How do you improve ?

I am  stuck in the mid 1200 range.It seems very hard to get to even the 1300 level.  Given the same pieces and the same squares as your opponent. Why do players rated 1400 or 1700 always dominate. What do they know to do differently? Do you have to be very smart  to aquire the knowledge it takes or will it eventually come?

I looked quickly at a few of your recent losses, and saw two big flaws in your play that will prevent you from moving up the ratings ladder:  not following the opening principles, and not seeing undefended pieces/pawns.  

I'd focus on those two issues and see how you do.  Always follow the basic opening principles, and always see undefended pieces and pawns.  I'm assuming that you're just not seeing undefended stuff, and that if you do see it you would either not play the move yourself, or would capture your opponent's pawns/pieces when they are offered!

Thank you for taking the time. I'm look back to see what you mean.

The very first game I saw in online chess (long time controls) for you was this one (http://www.chess.com/echess/game?id=111330662), where you moved your bishop four times in the first six moves, and then lost a pawn on move 12 (and gave up more material later):

It could be worth approaching your study in a structured way. This is what I do: http://becomingachessmaster.com/study-plan/

Being able to spot tactics better and working on that is probably going to help your game a lot. Almost all lower rated players suffer in this area including me. No matter how limited my chess study time is I always try to solve some chess puzzles daily. It also seems like you need to work on your openings and try not to move the same piece/s around so much. Post #4 has a game of yours where you first moved your bishop around to much then queen. Most importantly your early moves should have cost you the game early on move 11 as you played f4 exposing yourself to the deadly tactic of 11. ...d3+! which loses your queen. Your opponent missed it though, which again highlights the problem with us lower rated players- we constantly miss tactical oversights in our opponent's play! You may want to try this and see how it works out for you. Besides pawn captures, limit yourself to three pawn moves in the first 8 moves of the game. The rest of your moves should be with your minor pieces, castling, and maybe a queen move. I bet you'll get better middle game positions from that. Of course you have to respond to how your opponents play so sometimes you may need to make another pawn move, or another queen move, ect. But try to focus on moving as many different pieces in the opening as you can. Rapid development is a great way to get a good middle game position.