Ahhhh, the personal ads! There are a variety of online personal ad services that can help you find a potential pen pal, friend, date, and even a life long partner.

Personal Ad Acronyms:
SWF, DBM, ISO, MWM, these are acronyms, or abbreviations for terms. I do not care for these. Some people like using acronyms, if you are one of them or need help deciphering them, check out my Personal Ad Acronym page.

Creating Your Personal:
If you include a photo it should be high quality and make you look great! However, if you look so phenomenal in your photo that you do not even recognize yourself in it, choose another one. Make your photo fun and interesting by having your dog or pet in it with you.

When you create your personal ad, do not reveal personal identifying information. Use correct grammar and check your spelling carefully. Do NOT WRITE YOUR PERSONAL AD IN ALL CAPS, IT HURTS THE EYES and is tiring to read. Talk about yourself, your hobbies, your accomplishments, favorite music, the great aspects of your personality. Remember, you are selling yourself... accentuate the positive.

You should also mention what you are looking for. People will be more likely to respond if they can view themself as a potential partner for you, so let them know what you want. If you really want a match who has never been married and has no children, say so, and briefly state why.

Show your personality in your ad rather than telling. Instead of saying, "I have a great sense of humor," show that you have a great sense of humor in your writing style or by sharing a funny experience that demonstrates your great sense of humor. Likewise, if you love animals, it is much more interesting to read "I have a grey fluffy cat and a loud mouthed, but comical parrot who are like my children.", rather than "I love animals." Instead of saying, "I love rock music," show that you love it by mentioning a recent concert you attended and how much fun it was.

If you have quirks about a mate that you will not accept, state so in your personal to avoid building a relationship with someone who will not appeal to you in the long run. For example, if you will not accept someone who doesn't love cats, say so! There are cat lovers out there who will appreciate that and respond.

Reponding To A Personal:
So, you found a personal ad that appeals to you and you want to get in touch with the person who created it. Great! Instead of sending an email, send a free electronic greeting. It's different and it's fun. You can find free greetings at the AmazonCastle Postcard Shoppe and at several other free greetings sites online.

When responding to a personal ad for the first time, don't drone on about yourself unless the personal ad told you to. Make your response fun, uplifting, and drop a couple hints about yourself. Compliment the person based on information provided in the personal... who doesn't love a compliment? Briefly state what you have in common and tell the person you look forward to hearing from him or her.

Do not create a generic response. If your email response to a personal ad could apply as a response to any personal ad, throw it out. Your response should be personal and geared specifically toward the person you are responding to.

Your email should be one which initiates a needed reply. Ask questions... nothing personal, just questions based on their personal or unrelated to their personal. Keep the conversation flowing, and do not focus solely on yourself.

Use the subject of your email to catch their attention. A lot of people look at the subject of the email to determine whether they will open and read the email or throw it out. Don't use a generic subject such as "response to your personal ad." Use something more personal such as "Hey surfer, I checked you out." (if they mentioned they like surfing, for example). Keep your response short. Some personal ads generate a lot of email and opening a long email might be overwhelming or intimidating. Hence, your email might be junked unread.

You can also take note of replies to your own personal ad. Pay attention to which responses are boring and learn from their mistakes.

Problems with Personal Ads:
If you have posted a personal ad and think that you are not getting enough responses to it, analyze it. Show your personal ad to close friends or family and ask them to help you. Sometimes your friends can be your best resource for composing a personal ad, they can honestly portray you and things about you that you might overlook.

Also, browse through other personal ads. Note which ads you do not like and why. Pick ads that you enjoy reading (whether or not the person appeals to you) and decipher what it is about the ad that makes it appealing.

Personal Ad Services:
There are some great online services where you can peruse personal ads, or create your own. Read the user agreements before joining any service, and look carefully for hidden fees. You can get a good idea of what kind of people are attracted to a particular online personal ad service by browsing the personal ads prior to joining and putting your own up.