Dating - 5 Reasons To Overcome The Fear Of Showing Your Pictures

There are people in the online dating world who do not realize the importance of posting photos within their profile. No matter how many ways you look at it, the truth is not having a photo posted is just not effective when you are looking for a date.

For example, men who do not post their photo are found to be suspicious and alarming. Women will think that they are trying to hide their identity because they are either married, already in a relationship, have a criminal record, or have a warrant for their arrest. Women are generally cautious with men, more so when it involves online dating.

Men are also suspicious about women not posting their photo next to their profile, though this is more in reference to their physical appearance. Let's face it, men are more preoccupied with the way women look rather than any other factor, at least in the beginning. Granted, this is an unfair assumption on men, but the fact is, physical appearance is very important for them.

Regardless of the way you look, if you are serious about finding that special someone from online dating services, there is simply no reason for not posting your photo. Do not hide yourself if you're trying to be "out there".

Online daters have a lot of excuses for not submitting their photo. Below are 5 of the most common ones.

1. "I don't have a digital camera and/or a scanner in order to get my picture online." Although this may seem like a reasonable excuse, if you're serious about finding a match online, you will find a way to get a picture taken of yourself. Also, most dating services get photos by snail mail and can scan them for you.

2. "I'm embarrassed about people finding out that I'm trying to get a date online." Everyone who goes to the dating website and sees your photo will definitely know that you are looking to find a date online. How do they know this? Because they're also on that website browsing for the same reason. So there is no reason to feel embarrassed. You are all looking for the same thing!

3. "I'm insecure about the way I look." Think about this, when you meet people in person, you are a walking candid photo. If you look at the photos of the other members, you will find that some of them are good looking and some of them are not but most are just average looking folks. Besides, you will have to meet someone in person eventually, so it's best to show yourself from the start.

4. "I want people to contact me for my personality and not just because of the way I look." Seriously now, do you really think that looks don't matter when finding a mate? Unless you already have some other kind of connection with anybody, it's pretty hard to find good chemistry based on anything else other than physical attraction. Sounds superficial, but is a realistic situation, isn't it?

5. "I am a famous (or notorious) person." This excuse does not refer to the majority of online daters. Dating websites show that even well-known people use their services. But even if you are one of them, there is still no reason to not post your photo. Try to look for one that's blurry or perhaps one where it was taken from a distant shot. Although people will have a hard time seeing you, at least they can put some form of a face to your profile and confirm that you are a serious dater.