I'm 27, so I'm not that much older than you are. I've been in a handful of monogamous relationships at this point in my life, and I've been on a lot of dates (I forget exactly how many). Plus, like most people, I have a mix of negative and positive attributes. The good: I have a master's degree and an IQ of ~140 on the Stanford Binet scale. (Note: I don't advertise those facts anywhere on my online profiles, but when the topic of previous schooling/education comes up in conversation, those facts tend to come up.) The bad: I have Asperger's Syndrome, I've been told that I'm average-looking, and I have a history of mental illness (for instance, anxiety and depression). Basically, I'm not everyone's cup of tea. Here's what I think has helped me in the dating game:
I use FetLife.com to meet people -- mainly because I'm kinky, but also because I find that people on FetLife are more down-to-earth and open-minded than a lot of people I've met on Grindr, OkCupid, etc. I stay away from the mainstream apps/sites for the most part. Tip: If you have a unique hobby/interest/occupation that other gay guys might have, try to find people with that unique hobby/interest/occupation. Personally, I've bonded with people over a mutual kink of ours, but you might not be kinky and might have some other unique hobby/interest/occupation.
I'm willing to have a long-distance relationship with someone. I don't just look for people to date in my city, although most of my previous relationships were local.
I'm not afraid of telling people what I want. For example, if I like someone and want to be in a relationship with that person, I say so. I don't beat around the bush, or worry about the right time to have "the talk," or whatever. People have said that they appreciate my directness, so I assume that being direct isn't necessarily a bad thing in the dating world.
Similar to #3: I tend not to hide things from people. For instance, I generally tell people within 1 or 2 dates that I have Asperger's Syndrome, a form of high-functioning autism. I'm definitely willing to educate people who don't know what Asperger's Syndrome is, but if it's clear that my Asperger's Syndrome is a deal breaker for someone, I just move on.
I've learned that dating is a numbers game, as someone else mentioned, and not everyone wins the game. I met the love of my life when I was 22 years old, and sometimes I wonder, "Will I ever fall deeply in love with someone again?" Maybe I will, and maybe I won't. The fact that I might "lose the game" (i.e., that I might never be in love again) doesn't stop me from playing.
A lot of what I said above might not even apply to you, but some of it might… Anyway, good luck playing the game, so to speak. I know how frustrating it can be when you want to see results and aren't getting results.