ONLINE CYRANOS OFFER A GUIDING HAND THROUGH INTERNET DATING MAZE

NEW YORK (AFP) - Single female, 35, attractive, likes movies, music. Would like to meet sincere, kind, good-looking man for long-term relationship.

The message is sweet, short, simple, and, according to an emerging breed of online dating consultants, totally useless. "I mean, 'I like movies' is classic. You might as well say 'I like breathing' for all the information it imparts or interest it arouses," said David Evans, founder of the Web-based firm ProfileDoctor.

Online dating is booming in the United States and Evans, 34, is one of a number of young dot-com pioneers who see a potential gold mine in the niche market of providing profile makeovers for unimaginative lonely hearts.

According to the Web tracking service comScore Media Matrix, more than 45 million Americans logged on to Internet dating sites in the month of May, and subscriber spending on those sites is running at around 100 million dollars a quarter, compared with 10 million dollars two years ago.

Given such enormous volume, the ability to put together a profilethat stands out from the crowd is a rare and powerful commodity.

For 35 dollars, visitors to Evans's site, www.profiledoctor.com, can submit an existing profile, which is analyzed and returned with feedback and suggestions on how it can be improved.

A Los Angeles-based firm's site, www.e-cyrano.com, offers a choice of packages, ranging from a 40-dollar "bronze" service that provides basic profile editing to a 200-dollar "platinum" option where a personal consultant writes a profile from scratch and follows up with a 30-minute phone consultation.

"Success at Internet dating is not defined by ending up with a wedding ring," said e-Cyrano founder Evan Katz. "It's about consistently meeting decent, quality people, and that's what we can help with."

Both Evans and Katz say the most common problem with the profiles they see is a reliance on bland, generic statements of the "I like music" variety.

To one male customer who had written that he wanted to meet a "sexy" woman, Evans offered the following advice: "What is 'sexy' to you? High-heeled boots, tattoos and an attitude? Laura Ashley, prairie-dress girl, Web mistress geek?

"Give them something to go on; otherwise, they will pass by you and go on to the next guy."

At the same time, the consultants warn against a tendency to exaggerate or even lie -- a common complaint among online daters.

"It sounds obvious, but honesty is important," said Katz. "Saying you are six-foot-one, when in fact you're five-foot-eight may help you get a date, but guess what -- she is going to find out in the end."

Too much honesty, however, can also be a turnoff. "Don't say that the main thing you learned from your last relationship was not to go out with an alcoholic who beat you. It's way too much information, " said Katz.

Both consultants voiced amazement at the fact that common sense is often the first thing to get discarded when people dive into the Internet dating pool.

A particular problem area is the accompanying photograph, which all too often has the subject totally obscured in a hat and sunglasses, or even hugging an old boyfriend or girlfriend.

"And you would be stunned at how many men go for the arms akimbo, drink in one hand, I'm-totally-drunk look," said Evans.

"Then you have the women whose photos are nothing but cleavage. And that's fine, so long as you realise that 80 percent of your respondents will be nappy-wearing perverts who live in their mothers' basements."

Getting the right photograph is the speciality of New York-based Mindy Stricke, who set up her website www.singleshots.com in June after being laid off from her job as a producer with the NBC news network.

Stricke, 30, charges 125 dollars for a 30-minute photo shoot, after which the subject will end up with two digital portraits, ready for uploading to a singles site.

Despite the increasing popularity of online dating, Stricke says she often has to counsel people who are worried about the "loser" stigma that still sticks to the idea.

"Some people are like, 'OK, I'm going to a photographer. Am I weird for doing that?' And I say, look, it's totally cool, everyone deserves a good photograph," she said.

"The picture should look like a friend took it -- only a friend who happens to be a really good photographer," she added.

One of Stricke's customers reported getting 1,100 hits in one week on the leading US dating site, Match.com, after posting her new photo.

Online dating consultancy is still in its infancy, but the number of cyber-Cyranos is growing fast, with names like cyberdatingguru.com and solvedating.com.

"It's like that old funeral business adage that there will always be the demand," said Katz. "It's the same for the love business. People will never stop looking for love."