Setting up a profile on a new free chat site can be intimidating, but it's one of the best ways to help you make friends and get to know people. Your profile should let others know just enough about you to interest them -- and help you weed out the people you'd rather not connect with online. These tips can help you set up a great profile and make friends on your favorite free chat site.

Include a Great Picture

It doesn't matter which social networking site you check, they'll all tell you that profiles with pictures are far more likely to attract attention than those without. If the chat site has specific guidelines about the pictures you can post to your profile, be sure that you follow them to avoid having your profile flagged or your account deleted. In general, though, choose a picture of yourself that shows your face clearly. Your profile picture should not have other people in it. Avoid provocative poses and nudity - they tend to attract the kind of attention most people don't want.

Fill Out Your Likes and Dislikes

If the free chat room site gives you the option to check off likes and dislikes, take the time to do it. It will help you meet friends with similar interests, and depending on the software used by the website, may even allow the software to make suggestions to help you connect with friends you wouldn't have met otherwise.

Write A Lively, Interesting "About Me" Section

People who want to make friends on a chat site will check out your profile, so make it interesting. An empty or generic profile suggests that you can't be bothered - or worse, that you're hiding something. Remember that what you write in your profile is your introduction and your advertising, so use it wisely. Be specific about the things you enjoy and honest about who you are. At the same time, avoid giving out too much personal detail - if you want to share more, you'll have plenty of time to do that after you connect with friends.

Use a Spell and Grammar Checker

Your free chat site profile will say a lot more about you than what you actually put into the words. Take the time to use a spell checker and grammar checker - sloppy writing is never appealing. People who meet you in the chat room will read your profile to find out a little about you, and like it or not, they'll make judgments based on what they read. You don't want them to learn that you're too lazy to make sure you get the basics right.

Use Positive Filters

You can use your profile to attract the people you want to talk to as well as to filter out the people you don't want to connect with. The best way to do that is to use "positive filters" - describing the people you want to connect with in ways that eliminate those you don't want to meet. You might write, for example, "I love to learn new things about video games. If you're an avid gamer who understands the difference between Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time, hit me up for a chat!"

It's fun to make friends and connect with friends on a free chat site if you take the time to write a profile that attracts the people you'll most enjoy meeting. Use these tips to make sure that your profile is up to the task!