’s most yummiest soup say it. If you give the world’s best body massage say it. If you sing like Celine Dion say it. If you are sensitive say it.

What does your talent got to do with sizzling your profile? If someone loves chocolate ice cream and you describe to them, a yummy chocolate flavoured smooth ice cream filled with pistachio nuts some chunks of chocolate cause some mouth watering? Well if someone loves the traits of talents you happen to have and if you don’t spell it out how could you sizzle yourself and sell yourself?

So please take the above steps when decide to sizzle your online dating profile. Happy Dating!