It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there when it comes to online dating.

Being judged based off of a profile picture and summary isn’t always the best way to find a future mate. And as we know, superficiality runs rampant on the internet – but that’s just the name of the game. Instead of hating on it, it’s time to embrace it by making your online dating profile more clickable, swipeable and overall, desirable.

And fortunately, we know just how to perfect it. Thanks to a study conducted of 4000 users of Zoosk.com, an online dating site, we now know the secrets behind a successful and popular dating user profile. Here are 7 tips for how to become an online dating pro.

Limit the words in your profile

Profiles with 100 to 200 words received “10 percent more messages.” It’s like Winston Churchill used to say, it should be “… long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.”

Use the words “confident” and “outgoing”

The Daily Mail reported that “positive identifiers such as confident and outgoing, received 23 percent more incoming messages and 4 percent more replies to their outgoing ones.” Obviously you should try to outline your positive qualities as much as you can. And since positive people tend to be more approachable, it’s no surprise that they receive more messages.

Improve your profile photo

According to the study, women who take their dating profile pictures indoors receive 60 percent more attention. It’s called good lighting, ladies. But men received 19 percent more attention when their photo was taken outdoors.

Taking a full-body shot also helps. The Daily Mail reported that “full-body photos boost both sexes success by 203 percent.” However, men are not recommended to take selfies – those that do receive 8 percent less messages.

Use this smiley :- )

Smileys that look like this 🙂 don’t get as much attention or responses as those that look like this :- ). Apparently, the dash nose makes a different in the love department.

Talk about exercising and reading

Online daters find people who read and work out, more attractive. Duh. According to the study, mentioning exercise and reading in your profile makes a difference for both sexes. Those who use these two words receive 21 percent more messages.

Women should be more forward

Women who talked about “dinner, drinks or lunch in the first message typically get 73 percent more replies,” according to the Daily Mail.

Men should not flirt

Men who used flirty words like “baby” and “beautiful” in their dating profile (creepy) got “10 percent and 13 percent fewer replies.” No surprise there.

So there you have it. A few proven tips on how to improve your overall profile look – good luck!

[[h/t Daily Mail]