We Know What Makes a Good Online Dating Profile

And it's a lot of photos ...

Are you one of those online daters who feels timid about posting pictures for the world to see? Or maybe you've only posted one profile picture because you don't want to reveal too much about yourself?

Your profile picture is the most important part of your profile and the first thing fellow online users will see. In a recent study, an online dating service analyzed more than 7,000 photographs from users on their site and discovered that interest photos—“photos of the person doing something interesting, with an animal, or a travel photo”—led to “legitimate conversations” with other members.

What can we gain from this study?

Make your pictures count! Even a few photos can tell a vibrant story without giving out too much personal information.

The first step is to make sure your profile has a current photo of you. Most members will ignore profiles that don't have any pictures.

A previous member, who met her husband on CatholicMatch, shared this advice: “I added a variety of photos to my CatholicMatch profile to show 'me' through all seasons: dressed up, action hero shots, even a photo of me without makeup! My husband really loved that honesty and confidence, not to mention it sparked some pretty interesting conversations."

Your photo album should tell the story of who you are: places that you love and things that you like to do. To make that easier for you, CatholicMatch has a feature to import and crop your album photos from Facebook.

With the option to easily upload your Facebook photos, now you can share that snapshot of you holding your new Godson or that great shot with your friends at the Notre Dame game.

Updating your profile and album photos at least every couple of months makes your profile look current and active—giving you a better chance of catching the eye of your potential match. The more you use and update your photo album, the more your profile will appear on others' home screens. Plus, this will give you a boost in search result rankings because you'll be seen as an active user.

Want more tips about how to choose photos for your online dating profile? Check out these helpful tips!