Online dating for an LTR is almost an oxymoron. I know of only two guys who have met their current LTR/wife thru it, and I only consider one of those relationships to be truly viable long-term. The bulk of worthwhile women are not on OLD, almost by definition.
I think the biggest thing you can do is never to discount someone. Even if you're not interested in her, she might have a friend that you'll eventually meet and hit it off with. And you'll never meet that girl if you dismiss those social connections.
I met my current LTR via work. I'd never advise for that, but we were both very adamant about keeping the relationship private so it worked out.
A lot of relationships are forming via online dating so someone's having success with it. With that said, most men have a not so great experience with it. Even for top tier men who can get a lot of sex from it, they can still be left unsatisfied. While the top tier men can get sex from it (unlike many average men not getting either sex or relationships), many top tier men don't feel that they can get extended relationships with quality women from it.
Men in the "normie" range have the biggest problems with it.
I am frustrated and can't figure out as to how people actually find women for serious relationships. I have not tried online dating yet because I have heard so many bad things but is that my only option?
This is normal. You mention that your city is small. How small? Areas with populations below 100,000 - 150,000 or so often are quite challenging for dating because of a lack of choice, which is more pronounced with in-person venues in these cities.
I also joined a co-ed sports group and a dance class hoping to find women from social circle but it's mostly guys and older women in relationships.
I feel like most people who give this advice, have never actually tried it out. Everyone used to recommend salsa, so I went to a few classes and it was always middle aged women.
I've done both salsa classes and co-ed sports leagues over time.
My experience with salsa dancing wasn't stellar. I perceive salsa dance lessons as a "loss leader". You're going to take a loss on the classes for finding dates. Most of the women at a salsa dancing class aren't that dateable for a variety of reasons. In my experiences, I found the women at classes too old, like
@Zimbabwe and
@dyldo_swaggins . The point of salsa classes would be to get good for some salsa dancing nightlife venue. Additionally, if you're White, you'll also want to add in Spanish language fluency + salsa dancing to be competitive in those venues, and that's no guarantee of anything. It's one of the better ways for a White male to meet Hispanic women without Hispanic social circles.
I have played in kickball and sand volleyball co-ed sports leagues.
Co-ed sports leagues are another social circle type option. It would be fair to call the effort weak social circle game.
It’s pretty difficult to swoop into a co-ed kickball, softball, volleyball, or soccer league & directly arrange dates. First, there are more men than women in all these leagues. Nearly every other guy in these leagues is an unattached guy who is trying to get his penis wet in league because he read some advice article online or in a printed copy of a magazine about doing this. The only exceptions are the men who join teams with their girlfriends or wives. You can make friends in these leagues but chances are that the other men need sex as much as you do. If you’re able to develop a social circle from a co-ed sports league, realize it will take multiple seasons of participation in the league. So you’d better actually like that sport because playing that sport is often the only benefit of it.
I have been trying daygaming but I live in a very small city and there's hardly any sets at parks or malls.
Randomly approaching women at non-bar venues, including parks and malls, is very challenging. That's true both in smaller towns and in large cities. Earbuds are a challenge on parks and paths. I found the malls to be more difficult for doing stops/getting attention than grocery stores. In general, the mall is a tough venue.
