The following article is aimed primarily at (straight) men on dating apps looking for a new girlfriend or who just want some fun.
“Why them?” you may ask. Well, because you should give help to whomever needs it the most.

Obviously, some of the tips can definitely be useful to everyone regardless of gender, it is just suggestions and opinions on how to level up your dating profile to make it more attractive, and some of these points can perfectly apply to everyone looking for a few pointers on how to be successful on any dating platform you choose.

After some time spent on the lookout for a new partner in crime, you have finally decided to try your luck and subscribe to one (or more) of the numerous, numerous dating apps available to you, but now you have to get down to the practicalities.
Setting up your profile on a dating app can be a very fun process for sure, but also a little stressful, don’t you agree? You have to write a great, funny and cool bio, and then upload some really hot, sexy and appealing pictures to get that perfect profile that nobody can possibly overlook. But what pictures should you choose to get that result? And which ones should you discard? 

Don’t worry, we are here to help!

Why are these photos so important? Isn’t personality what matters the most? It is, yes, but your personality shows through the images of yourself that you put out there.
The images we choose to represent ourselves on social media and online in general say a lot about who we are. If for example you’ve chosen six different versions of similar selfies for your Tinder (or Hinge, or Match.com, Bumble, OkCupid…) profile, you probably aren’t going to come off as particularly interesting. If you have five pics and three of them are your dog alone, we will know what you think is the most attractive feature about you, and while a picture of your dog is great and certainly endearing, you should be in it too, because you are the focus of the situation.

So, here are our suggestions on how to pick the most successful pictures for your dating profile:

First of all, you will need to upload at the very least four photos, as the bare minimum, but it would be better to have six or seven, where the last two can be something that adds to the rest, even if it showcases a silly aspect of you – but it should still look, you know, somewhat attractive – a frog suit? … Okay, but you should still try and make what is visible of you, look good. A modicum of goofiness can be positive, after all.
Anyway, what follows are the absolute no-no’s of a tinder profile pic.

What to avoid:

1. Fishing pictures, or pictures with any dead animal in general. Not into it, please refrain. We understand the sentiment, but no thank you. It is not really the win you think it is, and it is definitely not attractive or appealing in the slightest. It does NOT make us think “oh he’s a hunter, he’s a provider”, if that is what you believe.
   
2. Group photos, especially if you are not at the center of it or are very recognizable, and absolutely to be avoided as a first slide. It’s great that you are sociable and have many friends and that can speak well of you, but we can be informed of that at the fourth or fifth slide, if you really want us to know.
   
3. Grainy, unfocused images. We are not saying that you necessarily need a pro photographer to get those perfect, HD shots (although it’s a viable option…), but if your phone doesn’t have the best camera, maybe ask a friend with a better phone?
   
4. Very old photos. It should be obvious that if you are posting a pic from 2016, things might get awkward if you and your match ever meet in real life and you don’t look like that anymore.
5. Gym pics (only), especially if there is someone in the background, double especially if they are looking. What could be attractive turns immediately into cringe, and that is not recommended.
   
6. OLD MEMES, for the love of whatever is dearest to you, do not use old memes. No “me gusta” “lololol” “why u” and all that genre. It was good while it lasted, keep them in the pocket closest to your heart. YOLO is not cool anymore as well. Sorry, not sorry.
   
7. Unclear images. If they have to squint to see you in the mountains, maybe it’s not necessarily the best option. Or at least, if what you want is to show that you are an active, adventurous person, put it as third or fourth, but it is preferable that you are visible in it.
   
8. Too staged pictures: looking at a distance casually flexing your muscles with a half smile, or in a stiff, clearly held, unnatural pose… It’s not really becoming, and gives off a feeling of either too much self-confidence in the sense of boasting, which is frankly very unattractive, or no self-confidence at all, so you have to “pretend”. It’s okay if you want to fake it ‘til you make it, but at least try to fake it in a realistic way (there are actually good tutorials about this topic).
   
9. Grease. Not the musical, the layer on you. Your profile should show a person who cares at least a bit about their appearance, so wash your hair, don’t wear stained or super faded clothes, take care of your beard, give yourself a general grooming, make sure the environment around you looks neat and clean. No one wants to sleep at a gritty, dirty house or with a gritty, dirty man (or other), right?
   
