How to Market Yourself Online

by April Braswell

April Braswell, leading expert on Online Dating and Online Personals talks about "How to Market Yourself Online at Online Dating Sites.

Surely you DO realize that you ARE Marketing Yourself Online?  It's the 21st century.  Every time you join a Social Networking website like Facebook and MySpace in addition to the Online Dating websites like Chemistry, Eharmony, Christian Cafe, JDate, and Match.com, you are positioning yourself online.  Every time you post your profiles at an Online Personals or Online Dating site, you are marketing yourself online.  Yup.  You are.  So, indeed, be sure to leverage every tool you can at your disposal.

Yes, fundamentally I am a business woman.  So, I listen to all of these Internet Marketing gurus who are making skads of money (certainly a captivating topic), some of whom are genuinely helping people. I learn a lot from them, and in many cases, what they espouse merely affirms what I already knew as a Sales and Marketing Director taking much of the same skills and applying those in our romantic relationships.  Indeed, business is all about relationships as well.  They are not separate spheres of our lives.  They comprise our WHOLE lives.  I am the same person expressing different aspects of myself.

So, step number 1, get online. 

And remember the GOAL of online personals is about the volume of dates you have here.  Some of the online dating sites (I'm thinking of one in particularly and I'll see how I feel over time about posting lambasting comments about them here at my website.  But for now, I'll be discrete and say nothing of their name.) prey on Singles' fears.  Indeed, we are afraid of rejection.  So, we would really like to go on ONE date and have that be our Soul Mate and marry them.  Maybe within 6 months - 2 years.  Ideal, yes?  But really in the majority of cases, that is not reality?  Wouldn't you rather date smart and have the Online Dating odds work in your favor?   

There is even the whole Courtship movement within some groups of Christians, which I rather respect because its whole approach keeps the end goal of MARRIAGE is what we are AFTER in mind.  However, one of the weaknesses of Courtship is that it is so GOAL focused - MARRIAGE - bless its heart, that it neglects and the proponents don't perceive the marriage-strengthening communication skill-set building outcome of actually going through The Dating Process.