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Writing a dating site profiles is a huge turnoff for most people. Being asked to fill out a dating site profile usually gets a reaction similar to being told of an impending trip to the dentist.

Because its almost Valentine’s Day, a new study came out this week from a condom manufacturer saying that dating site profiles are boring and could use some spicing up and that this would result in dating sites tripling the lifetime customer value of their members. Ha, you wish!

Most people new to a online dating throw up a quick profile full of cliche’s, talk about sports and travel and how important family is, upload a few unflattering photos and leave it be. And they wonder why their email inbox isn’t very active.

I’ve advised a number of dating sites about how to create effective and fun profile builders. I’m no psychologist but the old A/S/L (Age, Sex, Location) stuff doesn’t cut it anymore. Finding new ways for singles to show off their assets online is fun and rewarding work when it comes around.

dating profile mad libsNo, I’m not going to talk about the Facebook news feed, thats a bit too complicated for most sites from what I’m hearing, so let’s keep things simple. Mad-Libs!

Most dating site signup forms look like something the IRS would send out. Mad-Libs profiles bring a little fun into the process. If you’re really good, you can draw out additional datapoints about a person’s tastes, preferences and personality that really differentiate your site.

Nobody, and I mean nobody, is using innovative profiles as a core differentiator between dating services. Ok well maybe a few but if I keep mentioning them you’re going to think I’m on the dole (I wish!).

This photo is of a signup form for a blog backup system. Its chock-full of awesome. Different-looking, very clean, clever use of  various text fields and drop-downs, funny default text, opt-in communication feature baked into the form, whats not to like?

I would fill this out in a hearbeat. All thats missing is a simple drag-n-drop image uploader. I was using Match’s profile updater yesterday. I still, after years, can’t remember what tab or sub-tab I need to be on the make the most general changes. Maybe I’m an idiot (likely), but I think its safe to assume that the idea of updating profiles strikes fear into the hearts of those who dare venture forth to make a few simple changes, like to say they lost 5 pounds or their new favorite singer is no longer Justin Bieber (can I tell you how proud I am that I first misspelled his name while writing this?)

Or perhaps Match wants it that way? (The same could be said for many, many dating sites).

FYI: by now you know that I use Match as the standard because Match is effectively Google, right? That would make eHarmony Bing and then there is Ask.com. Wait, Match’s parent company IAC owns Ask, this is getting confusing.

I could just as easily be taking about any other site but it seems like nobody wants to talk about their dating site publicly except startups so I usually write about companies and people who return calls or offer up a periodic “Hey here’s whats’ going on with us” email. Yes, I admit, I am usually terrible out outreach, help me fix that. You no tell me I no talk about you, or so it goes. Got something to say?

Back to profiles. Don’t get me started about what you can do with a text processor and a database full of cliche’s. It always amazes me that dating site let people say stuff like “I can’t believe I’m doing this” or, “my friends say I am nice, honest and always on time.” Survival of the fittest laws apply like anywhere else in life. A poorly-worded profile is the same as  wearing a burlap bag over your head and muttering about the voices in your head. On a first date.

First impressions count. I can’t help it if you look like you hit every branch of the ugly tree on the way down, but I do know what it takes to make a great profile and fixing them one at a time for $50 isn’t the answer. Dating sites themselves have to build this functionality into the core of the dating experience.

Its not like I’ve been thinking about this on and off for seven years or, ahem, started a business around the concept. So who wants to go first? Lets discuss?