Make a list. Score your dates. Market yourself wisely. Find your needle.

Use between three and five photos in your gallery. Galleries with more photos are more competitive, but after five they seem to pass a point of saturation and diminishing return.

Photos should focus on your waist up, unless you have amazing legs. Then it's okay to include one or two full-body shots in your gallery. The majority of your photos should be closer up, highlighting your face. Don't stage a smile. Instead, try to laugh just before the shot is taken. Flirty smiles that don't look cheesy also work. Make eye contact with the camera. Aim to take most of your photos outdoors.

A lot of people try to use sarcasm to flirt, and it tends not to read well. Most people who are successful at flirting do so via instant message instead of email. The best way to flirt is to care deeply about whatever your date is saying and to focus all of your attention on him or her. Ask thoughtful questions. Take a keen interest in the conversation. Be enthusiastic.

Good profiles mentioned characteristics that would probably be true for all of us, such as: "I want someone who will make me laugh." About Me sections with fewer than a hundred words tend to be clearly popular. Short profiles that express just enough information to pique someone's interest work best.

It's an old, established rule, but "golden hour" lighting is ideal because the first and last hours of sunlight are diffuse and warm. For that reason, women with photos taken outside during those hours tended to look great.

The goal of online dating is to get offline as quickly as possible.