Upgrade Your Dating Life: How to Take the Perfect Online Profile Pic


If you're looking to jump-start January with a new romance, and you're planning to go looking for love online, image is everything.

A new study finds the best way to get your profile to pop is making sure it's "picture perfect," especially because it's estimated that each year, thousands of singles make a resolution to find Mr. or Mrs. Right by going online.

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"Two weeks right after Christmas results in a 25 percent increase over the previous two weeks," Kelly Steckelberg, CFO and COO of online dating site Zoosk, told ABC News.

Zoosk says it's home to more than 25 million singles worldwide. In a recent internal study of about 4,000 of its users, it says it cracked the code to making a profile stand out and it all starts with the profile picture.

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"Think about the image that you want to convey and it should be a profile of just you, alone," Steckelberg explained.

Here's Zoosk's tips to taking the perfect profile pic:

1) Full body is best.

  • Zoosk says it found that singles who showed off their figures receive 203 percent more messages than the average user.

2) When it comes to selfies… Men, step away from the bathroom mirror.

  • Zoosk says it found men who use a selfie get fewer first messages and responses. Women, on the other hand, get about 4 percent more first messages.

3) Ladies, stay indoors.

  • Ladies should stay indoors to perfect their pic. Zoosk says it found they got 60 percent more first messages, while men who head to the great outdoors tend to get more attention.