The news of Redbook’s closure has worried everyone and rocked the business of an estimated 10,000 providers. These type of shutdowns have happened before: Craigslist (2010), Escorts.com (2010), Bigdoggie (2002, temporary) and it’s obvious authorities will do it again. A two-part series on why advertising sites were successfully targeted can be read here and here. Of course, plenty of discussion boards and advertising malls go down every year due to being hacked or lack of operating funds. Law enforcement isn’t always the reason for losing a business resource.
The focus of this piece is on what the individual provider can do to protect herself, mainly by not relying on one single source of business.
- Choose your advertising carefully. You can advertise anywhere you want, for free or by paying for ads. Sites that adhere to 2257 guidelines are safer than sites that let anyone place an ad because verifying the age of published advertisers protects the site from accusations of underage sex trafficking.
You have to balance the requirement of giving your ID against what you can expect from the site. I know I’m writing for Eros but it has a long-standing reputation of attracting quality clients and safeguarding providers’ information. Some sites are now starting to require ID, which is good. But what is their security like? Do they allow reviews on the site too? What are their content policies for advertisers – do they violate 2257 rules for content? Do they control your contact information? Do they do any of the things mentioned in the two articles above that might attract the attention of authorities at some point? Simply be as aware of the risk factor for each site as you can, especially if it’s important to your business. (I plan on writing about Eros’s adherence to 2257 and security for advertisers later.)
- Network with other escorts. Whether in real life, on forums or social media, or through email, get to know other escorts. Trade banners. This is a simple thing to do and it can yield solid clients who wander around through banner exchanges on individual, independent sites.
- Create a solid web presence. Having your own website is crucial to making non-reliance on advertising sites work for you. Free sites are out; the first thing you need is your own site under your control. Optimize your site as well as you can to attract organic search engine traffic. This strategy works and can create a whole stream of business that doesn’t rely on any advertising site. Blogging and Tweeting also works very well to attract clients. Do somewhat frequent photo shoots, create video. Do interviews, whether with escort-related sites or mainstream media to create a huge surge in attention. Be as creative as you want in finding ways to bring attention to you and your website. Whatever you do, do it well, consistently, and make sure that search engines can find you. This is absolutely the best way of becoming independent from even the best advertising sites.
- Reviews. If you have them and rely on them for your business, be aware that if the site is shut down (or if they decide to ban you), you run the risk of your business slowly drifting away. Consider expanding your marketing beyond just relying on review sites. If you don’t allow reviews, you’re ahead of this significant potential problem. Some providers have a review page on their site, which potential clients view with varying degrees of belief.
- Discussion boards. They can be a time-sink or a great source of marketing without directly advertising. The problem is you could craft some truly great posts and if you don’t save them, when the site crashes, gets hacked, or goes dead – there goes all your work. If you decide to participate on discussion boards, save your best posts and put them on your blog. Bring the conversation to you, or expand on what you originally wrote. Either way, you avoid the problem of losing your work, and losing the business it can bring to you.
- Create repeat clients. After you’ve gotten all the attention you want from potential clients, the best way to reduce your dependence on a third-party site is making sure the clients you see come back again and again. How to do that is beyond the scope of this piece, though it’s a crucial part of any provider’s marketing plan because marketing doesn’t stop in real life.
Of the ideas above, the one that makes the most difference for you is maximizing your website and social media. As much as possible, put your energy into media that you control and benefit directly from. Make it so that all roads of information lead to you. Use outside sites as needed, of course. The ideal progression is not needing to advertise at all but still generating enough business that you make the amount of income you want.
None of what I’ve suggested is easy to do. It requires work, energy, and patience before seeing results. It’s for a provider who wants to make sure she isn’t going to starve because a third-party website made an administration mistake or got caught in anti-sex trafficking hysteria. It’s for the provider who expects to make a career out of her field (however long that career may last) and doesn’t want to start over on a constant basis. It’s for a provider who doesn’t want her efforts wasted on a site that goes down.
Independence means a lot more than just not working for someone else.
Further reading
SEO for escorts:
Books:
Sex Secret of Escorts by Veronica Monet (for client interaction)
Amanda Brooks is an Independent Escort, author and activist
See her work here: The Internet Escort’s Handbooks