LoveHowTo Dating Directory: Ancillary Services

If your profile isn't attracting the attention you think it should, you might want to try this service. There are several packages, from a quick editing session to a complete profile and help with selecting your photos.

Ah, Cyrano, the large-nosed romantic who ghost-wrote love letters for a less articulate suitor. E-Cyrano, founded in 2003 by a former staffer at online dating powerhouse Sparks Networks, updates the concept. It offers various packages to spiff up your online dating profile, from a line-by-line makeover of your existing ad to a from-scratch profile. There's even one-on-one consulting with the site’s Evan Marc Katz, at $1,500 a month.

As its name suggests, Profile Helper guides you to a better profile. You can send them your existing profile and have them critique it or, for an extra $10, edit it. They also write profiles from scratch and provide photo consultations, since having the right picture is so critical.

A coaching service that helps with photos, profile-writing and dating generally through phone consultations, teleseminars and audio CDs: Julie Ferman's "Marketing Yourself for Romance" (2.5 hours) and Alison Armstrong's "In Synch with the Opposite Sex" (4.5 hours). Julie met her husband through Great Expectations: he worked there! Also a matchmaking service.

The importance of your photo in your dating profile cannot be underestimated. Look Better Online matches you with a professional photographer in your area, arranges a 45-minute shoot, puts your photos up online and helps you choose the rights ones.

SafeCheckIn calls itself a "Guardian Angel." You should never go out with a stranger without putting a friend on call. Too embarrassed to ask a friend? Hire a pro. When you leave for a date you "check out," informing SafeCheckIn where you're going and your expected return time. Upon arriving home safely, you email or text message SafeCheckIn to check back in. If they don't hear from you, they'll call your mobile phone. If they cannot reach you, they will begin to notify and inform your primary contacts of your overdue status.

Curious about someone? Run a quick search, a background check, a check of criminal records or any of dozens other options. Only know a phone number? Try the reverse directory. The Date Mate package combines three search types - criminal background, public records and assets - into one report covering such key questions as marriage and divorce status, birth and child support records, arrests and pending lawsuits, and major asset ownership.

With a full name, birthday and current address, InvestiDate, a subsidiary of dating site SaferDates.com, will search marriage records, sex offender status, felonies and misdemeanors.

With a name and a birthday, SafeDate lets you run a background check on anyone in the US.

Kathryn Lord is a psychiatric social worker with almost 30 years of professional experience with individuals and couples. She now works as a "romance coach" to help people navigate "the twists and turns of finding love online." She has a free blog and email newsletter.

Los Angeles-based Karin Anderson and Beth Roberts claim a 100% success rate - themselves included (both met their husbands online). They co-wrote a book, Finding Your Love Online (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1419612948?tag=lovehowto-20) and offer personalized coaching services through their "Coaching to Marriage" program. They can start from scratch or work with your current profile, help you choose the right service for you, screen the responses you get and approve your prospective dates, create a "first date plan" and recap every date to determine if you should go out with that person again. It's hand-holding to the max.

MatchMatrix claims to help you figure out whether you're compatible with someone even before you've started dating them, purely on the basis of birth dates. But it’s not astrology! The program identifies the four “emotional alignments” you share with another person, communication style, activity level, financial logic and sexual response. Get a "communication" report for free, or purchase a report covering attractions or relationships.

This service was designed to help you revamp your profile, but seems to be out of business. Clicking on any of their offerings brings up the notification "PersonalTrainer [sic] is temporarily unable to accept new orders."