Romance starts from the first moment you meet and continues throughout the course of a relationship. Romance keeps love alive, it shows your thoughts are on that special person and it is essential to everything you’re about to experience. Online romances usually start off with two feet in the grave. You meet through a 2D digital environment made up of text and pixels. Thankfully, that’s as impersonal as it gets. What you do from the first meeting on can make or break the success of a relationship so you might have to try extra hard to ensure your digital encounter becomes a romantic escapade.

Romance is an art. At its root, it’s the art of thinking about others and doing things to make them feel loved. Sound pretty simple? If only that were the case! Romance begins with genuine thought and feeling. Do you make breakfast on Sundays while they sleep in? Do you make an effort to wander in and scrub their back while they’re in the shower? Small things are as important as the big ones to keeping your relationship rich with romance. Here are some simple ideas:

1) Rub his or her feet after a long day. Don’t let them rub yours after.

2) Read to them in bed from their favorite book.

3) Before drifting off to sleep, share your high points and low points in the day. That puts things in perspective.

4) Sit with them while they soak in the tub and chat. Crawl in the odd night yourself!

5) Randomly bring them flowers or their favorite foods.

6) Get photos of the two of you together framed and put them up around the house.

7) Write the story of your life before you met and how much it’s improved since they’ve been in it.

8) Kiss them out of the blue, in mid sentence—twice!

9) Cover their car and trees outside their house with toilette paper. No, wait! That’s Halloween!

10) Tickle their back while they lie in bed in the mornings.

11) Rent romantic movies and cuddle closely through them.

12) When romantic songs come on, dance with them. Do it in your living room. Pull the car over and do it in an empty parking lot.

13) Get a spa package—for the both of you.

14) Give them a card that says I love you when it’s not Valentines Day or their birthday.

15) Cook dinner and do the dishes. Give them a night off.

16) Say I love you. Say it a lot.

17) Go for walks in the rain under a small umbrella

18) Make a CD or MP3 list of love songs—and make sure "your" song is on there!

19) Build a blog about your love and input thoughts about them each day.

20) Send anything to their work: flowers, clowns, yodelers. People like other people to know they’re loved.

21) Bring home helium balloons about love to float in the house.

22) Use chalk to write I love you on the sidewalk outside their house. It washes off but leaves a lasting impression.

23) Leave milk and cookies out on the table overnight—drink it before they get up. Or is that Christmas?

24) Send them sweet text messages to their phone throughout the day.

25) Take them to the drive-in. Pack lots of blankets and pillows.

Okay, now it’s your turn. See the comment button? Tap that and tell us some of your favorites. Romance will ensure we have happier, healthier relationships. Help the rest of us keep our dating fresh and our special someone’s close by our side!