Some people have no experience of using the internet, let alone an internet dating web site! So I’ve put together a basic guide to get you through the first stages of internet dating. Just make sure you’re happy to start dating!

First you need to choose a dating web site and the market is saturated with millions of these sites.

Make sure you do some research beforehand and get to grips with the free dating web sites v paid for dating web site services. The basic, most obvious thing is that paid for services will offer some degree of safety.

Perhaps, make sure the dating web site you use is one of the well known brands, perhaps you’ve seen them advertised on TV. Make sure any personal details you submit are securely stored - i.e. on ‘https’ secure pages and don’t give too much personal detail, or at the least keep your personal details hidden from public view.

Well known dating sites include; www.match.com www.datingdirect.com www.datingdirect.com and www.loopylove.com

Now you’ll need to write your profile, this is the part every man or woman will see when they look you up online. Make sure you don’t try to avoid this step because it will make you look bad from the beginning. If you can’t be bothered to create an online profile then what does this say about you!?

Make it to the point and interesting - this is your online advert, the space to sell yourself! Do some research on what other peple your age and gender are saying and take the bits you like and drop the bits you don’t!

Have a chat with your potential date before meeting. Finding someone’s email funny and interesting does not mean you’ll actually like them as a person, beleive it or not! An email gives someone time to reply and think what you’d like to hear them say. If you take the time to speak on the phone this should give you a good indication of how your potential date will go and a real live conversation!

You should try to spend around 20 minutes on the phone with your potential date before meeting with them. Don’t forget you can use Skype or block your telephone number to keep your details private, alternatively you could use a web site like http://www.lavalife.com - here you can use video and voice chat services.

Chatting with someone you’ve met online is probably the best safetly measure you can take and allows you to take things further and meet up, or simply give them a miss and hang up!