Writing An Online Dating Headline That Makes Your Dating Personal Ad Leap Off The Page
By: Cheryl Ashbrook
Does your chosen dating site display a headline? Or does it show the first x words of your personal ad? Either way you need to give some careful consideration to your opening line as it could mean the difference between dating success and mediocrity!
One of the most successful strategies is to use a question as your headline This is because questions will catch peoples attention especially is you use the word ‘you’ e.g. What do you think about…? Would you like to know… ? My favourite x is y what’s yours?
If you have a favourite movie, book or song then you could use a line from it as your headline. Just make sure it is relevant and positive and don’t forget to make reference to it in the main body of your personal ad or you might lose your readers interest and confuse them.
Avoid clichés no matter how much you are lacking in inspiration. Saying ‘looking for Mr Right’ is really not going to make you stand out from the crowd. As for using the phrases ‘never done this before’ or ‘don’t know what to write’… please do not use them! It will not attract anyone to your profile and literally thousands of people do write just that. If you cannot think of anything to write then don’t write anything and spend the time getting some help writing your personal ad instead.
If you have a favourite saying then you could incorporate this into your dating headline. Your philosophy on life can tell your reader a lot about you so if you feel comfortable sharing it then go-ahead. Just make sure it’s personal to you so you avoid it sounding like a cliché!
Using your favourite character from a book or movie can be effective in a dating headline but try and personalise it so that your reader knows how that character relates to you. If you have a pet, or love a particular type of animal then you could use a reference to it in your dating headline.
Ask a few of your friends and family to describe you in one line and then pick the best one.
Whatever you decide to write, make sure you spell and grammar check your dating headline and read it through a few times to make sure it makes sense in the context of a dating personal ad. Try it out on a few people first and imagine it on the page of a newspaper – would it tempt you to read on or would you skip to the next ad?
Cheryl Ashbrook is an author for the online dating tips website http://www.MaxMyProfile.co.uk which provides online dating advice and services for men and women. If you liked this article then why not read more of our dating articles or you could register and receive our free dating eBook with our compliments.