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Welcome to my blog!
My name is Shimrit Elisar and I am the author of Everyone's Guide to Online Dating , the UK's first online dating book. This is where I write about the online dating industry, rant about relationships and also offer tips and advice to the general Internet dating population. If you're new to online dating, feel free to check out my introductory online dating advice. |
Advertising can be an important source of revenue and, for free sites, the only source of revenue. We all know about Markus and his plentyoffish Adwords empire (we do, don’t we?) but we also know that things are usually not as straightforward as that.
Posted in: Questions and answers on August 7th, 2007 3 comments
I teamed up with Topdreamdates.com and Gorgeousdating.com for a prize giveaway.
We’re giving away some Green&Black’s gift boxes and tickets to Amora London.
If you live in the UK and are over 18, it’s worth taking a look.
For the full details, visit: http://www.gorgeousdating.com/?region=19&article=5602
Posted in: Latest news on August 6th, 2007 Add comment
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been in and out of London, enjoying the Great British Festival scene. As a result, I’ve had a chance to speak to a lot of new people from all over the country about “the whole online dating thing”.
I had a number of very interesting conversations with people who all raised the same problem they have with online dating. They all felt that dating sites made the whole process of introduction seem too much like a job application, making it unromantic. They all preferred the old method of going out there and running into people by chance, trusting their heart (or “fate”) to make the right decision for them.
I know online dating professionals often like to talk about how superior the online method is to traditional dating exactly because of the fact that it’s focused and involves making decisions with your head first and then the heart, but personally I feel that this is a matter of personal preference. Some people are always going to be ruled by their heads, while some are more intuitive by nature. Throughout the centuries, people have found love using both of these methods, so I don’t care to fault either one.
Posted in: Industry stuff, Online Dating Tips, Relationships and dating on August 5th, 2007 1 comment
If you are not used to writing about yourself (which, let’s face it, most people aren’t), the thought of writing a personal description can be pretty scary.
What I’ve discovered, though, is that there is no need to be a professional or even a particularly skilled writer to come up with a personal description that would make people want to get to know you.
After all, you want your profile to be a good representation of who you are, not a novel or an epic poem.
Some of the best profiles I’ve seen in the line of my work were written by people who were obviously not professional writers but had simply sat down and written from the heart.
Rather than think too hard and try to be overly clever, there are a few simple things you can do that can make your personality show through.
Posted in: Online Dating Tips on July 26th, 2007 3 comments
I have decided to take a break from my 7-day weeks over the last few weeks and have actually been getting out of London a bit and trying to enjoy “summer”.
This weekend I will be out of town and away from phones/emails until Monday at the very earliest.
Posted in: Latest news on July 26th, 2007 Add comment
Welcome to the July 16, 2007 edition of the Online Dating Blog Carnival.
After some unexpected downtime, this edition (which happens to be the first) is finally happening. I’ve had an interesting range of submissions and tried to keep the content fairly diverse.
Here is what people have come up with.
Posted in: Online Dating Blog Carnival on July 16th, 2007 1 comment
My interview has finally been rescheduled. I will be on BBC Radio Humberside tomorrow at 9.40am UK time.
Am still unclear as to exactly what they want to talk about, but I am guessing it’s something to do with online dating and the book 
Posted in: Latest news on July 3rd, 2007 Add comment
There is a huge difference between dating sites in terms of the features they offer. Some are pretty basic, while others offer a whole array of impressive-sounding features like video-chat, automatic matching, gift-giving, etc.
The important thing to remember when choosing a site, is that the most important thing the site could ever offer you is the person you will fall in love with. The people dating on the site are the most important feature and should come above all else.
Posted in: Online Dating Tips on July 2nd, 2007 3 comments
Most online dating sites offer some feature or other meant to make contacting people “easier”. The generic term for these is icebreakers and they are known on individual sites as winks, pokes, kisses, flirts, etc. These features are generally free to use, making them the preferred method of communication by people who have not yet decided whether they want to subscribe to a site. They are also favoured by people who want to contact as many people as possible without putting any actual effort into it.
Is it worth it? You can probably guess from the title of this page that I think they are pretty much a waste of time.
Here’s why:
Posted in: Online Dating Tips on July 1st, 2007 Add comment
When meeting people in real life, it’s possible to be wowed by a person, even though on paper he or she would have looked not quite right for us.
Online, on the other hand, we often only meet people based on a very specific set of characteristics.
A woman might think she is only interested in meeting men 6′ tall or taller, but if she ran into a 5′11″ man at a bar, she might not even notice.
A man may think he only wants to meet a woman under the age of 35, but what if the perfect 36 year old came along?
I don’t know a single person who never deviated from his or her supposed ideal at least once. The fact is, when the right person comes along, you can suddenly realise that the things that really matter to you are totally different from those you thought mattered.
Unfortunately, the limitations of the online dating world mean that you could easily become a slave of your limiting ideal, to the point where you are completely blocked to the possibility of meeting anyone else.
Obviously, there is no harm in starting your search by looking for your absolute ideal, but be aware of the limitations as you search. If your net doesn’t bring up enough potentials, expand your search and do your vetting in person rather than online. At the very worst, you will come out having learned even more about yourself and your needs.
Posted in: Online Dating Tips on June 26th, 2007 Add comment