In the next few posts, I want to give you a ton of good profile picture ideas. Because it’s not just about how you look in the picture—ideally most of your pictures are fairly flattering—it’s also about what’s going on in the picture. Who are you with? Where are you? What are you doing? Do you look like you’re bored out of your mind or having the time of your life? By including the right pics, you take control of what your profile is subcommunicating. In other words, its nonverbal message; what it says between the lines. And in the hopes of helping you guys out as much as possible, I’m going to include examples from my own profile pictures whenever I can.

It can also be really helpful to get a variety of pictures.The more diversity you display in your profile pictures, the more well-rounded you’ll come across. So with that in mind, here’s the first of several posts full of good profile picture ideas.

A Picture With Your Family

Remember my earlier post on why a family man is irresistible to women? Including a heartwarming picture of you with your family is a great way to communicate this quality subtly and nonverbally. This is important because anybody can come out and say, “I have a great relationship with my family,” regardless of whether or not it’s true. But including a picture goes a lot farther in proving that point. Another good reason to include a picture with your family, rather than describing your relationship in words, is that you don’t have to gush about how much you love about your mom and risk coming across as a mama’s boy.

Bonus points if this picture is super cute. Here’s one from my profile:

I have the balloon

A note on those with children of their own. If you’re a single dad, don’t try to hide it. Any woman who views your profile is going to find out you’ve got kids sooner or later. And if she thinks you’re trying to mislead her, she’ll run for the hills. You love your kids, right? They’re beautiful and a huge part of your life, right? Well, that’s how you should portray them, and absolutely include a picture. Women would much rather date a dedicated single dad than a father who wishes he wasn’t.

A Picture Having Fun With Your Friends

This is a great way to show that you’re an attractive social animal. This kind of picture isn’t exactly unique; many guys include a ton of pictures of them with their friends. But it’s worth a reminder, because if you forget to include one of these pictures, the girls who view your profile might think you don’t have any friends (or that you don’t have fun with them). So include one or two pictures with your friends—more is probably overkill—and try to include pictures that capture a sense of fun, closeness, and good will between you and your best buds. Here’s one from my profile right now:

I have the heart shirt

Bonus points if you and your friends are doing something interesting in this picture, but eve if it’s just you grilling out on the porch with some pals, that’s fine too.