Online Dating Profile Tips: Dating Profile Help, Good Dating Bios For Guys, Girls + How To Make Your Dating Profile Stand Out
As an online dating consultant featured in the NYTimes, I can confirm that good photos do help your chances at success in online dating however, what you write in your bio, prompts and answers to prompts can negate any advantages your photos provide.
Many people never seek feedback or help with their dating profiles, leaving them at a significant disadvantage to others. Lots of people get help with fixing their dating profiles these days. Don’t waste months/years making the same mistakes over and over again.
Styling your dating app profile is key to standing out from the competition. Improving your worst photo, filling out your profile thoughtfully and adding talking points will help you stand out from the competition.
In a competitive field, it’s important to do all you can to leapfrog the competition. Below are some tips to dating app profile tips to improve your dating profile and how to get started with your dating profile makeover!
How To Improve Dating Profile? How Do I Make My Dating Profile Stand Out? Men, Women
Don’t be like other people and pay for premium services on dating apps rather than put in the work in your dating profiles. Attention to detail, sincere effort, self-awareness, some self-deprecating humor and patience go a long way in improving success on dating apps.
Having a great dating profile involves having self-awareness, timing, patience, good photos, great smiles, well-written bios, answers to prompts and photo captions as well as strategy around profile creation, photo order, liking vs messaging tips on dating apps.
For tips on all things bios and profiles for Hinge, Bumble and other dating apps, read my other blog posts.
Dating App Profile Tips: Main Profile Photo, First Photo Dating Profile
The first thing people see when a profile loads up is your main profile photo. Your main profile photo is the single most important part of your profile.
A bad photo may result in someone not clicking through to see the rest of your profile, photos. Assume the decision to review your entire profile is based on first impressions: the quality of your first photo! Depending on the dating app you are on, if you are not getting enough profile views, I would start here.
Your first photo should clearly show your face, be clearly lit, and show some approachability. Avoid looking away in your main photo, take off the sunglasses, avoid distant photos or ambiguous group photos (people don’t like to play guess who and will be fixated on your hot friend anyways).
How Do I Fix My Dating Profile? How To Make Your Dating Profile Stand Out,
Dating apps can be a bit intrusive with questions… Match.com *cough* but most dating apps ask fairly good at keeping fields in a bio to a minimum. With that said, all required fields should obviously be filled out but just because a field is not required doesn’t mean you should skip it or ignore it.
Coffee Meets Bagel & Online Dating Profile Length: The top 10% most LIKED profiles are 35% longer than the bottom 90% profiles.
Failure to include a job industry, hometown, smoker/drinker status etc. can be viewed by others as lacking effort or suggest you are not looking for anything serious (an automatic left swipe for many).
I am not advocating you list every specific detail including exact company, exact job title, but you should provide some general details so people can get a sense of who you are. Also, the more details included, the easier it makes it for others to engage with you.
How To Improve Dating Profile: Avoid Sounding Negative, Judgmental, and Defensive
The main mistake people make on the written portion of their online dating profile is listing their deal-breakers. Listing several no’s can communicate a certain level of jadedness, distrust and level of hurt from such people.
For example, listing you don’t want players, scrubs, flakes, immature personalities and liars implicates that you have dated such people in the past and likely have dated several of these types regularly.
I will be the first to say that yes, you should avoid people like this but there is a way to communicate this without seeming too negative or at least defensive. Instead, it is up to you to use good judgment, ask questions, be patient, analyze people’s profiles, photos, bios, prompts, messages, first date ideas to see if they are putting out red flags.
What To Say In A Dating Profile? (Tips, Advice); Dating Profile Help For Men, Women
Instead of listing that you don’t want someone who is immature, you can instead say you are looking for someone who has a good head on their shoulders, good moral compass, is professional, respects people by being on time, is responsible or strives to be well-rounded professionally and socially etc.
