Safety comes first in online dating: Pick a matchmaking Web site that does not give out your real name to other users but lets you use a "handle." Be careful about giving out your phone number and address online. Always meet your date in a public place.

Beyond these basic safety tips, the experts, as well as veteran online daters, advise those looking for love on the Internet to be creative with their Internet profiles. Even if you are insecure about your looks, they say, find a clear, good-quality picture of yourself and attach it to your profile.

"If they don't put pictures, they're trying to hide things, it seems," says Hanover cosmetologist Kim Disney, 37, who met her husband Robert online.

David Evans, a Boston-based Internet entrepreneur who bills himself as the "Profile Doctor," claims the profile is even more important than the photo.

"You get out of it what you put into it in terms of the effort level," Evans says. "If you're tall, blond and rich, it's probably not too hard to get a date online ... (but) most of us have a few extra pounds and a few neuroses."

Remember to use common sense. "Listen to your intuition, because it has been my experience, without fail, that a person will reveal themselves within the first few sentences if you pay attention," says York resident Tami Conway, a veteran Internet dater. "If you think there are little innuendos or they're implying something, they are."