Taking Online Dating To The Next Level

Last year, more than 40 million Internet users searched for love online. But with so many personal ads out there, how can you make yours stand out? The Early Show relationship contributor Amy Kean found that as always, where there's a demand, someone will meet it – for a price.

Sometimes personal ads are best left to the pros, because let's face it, not everyone has a way with words. What if you could hire someone to tell you just what to say?

Financial advisor Tom Pandolfo took that route in his quest for love. "I figured maybe I could get the assistance from a professional, that could help out and would actually be a good investment in and of itself," Tom says.

When he put himself on the market, he played up his best qualities, but there was just one small problem. "I'm not just short, I'm very short," Tom explains. "It's short physically, but not mentally or emotionally."

While his height has never been an issue for Tom, it was a big problem online. "You gotta face it, you're 5'3" you're not going to show up on many search mechanisms or search engines. That's the one thing I want people to get their focus off of and get more of a focus on me, who I am," he says.

So Tom called in a pro, author, coach and dating guru Evan Marc Katz, to help him with his online profile.

While he can't make his clients taller, he can make them sound larger than life. "My job is to make the most of what people have. You're on a Web site where people have hundreds and thousands of choices. You got a couple of seconds so you gotta lead with your best material," Evan says.

With Evan's help, Tom became "a man you can look up to."

"I thought why would you want me to say anything about my height? And he said, 'Why not just come clean with it? This is what it is,'" Tom explains.

"What you'll probably notice first is that I'm short. Very short in fact. So if you're worried about falling objects, definitely date a taller guy, but if you're looking for a man that makes you feel truly secure, I've got you covered," Tom's ad reads.

"It focuses on heart, what's important. It shows he has a sense of humor. And more importantly, it shows that he's confident," Evan says. "No one is going to sound like Tom Pandolfo."

"We dealt with it really, really head on. And the results have been amazing," Evan adds.

Tom says his profile is getting 50 to 60 views and 10 to 12 e-mails daily.

But what's a perfect profile without the perfect photo? There's even a service for that.

"The picture is the first glimpse of whether there may be chemistry there," says Mindy Stricke, who runs singleshots.com, a service that specializes in photos for online daters.

Once you've "clicked," how do you take your relationship to the next level? For that, Evan provides continued coaching. "There's always going to be a need for love. This stuff works. The people that put in the time to succeed are the ones to succeed," he says.

So if you want to catch Tom's eye, how tall should you be?

"It makes no difference if somebody is 4'10" or 5'10" to me. 6'3" would maybe be a little bit difficult," he says, laughing. "But I'd still go out with somebody 6'3", what the heck!"

(For more information, go to www.evanmarckatz.com or www.singleshots.com.)