You have answered a personal ad of the single woman of your dreams. From the description of her ad she seems like a perfect match for you for romance and a possible serious relationship. You write her a letter and anxiously wait to hear back from her. And you wait...and wait...and wait and you never hear from her.

So, you wonder what went wrong? Is she rejecting me? Did I say something in my letter that turned her off? Why won't she write back?

Most likely you made some common mistakes that turn single women off or caused them to lose interest in you. Listed here are some things that may have gone wrong so you can take corrective measures on the next personal ad you answer:

1. Your letter was too sexually suggestive. When writing to a woman for the first time, never write anything of a sexual nature. It's a big turn off.
2. All you did was brag about yourself, your accomplishments, and your possessions in your letter.
3. You forgot to give her your phone number in case she may want to call you instead of writing you back. Some single women prefer to do it this way. If you just write back with your address, she may get letters from guys who include their phone number and she will pass you up in favor of calling them. There's another factor to consider. If you won't give out your phone number, she may think that you are married or living with another woman.
4. The letter you sent her looked like it was zeroxed. This is a real big no no.
5. You forgot to send her a stamped reply envelope with your letter. A stamped reply envelope helps to ensure an answer back and it shows the woman that you are very thoughtful. This makes a very good impression on single women.
6. You forgot to mention what is was in her ad that attracted you to write her. Single women love compliments and they want to know why to chose to write her.
7. Your handwriting was very difficult to read. If you have bad handwriting, have your letter typed. If she can't read your writing, your letter is going straight to the trash can.
8. Your return address is a post office box and you don't give a phone number in your letter. Without a street address and a phone number, she may become suspicious that you are trying to hide something.
9. You screwed up in your letter by calling her "Babe" or "Darling" or "Baby" or "Honey," etc. These words are just too strong to use on a woman you don't even know.
10. Your letter was full of typos. Be sure and proof read your letter or have someone else do it. If you have a lot of spelling errors this is going to make you look like a real "dumb ass."
11. You mentioned that you like to give or receive massages. This statement has a sexual overtone to it and some women will think that all you have on your mind is sex. Don't mention anything about massages in your first letter to a woman.
12. Your letter was written on notebook paper or even worse, the paper is torn. Always use professional looking stationary with matching envelopes when writing to a woman.
13. Your letter lacked warmth and was very impersonal.

Well, we hope these tips help you figure out how you screwed up on writing your first letter when answering personal ads of single women. If you will follow these guidelines, it will greatly improve your chances of that "dream girl" writing back to you.

Online Dating Advice and General Tips for Singles

Using personals and online dating sites are all the rage these days. To gain an edge, it helps to know how to use the dating sites effectively. This will increase your chances to get quality responses from the type of singles you seek.

General Online Dating Advice

Millions of single men and women now frequent personal ads and online dating sites to meet other singles and form the type of relationships they seek. To get the best results, we recommend placing your personals profile on every top dating and matchmaking site available. Why? Simple. There is power in numbers! The more free ads you place, the more responses you'll receive.

Men especially, have to realize that there are about one hundred male personals to every one female personal ad. If you don't get many replies to your personal ads, it's probably because your personal is well, boring. Women tend to reply to personals that make them giggle or cause a 'sigh'. Keep this in mind when creating your personals AND replying to them as well!

Be sure to take plenty of time in writing your personal ad. This is your 'first impression' and you must make it interesting enough to entice singles to respond to it. Be creative, witty, funny and charming. Let your personality shine through. With literally millions of personal ads out there, you must try and stand apart from the rest!

The worse possible reply is "Hi! I saw your ad and you look a person I'd like to know. Write to me!" Yikes. This will probably NOT get to many responses. And you'd be surprised how many replies are almost exactly like that.

Make sure you upload as many digital photograph's as possible to your personal ads, or get a biography web site. Nice Pictures make all the difference. It DOES not matter what you look like, post your pictures, and you will get MORE response's to your personal ad.

Searching the millions of online personals can be a time consuming process. This is why it's imperative that singles really take the time to work out a perfectly tailored response when finding someone that you would really like to date. This is true especially for single gentlemen out there. Female personals receive hundreds more response's then male personals, so writing a witty, charming and well thought out reply is so very important.

When replying to internet personals, keep in mind that this is YOUR first impression. Write perhaps a paragraph about yourself but don't make it a novel! Your goal is to peek the other single persons interest, and having them write you back. Keep in air of mystery about you, let them want to find out more!

Don't give out too much personal information, and DO NOT give out any more contact info then your e-mail until after a well established relationship has developed. You should never reveal your phone number or home address until a trusting online relationship has been established.

