Find Mr and Ms Right on the web

Most dating sites work by having users select the type of person they are looking for by inputting various preferences, ranging from religion to eye colour to marital status.

On hitting "enter", they get a list of profiles of people who meet their criteria. Members also fill in their own profiles for others to sift through.

Points of initial contact depend on the site. Some have an on-site messaging service, some leave respondents to contact each other via their own e-mail.

There are many sites - some charging for membership, some free - and the best way to choose which suits is to visit them.

Sites have different personalities and user profiles. Ploughing through and reading a selection of profiles is the best way of finding out which one is best for you.

An extensive list of local sites can be found at Zwelra

Look for sites that allow you to block, or ignore, problem and pesky people and which have a set-up for sending in complaints about inappropriate behaviour for the site (bearing in mind that some pretty wild behaviour is perfectly okay on some sites).

You'll need to provide a profile: who you are, what you are looking for. Most site members we spoke to said that the more detail you put in, the better the response you will get. And profiles with photos tend to get a higher response rate.

You will also need to think of an alias, or nickname. Think this one through, because on the net, your name is your face and one of the few things people will have to judge you by. Think about who you are trying to attract before choosing BlondeBustyFlirt, for example.

Always keep in mind that people do not always tell the truth in their profiles and many have more than one profile.

Apply all of the above with a liberal dash of Net Safety 101, such as not giving out your real details, meeting people in a public place, etc.