It is predicted that within the next five years, around 50% of all single adults will be using Internet dating services to meet other singles. Wow. That’s a huge number. Just as other online industries have transformed, the Online Dating Industry is also evolving, with some real niches becoming apparent. One such niche is the arrival of the Online Dating Coach, a professional who works directly with you to help you establish and then develop the relationships you’ve found online. A good Online Dating Coach will help you to market yourself well on the dating site, and help you to attract user interest.

A good Online Dating Coach will interview you and assess you using some special coaching tools. The coach will then help you to put your thoughts, values and feelings on paper (or on the registration / profile form), which effectively creates your online profile. The coach will then help you analyse how your thoughts, values, and feelings are affecting the matches you receive, and offer advice on how to further improve your profile to get better success.

Online dating coaches work very well with clients who have been out of the dating methodology for a while, because they can help to educate and rehabilitate you on CURRENT dating practices. Yes, dating itself has new rituals and practices every few years – and it’s important to stay up to date.

Online dating coaches often work by phone to overcome distance issues, generally for 30 mins or so at a time, and on a once or twice a week basis. The first coaching session looks at the bigger picture issues, and you’ll find the questions get more and more personal week on week… but this is important to really find out what’s going on in your life, and what needs to change. It’s a bit like counselling. Expect updates on how your dates have been that week, flirting practice, and role playing in preparation for your next “big night out”.

If you do decide to get an online coach (and it’s not for everyone), do check out their professional academic credentials. A dating coach with a background in Psychology or social work can be useful. They can normally work out if you are shy or conceited, over confident or arrogant, loud or boisterous. A really good dating coach can even help your supposed “defects” to work in your favour when dating.

If you are truly open with your online dating coach, and allow them to help you regardless of any negative feelings you may have about the process, then you’ll learn a lot about yourself. This can only make you feel more comfortable with the personality you show to the wider world – and therefore more comfortable with meeting random people and dating them.

Dating and looking for your perfect match? Find your match at Xpress.com, Amateur Match and Webcam Club.