How to Survive Your First Online Date (Top 10 Tips)

Have you met someone online? Are you ready to meet them in person? Online dating gives you the opportunity to get to know that special someone via the Internet in the comfort of your own home. It is so popular today that after the turn of the century, there were almost 900 dating sites available for single adults.

Since there is a good chance that this is your method of dating today, you should know how to handle your first date with the person you meet online. Many people who no longer wish to go to parties, bars, or night clubs are finding this way of meeting to be very effective. If you are dating online, consider these tips in order to have a successful first online date.

Always agree to meet in your own car in a public place where many people will be. Drive there in your own car; do not allow them to pick you up at your home or at another location. If you do not drive a vehicle, have someone drop you off at a public place.

Ensure there will be plenty of people around. Make sure there is a public phone nearby or that your cellular phone is fully charged. Know who to call in case of an emergency. Do not agree to go anywhere private with them during the date.

When you leave the date, make sure you leave alone in your own car or have someone you trust pick you up. Also, make sure your date is not following you to your home after the date. You may feel you know this person well, but murders and/or rapists are often clever. It is better to be safe, and stay alive.

Call a trusted friend or family member prior to the date to tell them the details of the date: the name of the individual you will be meeting, the individual’s contact information, your cellular phone number, the place you will be meeting this person and where it is, the time you will be going on the date, and the time you plan to be home.

Explain to this friend or family member that you will be calling them as soon as you are home safe and sound. This means having your door safely locked with you tucked inside! Ensure you choose a trustworthy person who will hunt you down or call the police if you do not call them at the appropriate time. This should let them know that something is wrong and to be alarmed.

While these measures may seem old school with today’s online dating world, they can save your life. Predators now use the fact that daters are more relaxed with these rules in order to attack innocent victims. Take safety precautions seriously, because you never know who someone really is on a first date.

There’s nothing worse than going on a date that is torture. Make sure you want to be friends with this person before agreeing to meet with them. It is better to trust someone a little and see a picture of them than to be in a hurry and be shocked by your date.

Also, wouldn’t you rather someone know you for who you are in the inside rather than their initial attraction to your body? How many people get attracted to someone based on their appearance rather than on who they are? Make sure there is enough mutual attraction of course, but at the same time, you need to make sure the other person isn’t just interested in you for your looks.

Learn about their background, their childhood, their education, their job, their hopes, and what they plan to do with the rest of their life. Know in advance what you are looking for and what you want in a person. Then, ask the right questions before you bother meeting the person.

Think about a city girl who loves rock and roll, shopping at the mall, bowling with her friends, and watching reality television shows. She gets hit on by a cute guy who says all the right things, but she doesn’t get to KNOW him. They date a long time. She finds out that he enjoys outdoor things like hunting and fishing, he only listens to country music, and he is a mama’s boy. They break up, because they have so many differences. If only she had taken the time initially, before the first date, to get to know him and asked the right questions, she could have saved herself heart-break, time, energy, and so much more.

It is well worth it to take the extra time to ask a few simple questions to get to know if you will be compatible with someone or not. Follow this simple guide to finding out if someone is right for you. It is by far not a comprehensive approach, but you don’t have much to lose by giving it a try.

Always check a person’s photos before meeting them in person. There must be some attraction. The same holds true for them though. Most people put their best foot forward when they post their photos online. More often than not, people do not look as good in person as they did in their online photos.

Since most online daters know this, they will probably expect your photographs to be your best. Be sure to post accurate photos of yourself. Don’t post your glamour shots that you took ten years ago. Be realistic. You don’t want them avoiding eye contact all throughout your date because they do not find you attractive.

All of that being said, you want to make a good first impression. Don’t dress sloppy, smell bad, or show that you don’t care about how you look. Be yourself, but remember that you want to be stunning too! Someday, six months down the line, you might sit around watching him play video games with no make up on, your hair in a bun, and sweats and his oversized tee-shirt. However, until that day comes, knock his socks off. He is going to do his best to look good for you, so you should do the same. Be beautiful!

We covered the fact that you should get to know the person before the date. Maybe you spent days getting to know him or maybe you spent a year getting to know him. Maybe you know everything you think you can about him.

However, you don’t want to stare at your paper placemat while you eat your chips and salsa since you have nothing to talk about. Have at least five good conversation topics in mind. Make them topics that you can talk about for a long period of time.

Here are a couple of great, quality articles that will give you some insight on what you could talk about on a first date.

If you have followed the steps above and gotten to know the person well, you have a small chance that the date will be a horror show. However, there is a chance. Have a friend or family member call you in the middle of the date with an emergency. If the date is going well, just let them know you are fine with some “signal” phrase or react like a well-trained actress to the emergency, and get out of there!

Be polite and apologize to your date. Don’t be rude. If he does something illegal, inappropriate, or outrageous, you can leave without an explanation. However, if you just don’t feel the attraction and don’t want to waste an evening, be polite about the emergency, call or email them later to explain you are okay, and slowly and gently let them down. The reason for this is so that they do not suspect that you saw them and were repulsed – even if you were.

Try not to shake or act nervous. If you know this person as mentioned that you should, you should feel comfortable. Having conversation topics in mind before the date should make you feel confident that you know what you will say. Listen and ask questions, and you won’t feel like you are put on the spot.

This illustrates confidence. Show you are having a good time. By showing solid eye contact you illustrate that you are honest. By smiling, you show your best side. You look your prettiest when you smile, and it makes the other person feel like you like them. By easing your confidence, you ease their confidence. This in turn makes the cycle go around and around. With both of you at ease, the date will go much easier.

Don’t talk about negative topics. Don’t talk about the news unless you know of something in the news that is positive. Even if something is interesting that you know about, don’t bring it up if it is negative. Be upbeat and funny! Have fun. It’s a once in a lifetime experience with that person.

Be polite to your date. If you are eating at a restaurant, be polite to the staff. Mind your manners. Men watch for those things. Women who are stuck up and rude don’t make good impressions.

If you are on a date with someone who really does not talk much or someone who is shy, asking questions is the key. Even this can be a challenge.

If you ask someone questions on a date and they just give you short, one-word answers, it can make for a difficult date. However, asking questions gives you room to answer them as well, keeping the conversation going.

Keep your body language open. Keeping your arms uncrossed, your hands open, and your legs politely crossed all signal that you ready and willing to talk and have an open conversation.

Avoid getting the subject on to sensitive subjects like politics, marriage, children, divorce, abortion, mental illness, health, sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and bad family histories.

A few of the most popular websites used today for online dating are www.match.com, www.plentyoffish.com, www.eharmony.com, and www.okcupid.com. Eharmony and Match do have a fee, but the other two dating websites are free of charge for basic membership.

Following these steps on your first online date will put you on the way to finding the person you are most compatible with and stop wasting your time and energy with those you are not compatible with. You may carve out a simple system that will help you eliminate the losers and find the winners. I wish you the best of luck on the dating scene! It can be difficult, but you can also succeed! Just have faith and educate yourself on the do’s and don’ts of online dating.

Pictures: The images in this website were provided by Michele Jones.

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