How Do You Write an Effective Online Dating Profile Over 50?

Lead with a recent photo of your face, say in one plain sentence what you want, and give every answer one real detail she could ask about. That is the whole job. An effective profile at your age is not younger or cleverer than anyone else's. It is current, specific and honest about what you are looking for, which most profiles are not.

The most common problem over 50 is a lead photo that is ten years old. A woman who meets a man who does not look like his picture starts the date annoyed, and the first date is the whole reason you are on the app.

Pick a clear shot of your face, in daylight, with nobody else in the frame. a dating coach's standard for the first photo is the best photograph of your face ever taken. Ask a friend to shoot a few dozen, then pick the one where you look relaxed. Then add a full-length shot and one of you doing something you really do.

a dating coach says an older man should aim for elegant and appropriate, and should skip both clothes from ten years ago and the wardrobe of a teenager. His point is that a man in good shape who looks after himself looks younger than his age, which beats looking older than it.

Wear different outfits in different photos. coach flags the same jacket in several shots because it looks like one afternoon of pictures, or like a man who owns one jacket.

Do not hide your age or write that you feel forty. It is already on the page, and a man who explains it sounds nervous about it. If an age gap is likely, a dating coach's advice is to let her get to know you before age becomes the topic, and never to raise it yourself.

Then say what you want in one sentence. A page works as a filter. Write like a man after something casual and you attract women who want the same. Say you want something lasting and the replies change with it. Decide which you mean first. a dating coach adds that a man who cannot say whether he wants to play the field or settle down tends to end up with neither.

Two or three lines is enough. The bio should do one job, which is to give her something to ask about.

Compare "I enjoy travel, good food and the outdoors" with "I have been trying to cook my late mother's lamb dish for four years and it is still wrong." Everyone writes the first line. A woman can reply to the second in ten seconds.

a dating coach says a bio that lists hobbies is what almost every man writes, and it is boring. Lead with something that shows you have a life worth joining, then add warmth. A page that is all niceness and no edge reads as a man hoping she will like him.

The prompt answers are the few places you get to show personality, and a dating coach calls them gold. Use them.

Skip the ones that only ask her a question, because they waste your answer. Skip dull facts that tell her nothing about what a Saturday with you is like. A personality-type code as your first line, a star sign and a political label do little for you. coach says they are more likely to cost you than help, since a woman who disagrees can treat any of them as a reason to pass.

Make each answer different. If your three answers all say you are laid back, she has learned one thing three times.

Show your page to a woman you trust, and ask her three things. Would she know you from the first photo? What would she ask you about? Which photo would she cut?

If she cannot answer the second question, the writing is too general. Rewrite one line at a time, change only one thing each week, and count what happens. a dating coach compares a profile to an asset that pays slowly, and he says the men who fail mostly quit too early.

If a month of good photos and honest lines brings few replies, the weak spot is usually the photos, not your age. The set is worth redoing as a whole. A coach who reads profiles for a living can tell you in one sitting which photo to cut and which line to change.