Adding my 2 cents from another perspective: No matter how shy or socially inept you are or consider yourself to be. There´s always someone out there for you.
I have never been one to go to clubs or meeting people in person, so the only choice I had was, like yourself, the online world. At first I tried chatting but it was a mess. The best solution I found was using dating sites. There you can describe yourself as you like (be honest of course) and find someone that fits you.
Through this I found my would be husband, although in fact he found me through my profile. We married after 5 years and have been together 8. So, you see, there´s always hope for us shy and low-self-esteemed people.