Profile Do's and Don't's for Matchmaker.com

    Matchmaker.com has worked hard on a face-lift in hopes that a fresh approach will garner more numbers for you in that little black book. However, Matchmaker.com isn't very much like a traditional matchmaker. You remember the eternally single types with Sally Jessy Raphel style glass and really bad 80's hair who made their living making you "a marketable commodity" for dating. Well, with Matchmaker.com, and other online dating sites, it becomes your job to market yourself. There's no middle woman with messy hair to set you up on dates here.

     The first step to maximizing your dating potential at Matchmaker is putting your best foot forward on your site profile. Think of it as a resume. You wouldn't apply for a job at Microsoft with a handwritten resume chronicling the tough challenges you faced as a McDonald's employee. Treat your dating profile with the same professionalism that you treat your career.

       Here's a brief list of haves and have-nots on the profile circuit:

       Stay positive: While big banners across the profile that read, "I'm not a bitch, I'm the bitch," and "HATERS FALL BACK" are appropriate for Myspace, high school level dating this is not. Try not to be too negative, brash or condescending.

        Do NOT avoid spell check: (Caution attempt at humor ahead) IT not attractiv 2 people If u tyPE LIKE DiS speCIalLY iF U R 35 yrs. OLd. Most people are looking for an intelligent mate. Someone who will take time to get to know them, their desires, their innermost hopes and dreams. Fat chance of you taking the time to develop a relationship when you didn't even have enough time to master basic grammar.

         Be open about age: Be open to people of as many ages as you are comfortable with. It would be a shame to miss your mate because your contact cut off age is thirty and they just celebrated their thirty-first birthday.

          Also be open about location: See, there's this great new invention called the airplane (insert dreamy like dramatization on the word airplane). The really nifty thing about planes is if you meet someone really great who happens to live outside of your zip code, or even your continent, you can hop on the flying contraption and be there in no time.

Use humor: No one likes a Gloomy Gus. Enough said.

           Photo is a must: At the risk of sounding shallow, the outer appearance is the first thing you notice about a person anyway. At least in the Matchmaker.com setting, folks are honest about looks being a factor.

           Short and sweet: Of course once the two of you are happily in love and planning your wedding, they'll want to hear ALL about your two bouts with chicken pox in grade school. They'll be sooo into stories about your drunk Uncle Elmer who used to sing with a chandelier on his head at Christmas dinner, but until then just stick to the basics.