10. Filters, because we apparently need to talk about it. No, avoid them at all costs. It’s okay if they change the lighting and enhance colors a little bit, but nothing too visible – leave the HDR alone please! Same with the animal ears, “beauty” filters, and all of that. It’s a big no-no and it’s unlikely to come across as you intended. Forget the snapchat filters.
    
11. Same outfit: avoid posting more than one pic with the same outfit, although you look very good in both, you will have to make a choice.

Now that you have a pretty solid list of what not to do with some corrections, let’s go to more positive advice, shall we? Since we have covered “what not to do”, here is the opposite!

What to do:

1. Show off your hobby: professional Tinder photographer Jordan Shields says to avoid group shots, he suggests instead replacing them with photos where you’re doing activities “that perhaps the other person could see themselves doing with you. Sell yourself as the dream guy that someone wants to spend time with, [doing] whatever it is you do.”
   You might be an athlete (sport photos are always great), you may be a chess champion, amazing at crochet, or a plant/cat/dog/bunny dad. Having an interest or hobby you pursue is always attractive, although I would ease it in with, I don’t know, magic tricks or Warhammer 40k ( or any version of it). People might share your interest and maybe take more of a liking to you for it, or they might even picture themselves sharing the activity with you.
   
2. You don’t have to be the hottest person on Tinder to attract attention, you just need to come across as quietly confident and happy in your skin, without too much of a fuss about it. This actually levels the playing field. Make sure your body language is open, that you look confident, and most importantly don’t include photos where you don’t feel good about yourself at the moment they were taken.
   You want to send the message that you love yourself.
   
3. Ask a (female) friend. Boys, guys, men: ask a female friend what picture they think looks better. Get that precious feedback, it could really make a difference! They can tell you what is actually interesting and attractive and what isn’t from the perspective of your desired target. They might even offer to take some good pics of you for your profile!
   
4. If you want actually good photos, you should consider hiring an actual photographer to take them. It’s not a bad idea, and it’s surely a boost of your self confidence. Let them help you with poses and angles and all, you can use these tips in the future, too!
   
5. Smile! People look for someone who appears to have a good vibe, trustworthy, fun, and easy going. Nobody wants to go on a date, or potentially be in a relationship with someone who can’t (or won’t) smile.
   
6. Get (a little) fancy. Everyone likes to get dressed up, and everyone likes a girl in a beautiful dress or a guy in a well-fitting suit, correct? Correct. You should try to include a photo of yourself dressed up to the nines, to show your possible Tinder matches your potential and how you might, one day, look on their arm at a formal event of sorts, be it a fancy night out, a wedding, or whatever else might be.

This is the end of our article, and we hope it will be helpful enough to set up a winning dating profile on any dating app you choose. Keep our suggestions in mind and dive in the dating pool!

The post The perfect profile picture for dating apps appeared first on Five Minutes to Love.

So you have decided. You are done being single, it’s not for you, we are moving on.

What do you do? Sign up on a dating app, obviously, right? Alright. The next thing we are going to do is this: forget Andrew Tate, Russel Hartley and the other Alpha males with strong opinions – they have formed those opinions in the free time given by “not getting any”.

Ok, let’s be real. 

Talking to a woman online is not really that difficult, you just need to have something to say to her.

How do you find that? The answer is easy: Read. Her. Bio. If she has it it’s because it contains something that she considers relevant about herself. Don’t bypass it. I once went on a date with a very cute guy who did not know I am allergic to dogs and he came to the date… with his dog, which I’m guessing he thought was cute but proved to me he had not taken the time to read. I sneezed the whole time. Was that info on my bio? Yes. He also didn’t like that I don’t drink alcohol. Was that on my bio? You bet it was. Why waste two people’s time and money to look live at a face when you don’t care what is behind it? Needless to say, it was terrible and I ran out of there so, so fast. Never saw him again.

So the first advice is that you find someone you might actually be interested in.

Reading her bio gives you useful pointers on how to start a conversation after matching. But how do you put this in practice?

Let’s imagine this:

Jen, 25, went to University City, loves to travel and eat food, is a Virgo and her favorite artist is Van Gogh.

Now, her pictures: Jen at the beach; Jen with a group of friends at a party; Jen looking at sunrise, Jen with a dog.

