I'm sure that many of us have gone onto many online dating site or even Craigslist personals in order to find someone that we can possibly date.

Now I know for myself and for many others I have talked to, the results are not that good. There are several reasons for this that I will touch upon and then give you some advice to give you the kick you need to make it work!.

1. Never join a free dating website if you are serious about finding a mate.

'Free For All' sites are often littered with incomplete profiles, and not taken seriously by their membership.

A free trial period is good, but before making your choice of website to join, check out the member facilities. Do they have a chat room, video chat, a forum, instant messenger etc. Be wary of dating sites that do not allow you to search members before joining.

2. Setting Up Your Profile For Success

The first step toward beginning your online dating experience is to pick a dating site and fill out your online profile. The first thing you need to think about is the username you choose to represent yourself on the dating site. Try to make your username unique, fit your personality, and create it with the kind of person you want to attract in mind.

If you're online trying to find your soul mate using a username like 'Mr1FunNight' you're probably going to attract the type of attention you aren't really interested in from the other users.

3. Do Not Lie

This is pretty self-explanatory, but if you create a profile that does not reflect your real life you are only setting yourself up for disappointment.

4. Learn effective communication techniques

Your first email to someone you're interested in is the most important one you'll ever write because it will help determine whether or not they write back. It's important to personalize your introductory email and spend more time asking questions (based on the other person's profile) than providing information about yourself. Throwing a compliment in doesn't hurt either (i.e. "I love your smile" or "your profile is one of the best I've read").

5. Make the first date memorable

The concept of success with online dating doesn't end with getting a date. Your actual date is going to shape the other person's opinion more than anything else to date.

Thus it's important that you make a great first impression. As the saying goes, you never get a second chance to make a great first impression. Be confident on your date. Confidence is one of the biggest attractions you can posses.

6. Don't give up

As someone who's done a fair amount of online dating myself, I can testify to the fact that even the worst cold streak -- say, 10 or 20 consecutive email messages gone unanswered -- is usually followed by an unusual percentage of nibbles (say, 4 out of 8 messages eliciting a positive response). In that way, at least, online dating is a lot like gambling -- you have to endure the bad-luck streaks to earn a chance at the jackpot.