The world of online dating can be an overwhelming place to find yourself. That is exactly where I found myself 18 months ago. So I want to help you navigate the waters and make your experience a little more enjoyable.

After being married for 10 years, I had no idea how much the dating scene had changed. The only way I knew of to meet beautiful women was to either go to a bar or get lucky enough to meet someone through a mutual acquaintance. At first my thoughts of online dating were that only desperate people did something like that. I am sure glad that I got over that quickly.

First thing I want you to remember, is that you are going to get what you pay for. If you are thinking that “free” is the way to go, and you want to use something like Craigslist or possibly some other free dating site, be prepared for the worst. Now I can only give you my perspective and experience to draw from, but I did not have very many success stories that I could share with you now. I found that most women (and I know that is a broad term) seemed to be hiding behind their profiles, whether it was they were still holding on to their youth by posting pictures that were a few years old or maybe they had gained a few pounds and liked the way they looked when they were younger. I am here to tell you that I struck out on meeting anyone that portrayed themselves honestly through the pictures that they put out there. Maybe it was just bad luck, but I realized that it would be cheaper for me to pay for a service like match.com than to continue spending $75 to meet women that I really wouldn’t have chosen if I would have been given full disclosure on who they were in the first place.

There are a lot of quality sites out there for you to choose from. Whether you are looking for a specific nationality like Asian or  Thai, or if you are wanting to go deeper than that and know about all of their likes and dislikes. The main thing that you need to focus on is taking your time and actually getting to know someone as best you can through email and telephone conversations before you actually jump into a real live face to face meeting. Be prepared to ask a lot of in depth questions about their past, their family life and even past relationships. By being able to “interview” your prospective date first, you will be able to make a better informed decision on whether you actually want to spend an evening with them.

With billions of people in this world, there is definitely a perfect match out there for you somewhere. Do your due diligence first and try not to dive in to quickly.

The Internet has permeated into all aspects of our lives and it is no different for online dating. People fed up with the bar scene can sign up for absolutely free online dating sites, post a profile and connect with other people. It might not seem like the most romantic date idea in the world as meeting someone across the crowded room but there is real merit in free online dating sites. There are countless free dating sites that cater to your romantic interests or ethnic tastes such as Asian dating sites, black dating sites. And if you want someone with the same religious values, Christian dating sites are also very popular.

But here’s a dating tip for men and women out there. Forget about lying. What’s the point? Your whole purpose is to meet someone and what a horrible first impression it would make when you’re not as described or your photo has been doctored with photo editing software. Talk about starting off on the wrong foot. Save yourself the time of these doomed romantic encounters and be upfront in your dating profile description, chats and correspondences. In the long run, the foundation of a healthy romantic relationship is not based on lies.

My dating advice for the liar would be don’t do it. My dating advice for those who are sincere in looking for a romantic partner would be to chat online to a prospective date and ask thorough and direct questions to see if the answers are consistent and detailed. Think of it as a dating game questions. Another dating tip I would advise would be to beware of old photographs and if possible, ask for a recent time stamped photo.

That’s all for this post. This isn’t to put a damper on romantic date ideas as online dating can be a great tool to meet someone. You just need to know how to work it.