Many people have found happy relationships and marriage through online match making services. Many others have canceled their internet match making site memberships in frustration. What does it take to succeed in finding your ideal match online?

Well, there are various things, some of which we have some control over and others that we do not.

You see, whether online or in real life, cupid's arrow often can and does miss. It can also be aimed in the wrong direction. That is life, and there is not much we can do about it except learn and move on.

But more often than not, success in online match making begins with knowing yourself and what you want. This may seem simplistic, but most people do not know what they really want or the type of person they seek, beyond physical attributes.

An important aspect of finding your match online that many often get wrong is the dating profile. Also known as your personal ad, your profile is all prospects have to go by in deciding whether to contact you or not. Get this one aspect wrong and your online match making efforts will be mediocre at best.

While some dating services from UFA Web often require minimal amount of profile information, an online match making service will usually go deeper.

The basis of writing a wining dating profile is knowing yourself. It would help to write down your interests, hobbies, and about other aspects of your life such as religion (if it's important to you), guiding philosophy and anything else you can think of.

And in order to help narrow down the field, you could make these three lists:

1. Must haves: these are the things you just cannot do without, that are part and parcel of your life as well as your pursuit of happiness. Your partner must at most minimum be prepared to support you in these.