First Letter

The first letter is the most important and you must ensure that it will be special. There is no second chance to make a first impression. 

Start the letter with "Hello" or "Hi". Addressing with the word "Dear" has an intimate nuance in Russian so you'd better keep it for the time when you know each other well. Introduce yourself and tell her where you found her address.

The worst beginning for your letter is "I was taken by your beautiful picture", or "I find you very beautiful and I am hoping that your inner beauty is as strong as your outer." 

First thing, women want to be appreciated for their personal qualities, not appearance. Second, in Russia the word "beautiful" means something different than in the western world, it is very discriminative. Here every good looking woman is called "beautiful". In Russia you are beautiful only if you are a beauty queen or a photo model. If you are not - you are only attractive.

When a woman receives a letter with a "You are so beautiful" phrase, she thinks you are not writing to her as a person, you just liked the picture of her that shows her in the way she does not look every day (especially when she is up in the morning), and that you actually are mistaken about her appearance because otherwise you would not call her "beautiful" - she knows she is just "attractive". You mean to make her feel better, but in reality you make her feel worse about herself - you are looking for somebody who is beautiful, and she thinks she is not.

You can say "I liked your photo" but even this can turn the woman off. They don't want to feel like items on display. They want to be appreciated as human beings, for what they are and not for what they look like. (I wonder how would you feel if somebody said to you "You car looks very nice; I hope you are as nice a person as what your car looks like"... Got the feeling?)

Your letter must be interesting to read. Good humor is the best way to make reading fun but don't be a clown. Never make jokes about the girl's appearance, her English, etc. Better to laugh at yourself than to laugh at her.

The necessary details to mention: your age, weight, height; marital status, children, education, occupation, religion, smoking, drinking (very important!), personality, interests, hobbies and the things you love, as well as the place where you live. Don't make it a list; the letter must be alive and express your heart and soul rather than to be "correct". It must be rather a story than a questionnaire.

The minimum length of the letter is 1-2 pages. You are not going to get many responses if your letter consists of only 3-5 sentences.