There is a big difference between being aggressive or confident and being too aggressive, over-confident, or just plain sleazy or slimy from a woman’s point of view. If you push too hard for a face-to-face, you will come across as too aggressive…maybe even, scary.  Try to remember that you are not trying to close a business deal and keep the relationship progressing at a slow but steady pace.  Patience is the key.

Nobody is perfect.  We are all flawed in some way or another…and that includes you, as well.  If you expect the woman to be absolutely perfect and demand that, you will always be disappointed.  Demanding perfectionism in your work is one thing.  Demanding perfectionism from a friend, co-worker or a lady you are interested in is not just fine.  It won’t happen.  Expect flaws and just deal with them.  Decide the ones you can live with and those you can’t.

Little white lies and false fronts won’t work.  Be honest from the beginning of a relationship.  Write your profile.  Make it interesting but don’t make false statements.  The truth will come out eventually anyway.  If you say you are a lawyer who makes a million bucks a year and you are really an electrician that makes $75,000, you have set yourself up for failure.

Remember…don’t be too aggressive, expect to ever find perfection or put on a false front.

The best way to begin writing your profile is to carefully analyze your past relationship (s).  What was right?  What was wrong?  What things really made you like the last girl?  Which didn’t?  Don’t assume that just because you hated that your last girl was so totally self-involved that she couldn’t see anything else, you’ll be able to overlook that quality this time. You won’t.

If you aren’t 6’1” with a six-pack to be proud of, don’t claim to be.  If you are a bar tender, don’t claim to be a lawyer with a six figure income. If you are 40 going on 50, don’t pretend to be 30 something.

Remember, the idea here is to find a girl who will like you exactly like you are. If you have lied in your profile, the first face-to-face meeting will remove all her doubt that you are a liar…and probably a cheat, as well.

Lastly, once you have found a girl that you believe can be the one for you, for goodness sakes, cancel your membership to the online dating service.  After all, you know and she knows that online dating services are intended for those who are looking…not those who have found or been found.

After you are past the initial small talk, ask her, “What are the biggest mistakes guys make when dating online?”  Listen carefully to her answers.  She’s going to tell you a lot about herself and her views on men in general.

Next you should ask her, “What do you really think about online dating?”  Now she will tell you if she has had any bad experiences dating on line and help you to avoid making the same things wrong.

Now for the all-important one…..”What caused the break up in your last relationship?”  If she puts all the blame on the guy, you should probably move on to the next prospect.  If she takes all the blame herself, you should probably do the same.  If she says the breakup was by mutual consent or that the relationship just wasn’t right for either of them, you’ve heard the right answer.  Move forward but always with caution.

Asking the right questions will give you insight and make you more confident when you meet the lady for the first time.

You must be patient.  Don’t press her for personal information like her real name or where she lives.  Keep your conversations light and fun until she feels comfortable talking with you online.  Don’t try to rush her into meeting face-to-face.  She will think you are desperate or a pervert.  Patience.  Patience. Patience.

Be absolutely honest about your physical appearance and job.  A good relationship has never been, and will never be, built on lies and deceit.  Eventually she will find out the truth anyway and there you are back at square one.

A picture really is worth a thousand words.  Post many pictures of yourself doing your everyday activities and make them full body shots, not just head shots.  If you were dating a girl in the real world she wouldn’t just see your head.

Once the discussion has been opened about meeting face-to-face for the first time, suggest that you meet in a very public place, during daylight hours  and that she bring a friend with her.  After all, you have nothing to hide.  You’ve told her the truth about yourself and she has already seen a lot of pictures of you.  The only thing left is to make her feel safe meeting you.

Before actually meeting in person, many dates get acquainted online first. Here’s how.

Photos - As a wonderful keepsake of your budding romance, create an online photo album for your new cyber-mate.  Include digital photos of favorite outdoor scenes, pets, flowers, cars, silly moments, your computer corner or laptop, etc.  Then you’ll even have more to discuss during online dates via emails and chat rooms. Search for “photo albums” to find places that store your photos.

Greeting Cards- Regardless of where the person lives, you can mail a greeting card. If privacy and security is an issue, check into renting an inexpensive P.O. Box (check the Yellow Pages). You do not have to be an artist to make something homemade and special for the new friend in your life.  Even making a special, personalized greeting card would be appreciated and show your date that you care enough to take the time needed to make something by hand.  Search your favorite search engine for online greeting cards to send, too. They range from free to low cost and can be sent in a click.

So get online and get active! No need to risk meeting in person until you get more familiar with each other online first. So take the online plunge!

To help many dates get better acquainted online, here’s what potential cyber-dates do.

Sharing Recipes – People get tired talking about the weather. So a popular subject to turn to is food. Sharing favorite foods and recipes helps break the ice and even forms friendships over culinary skills – or lack of – and tastes. Search your favorite search engine for “free recipes” to share. Take photos of your culinary creations and share them with your date, too.

Bidding at Auctions – Ebay auctions sell nearly anything and everything! So surf around and enter searches like the dates you were in middle school. Share cool memorabilia photos of old games and toys from when you were a child or when your parents or grandparents were little; The Dating Game, Oscar Mayer wiener whistles, The Partridge Family Album, Bobby Sherman’s Album, 45’s and more.

