Almost everyone ultimately decides to put a photo up with their online personal ad. There are reasons to do it and reasons not to do it, but in the end, the higher number of responses you'll get when you have a photo in your profile will probably sway you to the pro side of the argument. Furthermore, if you don't have a photo and you send a message to someone else you fancy, there's a good chance he or she will not respond.

One of the ways that "free" dating sites make money is by allowing anyone to post a profile and upload a picture, but then charging you if you want to view the photos of others. This is fairly standard, and the sites may not even tell you that that's going to happen until you actually get to that point in the process. You may be irked and tempted to quit at that point, but bear in mind that reputable reviewers have asserted that some of the best sites overall are businesses with this policy.

Choosing a Photo for Your Personal Ad

When it comes to what sort of photo to put up, the answer may not be intuitive. Do not put up a photo in which you look your "best." Posed shots are a bad idea. Glamour shots should be outlawed. At best, you look good, but high maintenance. At worst, people won't even believe it's you and won't write to you. Perhaps it's unfair, but generally when people read in a profile that someone is a model, they scoff at it. If the photo looks like it was paid for, people are likely to assume it's not you, or that it's such a misrepresentation that it may as well not be you.

It's not a bad idea to put up a digital camera shot that you obviously took yourself. The important thing is that your photo shows what you really look like. More than anything, it would be devastating to have someone you really liked online finally meet you in person and become angry or even break things off because you don't look anything like they were led to believe from your picture. It would be so much nicer to hear, "You're so much better looking in person. Your picture didn't do you justice."