More so, focus on their efforts, intentions, date ideas, tone, aggressiveness and behavior when things don’t go as planned.
On the flip side, you do not want to write these in a list on your profile — you should list examples of these traits through short stories.
For responsibility and thoughtfulness, you can hint at something by saying you are the one in your circle of friends who hosts dinner parties or over-packs for camping trips by bringing extra food or waits in line early for brunch while your friends take their time getting ready / waking up.
Short stories are far more effective at communicating personality traits than listing a bunch of adjectives.
Dating Red Flags
How to ID red flags in effort, photos, bios, prompts, messages, date ideas, social media, texting and more.
Blank Dating Profiles, Empty Dating Profiles: Not Writing Enough About Yourself
In some cases, you will be limited in how many characters you have to write something about yourself but even so, you need to effectively use the space you have to fill in the blanks and provide insight into who you are. The biggest mistake in this area is photo captions.
Most sites and apps provide space for you to caption your photos. Do not overlook this.
This is extremely helpful for group shots — please label the people and yourself in these shots i.e. my sister and I at a family reunion, my cousin and I wander the streets of Eastern Europe, my best friend from college and I are celebrating 10 years of friendship, my roommate and I are cheering on the Giants.
Using labels in this instance will alleviate any possibility that the person in your photo is not an ex AND it can provide the context of how you spend your time (and with whom).
The other instance that comes to mind is not being descriptive enough when listing hobbies. All too often I see people list super generic things in their profile i.e. I love to travel, I love Mexican food etc. First off, who doesn’t love to travel or doesn’t like Mexican food? Be more descriptive.
You can say I love to travel to urban cities near and far and wander the streets aimlessly. This communicates that you love to explore vs. laying out on a beach all day.
Instead of listing that you like trying new restaurants or like exploring bars, say that you are a sucker for butternut squash and roasted Brussels sprout dishes or Manhattan drinks at speakeasy bars.
These specific examples reveal specific quirks and secret passions (FYI — quirks can be super insightful, attractive and endearing).
Writing For Yourself, Not For Others: Attract The Person You Want In Life (Dating Profile Tips)
If you spend any time on dating apps, you will notice a trend of writing that resembles a memoir or autobiography. These types of bios are a bit inflated, biased or even inaccurate.
These bios are what I can aspirational and borderline ‘The Most Interesting (Wo)Man” approach. They shouldn’t be written for yourself but should be written for who you are trying to attract.
Bios that are too strong, forward or trying to convince you this person is perfectly content being alone are usually a red flag for me i.e. “I am a great catch!”. There is a fine line of being comfortable in your own skin and being narcissistic.
Conversely, bios that lack energy, details, enthusiasm can be seen as dull, depressing or thoughtless. If you have a hard time writing about yourself, people will extrapolate that and assume you are like that in other aspects of your life.
With this insight, you are now ready to overhaul your online dating profile and can effectively reveal things about yourself more so than any list of adjectives can. With that said, be sure to limit these stories and do not write an endless novel about yourself — leave something up to the imagination and keep the stories short and sweet.
How To Make Your Hinge, Bumble Profiles Better, More Interesting
Like a resume, your dating profile is a living, breathing profile and reflection of yourself. You should always be updating it, getting feedback, getting new photos and adding details when possible.
Leaving your main profile photo as is can give off the impression that your profile is stale and lead to people swiping left again rather than reviewing your profile in more detail had you swapped out the first photo for a different photo or better photo.
Review the dating apps, check for new prompts that better suit your personality, lifestyle. Scour the internet (social media, friends, photos from social events and meetups) to see if there are new photos or photos you did not know about.
Add details, captions, conversation starters. Make sure to verify profiles and fill out the necessary fields. Sounding too vague can make you seem like you are hiding something, i.e. identity, unemployment. etc.
Biggest Mistakes Men Make On Dating Apps
Common mistakes guys make on Hinge, Bumble. Biggest mistakes to avoid on dating apps. What not to do online dating.
