10 Tips To Make Your Dating Profile More Engaging

By Greg Jennings

The key to getting the right matches on any dating site or app goes beyond using the right photos. In many cases, getting connected with the best match for you comes down to the way your entire profile looks together.

The better you are at creating a profile that is true to who you are and what you look like, the more genuine matches you’ll connect with. Read on for 10 ways to spice up your dating profile.

1. Give a Snapshot of Your Personality and Life

It’s hard to communicate all the details of your personality through a dating profile, but you don't need to list everything that makes you you. Start your dating profile off by giving a snapshot of your personality and the life that you lead. Begin your profile by describing your most positive traits. These descriptors should be the best three or four adjectives that describe your personality the best.

In addition to using adjectives to summarize your personality, you’ll also want to give others an idea of the type of interests you have. While you may want to mention your job, don’t stop there. Other users want to know what wakes you up in the morning, so think about the things you’re most passionate about.

While you shouldn’t list every single passing interest, choose something that is unique to you that you’re truly interested in. This way, other people that have the same interest will be able to easily connect with you.

2. Describe Who You Hope to Meet

While many people spend their time on dating apps swiping right and left, all your attempts won’t do much if you don’t know what you’re looking for on the site. What type of person interests you the most and who do you hope to date? Once you've come up with an answer to this question, be sure to include it in your profile.

While your profile shouldn’t be a laundry list of the things you’re looking for in a person, it should give others a general idea of what you’re looking for on this dating site. The best type of traits to list are aspects of your personality rather than physical attributes.

Be sure to also include what type of lifestyle you hope your future partner to have, in addition to what type of relationship you’re interested in.

Too often, people on dating sites and apps never list what kind of relationship they want. While some users are interested in one-time meetings, others are hoping to find the love of their life. Whether you are the first or the latter, you should make it a point to be clear as to what you’re hoping to find in your profile.

3. Pick the Right Photos

While what you write on your dating profile is important. It won’t have the same impact as your photos do. Don’t neglect the visual aspect of your profile when making your dating account. For most of the daters you’ll interact with, your photos will be the deciding factor of whether or not they talk to you.

Putting together your gallery of photos shouldn’t be too challenging if you have high-quality and happy photos of yourself. Each photo of you should be flattering, showing you in your best light. Ideally, all of your photos will portray your most attractive physical and personality traits, resulting in a compelling set of photos that will encourage anyone to want to connect with you.

4. Avoid the Desire to Be Snarky or Negative

Dating online can quickly take its toll on you and you may be tempted to let out your frustrations in your dating profile. While this may seem funny to some, it can come across as snarky or negative to others. Instead of letting the pessimism win, try to find the positive in your situation.

While you may be annoyed that you haven’t yet found your significant other yet, you have an incredible opportunity to find someone great. Tap into this hopefulness and let it flow through your profile. Leave out anything that could be misread as cynical or bitter and leave readers feeling energized and hopeful after they interact with your profile.

5. Decide on What Story You’ll Tell

Your profile shouldn’t be an endless list of details about your life and personality. Essentially, your profile should read as an entertaining story about your life. This short story should capture your personality and explain what you want out of life and what you hope to gain from meeting someone.

To guarantee your profile is telling the right story, take a look at it as a whole. What kind of person does your profile make you out to be? The way that your profile appears to others will ultimately be what attracts them to you or what turns them off, so be sure that your profile is tailor-made to appeal to the type of person you want to attract.

6. Check for Grammar and Spelling Issues

We’re all human and everyone makes mistakes, but you should do your best to make sure your dating profile doesn’t include any. Before going live with your new profile information, be sure to check it for grammar and spelling. While some people don’t mind a small mistake here or there, many daters list “poor grammar and spelling” as something that will turn them off from someone else.

The best way to ensure your dating profile is free of issues is to read it a few times. Similarly, consider running the written portions through a site like Grammarly to guarantee there aren’t any other mistakes in your writing. While no one is expecting thesis-level writing from your profile, it doesn’t hurt to take extra time to make sure you aren’t setting yourself up for failure.

7. Show Don’t Tell

Many people get into the habit of listing all their positive attributes rather than showing them. While there's only so much you can do to give others an idea of how you are in real life, do what you can with what you have. For example, if you list that you’re a funny person, your profile is the perfect opportunity to make someone else.

Tap into who you really are and come up with clever content that will make anyone want to learn more about you.

When considering how to show off your personality, don’t forget your visuals. Many dating sites are updating to include videos as well as photos. Make the most of your platforms by including creative videos that show others your great personality.

8. Make Sure Your Profile is Structured

Don’t forget to take the formatting of your profile into consideration. While your dating profile should include important facts and details about you, it shouldn’t be one solid block of text. Be sure to break up your text in ways that make it easy to digest.

Best practices for structuring your profile is to keep sentences short, adding spaces after a few sentences, and breaking up the text with emojis. Really want something to stand out on your profile?

Leave one standalone sentence to add extra impact. This way, the format of your profile will read the way it’s supposed to and will likely prevent other users from losing focus as they read it.

9. Be Honest but Positive

Honesty on these dating sites is important, but it’s also essential not to overshare. Making it a point to share your truth in an upbeat and positive way will do wonders. For example, while you may know you’re already looking for specific physical attributes in a partner, writing “If you’re not over six feet, don’t message me” will undoubtedly turn people away.

Moreover, try to turn your honesty into something clever and even a little flirty. Share how much you love certain feelings or experiences and how you can’t wait to meet someone that has just what you’re looking for.

Additionally, if you’re tempted to bend the truth a bit, don’t. Just as you wouldn't want another user to lie to you, it’s important that you’re upfront and honest throughout your profile.

10. Ask a Friend to Review Your Profile

If you’re still having second thoughts about your profile, reach out to a friend to get their advice. They may be able to tell you how another person might respond to your profile and can let you know if you need to make any changes.

Oftentimes, a friend will be able to suggest another picture or add a sentence that will help make your profile as strong as possible.

Don’t miss out on connecting with the love of your life. As you put the finishing touches on your dating app bio, keep these 10 tips in mind. With the right words, a great bio, quality photos, and attention to detail, you’ll be able to win anyone over.

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