Too many of us make an all-too-easy mistake online dating that tanks our chances of finding love

The week leading up to Valentine's Day is typically one of the busiest for online dating services - meaning if you're signing up or logging on in the next few days, it'll be harder than ever to stand out.

Lucky for you, there's a simple - and painfully obvious - way to keep from blending into the crowd: Put more time and effort into filling out your profile.

Data from PlentyofFish reveals that users spend about 10 minutes creating their profile, on average - but those who spend about 20 minutes are twice as likely to leave the site in a relationship.

What's more, POF users who add detail and photos to their profile are four times more likely to meet someone on the site than users who have minimal detail and no pictures.

Detail could mean anything from the sports you like to the languages you speak. Recent research from POF found that users who indicate that they speak a second language receive significantly more messages.

There are a number of potential reasons why bilingual people might be more appealing. But one likely reason, said POF data scientist Michael McDermott, is that these people seem more thoughtful and open because they're "willing to expose a lot" about themselves - specifically, the languages they speak. In turn, that makes them more attractive.

Think of it as a specific way to "put yourself out there" online.

Of course, that's not to say you should include your entire life history ("I was born at 3:07 p.m. on a cloudy Tuesday…") on your profile - being too wordy could also be a turnoff, as a blog post on eHarmony suggests.

The idea is to give just enough detail about yourself so that other users have something to talk to you about - and perhaps more importantly, to give the impression that you're taking this dating thing seriously.

It's all too easy to halfheartedly create a profile, so you can pretend to yourself that you're not really interested in dating. That way, if you don't get a lot of messages from attractive users, you can tell yourself it was because you never finished filling out your bio.

Bottom line: Uploading a few selfies and indicating that you're from Los Angeles probably won't get you very far. The best way to boost your chances of meeting someone great is to convey why you're great, too.