Online dating is a good way to hone your skills when it comes to e-mailing, texting, and talking to women on the phone and interacting in person. However, online dating is NOT a good way to date! It's just not... you might get lucky, but online dating is inferior to other forms of dating. When you're standing in line at a store, and strike up a conversation with the girl in front of you, then your experience from the online girls will help you be normal, comfortable, and not awkward, creepy, or try too hard or have any high expectations. But right there in a real life encounter is where the girl is going to get a good impression from you. I have seen these girl's online dating inboxes and it is RIDICULOUS.. they get 500 views, 63 emails, 129 winks, 90 saved as favorites in ONE DAY, lol. Seriously, it overwhelms them, and you should be flattered if a women who is even mildly attractive gives you the time of day online.
These same women get hit on by creepy guys, one-liners yelled at them sometimes, and will be attacked at bars, but it is far rarer for someone to just strike up a conversation with them while waiting in line at a store, or wherever. That is where you will stand out and make an impression, and unlike your online dating profile, you don't have a big stamp on your forehead that says "Divorced". Online dating can work out sometimes, yes, but I wouldn't expect it to. Use it as a "training ground" for real life encounters. You might get lucky and find someone online, but I wouldn't expect it to happen.
Then realize it takes time. So you strike up a good conversation with a girl at Kohl's or the gas station, or wherever, and at the end say "Hey, I'm [John], do you want to talk more some time? I can give you my cell?" or whatever you like to say, and she's going to be polite and take it but never text/call you, or she honest to God has a boyfriend or is married/engaged but doesn't have her ring on. If you're denied, you should have your smile ready with "Hey, you can't blame me for asking!" and you're just giving her a nice complement. You shouldn't be crushed.. this is what you should expect, just like a great hitter in baseball expect to "fail" 70% of the time. You won't just find that special someone easily, just like it's not easy to hit a home run, but you have to try. Keep your expectations down and have fun interacting with women. When you get frustrated, take a break, then go back when you're ready again. Eventually something will pan out, it just takes time, and online is a good thing to have, but it should be secondary. You can interact with hundreds of women online easily, but the success rate is low. Real life encounters come around less often for people who are busy, but they are the most fun and have a higher success rate than 1 in 100!
Whatever you do, do NOT take advice from these losers who advise you to be "cocky and funny". Those people are scammers who prey on the lonely guys who are having women trouble. That girl who never called/texted? She wasn't right for you. You don't want to be something you're not, and guess what... 95% of women have a word for "cocky and funny" and it is "********", lol. You'll get the 5% who have serious issues and were verbally abused as kids, and miss out on the 95% of normal women doing that crap.