Last week I read about a new online dating matching service called Chemistry.com. It is a new online dating service from the people behind Match.com. My first impressions after reading about this new online dating site was that it sure sounds a lot like eHarmony.

The site is in beta, meaning it is still being tested, and is only available presently to people in Seattle, San Diego, Denver and Washington D.C. They are allowing online daters in these areas to sign up for a free 90 day usage of the site which allows them to test the service and get feedback from real users before going live and being available to everyone.

So since I live in the Seattle area, I decided to sign up and see what the new site was like. You start out just like many of the personality matching services like eHarmony and PerfectMatch by answering a bunch of questions. These include answering questions about pictures like is this a real or fake smile on this person? You also answer questions about words or topics by choosing how important they are to you. The questionnaire is shorter in number of questions than eHarmony and took me about 25 minutes to complete.

Once signed up and logged into the site my first impressions were correct. This is a lot like eHarmony. The communication process looks very similar, more on this once I get a few matches and am able to see exactly how the process works. It really does look like they spent a lot of time at eHarmony and then gave the progression a few tweaks.

The matching criterion is completely different than the others matching dating sites out there. This is what will be used to differentiate them, along with what seems to be a focus on getting people to actually meet in person, from the other matching services.

So far I have to say that Chemistry.com looks the same only different.

That’s right it is National Singles Week, a whole week for recognizing singles. I thought we already had a day for that back in February. The 14th I believe. Oh wait; I’m sorry that is the day that singles recognize themselves as such. This is a week that we have chosen to get everybody celebrating singles. National Singles Week starts today and runs through Saturday. That sure is a whole week.

So what can be done about all this singleness? Well according to Match.com research, two-thirds of singles think that dating online is the best way to go. To assist singles in their quest to meet that special someone, Match.com will be offering, starting tomorrow, a three-day free trial for all new registrants. This trial offer gives new members the ability to get familiar with all that Match.com has to offer. Which includes communicating with other members, viewing as many as 26 pictures of other members and seeing who has seen your profile.

I wonder what eHarmony, PerfectMatch, Yahoo! Personals and other online dating services will be doing this week to get us singles to signup. If you were thinking about jumping into the world of online dating, National Singles Week might just be the right time to take the leap.

Well yesterday was new picture day. The photo I had been using on eHarmony was just over a year old. I posted How to Get Better Online Dating Photos a few days ago. From that list I went with the first idea so far. A professional photographer, you know standing in front of weird colored backdrops trying to unnaturally create a natural looking picture. No forced smiles, weird grins or funny looks. That was the goal anyway. Out of 20 or so good shots, there were about 5 that I actually sort of liked.

I fall into the category of un-photogenic people. I don’t like to be in pictures because I don’t think I come off very well most of the time. At least after viewing some of these shots I hope that is the case. As the camera only duplicates what is sees is true, but it is just a split second representation. Just before or just after you may have actually looked good. I can count on one-hand photos taken of me over my 32 years that I like. Unfortunately an incredibly charming photo of you when you were 12 does you no good.

Some people just naturally shine in photographs. Some just don’t. Some look good in pictures, but that is where they should stay. Others should stay away from the camera because it just doesn’t do them justice and still others should stay away for other reasons. This is a problem for online daters. All we have to go on is the photos people post of themselves online. So we need to post something. It might as well be something good or at least as good as it can be.

Online dating profiles with pictures get significantly more views than ones without. This includes the profiles with the incredibly bad photos and shots you just can’t believe anyone would put online. So you should make the best of this fact and put up something decent that gives a respectable and honest representation of what you look like. If you actually meet someone in person they are going to notice if that is not the case. An instantly disappointed date is not what we are going for here.

We need to put our best photo forward, so to speak. So I went to Sunset Portraits in Everett, WA to get a few shots taken. Hoping a professional could get a good shot of me. Well at least the lighting would be good anyways. No face in the dark of a poorly lit and flash-less photo. No special effects. No need for red-eye removal. Just a decent shot of me for use online.

Not in the Everett/Seattle, WA area and want to try using a professional photographer, take a look at LookBetterOnline. You can search their network of photographers for one in your area and view samples of their work.

I recently posted about Truth in Online Dating. How do you go about gauging the truthfulness of an online dater? Well you pretty much have to go with your gut. Although there are a few things you can do to navigate the world of online dating a little better.

• People have been known to Google a prospective online suitor to find out more about them.
• Read what they say in their profiles carefully. Do they seem to share some bits of personal information? Or, are they too limited? Do they seem to be reticent about who they are or what they are looking for?
• Check to see if they have posted more than one profile. Most won’t have changed much of their info but will have posted a profile with a different age or something.
• If everything look pretty good but their photos are not that great, ask them if they could send you some others. If they don’t want to maybe you should keep on looking.
• Ask them questions about info in their profile. Try to get some details about what they like to do or what kind of work they do. Ask yourself if what they are telling you sounds legitimate or not? If not, move on.

And know for some there is another way. You could check a profile that has caught your attention at a site like TrueDater. I came across them after reading an article at Red Nova on the subject of honesty in online dating.

You can check profiles of people from some of the large dating sites like Match.com and Yahoo! Personals. You just need your prospects screen name and a free account at TrueDater. You can search and see what others who have had contact with this person think about them. An online rating of an online dater that has peeked your interest, it is an interesting idea.

A possible problem with the site is that anyone can sign-up. You can give yourself a good recommendation. So be a little wary of the results you get here. Since it is in Beta (meaning not quite ready for primetime) it could still get better. You can just use it as another instrument in your online dating toolkit. Don’t let technology take over completely. Use common sense and follow your gut. If it is speaking to you, you should probably listen.