Over the years I’ve used many online dating websites, but I still don’t really feel like a “regular user.” I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I don’t stick with it long enough. But what I have found is that it’s a great tool for meeting women (or men). It think internet dating is good for a few reasons, but probably the best one is that you can think clearly because of the slow speed. You have enough time to do stuff you normally wouldn’t. In “real life” you have to move fast, and sometimes that speed translates into nervousness. Or it might work the wrong way; sometimes in real life you feel pressure to make a move but you get too nervous before hand and the moment passes and now you look weird.

If you see a woman, or worse a group of women, and there’s one you like but you keep ogling her and don’t approach in a reasonable amount of time you get written off as just some guy. ESPECIALLY if there’s nothing obvious preventing you from talking to her-now you don’t look bold and strong. And after that you’re done with that woman. You can TRY to salvage it, but once you get the write off you better damn well have a believable excuse for the low status she’s mind branded you with. So online dating websites kind of get you around this. Something similar can happen online too-if you put a profile up on one of the sites and your picture is out there for a while and women visit it and you don’t show any interests, then you’re going to get the same write off as you would in the real world.

So dating online gives you a chance to think about how you’re going to present yourself. Yes, you can come up with a completely false identity, but of course this is going to present you with a problem when it comes time to meet somebody in real life. So your best bet is to compose a profile and have a set of traits you want to favor but are based in reality. This way one you make contact you don’t have the stress of KNOWING you’ve got lies sitting out there. But the true value of online dating is the time to think about your next move. Once you initiate contact or are contacted you can think about how you’re going to respond. This is just something you don’t have time for in real world dating. You’ve got to have it together out there on the streets. So that’s the second benefit; practice. Online dating allows you to practice each step in the initial meeting/wooing of a woman. Because in many ways that’s what meeting women is about; a sales job.

And of course the price is right. You can find free dating sites, but your probably shouldn’t limit yourself to just those because it’s a money saver. You have to go to where the women are, just like real life. And women like to be where the men are. Hooray for humanity. So busy sites are where you need to be. The big difference is that you get undivided attention with online dating. Once contact has been established they can only read one message at a time; so your email and your profile are you’re combined “product.” And at least for that moment you’ve got somebody’s full attention to make your play. So the true benefits are time and focus.