Although I'm no longer in the dating market, wanted to share my thoughts on this topic and hopefully help our sisters single and dating.
I tried online dating for some time when I was single and I found my experience to be fun, with both good and not so good ones. Online dating is also very big in my area even if there are so many young singles around -- the problem is not the availability of singles, but how you meet them. Majority of my single friends are currently online dating and a few engaged/married friends met their partners online.
Meeting online is NOT much different with meeting in-person so the basic rule of thumb applies: put your best foot forward, be charming, and true to yourself. So:
PICTURES ARE CRITICAL
When you're at a bar, you talk to/entertain someone based on their appearances. The face, the smile, eyes all communicate certain things about ourselves too, so yes it's a MUST to have a picture. You won't date a man with no face, and the reverse is the same.
Use photos to communicate your personality, but don't forget that YOU are the subject. Travel photos indicate you are fun, cultured, adventurous, traveled or outgoing. Activity photos (volunteering at an animal shelter, etc) gives the other person an insight about you, and helps BREAK the ice. They have something to talk to you about, not just a plain "hi sexy" message.
GUYS HAVE OPTIONS TOO
When I was still online dating, I got WAY too many messages from guys so I only responded to those that seemed worth my time. There's too many guys to choose from. if you see a lot of options, they see a lot of options too, so it's important for your profile to stand out, and be approachable.
DON'T BE TOO QUICK TO JUDGE
I get it.. I also didn't want the generic "hi there" messages from guys.. never entertained them... also didn't want those guys who wanted to meet up right away, before having any sort of conversation... UNTIL i had dinner with a big group of friends with guys and girls and this became a topic. So my guy friends shared very interesting perspective: for guys, it becomes too much of a time and money investment to talk to a girl only to find out there is no spark/connection when you meet in real life. I had one friend who went on 1 date per week and he always offered to pay. He was burning time and money on girls who were not his match or the profile was incredibly different in-person. So he insisted on meeting up RIGHT away before engaging in a multi-day, multi-message getting to know you situation. May point naman sya especially since he was only limiting to date within our area, not long distance types.
In fairness, nakakapagod din for guys to write a nice introduction message each time, only to fail. If I have received 1000 messages during my online dating foray, then you can imagine how many times these guys have to write a message to someone??
I guess while a "hi there" message is NOT appealing at all, do click on the profile and check. Some guys also think hi there is okay because they treat online dating like a chat room where they think you will reply and start in a back and forth getting to know you conversation (like in a bar -- thye approach a girl and say hi there, diba?)
marami pa but i think those are the most important points.... good luck sisses and i hope nakatulong ito sa mga single sisters jan.