You want to slip your dating life into high gear and have decided to look into online dating. How do you locate the best online dating services?

First, talk to friends, co-workers and family to see if they have had a good experience with a dating site, online.

Spend some time doing a search for online dating sites. Google is a good search engine. Check out the sites that are listed 1-10; these are generally the most popular. Investigate each site and decide which ones appeal to you most.

Identify any specialized dating preferences that you might have. Many online dating sites cater to ethnic diversity, sexual preferences, religious interests and more. Once you have identified your preference, search under that specialty. For example, "Jewish dating," "Christian dating," and "Swingers dating." These are all very popular types of specialty online dating sites.

When investigating a site, look at the membership numbers. The greater the membership numbers the more opportunities you will have to partake of and the more choice you will have in meeting someone that will interest you.

Try a few test runs first. Look for sites that offer free trial memberships. This will give you a good taste for what resources are available in online dating. You can familiarize yourself with the databases of available dates and generally get a good feel for what you will be in for when you do join a site.

Your online dating experience can be fun and full of surprises. Consider signing up with more than one good dating site. The more profiles you offer, the more opportunities you will have to really enjoy yourself while meeting new and exciting people.