The most important part of your online dating profile is your pictures.
If you’re naturally photogenic and gorgeous, you don’t need to worry about this section. However, for those of us less than a perfect 10 in the looks department, we will be putting some more thought and effort into our profile pictures.
Make no mistake; your pictures are much more important than the actual content of your profile. Just accept this fact of life for what it is…I’m about to tell you how to make it work in your favor:
Step #1 - Photo Preparation
Assemble your collection of recent photos and place them all into 1 single folder on your computer. If any particularly good ones are with attractive members of the opposite sex, Photoshop them out, as it makes you appear unapproachable/unattainable for people viewing your profile.
Crop the images so the focus is on you. It’s ok to leave trace hints of the fun & friends around you, but make it absolutely clear as to which person the profile belongs to. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing a picture of 2 girls, 1 cute and 1 fugly, and not knowing which one you’re writing to, (profile tip: when in doubt, it’s usually the uglier one). Once you have your sample pool of personal photos cropped, re-sized, and ready to go, the next step is deciding which ones to use for your dating profile.
Step #2 – Photo Selection
Most people just use whichever photos they deem themselves to be best…this why most people are not successful with online dating. Because pics are the most important aspect of your profile, it’s worth applying some metrics for selecting your very best photos.
Hotornot.com provides unbiased, immediate, and quantitative feedback on which pictures are your very best. Simply create a quick profile, upload a picture, and log in the following day to view the consensus. I guarantee you’ll be surprised as to which of your pics rank well, which are just average, and which rank poorly. Do it for as many days as you have pictures.
Because Hotornot ranks on a scale from 1-10, it’s easy to see how good one picture is relative to another. If you’re skeptical about the rating you got, you can always take it down and re-run it just to be sure you got an accurate rating, (although I have personally found the ratings very consistent). If you can’t get at least an 8.0+ on a few, you need to take new pictures.
Of the photos that fetch good number ratings, choose 1 or 2 that support your general archetype. Then, supplement these shots with photos that showcase different facets of your lifestyle, to form a complete identity.
For example, I am really into music, so I have a pic wearing headphones while playing guitar in my recording studio. If you’re all about sports, have a picture playing ball, or at least attending a ball game.
Another rule of thumb is to always include at least one shot dressed UP (suit or dress). It’s an easy way to add a touch of class.
Remember, your online persona is communicated through your pictures first, and supported by the content of your profile second. Spend the extra time getting your pictures right… it’s an investment worth making.