Online dating can be an educational and fun experience. So learn more about each other and have fun while you’re at it. Take a cyber-stroll down memory lane together and see what’s cookin’.

1. Take time and make time. Does your online date get in touch with you regularly? Do you do the same? Neglecting virtual meetings can be considered abuse or neglect, so treat each others time with respect. If it’s lacking, might mean time to move on.

2. Communication needs to “feel” right for both of you. If one of you is too pushy about meeting, for instance, that can give off bad vibes. So don’t rush. Take time to learn more about each other and develop trust.

3. Respect each others privacy. Don’t share personal email addresses or digital photos online, for example, if your online date sent you the information in confidence.

4. Share special online and offline fun times. Online – send greeting cards, links to favorite places to upload digital photos of your favorite pet, download music and video clips, post on favorite forums of interest. Offline- if you’re exchanging addresses or post office boxes, send print greeting cards and postcards, small items from your area (like a key chain with your state bird).

Tend your online relationship. Water it with care and over time it can sprout and grow.

Protect Your Computer

Take care of your equipment and systems before you head out into the Internet realm. You need to have a firewall and anti-virus protection for your email and for when you search websites and interact online. At the bare minimum, you maywant these two solutions that are offered at no charge to home computer users (i.e. not for commercial use):

Free Firewall Download: ZoneAlarm www.zonelabs.com
Free Anti-Virus Download: AVG Anti-Virus www.grisoft.com

Protect Yourself

Take care of yourself, too, by choosing appropriate dating sites. Seek and choose a reputable online dating service. How? Begin by asking around with friends, neighbors, co-workers and others you may know who have tried online dating, and see which places they recommend. In addition, search “online dating services” and keep a notebook of their URLs or website links, the fees, rules and regulations, complete contact information of each and any other useful information that spikes your interest. Then compare each place. Try only those places where you feel safe. Avoid the others.

So take care. Arm your computer – and yourself- with the correct tools and knowledge!

Online dating is getting very popular and if you would like to join this world, there are a few things that you should keep in mind. As with the other aspects of life, you will have more success if you follow the rules of the game and treat other people with respect. Some people may not realize these rules but in the end it will mean the difference between you getting the date and continuing to be single.

If you find an attractive picture online, it is ok to tell the person that you think they are nice looking. However looks are not everything. If that is all that you have to say online, then it is going to be better not to say anything at all. Read the person’s profile so that you can say something more than just a comment about their looks.

You can read the profit in all situations. Always look at a person’s “My perfect date” section to see what he or she is going to be interested in. most people are looking for others within a certain age range and distance from home. They might also have preferences about children, smoking, religion, looks, race, and sexual preferences. If you are 33 and someone online is looking for a date between 20 and 28, he or she is not looking for you so you need to pass them by.

Do not send an initial email if you did not read the profile. Asking general questions like “How are you?” and “ What can you tell me about yourself?” can be annoying. Be more specific and ask the other person questions that can be answered in an email back to you and your questions will show her your personal interests.

The most important thing is if another person is not interested, move past them. Sometimes people will not answer your messages on purpose. Online is the acceptable way of showing that you have no interest. Do not repeatedly send messages that ask a person if they got your previous message. They got them and they are simply not interested. If someone writes you back and indicated that there is no chemistry for him or her, let the issue go. There are millions of other profiles for you to pursue and someone is going to reply. Writing back to that person and telling them that they are close-minded, mean, or something unpleasant is not going to help and it is against the websites rules. Use your common sense and do not do or say anything that you would never do or say in real life. Online dating can be more fun for everyone if you follow the etiquette rules.

With the online dating growing more in success, both for investors and for uses, online dating scams are popping up left and right. You need to prepare for the online dating world by always using common sense and by reading up on the scam online predators from time to time. Protect your time and money by always keeping up to date about the online scams. You should also keep your heart safe too.

First people that are pretending to be interested in your dating profile can scam you online. You should be aware of anyone that wants to meet immediately because it should take a few weeks of online chat and phone calls before meeting another person is even thought about. When you do meet someone, do not leave your personal belongings alone with him or her at any time. This is an easy way for them to steal your credit card or other personal information and you may not notice these things are missing for a few days. Also be aware of people who send you links. Do not click on a link without first knowing what it is and never download any programs on your computer that others users are sending you or have in their profiles. These are often some type of spy ware programs that can steal information from your computer like your passwords and credit card numbers.

The second type of online scam is done not by the online dater, but by the online dating service. The problem here is often the same. An online dating service that is not well known has only recently been established and may steal your credit card number or other personal information for their use. These companies because they are online can disappear easily without a trace and it may be a long time before your money is found, if it is at all. Always read the terms and conditions before you sign up to be sure that there is no clause that give them permission to sell your email address or use your personal information in any way.

Last, you need to be concerned if an online dater should ask you to cash money orders, online users have been scammed into cashing these checks and wiring the money to a person who claims to be in another country unable to cash checks. The people will spend a lot of time devoted to gain another’s trust before they ask them to cash any checks. The checks are usually “washed” which means that they were purchased for a small amount of money and then altered. These people will eventually get caught and it is impossible to prove that another person made the cash checks and you will be responsible for owing the bank.

The online scams can put a real strain on online dating but if you are smart, you should not have any problems. You need to protect yourself by not giving out too much personal information and by staying out of financial matters.