5 Tips to Land a Date for Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and it’s both an exciting time for couples and romantics, but can also be a stressful time for singles and those who are newly dating, and haven’t defined their relationship status.

On Spectrum News 1, I joined Afternoon Beat host Kelvin Washington to talk about some ways to speed up your search, and find a Valentine’s date online.

1. Update Your Profile – Mention You Like Valentine’s Day

If you’re a hopeful romantic and love Valentine’s Day, it’s not time to put your head under the covers.

If you log on and update your profile, be bold and say, “I’m an incurable romantic, and love Valentine’s Day. It sends a message that you’d be open to meeting someone on or before Valentine’s Day.

I also recommended wearing something red for the season. After all, red is the color of love, and research backs up that profiles where women wear red do get more views.

2. Check Who Has Viewed Your Profile

If you’d like to send a message that will have a greater chance of getting a reply, on the Match app, you can see who has viewed your profile. If they’ve checked you out, but didn’t have time to write to you, it’s a good chance that your digital nudge just might turn into a date.

3. Be Online During Rush Hour

Depending on where you live, chances are being stuck in traffic during morning or afternoon drive is pretty unpleasant.

For online dating and mobile dating apps, being logged on during “Rush Hour,” is a traffic jam you’ll want to be in leading up to Valentine’s Day.

So when is Rush Hour, and how can you stand out even more?

Rush hour is the busiest on Sunday evenings, and according to OkCupid, their Rush Hour starts as early as 2pm on Sundays. I’ve found Monday nights, or just about any night when you’re home from work to find the most active users.

If you want to stand out more during Rush Hour, for less than the price of a cup of coffee, you can sign up for OkCupid’s Boost, which will give you 30 minutes of time to appear more frequently for $1.99, Match’s Boost, where you’ll be seen by three times more for $2.99 for a one-hour period, Tinder’s Boost, where you can “skip the line” and show up as a top profile for 30 minutes for $3.99, and Bumble’s new Spotlight feature, which costs two coins, or about $3.00.

4. Log On More Frequently

After you’ve tweaked your profile, viewed your matches and those who have already viewed your profile, sent out a few messages, it’s time to keep your app open for a while.

The reason I suggest not logging out, is because profiles with the most activity tend to be favored by the mysterious and magical dating algorithms, and you simply will show up more often to potential dates.

5. Take Your Relationship From Online to Offline

Chatting and texting can be fun, but it’s time to meet IRL (in real life), so suggest meeting for coffee, swapping digits and having a conversation.

It’s time to avoid becoming just a digital pen pal to someone you’ll never meet.

Life is too short to have an empty date card, when there are so many easy ways to find a quality date online.

Wishing you much love and joy in cyberspace, or wherever you may swipe or roam on Valentine’s Day.

Julie Spira is America’s Top Online Dating Expert and Digital Matchmaker. She was an early adopter of the Internet and has been coaching singles on finding love online for over two decades.

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