Let the person you're interested in, know what you like about their ad, and why you decided to respond to it. Mention things you might have in common, and inquire about their other likes and interests. Make sure you don't ask any questions that might seem too personal or somewhat invasive.

It's a good idea to include a personal picture when replying to personals, or perhaps a link to your web site or a personal ad you have listed. This gives them the option to check you out and see if there's a spark. If you don't get replies, don't take it personal. There are plenty of single peeps on the net!

Advice on Writing Personals

Here are some tips for writing better personal ads and introduction letters.

The premise for good personal writing is to "sell yourself." You do this by sounding as if you are approachable by emphasizing your best points and through not making disastrous mistakes. Every word will be considered by others. Don't give any reason to reject you, or sound as if you would reject them. The idea is to get as many letters from different people as possible. After you corresponded and talked with them agile an, you and they can better make a decision about whether to move the relationship toward a higher level. And most important of all--be honest. Tell about the person you are, not the person you want to be.

Nine general rules that might be helpful:

1. This rule is the first one for a reason: Sell yourself, don't sell the type of person you are looking for. Others will read your letter to find out about you not the type of person they are looking for. When you start listing all the things you are looking for in a mate, what are you doing? You are getting more and more specific about your "ideal partner" and that rapidly narrows your pool of potentials. No one has exactly all of the qualities you are looking for. If you are less specific about what you are looking for, you may receive a letter from a wonderful person with a lot to offer, that you might not have normally considered. By being so exacting and specific in the type of person, you are throwing away a lot of possibilities. And, if you do get a letter from someone who doesn't match your interests, you can always turn them down in a polite letter. The idea is to get as many letters as possible. In the search for that special someone, volume is always better. A happily married couple visited our office on their wedding anniversary. The lady reported receiving more than 100 letters from her Country Connections subscription and didn't know what to do. She let her father read through the letters and he gave her one and said, "This guy's a keeper, you better write him." She did and the rest is history. They have now been married five years.

2. This is one for the men. Stop writing that you are looking for a "slender woman." Guys, have you ever met a woman who thought she was slender? No offense to the women who are reading this but nearly all will say they would like to lose a few pounds. When a guy writes that he is looking for a slender woman, that is akin to writing that they are looking for a super model. Many will be afraid to write. Men have more tolerance for body types than they think.

3. This is one for the women. Many men want a slender woman and the women want a "guy." To a man nothing sends up a red flag faster than writing about his finances. Have you ever meet a man who said he wants a woman to marry him for his money? Although they might act like boys with costly toys, men want to be loved for who they are, not how much they have. Writing how you are looking for a financially secure guy, is going to scare a lot of men off and limit your responses.

4. Men, believe it or not, how well you make a living counts for a lot in your attractiveness. If you can't hold a job, save money, pay your bills and be financially responsible, you need to set your loneliness aside and start improving yourself. It wouldn't be fair to you or the woman to bring her into a relationship where you are not floating above the financial waters. Financially security is important but don't flaunt it.

5. Ladies: physical attractiveness is important. A healthy, active woman is more attractive than one who is sedentary and unmotivated. If you can live a more healthy lifestyle, it could aid you in your search for that special someÿone. If you are exercising or doing things to improve your health, they could be a selling point if used subtly.

6. Some people are afraid to reveal their age or weight and leave those questions vague. To someone reading your letter, this could appear as though you have something to hide. Letters and profiles are not the place to be deceptive. It is best be open and show who you really are.

7. Subscribers who send pictures to be published with their personal profile always seem to get more letters. And more letters means a high probability of success. However, don't send just any picture. If you don't have a good picture, have a friend taken of you. Remember, people are going to to be looking at your photo and using it to help them decide if they want to write a letter. Please provide us with a flattering photo. We have received them but driver's license photos and pictures with a former spouse are not real helpful. Neither are pictures taken 10 or 20 years ago. The best photos show happy, pleasant to be around people.

8. Even though the profile form is the same for everyone, you have an opportunity to write about yourself at the bottom of the form. Use this space to write something original and creative. Be yourself. Be different from the other subscribers. Make yourself standout. as a person with something unique and wonderful to offer to others. The more information you provide the easier it is for our staff to prepare your profile. We remember the lady who wrote, "I can dig postholes with the best of them." Her profile stood out and she received lots of mail.

9. When it comes to hobbies and leisure activities men like men things and women like women things. Fortunately, our interests sometimes crossover and we find things in common with someone ease. And common ground is the number one reason we enter into relationships with others. When writing every word becomes important for selling yourself. That is why both men and women should first include those hobbies and interests which would also be of interest to others. If you are a woman who likes to watch college football, by all means list this. And men if you like to cook, women would consider that a golden nugget of information.

