Any Single Person Should Try Online Dating

             If you have been single for a while and have some kind of mental or emotional block stopping you from online dating then you should get over it right away. It took me a while to finally jump into the world of online dating. I’m not sure what my hesitancy was. Maybe I felt like I should be able to meet people in the real world, or felt shy about other people I know seeing me online. I think I somehow associated it with personal ads. Online dating has become such a norm that it no longer holds any real negative stigma. And while it certainly has its pitfalls and problems, on balance it is an effective way to meet people and you’re limiting yourself by not including it as part of your overall dating strategy.

For some irrational reason, having to pay for a monthly membership also created some kind of obstacle to me getting going on online dating. First, you can do online dating for free. Personally a free dating site I’m on is www.plentyoffish.com. However, you shouldn’t let the fee dissuade you from any site you might be contemplating. Membership typically costs around $20/month. Guys, you can easily spend far more than that on one date. The fee shouldn’t dissuade you. Also, guys and girls, presumably finding a good mate is one of the most important priorities you have. Why wouldn’t you being willing to invest $20/month into something that important. I want to thank my brother for gifting me a 6 month membership on www.jdate.com. It was such a smart gift. Good gifts are things that a person wants or could use but for some reason won’t treat themselves to. It was a very thoughtful gift and if I find my wife on Jdate then I’ll truly be indebted to my brother.

You may be wondering, why should I pay for something that is available for free? The short answer is because paid sites are better quality. My experience is that on paid sites there are better quality people who are more committed to the process. The $20 serves as a nice filter weeding some people out. Also people who have plunked down some money are more likely to be serious about finding someone to date rather than just browsing to see what’s out there. Personally I’m on one free site and one paid site.

In conclusion, if you’re single and not online dating, don’t fuck around and get on it. You know when you have moments of inspiration and you stop what you’re doing to do something simple that you’ve procrastinated on for a long time. I call it “cracking the egg”. I believe this should be one of those things. Put down this book and go create a basic profile. It will take you literally only 15 minutes. You can worry about improving the quality of the profile later. Although make sure you do circle back to improving the quality of your profile. And also don’t hesitate to join a paid website.

           

Online dating effectively deals with the problem of not having enough time to go out and meet people. You can interact with many people from the comfort of your own home, in your underwear or when you’re bored at work. It’s also exciting because you have a buffet of women (or men) to choose from. When done skillfully, online dating is very efficient. You can set up a different date for each night of the week if you feel so inclined. For girls, I’m sure it’s doubly true.

            That being said there are a bunch of drawbacks to online dating. First, I was unpleasantly surprised to learn that setting up dates online isn’t easy. Online dating has its own whole set of rules and strategy. I don’t know why I thought it would be so simple. I was envisioning that you see pictures of a girl you think is attractive, you ask her to grab a cup of coffee (a metaphoric cup of coffee. I actually really dislike coffee shops as a place for a date), and if she also thinks you’re cute you meet. Unfortunately, it is seldom that simple. Much like the real world, you need to compete based on looks, overcome a trust barrier, and make your case for why you’re a worthwhile mate to someone with limited patience who has many other people vying for their attention. Also similar to the real world, you face being ignored and a lot of rejection.

           

With a little bit of time and practice I got a lot better and started meeting a lot of cool girls. Click here to see my next post on strategy for online dating. 
Or click here if you're considering dating me and reading this blog made your nervous.