Most Cliche Bios, Generic Phrases & Boring Photos on Dating Apps (Hinge, Bumble)
Use cliche words, phrases and photos is never a good idea. It is hard to separate yourself from the competition with empty adjectives and claims that cannot be verified from a biased source – you or your friends.
Style Your Dating Profile, What To Wear For Dating Profiles, Dating App Profile Help
For tips on what to wear for your dating profile pictures, check out this in-depth post including first date outfit ideas. What you wear and the people you surround yourself with will signal things to others that view your profile. Dress to impress and dress for the person you want to attract.
Hinge Profile Tips: How To Add Captions To Hinge Photos – Dating App Profile Help
There are many mistakes people make on dating profiles, and one of them is a lack of effort and conversation starters in Hinge profiles.
To avoid this, add some detail in your Hinge photos by adding captions to the photos. Most people don’t know it exists, don’t know how to add captions, or don’t know what to say.
Go to edit profile, edit photos and click the three lines in the upper left corner of the photo. From there, the option to add location or description will appear. Listing something obvious like me at the park is rather boring and rather uninsightful (No shit Sherlock).
Adding a feeling, thought, reflection or interesting juxtaposition to the environment or setting can highlight your creative flair and ability to engage in witty banter.
Related read: How To Make A Good Hinge Profile
What Should I Put On A Bumble Profile? Bumble Profile Tips For Women, Men
There are a lot of empty profiles on Bumble and as a result, they get overlooked either through the filters or through quick glances by others.
An incomplete profile whether it’s no bio, lazy bio or lack of fields filled out can offset your great photos. People might think you are narcissistic, shallow, lazy or not looking for anything serious.
It’s one thing to have privacy concerns, it’s another thing to leave out important information that others value and prioritize.
If you leave valuable information off your profile, expect a reduction in likes, matches and responses. If you don’t feel comfortable listing your job title and company, list function and industry unless it’s Tech at Tech or something like that which is cliche, boring and as in automatic left swipe for most folks.
The other thing people forget to do is verify their profile. While some may view it as not needed, it’s one of the main filters people use when browsing profiles. It’s the easiest thing you can do to get more visibility and likes on Bumble.
Best Online Dating Profiles For Guys, Good Dating Profile Examples For Men
The easiest way is to smile. Look approachable, and friendly, but confident in your own skin and interesting. Too many guys are lazy, don’t put much effort into their profiles or have a hard time smiling, being vulnerable or writing about themselves. Be specific in your bios and prompts – state what you are seeking.
Best Dating Profiles For Women, Examples Of Women’s Dating Profiles
Fill out your profile, be specific, avoid cliches, take off your sunglasses, avoid too many group photos, avoid high-angle photos aimed to make you look slimmer and give more than 1-word responses.
How To Be Seen By More People On Hinge, Bumble – How To Make A Good Dating App Profile
There are many things that can be done to be seen by more people including photo choices, photo order, filling out profile, changing location, growing in height, losing weight, higher education, restarting profiles, lifestyle choices/changes as well as swiping behavior.
In my coaching sessions, I will assess all your efforts to date and provide detailed methods on what levers you have to pull to improve visibility across apps.
How To Improve Bumble Profile, Dating App Bio Ideas, Dating Profile Tips For Men, Women
https://eddie-hernandez.com/best-bumble-profile-tips-for-women-men/
How To Improve Hinge Profile, Hinge Tips For Men, Women, Dating Profile Tips For Guys
https://eddie-hernandez.com/best-hinge-profile-tips-for-men-women/
About Eddie Hernandez
Eddie is a dating coach for men & women in San Francisco (clients in NYC, LA, Chicago, & beyond ), as seen in the NYT & Bumble). He helps w/ profiles, photos, wardrobe, messaging, date ideas, red flags, lifestyle choices, hobbies, communication, social skills & offline efforts. Check out new dating blog here.