Taking Advantage of your Header
Monday, September 29th, 2008A good number of online dating services, such as LavaLife, Match.com, and Date.ca require that you provide a short header message (opening line) that appears under your member name when people do searches – similar to MySpace. Too often people don’t know what to put in that space and how to bets utilize it, thus ending up with generic headers like, “I may be the one for you” or “hello”.
It’s critical that you take advantage of your header message and develop one that commands attention - something clever, funny, or philosophical that will make a person want to click on your profile and read it.
While this will add a few minutes to your registration time, it will go a long way to enhancing your experience. Here are a couple of tips for what goes into creating a profile that people will want to click on and check out. It goes without saying that a photo is going to be an integral part of this process, as is your username, but these tips are directed solely at the header portion of your profile.
1) Don’t be cliché or boring
When you don’t know what to say for your header message, resist the temptation to resort to overused default headers like “Searching for Love” or “Looking to meet new people.”
You don’t want to appear ordinary. Each service has tens of thousands of users and they are all competing with you in a quest to find that “perfect” partner. As a result, you need to ensure that the header you use will attract the attention of others. Looking at these examples I found searching the Internet, which one would you be most likely to look twice at?
“Looking to Meet New People”
“Hello”
“Willing to Lie About How We Met!”
“You May be the One I’m Looking for”
One of these things is not like the other… The best one takes a humorous approach to the concept of telling others how you met. It’s unique and clever. Make sure your header is the diamond in the rough among boring, cliché header messages.
2) Do some research
One of the best ways to get creative and come up with that witty, winning profile header is to check out the ones that interest you. What is it about that particular header that makes you want to click on their profile and learn more? Identify patterns and see what is catching your eye, and then apply those to creating your own. Here are a few favorites I found around the Web:
“We make a perfect couple: I’ve got the brains and you’ve got the body!”
“Ok, I’m here. Now what’s your other two wishes?”
“Bright spark looking to ignite shared paths”
“Just like a new job, I offer excellent benefits.”
Taking just a few minutes to look around and see what other people are doing to catch YOUR eye, then thinking creatively about yourself for a minute can lead to much better results.
3) Screen your matches
One of the most common gripes among online daters is the sheer number of people who contact them that don’t meet their criteria. Older men/women, people with body types you aren’t looking for or daters from far, far away. If you want to improve the interest shown to you from qualified respondents, use your header as a screen for your profile. For instance:
“Looking for fit 24-30 year old male within 20 miles of Los Angeles”
By utilizing the header as a filter, when a person who doesn’t match your criteria reads your header they are likely to move past it. However, if a “fit 24-30 year old local male” reads it, then it should attract him because he meets your criteria. Once again, some real gems from browsing around online:
“I love a man in uniform. Military men, apply within.”
“Please be local, fit, over 40, and have a posted picture.”
“Must be at least 5′10″ to get on this ride”
“Romantic men seem to be extinct. If you’re extinct, contact me now.”
Of course, you could also just join one of the services that are designed with a much more defined target audience in mind and not have to worry as much about this particular tip.
4) Mix it up!
Much like changing your sheets, it’s always a good idea to keep your profile fresh and new by rotating your pictures and changing your header message once in awhile. Every so often (1-3 weeks) come up with a new and clever, creative, or filtered subject header. Different subject headers attract different people, therefore you may reach “new” people by keeping your header fresh and updated, breaking you out of an online dating rut.
Follow these easy tips and you can maximize your account and better leverage the dating pool online to best suit your needs.
