Introduction: The first step to meeting girls, in 5 easy parts

Okay, so you want to make an effort to improve your social skills and meet more women. Great. The Internet is perfect for that.

Here's the first step, and it will only take an hour, tops.

Now, really, this is just the first step. This gets the ball rolling. After all, this isn't like opening a business: you don't have to get everything exactly perfect before you open your doors. In fact, if you attempt that, you'll never ever meet a girl. This is about getting the basics together and refining and getting better over time.

So, do ALL of the following, in order:

1. Go through your photos and create a folder of your GREAT photos of yourself. By this I don't mean "the best you have". They have to be great. If than means this folder is only 3 photos, So be it. If it means none, so be it. Here's what defines a great photo:

• You gotta look good. I put this in here at the top because even if a photo matches all the bullet points below, it can still be lame.
• You're smiling. Even if you're an emo kid, you should have at least a half-assed smirk or Mona Lisa stoke victim smile. I'll explain why in a future post, but for right now, trust me. Avoid no cheesy grins. "candid" photos where you were just caught in the act of having a good time are way better than posed ones.
• Body flaws are minimized. We all got body flaws. But not in our photos. Girls do this all the time (see: Myspace angle). What you're avoiding here is: acne, double chins, guts, gone-too-long without a haircut (unless that's your style, you know, Bam Margera style), flabby arms, bad teeth, gross fingernails, etc. Photoshopping is ok if you're a PRO but don't overdo it. People are becoming better at spotting the effects of photoshop.
• You are the focus of the photo. And you are the best looking guy in the photo. Seriously. If your friends are better looking than you, crop those fuckers out. Group photos are ok, but avoid ones where you're not even the focus of (eg: "I'm the 7th from the left"). Girls in them are OK too; actually, that's a plus. But avoid really ugly or obese women (even if it's your sis), and avoid photos that look like clingy ex-girlfriends. I'll explain more about this in future posts.
• All other standard definitions of "great photo" apply: don't be in a shadow, etc.

Set this folder aside. You'll use it later.

2. Pick a handle (screenname) that is NOT your usual online name. This will be used on your first site you sign up with. Screen names can affect what a girl thinks of you, and is their first impression of you, along with your photo. And believe it or not, girls will read a whole lot into your scren name. Here's some guidelines:

• Do NOT, under any circumstances, use your normal screen name. You want to tightly control the information that you let out about yourself with this profile, so a new name with no Google history is required.
• Avoid like AIDS handles that have negative connotations. Your screen name makes a bigger impression with girls than you'll ever realize, and you will be asked the meaning of your name.
  
• Avoid negative words like "hate", "killer", "evil". Avoid sad words like "lonely", "column", "sorrow", "rainy", and, well, "sad". Oh yeah, and definitely not "AIDS".
• Flexible handles are better than specific ones. For example, a screen name of "IceCreamCone" is better than "AvidGolfer". Why? Well if the girl hates golfing, you already have a stroke against you. On the other hand, only a fucking heartless bitch is going to hate on you for having "IceCreamCone" (although it's not the most butch of names).
  
• Avoid popular-culture references (for the same reasons to avoid "AvidGolfer"). Especially nerdier stuff. Avoid Comics, WoW, D&D, etc,
• Finally, after you picked it, check it to make sure something horrid like a dog-fucking site (or worse, a video game website) isn't on the first or second page when you google it.

If you can't think of a suitable name in 5 minutes, you're taking my rules too literally. Remember, a generic name is fine. The screen name does not have to turn on, just not turn them off. Here's a great way to come up with one. Think of a line from one of your favorite songs that isn't a million seller. Pick two of three of the words from one of the lines. It *might* be recognized by someone, but probably only if they like the song too. Everyone else will just think it's a unique name. I just picked one from a song in 5 seconds: "overflowingGently". Do you recognize it? No, no you don't. You'll be picking screen names a few more times, so don't labor on it too much.

Keep in mind here the rules for a screen name won't apply to conversation in general with girls. It's not like you'll have to hide your interest in golf, or wizards, or whatever from girls. It's just a handle is so much of a first impression element.

3. Sign up for ONE dating site. The site-de-jour is OKCupid.com; I highly recommend it. It's got tons of young, good looking (and outright hot) girls on it who are real, and looking to date, and it's free. Okcupid.com will ask for a handle. Give it the one you made up. If you have to add a number to it don't use 69 or the year you were born.

Sites like Match.com and eHarmony tend to have more older women I call Gollums (desperately searching for a ring), and I avoid them. Also avoid Craiglist for now. There are ways to use CL but I'll touch on them later.

4. Pick your best photo and upload it. Remember that photo thing I had you do on step 1? Out of all your great photos, pick your best one. if you didn't have ANY that you'd qualify as great, like, let's say you never EVER smile, then just pick your best favorites out of your non-great.

This shouldn't be a chore. It should probably be a portrait, meaning roughly from chest up, so you can see the sparkle in your eyes. Do NOT pick a group shot for your best photo. If you're lookin' hotter than ever in that group photo from that summer trip to six flags with your WoW buddies, then crop it so it's just you. This will be your number one photo for your profile.

Upload your best photo and set it as default. Also add 2 or 3 GREAT ones if you got em. No need to do more than 3. NOTE: Only upload great photos.

If someone handed you a steak dinner from a five star steakhouse, but sitting on the site of the dish was a tiny little shit ball, you'd push the entire plate away. The same thing goes with photos: You might thinking adding a sub-par photo is still adding to your profile, but not as much as a great one would, but it's not. it's taking away. Trust me. BTW, this isn't lying, and it's not going to all come crashing down when you meet a girl in real life. trust me on this too. We'll talk about how to deal with that in a future post.

5. Fill out the profile. Fill out each section of your profile. Do a good job but spend no more than 20 minutes on it. Time yourself. Seriously, get out your phone and set up a 15 minute timer. When it goes off, hit Save. then set a 5 minute timer and fill out the rest of it as fast as you can. Hit save again. Put some thought into it, but not too much thought into it. Save it.

You're Done! Now wait for the pussy to roll in. Okay, so, it's not quite that easy. But you may actually be surprised; you may have emails from girls in the next 48 hours. All these steps are the FIRST step towards getting girls through the Internet. It's about getting the ball rolling. And soon you'll be revising your profile.

Your next step is right around the corner. If you can do it now, then do it now! If not, do it soon, within 24 hours. The next step is right here.