Standing out in the crowd of the more than 40 million online dating users in the United States may seem an impossible task, but one 25-year-old claims to have cracked the code.
Lauren Urasek, a New York City-based makeup artist, was deemed last year the most sought-after straight woman on the online dating website OkCupid.com.
College Student Hires Fake Family for Christmas Card 98-Year-Old Couple Recreates Wedding Photos 70 Years Later for Anniversary“I was receiving around 35 messages a day,” Urasek told "Good Morning America" of her online dating popularity after joining OkCupid.com last January after a breakup.
Urasek began getting so many messages that she documented them on Tumblr and has now chronicled her dating experience in her new book, “Popular.”
Urasek's popularity was first documented in a 2014 story by New York Magazine in which OkCupid co-founder Christian Rudder analyzed the data from a one-week period and found that Urasek was the most sought-after straight woman, with a total of 245 messages during that one week alone.
“I still go on bad dates [and] I still don’t get texts returned from guys but, yeah, I get a lot of people asking me,‘Why do you get so many messages? How do I get more messages?,’” Urasek told "GMA."
The online dater, who is currently single, says having an eye-catching profile picture is key to drawing attention. She shared her tried-and-true formula with “GMA” viewers, in her own words.
Use a Selfie: "Lighting is everything when you're taking a selfie. Natural light is best and obviously the easiest to find. The best angle is a little above your eye line and make sure you're looking into the camera. The same thing, if you're taking a mirror photo, you should look into the actual camera in the mirror and not your reflection in the mirror."
Post a Conversation-Starter: "I get tons of messages about hockey because not only do I have a picture wearing a hockey jersey, but I write it in my interests, so a lot of guys can relate to that and it's an easy conversation starter for them."
Use 'The Grade' App to Rate Your Photos: "One of their coolest features is that you can have like five photos uploaded and as you set a photo as your main picture, it will gather actual data that shows you what the response rate is for that photo," Urasek said of "The Grade," for which she is a paid spokesperson.
Stay True to Yourself: "I think for everyone, you should just go in being you and just don't take it too seriously."