How many times have you read this kind of description? The most important thing to fill out in your profile is your profile photo. You could say you're a drug addicted former prostitute who's been divorced three times, but if you have a great photo you'll still get ten times as many emails as an investment banker with a dull photo. So let's go over the basics:

(1) The primary photo should show you smiling. Serious photos don't look very friendly. A few people can look good with a slight smile, but most simply look silly. If a slight smile doesn't work, try a wide smile. Take several samples of several kinds of smiles and show them to friends and get multiple opinions (it helps to have a digital camera for this). Make sure your face is not dark, or shiny with a bright light shining on it. This is the most important part of the profile so it is important you get it right.

(2) The primary photo should show just your face in a closeup. A shrinked down version of your photo will be used in the dating service's directory. If you used a distant or body shot for your primary photo, your face will look tiny in the shrinked down photo. Faces look most appealing when you can see the eyes up close, but not so closeup that you can't see the entire face and hair. In the shrinked down versions, shots that aren't closeups make the eyes look like tiny dots.

3) You should also have a secondary photo showing your body. If you don't, people will think that you're hiding something (that you're fat). The shot can show you almost anywhere, but try to avoid shots where you're hugging former boyfriends/girlfriends or doing something goofy. Men, wear shirts. Women, wear bras. If you're in a fancy suit or dress it can cut both ways--it can make you look good, but also make you look too fancy-fancy. Better to show yourself in relaxed clothes, if you have a good picture.