The number and quality of responses you get from an online dating website depends largely on your profile. Writing the best online dating profile may help you find the romance you've been searching for, an average one may make most users move on.

The most effective way to be noticed is with a good sharp photograph showing you doing something different. Make it stand out. You don't have to use glamour shots or your old high school photographs. Instead, use pictures that show you as you look.

You are also more likely to be noticed if you have a good opening line. The best way to decide your opening line is to scan the profiles of others. See what attracts you most, and then build an opening line from what you learn. While going through the profiles see what points interest you. Include them in your profile.

Be careful about your language, spelling and punctuation. There's nothing more irritating than to skim through a profile where every second word is spelt wrongly. Who would want to date a person who can't even spell his name correctly?

Accent the things that make you unique. If you play the piano well, you really want your partner to appreciate it. If you run in marathons, a couch potato is not a good match. If you love art, you really don't want someone who thinks Picasso is an ice cream flavor.

Describe the things that are vital in your life. If volunteering is the one thing that makes you feel useful and worthwhile, you want someone who would, at the very least, support you if not join you in your volunteer projects. When you get beyond superficial things, you will attract someone who shares your values.

It pays to take some time to create the best online dating profile you can. A good idea is to write your profile on a sheet of paper, and sleep over it for a week. Then after a week, you will want to write it again. The best online dating profiles are those where the user has applied his or her mind. Do the revisions, and then post the profile.

Remember, you have just a very few words to catch the attention of your online mate. Make each one count.

When you join an online dating service, you are looking for a girl that you can like... even come to love. That girl is looking for a guy that SHE can like or even love. What you aren't looking for is a girl who would like your best friend or your idea of what the perfect guy looks like or talks like or thinks like. So, in order to find the right girl for you... and she IS out there... you need to be completely honest with yourself about yourself when writing the online profile, during the dating process and beyond.

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.

If your previous partner smoked in the house and you hated it, you won't like it any better the next time. If you love cats and will always want to own one or more, say that you are an animal lover and want indoor pets. Someone who hates cats or is allergic to them is not right for you.

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

Here's a little secret that those of the female persuasion keep from us guys: Women, even very beautiful women, like to be approached by a confident and interesting man. Are you surprised? It's true... and confident and interesting are much more important than looks to ladies of all ages, too. That's true for internet dating, as well as, dating in your brick and mortar world.

Once you have joined an online dating service, you will find that there a lot more men than women and that the men are much more likely to browse profiles and make initial contacts than women. Yes, it's a woman's world... still. It's "traditional" for men to make the first move. It always has been and it always will be. Some things never change. That's why your profile and picture are so important.

Remember... confident and interesting... and that does not translate to cocky and self-centered. It's important that your profile lets people know that you have friends you care about and that you are passionately interested in a variety of things... not JUST sports. Another thing about that all-important profile... please don't start it with, "I'm the guy your mama warned you about".

You will have just shot yourself in the foot with that line. Another one to never use is, "I could be the man of your dreams". The lady HOPES you are but she will be the judge of that... so don't insult her intelligence. Remember, exude confidence and interesting and you will find that lady you have been looking for... or she will find you.

Won't it be nice to have the ladies contacting you instead of you having to do everything? If you write a great profile that stands out in the crowd, that will happen.