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Hollywood Casting Expert Brings Her Expertise to Online Dating

By John Ostapkovich

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (CBS) -- Looking for a mate online?  What if you approached the job as if you were a casting director?

It's an idea that may be just crazy enough to work.

The early stages of online dating are an audition of sorts.  That realization hit Damona Hoffman a decade ago, as she shuffled through headshots and résumés for Hollywood.

"When I started to apply those same technique that I used with my actors to my online dating experience, I realized that it worked," she recalls, "and it was all about how I presented myself through my photos, through what I said.  And I really thought of it almost from a branding perspective."

Out of that grew her happy marriage, a business, a web site, and a book: Spin Your Web: How to Brand Yourself for Successful Online Dating.

bookMuch like researching a college or a new home, she says, her methods can eliminate the 95 percent of candidates who aren't going to make the cut anyway.

Then you can communicate with some of the rest and, if magic occurs, good for you.

For more information, go to "DearMrsD.com."

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