Perfect, you have a lot of information to go off.
Now, important: there is no need to lie, no need to pretend to like what she likes, absolutely no need to make her prove she actually likes what she likes. This is not a “how to pick up women” article, this is a “how to start a conversation online” article.

You can start with a gif – it’s silly, but a gif of ice breaking rarely fails. Having some humor, however simple, makes you seem more amicable and easier to talk to.

You can accompany the gif with something like “is this okay as an ice-breaker?” or along that line. Or directly ask her something related to her info, like “what is the place that you would go back to in an instant?” or “what is the food that you could eat forever?”.
Look up a fact about Van Gogh and tell her. You could even say “I saw you like Van Gogh and looked up facts about him, this is my favorite one”. Yes, it has worked before, because it shows  that you are open about your interest and willing to put at least a bit of effort about it, and informing yourself about something she likes is cute.

Talk to her as you would with an acquaintance.

Ask her about her interests, tell her about your interest. But careful, nobody likes boast-y people. “My interests are getting BIG and making MONEY” like okay, chill. Impress, don’t gloat, we don’t really like that.

Compliments are nice, weird compliments are not.

“You have beautiful eyes” is okay. “I wonder what shade your eyes would take in the sun” specific, could work very well. “You have beautiful eyes, I wonder what my reflection looks like in them” bit weird, maybe too intense, keep it in your pocket. 
She has a particularly cute outfit? Say that – appreciate the style choice, not just the body in the clothes.

How do you get a date out of this? Easy peasy:
Check out if there is any art exposition. You find something Van Gogh related? Awesome. Not very Van Gogh related? Good enough, invite a fellow art-lover to a museum. If she knows more, you can ask her to explain something to you, or you can pretend to know things and come up with fake explanations together.

“Ok”, you may say “but Jen has a ton of information in her bio, this other girl, Maggie, has only got a quote and a surf emoji”.

First off, google the quote. What is it from? Book? Movie? Watch the movie, read at least that chapter of the book. Yes, if you want to effectively talk to a woman there is some homework to do. If it doesn’t pay off with this one, you have learned something new, and that can’t hurt. Now. Respond to the quote with another quote, comment on how you liked the movie, or what she saw in it (NICELY, she doesn’t have to prove herself) out of pure curiosity. Don’t find anything about the quote? Ask her. “I keep scratching my head because I can’t remember what that quote is from” if she says it’s hers and you can’t possibly have heard it before, say “then I guess it just resonates with me”.

You can say that perhaps your brains are aligned, or even your souls if you want to push that hard. That you’d love to meet her to look each other in the eyes and that you are curious to see if this magnetic connection holds on a physical ground (not THAT kind of physical).

Give date options. Maybe a coffee, maybe drinks, maybe a movie, what does she feel like doing? I believe a Speakeasy bar to be a great option here. Low light, atmosphere, quite cozy for a cheek to cheek.

Our next example is Nora.
Nora has NOTHING in her bio. Nada, nichts.

And you’re going to say… “Hi”? Unimaginative. What is in her pictures? Nora’s mirror selfie, Nora in a field of flowers,then Nora’s selfie again, Nora on vacation somewhere. Alright. Be creative! In the previous paragraphs there are things that you can use even when there seem to be no handhold. Say “You have a mysterious something in your eyes/smile, I want to find out what it is”. SO many possibilities! Here, you want to dig into her interests without prying. You can say “Huh, no quotes or nothing in the bio?” “Now I have to ask what your sign is since your bio doesn’t say”.

There are many options to go with, but you have to find the one that is more natural to you. Make sure you don’t start off too big, or go with something entirely different from you and from your vibe. You are not putting up a scene, you are just trying to be YouPlus.

REMEMBER: 

1. She does not owe you a date. Like you don’t owe a restaurant to eat there because you walked by it multiple times.
2. A hike or anything secluded is not necessarily a good idea for a date. You may think it’s nice and cool and fun, to us it’s danger and danger and danger, no matter how much of a great guy you may be. Saying “I’m a good guy, I’m a nice guy, I’d never do anything bad” is absolutely pointless. Good on you, she’ll love to see it goin on. Do not take it personal, it is not. Women need to take precautions you wouldn’t even vaguely consider; if she’s giving you the benefit of the doubt, respect her boundaries and needs.
   

The post How to get a date on a dating app appeared first on Five Minutes to Love.