How to initiate contact with someone on a dating website

After being on the new dating website for less than one month, I have gotten about 500 emails, winks and "likes."  It is a task to go through all the correspondences.  From what I have encountered, I thought of suggestions for how to initiate contact with someone you find interesting on a dating website:

1.  Do not contact the person on a Friday night or Saturday night.  It will seem as if you do not have a social life.

2.  Writing an email is preferable over winking or "liking them."  An email shows that you put more thought and effort into it.  Also, if you wink or "like" the other person, they will usually only wink or "like" you back if they are interested (rather than emailing you).  Then you have to email anyway.

3.  This is your first impression so you want to make it a good one.  Your profile will be your second impression since they will check your profile next.  For suggestions on how to write a profile description, go to Advice for online dating profiles and Advice for signing up.

4.  Have a photo on your profile. If you do not want to put up a profile photo publicly, then explain to the other person that you can email one to them.  For suggestions on profile pictures, go to Advice for online dating profiles.

5.  Write a catchy subject title to stand out from the other emails they are getting.  "Hi" is very generic.

6.  I find that the vast majority of emails have multiple typos and/or grammatical errors.  Remember, this is your first impression so you want to appear intelligent.  Check your email for typos and grammatical errors.  Use spellcheck if you need.  Speeling erors can b very anoying, n can make o brake u!

7.  A lot of people also do not capitalize words or use punctuation marks.  Other than not appearing intelligent or seeming like you care to put in the effort to write an appropriate email, you may also confuse the other person with you what you are writing.  For example: The sentence, "Tim said the teacher is dumb" can be interpreted in two ways:
    -  Tim said, "The teacher is dumb."
    -  "Tim," said the teacher, "is dumb."

8.  DO NOT WRITE IN ALL CAPS.  The only emphasis you are making is that you seem loud.

9.  Do not address the person as "sweetheart" or "gorgeous."  Use their name!

10. Do not ONLY write one-liners such as "Hi.  How are you?" as your entire message.  This is not Instant Messaging or texting!  You should write something more detailed to show you are putting thought into it, and to grab their attention.

11. A good length would be 1-2 short paragraphs.  Include something specific you read in their profile, something unique about you to make you more memorable, commonalities you have, and a couple of questions.

12. It would be great if you include something witty or humorous.  However, be careful, as you do not know the person yet and not everyone has the same sense of humor as you.

13. Do not lie. Why would you start off being dishonest to someone who is a potential partner, even if it is a small lie?

14. Do not concentrate on writing about their good looks, unless you only want a casual relationship.  You do not want to appear superficial.

15. Instead of writing an email in traditional letter form, you can do something unique.  One guy copied a poem from a book he read because it reminded him of me.  Another copied and pasted the qualities that I said I wanted in my partner from my profile, and addressed how he had each one.  There was one guy who emailed me a funny, witty list entitled Top Ten
Reasons Why You Haven't Written Back.  Of the hundreds of emails, these
stood out in my mind.