Remember that if it sounds to good to be true it probably isn’t. Some sites try to trick people into paying for full memberships by sending messages from their “Marketing Profiles” to new members. Once the member has joined up the marketing profile disappears. If you get an unsolicited message from a super model who claims to live next door, you may be very lucky. You may also be being conned.

Not all Dating Sites  are the equal. Some are fancy. Some are quality. Some are cheap. Some are free. Some are completely deceptive and  make you think they much larger than they really are. Think before you pay for anything and check out the options before you commit.

Tips for selecting a good dating site:
	Don't be fooled by sites that say "Member Listings" If you see the term "Member Listings" on a dating site with a large number in front of it, beware! It does not necessarily mean they have that many members. If a site displays "1,042,252 Member Listings" they probably don't actually have that many physical members. They could have 1 member that has a million listings. "Member Listings" can be things like photos, interests, messages, notices, etc. You will obviously do poorly on these sites. Some sites operators do this to make themselves seem larger than they really are, Don't be conned into signing up.
	Do look for sites that say "Members" Look for sites that say "Members" not "Member Listings" this is the number of actual people who have registered on that dating site. Not the number people multiplied by their interests, photos, messages, etc.
	Don't get conned by "Online Now" "Online Now" is generally displayed on the top right hand corner of most dating sites. One would think that "Online Now" represents the number of actual people you can meet right now. This is correct on most of the reputable dating sites but unfortunately not all sites play fair and they will do anything to con you into signing up. We found one site in particular that regularly displays "7,000  to 10,000 Online Now" in Australia most of the time. This includes 2am on a Wednesday morning. This which seem pretty unlikely considering most have to work in the morning. Often if you click on their "Online Now"  link, they do not show you a breakdown of their "Online Now" figures and how they are made up. Rather a registration page which requires you to join before receiving any explanation at all. Don't go any further! Often their explanation for calculating the number of people "Online Now" includes a rather large of people who are not visible, not logged and cannot be contacted. "Online Now" in the context of dating site should mean people you can meet right now. We can only guess they do this to give the impression there is a lot more activity on the site than there really is, This is another way they try to con you into getting you to sign up.
	Do think about the Maths Larger web sites in Australia have around "4,000 Members Online" The larger and well established sites in Australia have up to 4,000 members online during their peak times This is between 8 and 11pm each night. To put the false and misleading "7,000 to 10,000 Online Now" figure into some sort perspective. The largest dating web site in world, (Source: Guinness Book of Records) has approximately "15,000-20,000 Online Now" at given time. Given that Australia is about 2% of the worlds entire internet traffic, the maths just don't add up.
	Don't get conned by False Messages Beware of messages from beautiful Women, Couples and Men! If you submit your profile to a dating site and all of a sudden you start receiving messages from people that seem too good to be true, beware! Be especially cautious if you have not paid for a subscription to that dating site. Some unsavoury dating site operators may create fake profiles of women, couples and men on their own web sites. These fake profiles then send messages, kisses or winks to your profile. Here's the catch, for you to send a reply message you have to pay for a subscription. Once you have paid for your subscription and try to contact these people you will never hear from them again. The Dating Guide has conducted some testing on this matter. We tested most of the dating sites in Australia is by submitting several male profiles to the same site. The profiles we created for each site where extremely diverse, some of them were filled out meticulously while others had silly things in them like; "I have 2 heads and 6 arms and a ear on my forehead". We then waited to see if we received any messages... On some of the sites we tested all of the profiles including the silly ones received exactly the same message from exactly the same women stating; "she would like to hookup sometime". The woman's profile was unbelievable, she was perfect in every respect including pictures of herself in lingerie. When we had paid for a subscription she disappeared and did not return any of our messages again. On a positive note there are all sorts of people on the more reputable sites including some very attractive, women, men & couples. Its more than likely however that you will have contact those people yourself. It's unlikely they will just contact you out the blue! Getting results on dating sites is like anything else in life, you have to work at it and put some time and effort in to get results.
	Do look at Reputation, Reputation, Reputation! It's not all bad news. The larger and more well established dating sites definitely do the right thing and there are many many testimonials and success stories available on the internet and from the sites themselves. Australians are early adopters of technology and have 2 well established dating sites in RSVP and Adult Match Maker. Both of these have been running for over 5 years. Both of these also have a reputation for providing good results and easily boast the largest member bases in Australia. Below are sites the Dating Guide recommend. Use other sites at your own risk!   Singles Dating Sites   Adult Dating Sites   Gay & Lesbian Sites RSVP.com.au Lavalife.com.au AussieMatchMaker.com.au Match.com.au   AdultMatchMaker.com.au AdultFriendFinder.com Newer Sites TheLoveClub.com.au   Gay Sites GayDar.com.au GayMatchMaker.com.au Lesbian Sites PinkSofa.com.au LesbianMatchMaker.com.au

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2) Specify What You Want

Decide what kind of dating or relationship you want to have. Specify clearly in your profile exactly what your looking for.

Is it marriage, a long-term relationship, short-term casual dating, or even intimate encounters for very short-times.

This helps you identify what you are looking for and lets other people know what you are looking for as well.

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3) Setup Your Amazing Profile

The profile needs to be informative and appealing, yet stand out from the crowd in some way. In fact, it should reflect the true you as much as possible. Now, there are some do's and don'ts where online dating profiles are concerned, so let's look at those more closely.

1. Pictures - It's critical to put up at least one picture of yourself in an online dating profile. With a picture in place - even a bad picture - you're profile will get viewed ten times more than a profile without one.
    
2. Your first name - Using an online "handle" or nickname is ok, but you should reveal your first name in your profile. This makes you appear much more honest and open. Without a name, people may be inclined to believe you're an imposter, or that you're trying to hide something.
    
3. Just your first name - Do not reveal your full name in an online dating profile. You never know who might come across it, and what kind of person they might be. So always use caution with how much personal information you reveal online.
    
4. Write a bit about yourself - Don't write your life's story. This part can be as long or as short as you'd like, but it's best to summarize in just a paragraph or two. Stay upbeat here, don't complain about failed relationships and a cheating ex.
   
   Again, don't reveal anything overly personal when putting information about yourself in your online dating profile. It's fine to explain what profession you're in for instance, but don't specify exactly where you work or who you work for. Likewise there's no problem stating the area you live in, but don't include your home address and phone number.
    
5. What are you looking for? - This part is for you to explain why you're creating this online dating profile to begin with. Do you want friends? Frequent dates? A romantic relationship? A life partner? Summarize those desires here, without going into intimate details. You want to make sure you've left things to talk about with men or women when they contact you.
    
6. What are your likes and dislikes? - Now this part can be used to explain things you like or don't like in a mate or friend, or it can be used for general likes and dislikes in life. Don't make a long list of every single thing you can think of here, just put the top 5 or 10 as a starting place.