Do I have time to do online dating?

One great thing about online dating is that, while it can provide a great way to do something with your time and introduce you to new people, it's actually something that you can fit in, even if your days are packed with other activities already.

It's just a case of logging-on when the right moment presents itself. You might find you have messages that you can respond to, or you might simply spend the time looking at who's listed on the site, and seeing who you might like to message. 

Here are three online dating tips for the time-challenged

Don't message everyone

It may take you some time to work out exactly which sorts of profiles are most likely to lead to a good conversation if you message the person behind them. But once you have this sorted, use your time wisely, and only send a message if you're really ready to spend a bit of time in conversation with someone. On the other hand, if you have plenty of time, think about messaging people you might not ordinarily think of as 'right for you' – this could lead to an unexpectedly good match!

Set a time

If you say you'll check sites three times a week, for half an hour each time, for example, you may be more likely to fit your dating site time in around everything else you need to do in life.

Make sure you let people you're messaging know that you're being strict with your site usage, though, so they're not offended if you take a while to reply.

On the other hand, if you find yourself starting a conversation with someone you really like, you might feel it's worth putting a bit more time in for a spell!

Complete a good profile

If your profile doesn't show who you are, you may find yourself contacted by people who are not a good match for you more often. However, by providing specific, well chosen details about things like hobbies and likes and dislikes, the number of people messaging you who have similar interests could well go up.