Safe Dating Tips : Don't be too quick in revealing your name, address and telephone number. Get to know the person you are corresponding with first. On first dates we suggest you meet at a neutral location, perhaps at a cafe, shopping mall, fair or similar event.

Happy Online Dating!

Top Online Personal Ad Sites:

Cupid Personals
Major online dating personals site with over a million members in the database, most with picture profiles. Very quick search and browse functions with state of the art matchmaking technology. You can search to find the best members for you and try out all the great features that help you to meet other members really easily. Registration is free and gives you unlimited access to view profiles, browse, match and see who's online and to check what interest has been shown in your profile. You can reply to all messages you recieve.

Lavalife Personal Ads
Seeking that someone special to fall in love with? Lavalife personals can help! You can visit anonymously, but the real fun starts when you sign up for your free membership. There are always thousands of people online and thousands of new postings every week. The state of the art matching system allows singles to filter out profiles by type of relationship. For example: Romantic Dating, Activity Buddies, Sexual Relationships, and more. Also offer tele dating, where you can actually speak on the telephone to your potential soulmate.

Dreammates Dating Services
One of the top dating services, Dreammates attracts thousands of new singles each and everyday and is without a doubt one of the most popular dating sites online. This is beacuse ladies have totally free lifetime memberships! Dream Mates brings its online dating singles together by offering three different dating communities to participate in: Dating, Romance, and/or Intimate. Each dating community focuses on something different and really helps its singles find others who are looking for the same thing when it comes to dating.

Kiss Picture Personal Ads
Thousands of photo personal ads of singles, mostly 30 to 45 years of age. Try the Free Trial and the quick search feature for immediate results. Kiss now has almost 5 million members, and is considered on of the leading online personals sites with 8000 new singles joining each day.

Friendfinder Dating Services
Single men and women can access all the features of Friendfinder in just a few minutes. This includes searching, profile searching and sending anonymous email to other members. Chat Rooms are also incuded with membership. Search for fun, friendly singles with similar interests, find the perfect match by location, age and lifestyle. Singles can make contact without revealing your identity until you are ready. Exclusive Match Technology finds your most promising matches via the matchmnaker, who delivers new Matches and profiles directly to your inbox.

Date.com Personal Ads
Place your ad for Free. Private email, instant messaging, and public/private chat rooms. Pictures can be easily added to your profile. Very simple and a breeze to navigate. 5 million members and growing fast makes this free dating site a must to place your profile.

Match Dating Personal Ads
One of the Top Dating sites online, Match.com now has over 8 million members, most with pictures in thier personals. This leading dating service offers powerful searching and matching capabilities to help you meet and connect with your perfect match. Take advantage of the 7 day free trial to Find your soul mate among one of the Internet's largest community of discriminating eligible singles.

eharmony Internet Personals
Find The Love of Your Life With eharmony! eharmony provides a unique solution for single adults looking for others. NO personal ads or come on lines. eharmony's program is based on thirty years of relationship research and a scientifically proven matching system.

Yahoo! Personals
Large picture profile personals database. Millions of Singles seeking relationships, companionship and potential lovers. Free to search the personals, free to place your own photo profiles.

E Personals Online
With over 8000 members joining every week, this personals site is becoming very popular! Features include advanced search options, private chat messaging and a who's online viewer where you can see what other members are surfing the site, and check out there profiles. You can join for free, and do unlimited searchs.

Udate Personals
Udate personals utilizes next generation matchmaking technology making it a breeze for Singles to find exactly what they seek. UDates also features a fast track sign up process meaning you can be searching for love and romance in less than 2 minutes! Over 6000 people are joining uDate every day making it one of the largest dating sites on the Net. The site is very fast and simple to navigate!

Cupid.com Personal Ads
Free Memberships to Cupid.com! Find photos of thousands of new singles every day who've heard the massive radio campaign "Don't be stupid. Go to Cupid." Anonymous, safe messaging and the Eye contacts feature which let other singles know you're interested and provides them a link to your personal ad profile.

Platnium Free Personals
Matching single people who share the desire to meet and explore others for long and short term relationships. Create your free profile to access the personals and all the features. Lots of new and interesting personals not found on the other dating sites. This is the most popular newest site on the net and we highly recommend it.

MegaFriends Personal Ads
The newest of the large online dating services, Megafriends is a fun, quick site to navigate and features live Singles chat rooms dating message forums. Place your creative free ad, and search the personals for free.

Lonely Fire Singles
Free internet Singles community with thousands of picture profiles from around the world. A fun, safe way to make new friends or partners, for romance dating and long term relationships. You can register a free picture profile without any obligation. First two contacts are always FREE!

Dating Stage Matchmakers
Premier online dating and personals site with thousands of members waiting to meet you for love and romance. Seek your perfect match via photo profiles, in depth bio's, instant messaging and email communications. Free to join and try the dating services.

