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What type of photos and what are you trying to show with the photos?
Kbell,
Wow, great question. There is a lot too this actually so I will try and be as specific as I can with all of it. This might get to be a long answer but you'll have it down when we are done.
First of all, the most important thing by far with any part of your online profile is "congruence" with your personality. When a woman sees you being incongruent she thinks this profile is not really you and will get away quickly. My point with this is when I saw I'm going in my online profiles, I have pictures of me out in bars, clubs, doing stuff. I don't have pictures of me standing in my house alone.
The other thing with pictures is you definitely want to show you being active. Okay, one maybe two photos of you at home or something lilke that is fine. Still you want photos of doing whatever it is that you do on a regular basis. If you run have pictures of you running. If you play basketball then get a picture of you doing that. I think you get my point on this aspect.
Moving right along. Another huge thing I encourage people to demonstrate with their pictures is healthy relationships. If you have all your pictures on this profile. In some cases you might have 10 pictures or more. You want pictures of yourself with both your guy friends and women. Of course the pictures with women demonstrate pre-selection right. Well the pictures of men can help show "Leader of Men" qualities. But more importantly that leader of men, the pictures of you with guys show her that you do have friends and people like being around you.
One of the things I personally am concious of in the photo is what I am wearing. When I posted my latest successful ad on Craigslist. I had two back to back Lays and then 6 dates with that. Not bad... Anyways, in the ad I hate different styles. In one picture it was just me in a graphic t-shirt. Then another with a slightly more casual look. Then one with a dressy or snappy casual tone where I was wearing a sport coat and jeans. I like to show that I can be relaxed or dressed up a bit. Women take this into consideration. If the girl looking at this likes to go to nice places she can see me going there. IF she likes being more laid back she can see that too.
Other tips to keep in mind with photos:
-Be concious of what is going on in the background of a photo. Friends making dumb faces or even showing a messy house or something. A lot of people forget this rule.
-Also never have a picture on a profile that is over a year old. I prefer telling guys no longer than 6 months actually. If you don't have recent photos go out, do the photo opener, and get some pics. Have a friend go with you to take a few snapshots. In a few weeks you'll have a lot to choose from.
-No pictures with your shirt off or nude ever. The thing with this is some guys have nice bodies with the 6 pack abs and that's cool. Believe me most women know by looking at you if you have a nice body. Leave something to the imagination. For each women that likes that type of photo there are two others that don't. Remember looks aren't the biggest factor in attraction by a long shot.
-Make sure you are smiling and having fun in your pictures. You don't want pictures of you with a scowl on your face at all.
-Remember to edit the photo's when you can. With most computers you have a program on there to edit the red eye, crop out other people, and that sort of thing. It really does make a difference when you do this. A little bit of effort goes a long way.
-Post as many photos as you can. On dating sites post as many as it will allow you too. The profiles with more photos do so much better than those that don't. With using networking sites like Facebook and MySpace just post as you can.
-Remember to go back and update your online profiles and networking sites at least once a month if possible with a new photo or two that you can collected.
I think this should give you a great idea about how to use your photos to your advantage. They say pictures say 1,000 words. If you know what you are doing you can control which 1,000 words it says.
Jon