Online Dating Magazine Interview with David Evans - the "Profile Doctor"


David Evans has carved out a niche online with his Profile Doctor service that helps create makeovers for people wanting to spice up their online dating profiles.

Evans has 10 years experience with market research and analysis consulting for dozens of companies, including Fortune 100 companies. He is the president of Digicraft, which has provided conceptual strategy, design, programming and production on some of the most innovative and prominent sites on the web since May '94.

In 2002, Evans began developing ProfileDoctor.com, which serves as a profile makeover service for people who participate in online dating. His service is soon expanding to include datingdashboard.com, where you can find singles resources in your area, like photographers, dating coaches, group events and the like.

Online Dating Magazine (ODM) recently had the opportunity to chat with David Evans and ask him several questions regarding profile makeovers.

ODM: Good businesses usually come out of a public service need. At what point did you determine that there was a need to help people makeover their online dating profiles?

David Evans: I began rewriting friendís personal ads as a favor last summer when I found out that many of them were not having a lot of luck finding that someone special through online personals services. I knew they were good people, with the normal neurosis about being in their mid 30ís and single, just as I was at the time. When I collectively reviewed their personal ads I had my ìAh-ha!î moment. I recognized they were short-changing themselves in their ads, without even knowing it. When I questioned them further, almost everyone said they wrote their ad by themselves, late at night, after yet another night on the town. Talk about a recipe for disaster!

ODM: What are some of the essentials to writing a good profile that will increase responses?

David Evans: Be specific. The key is to paint a broad enough picture of yourself while providing as much detail as possible about your personality, likes and dislikes without sounding like you are reciting a list. There are a lot of intelligent, attractive, fun single people out there who write things like ìI like to watch moviesî. What does that tell me about them? Iíd rather see someone say, ìI donít like watching movies.î At least you learn something useful about them this way. If you like movies, give examples. Are you into Dumb & Dumber, foreign films, horror or documentaries?

Change is good. Revise your profile often. New pictures and witty headlines taken from current events are two of our most-repeated tips. We hear stories all the time of people ignoring emails from interested people, only to respond immediately when the other party changed up their profile to something that caught their eye. Using the same headline and picture for 6 months is a definite no-no.

ODM: One thing you profess is the importance of capturing a reader's attention within the first 10 seconds. How do you do this?

David Evans: The key to writing a winning profile is to stand out from the crowd. Take a moment to put yourself in the shoes of the people who read your ad. They have read many profiles prior to yours. What is it about your profile that catches their attention and keeps them reading past your headline? Do you have an intriguing headline, a nice picture and compelling lead-in sentence? Make sure to check how your ad appears in the Search Results page. As all online daters know, the Delete key is very easy to reach for when it comes to unappealing email and profiles.

ODM: Do you have advice on the length a person's profile should be? For example, if a service asks "talk about you and what you are looking for..." does a person's response lose impact if it is 600 words versus 200?

David Evans: We constantly advise people to write as much about themselves as possible. It's much easier to suggest ways to refine and clarify what someone is trying to say with more raw material than it is to comment on a long lists of adjectives, which are not nearly as helpful as stories, quotes or anecdotes relating to your personality, lifestyle and desires.

The added benefit of a longer profile is the increased possibility that something might catch the reader's attention.

ODM: How does the process of applying for a profile makeoverthrough ProfileDoctor work and what does the person using the service receive?

David Evans: Customers visit ProfileDoctor.com through our partnerships with the major online personals services, links from articles in the press or search engines, or hearing about us from friends. After ordering a Personal Ad MakeOver from the ProfileDoctor.com Website, we retrieve their profile and our MakeOver experts get to work. Each MakeOver contains general observations and valuable hints and tips which anyone doing online dating will find useful.

Next we break down their profile into several sections and identify areas which need improvement. This is the real value of a MakeOver, objective, and targeted suggestions to make your profile the best it can be. We donít pretend to completely re-write your profile, after all, how can we know about your favorite movie, idea for a first date, or idea partner? Thatís why we call it a MakeOver, not a re-write. Customers receive their MakeOver via email in 3 business days and apply our suggestions to their existing profile.

We are about ready to roll out a new service called SecondLook, where we will review the changes the customer has made to their profile based on our MakeOver. We find this is a good balance between the various services which sell a generic $20 PDF of dubious quality and the $150 dating coach who meets with you in person or spends time on the phone with you. I tell people all the time, weíre more Oprah and Maxim when it comes to the tone of our MakeOvers, what you choose to do with it is up to you.

ODM: Outside of the way a profile is written, what other online dating tips can you offer?

David Evans: Take advantage of all the options that the personals services have to offer. If you can post a video with your ad, go for it. Hone your pitch at a speed-dating event, attend singles cruises, progressive dinners, lock & key parties, etc.

ODM: Speaking of video, what tips would you offer for someone who is using a video introduction in addition to their written introduction?

David Evans: We are developing a series of online videos for our customers to address this issue; we also address this to some extent in the current MakeOver. You'll have to visit ProfileDoctor.com in a few weeks to find out more.

ODM: Fair enough, but in your experience do you find people get better responses when they are being serious, displaying humor, or being creative? Do the same tips that help a person write a better profile also help them make a better video introduction?

David Evans: People get the best responses when they are being themselves, regardless of their personality. When you try to be something that you're not, that's when you get yourself into trouble.

Anyone who has read their share of personal ads and gone on a few first dates quickly learns how to read in-between the lines when it comes to reading personal ads. Pay attention to your intuition, your first reaction to a profile is the one to pay attention to.

Video allows people to convey a much broader sense of who they are and what they care about. The quality of the videos we have reviewed range from touching, high-production value Hallmark moments to zany, over the top Gong Show style auditions. People tend to make the same mistakes in their video introductions as they do in their profile questions. So yes, similar types of objective tips and advice are effective.

ODM: Thank you for taking the time to share some of your insight into profile makeovers with our readers, David. Any final thoughts?

David Evans: Keep your chin up and stay positive. Online dating can be quite draining on the soul after a while if youíre not one of the lucky ones who try it for a few weeks and end up getting married just like that. For the rest of us it takes time and patience and a sense of humor.