People 2 People Computer Dating
FREE to post and browse all the other single members. The Internet's premiere dating community with integrated picture rating features. Just Select the mode you prefer from the list box then click the picture for the area you would like to explore.

American Personals
This hip Internet dating site offers free memberships, singles message forums, video conferencing, multi-chat rooms, a high tech matchbot system and anonymous messaging

Metro Date Personal Ads
Has a densely populated database of quality single men and women. In each city they serve, Metrodate features numerous ways for Singles to meet each other (9 different ways). Placing an ad is always free, using tokens to contact someone you are interested in meeting and dating.

American Single Personals
Having over 5 million single members with almost ten thousand new profiles placed every day makes American Singles one of the largest personals match sites on the Web. Free to place your personal ad profiles and contact the other Singles!

BeanDate Dating Personals
BeanDate.com offers free Decaf Membership. This simply means that you can post your profile and a photo. This way other members of the community can get to know you and have the option to contact you if they are interested in finding out more.

Match Click Singles Personal Ads
Internet date service with free personals Straight and gay personal ads for international and American single men and women. Place your free personal with their dating service or browse the photo personals of Singles from around the world.

Neo Dates Personals
Take three easy steps to join this hot online personals services. Send a virtual kiss! Fun site with tons of personal ads.

One & Only Online Personals
The One & Only network is possibly the best site for both Personal Ads and Matchmaking that you can find on the Internet. Many of the services are free and it has a huge database with millions
of single members.

2ofakind Computer Dating Service
Soulmates connect using the most unique and powerful match system featuring over 150 match options, analysis reports and anonymous email. Find your perfect pen pal or soulmate with this extensive match making service. All matches are screened and scored from a selection of over 150 interests, preferences, and priorities. This is a secure and practical way to connect with new people and perhaps make your match of a lifetime.

Matchmaker Personals Communities
The most entertaining place to meet new people! Match Maker offers a 100% free trial where you can search and contact other Singles by location or by interest. All major towns and cities are covered with thousands of intimate photo personals.

Matchdoctor 100% Free Personals
A truly completely free Singles dating site that enables single men and ladies to meet people with similar interests and needs. If you're looking or a friend, life-long lover, or just someone to chat with, MatchDoctor.com is the site to meet all types of people from all over the world!

SeekingYou Picture Personals
Take the risk of rejection out of dating at this highly innovative personals site! Extensive profiles, thousands of photos!

International Dating Personals and Ladies Matchmaking Services:

Indian Singles Dating personals
A full featured, Indian singles matchmaking matrimonial service for Indians, NRI, Hindu singles, Muslim, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, and other single Indian men and Indian women. Find thousands of Indian personals with picture profiles.

Asia Dating Personal Ads
This site is the largest online dating personals site and Asian dating service for Asians of all ethnic backgrounds with over 550,000 active members. The site uses both traditional and simplified Chinese character sets as well as an English interface. Members from around the world, with a high concentration in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and the United States.

Latin Mexican Hispanic Personals
Spanish Personals - The top dating personals for latin, hispanic, Mexican, Spanish and South American singles seeking online love and romance. Beautiful latin women and hot latino men with thousands of picture profiles. Amigos es ideal para encontrar a ese gran amor de tu vida, o simplemente conseguir una cita con otra persona. Además en Amigos.com podrás ampliar tu círculo de amistades, alrededor del mundo. Disponemos de más de 1,000,000 miembros registrados. U nete gratis. Nuestro servicio es ánonimo y fácil de usar. A continuación aparecen algunos de nuestros miembros. Unete a la página más grande especializada en relaciones personales de habla española

French Personal Ads
Le Friend Finder Français s'adresse à tous ceux qui souhaitent faire de nouvelles rencontres pour de l'amour et bien plus encore! Free personals for singles in France, or seeking relationships with French men or women.

German Personal Ads
Weit über 4,000,000 registrierten Mitgliedern, deutscher Friend Finder ist für aktive Singles die Menschen kennenlernen wollen für romantische zum Ausgehen, für Freundschaft und mehr! For singles in Germany or other single men and women from around the world interestd in meeting and dating Ladies or Gentlemen with German heritage.

Korean Personal Ads
With thousands of registered members and hundreds of new singles joining each day, Korean FriendFinder is for active singles who want to meet others for romance, dating and friendship Meet thousands of beautiful Korean ladies seeking love, dating, romance and marriage!

Filipino Personal Ads
Filipino Friend Finder is for active singles who want to meet others for romance, dating, friendship and more! Always free to place an ad and view other singles looking for love! Meet thousands of beautiful Filipina ladies seeking relationships with Western men.