By Dylan Alexander

Girls, no matter how beautiful you are, you can turn a guy off with your photos. Here are the top five photos that you DON’T want to post in your profile.

Partying/Drinking:
Look, I know you’re fun and have lots of friends... and when you do a girl’s night out, you really tear up the town. But this isn’t a popularity contest (well... sort of...) and posting photos of how wild you can get doesn’t actually make you more valuable to men. In fact, it often does the opposite.

Lots of people date online because they don’t like the bar scene and aren’t looking for a girl who lists “partying” as one of her special abilities. Putting photos up that display this can be a big turn off, even though you think they make you look social. Pictures with friends? Good. Pictures with friends while screaming and doing a round of body shots? Bad.

Standing next to Mr. Hot Ripped Guy:
Male stripper, hot model, bartender hunk with his shirt off, bodybuilder stud... whatever...

Your photos are supposed to attract US, not other women... No guy looking for a girl online will be impressed (or attracted at all) by her posing with some muscled dude with an 8-pack. At best, it turns most of us off because we think you are shallow (that’s OUR job!) At worst, it sends us running because we think you’ll only date guys who are ripped like that.

And the remaining few of us laugh because we think you are insecure enough that you have to post pictures of you posing with a guy you don’t know in order to prove to other men (and/or women) that you are desirable by association.

Sorry. But think of it this way... how impressed are you by guys who post photos of themselves beside hot bikini models who clearly aren’t their girlfriends? Not very.

Dressed In Costume:
There are FOUR* costumes that are acceptable for online dating photos:
1) French maid
2) Playboy bunny
3) Naughty angel
4) Sexy devil

That’s it. Anything else is a huge risk on your part, as men will read WAY too much into whatever you are wearing. Yes, if you have photos of yourself in a Jedi cloak or a Klingon battle uniform and want to attract a nearly unlimited stream of Star Wars/Star Trek fanboys... go for it. Just be aware that the other 90% of guys out there will very quickly move on to the next profile.

I should point out that if you use any of the above 4 photos, your hits will skyrocket... but so will the number of guys asking you for one night stands and sending you lewd photos.

*There are a few more costumes that qualify if done properly. These need to be examined on a case by case basis. For example: Catwoman, Wonder Woman, mermaids, etc...

Doing weird stuff with your face:
I have a photo burned into my head... a girl I met on Craigslist sent me, as her first/introduction photo, a picture of her holding two potato chips in her mouth so it looked like a duck’s bill. After that, any attraction that I had up to that point was completely eradicated.

Your face is your moneymaker... only do good things with it! I’ve seen way too many photos of women making weird faces, trying to look funny and unique. Look, if you have 10 photos in your backstage gallery, you can have ONE goofy face photo. That’s it. The position of your main/front page photo belongs exclusively to that which makes you look the most elegant and beautiful!

Posing in front of luxury stores:
Instead of posting a picture of yourself in front of the Prada flagship store, why not just post a picture with you holding up a sign that says “I want your money.”

This type of photo may impress your friends, but all that men read into it is... material wealth is important to you. This is not, and has never been, an attractive trait to men! Yes, there is a very small niche of men out there who will see it and think “Oh good, I can impress this girl with my money,” but you probably aren’t all that interested in that type of guy.

That’s it! The five types of online dating photo that you should post only at your own risk.

Happy Dating!

Dylan Alexander