Don't send a form letter
When you send out dozens of responses to personal ads without getting a reply, it can get pretty frustrating, but resist the temptation to put together a form response to fire off to every girl who posts an ad. No matter how quirky you try to make it, it's always obvious to the recipient and it's very impersonal. Instead, write a personal response to each ad that interests you, noting specific things in her ad that attracted you.
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Don't use the "list method"
When describing yourself to the poster, avoid using boring lists. Instead of writing:
"My interests: Running, hiking, swimming, dancing, hang out with friends, seeing live music, MT bike riding, people watching, cooking and photography."
Try something more natural and conversational like
"I like all kinds of outdoor activities. I do a lot of running and swimming to stay in shape. "
" I like going dancing at Club ____, have you ever been there?"
" I see live music a lot, ____ is my favorite band."
Don't expect your pictures to do all the talking
It's great to include a picture of yourself with your response, but don't expect your picture to do all the work. Yes, attraction has a lot to do with physical appearance, but if you're looking for more than a quick hookup, personality plays a much bigger part than most people think.
Don't LOL
Showing a sense of humor in your response is great, and laughing at yourself shows a charming amount of humility, but overuse of "LOL's" can seem a bit like dealing with a high school girl.
Don't waste time describing your appearance
A picture may not be able to do ALL the talking, but it should do some of it. When including a picture, it's not really necessary for you to describe your height, weight, and hair color. If you've sent a good picture, this information is all right there in front of them at a single glance. Use the opportunity to show off your sparkling personality, instead.
Don't email EVERY person who posts an ad
When it comes to personal ads, quantity does not equal quality. Really take the time to read the ad and decide if you'd get along with this person. If the girl says she's not interested in anything serious and you're hoping for "the one," move on to the next ad. If he says he wants a girl to go see a local punk rock show with him, and you only listen to hip hop, try another one.
Sending rapid-fire responses to everyone you see wastes everyone's time. And even if the poster responds and sets up a date, wouldn't you rather spend a few hours with someone with whom you share a few common interests?
Don't send poetry
Poetry is a very personal and artistic thing, and each person's tastes vary widely. Most people will tell you they dread being asked to read a friend's poetry, so don't expect a complete stranger to jump at the chance. In attempts to seem romantic, respondents often send verses without bothering to talk about themselves or why they are responding to the ad. If you're the poetic type, try to get to know someone first before sharing your poetry to be sure it's something he or she will truly appreciate.
Don't talk about your junk.
Unless this information was specifically requested in the ad, resist the temptation to try to woo the poster with the size, shape, and detailed description of your most intimate parts. Even the super sexual open-minded posters will think you sound a little too eager and, let's be honest, the guys with the biggest members don't need to talk about them.
Don't turn on your CAPS LOCK
There's nothing more annoying than opening an email to discover a complete stranger SHOUTING AT YOU. Take the time to use proper capitalization, and while you're at it, try throwing in some punctuation and proper grammar. Despite what Married...With Children taught us, no one actually wants to go out with an idiot.
Don't send a picture of your car, dog, boat, house, favorite tree, third grade teacher, etc.
If you're going to include a picture with your response, don't waste time by sending pictures of things that aren't you. If you're not impressive in either personality or looks, the poster won't care that you have the cutest dog on the block. And resist the urge to try to impress someone by posing in front of your "hot" car. This is just cheesy and rarely impresses anyone.
Don't make judgements about yourself
It's good to tell the poster something about yourself, but don't use descriptive terms such as attractive, funny, witty, smart, etc. These types of words are judgements THEY will make about you based on how you present yourself. If you want the poster to think you're funny, say something funny. If you want them to think you're attractive, send an attractive picture. The key here is to show instead of tell.
Don't send a picture that doesn't look like you
If you send the poster a glamour shot, you had better look like that 99% of the time. Also avoid pictures that are blurry, far away, dark, or otherwise obscure what you really look like. Your ultimate goal is to meet this poster in person, and they will quickly figure out your game when they see the real you.
Don't forward the same message to several girls, leaving all the previous recipients in the body.
This may sound too ridiculous to be true, but it's happened to me several times. This is even worse than sending the form letter, because you're either too careless or too stupid to even try to hide the fact that you're sending the same message to many different girls.
OnMyList
List your pants off!