FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Prostitution, which is illegal nationwide except for a few counties in Nevada, continues to create problems for communities and law-enforcement agencies. A new study by an economics researcher at the University of Arkansas analyzes the U.S. prostitution market and provides policy recommendations to increase safety for women and communities and help government agencies regulate or enforce “the oldest profession.”

[ read more ... ]

Of course, that type of advertising does appeal to a certain class of men and if that is your targeted market, more power to you. Unfortunately, what it says to an upscale gent is that you think so little of yourself that you are willing to put up with or even WELCOME being treated like a piece of meat.

When you advertise to everybody, in a manner that appeals to the lowest level of taste, you risk attracting less than appealing, or even dangerous, clients. There is room for, and a client for, every level of escort from the BP Babes to the High Dollar Hotties, you just have to decide which of them you want to be and act accordingly. If you want to be treated respectfully, you must advertise to attract the type of client that will treat you that way.

It’s just that simple.

Well-to-do, or upscale, clients are the backbone of the service industry. If we’re honest about it, the “upscale” client is the one we’re looking to attract. The upscale client us less likely to treat us disrespectfully. While there are exceptions to every rule, the behavior of the upscale, or affluent, client is quite different from that of the haggler, bargain-hunter or tire-kicker.

Upscale clients are willing to pay for exclusivity, quality, satisfaction and top-notch customer service. Upscale clients are more likely to read your website and treat you with the respect you deserve.

You cannot use one-size-fits-all advertising to appeal to affluent clients; it’s important to project the right image to the clients you want to reach. If you want to attract a better class of clientele, you have to upgrade the quality of your advertising.

Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

Just because you can drive a car, doesn’t mean you should race at Talladega.

Just because you have a Waterpik®, doesn’t mean you can pull your own teeth.

Just because you can use a sewing machine, doesn’t mean you should make every item in your wardrobe.

Just because you have a computer and a free website design program doesn’t mean you should create your own website.

Unless you actually create websites for a living, you should leave web design to the professionals. Web design isn’t one of those things that you can teach yourself to save some money. If you’re not a professional designer, your self-designed site looks exactly like what it is – unprofessional and homemade. If you think your potential clients won’t know the difference, you’re dead wrong. Potential clients do notice the quality of your website; if your looks unprofessional, they’ll think your services are unprofessional too.

A website has to be more than pretty pictures and a bunch of links and text. When designing a site, especially one that is supposed to make you money, keep in mind that the site should use properly sized fonts and optimized images; it should be easy to read and fast to load. A well-designed website is viewable in all current major browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome).

Like your photographs and your wardrobe, your website distinguishes you from your competition. If your site is a clone of thousands of others or if it looks self-done, don’t fool yourself, you are likely out of the running. The providers who spend hundreds of dollars on luxurious lingerie and professional photography do so because they can’t make LaPerla® panties and no matter how nice their camera is, they will never be Santillo.

Photography, lingerie design and web design are things best left to the professionals; they have the skills and the experience to represent you in your best light and make you look your best.

r-e owns it

If you ever decide to upgrade to a professional site, it will be like pulling chicken’s teeth trying to get control of what you THOUGHT was yours.

This has been a public service announcement from HHD/YourGFE.

Carry on …

At some time you’ve lost a potential client because of R-E. Somebody, somewhere has found you interesting, clicked your website link, got an eye-full of “F*CK A LOCAL GIRL” and promptly clicked the little “x” in the corner because those banners don’t fit with the description “classy and sophisticated“. If you spent a nice little chunk of ching on your photos, your photographer is wondering why his work of art has been reduced to those little tiny, grainy thumbnails and is plastered over with that god-awful, tacky “watermark.”

Additionally, r-e doesn’t (and CAN’T) offer the peace of mind working with a real, caring individual does. I’ve been in the web-design business for nearly ten years and I intend to be doing this long after some design “companies” have moved on to their next big money making venture. Designing for SPs isn’t just a “quick” job, for me. I make a point of learning something new in regard to my business every day, and I’ve make an extra effort to learn and educate myself on ways that I can help my SP clients do their job in the safest way possible. It is my goal to present the women who choose this line of work in the most-flattering, least dangerous light possible.

It’s never been my aim to alienate or insult anyone who’s chosen to advertise with r-e, but I’m aware that I probably have done both and for that I apologize. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for free … I REALLY am. I HONESTLY don’t have a problem with free. But NOT if it a) doesn’t help and b) potentially HARMS someone. What is the POINT of having a free website if it alienates your potential clients and puts you and your business in a bad light?

You get what you pay for and “free” isn’t always “free”. In the (paraphrased) words of a hobbyist: “If an established SP who charges a substantial hourly amount is using a FREE website, it makes you wonder.“

Here is an excerpt from escortsite.com:

As a Registered User, you agree that if you have other websites (not hosted by us) you will display a link to our Website in the form described on the ‘Banners’ page of this website.

Then there’s this:

If you upload, post, e-mail, or otherwise transmit any content, including but not limited to information, messages, software, photos, video, text, graphics, music, sounds, or other material, to us or anyone else via the Website, or if you send us suggestions, ideas, notes, drawings, or other information, all such content and information (the ‘Posted Content’) shall be deemed, and shall remain, our property.

None of the Posted Content shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on our part, and we shall not be liable for any use or disclosure of any such information or content. Without limitation of the foregoing, we shall exclusively own all rights to all such Posted Content, in all media, technologies, and other formats now existing or later developed, of every kind and nature throughout the universe, and shall be entitled to unrestricted use of the Posted Content for any purpose whatsoever, commercial or otherwise, without compensation to you or any other provider or owner of the Posted Content.

You are solely responsible for all Posted Content that you upload, post, e mail, or otherwise transmit via the Website. You understand and agree that we may review and delete any Posted Content that in our sole judgment may violate this Agreement, or that might be offensive or illegal, or that might violate the rights, harm, or threaten the safety of other persons, or for any other reason.

By uploading, posting, e-mailing, or otherwise transmitting any Posted Content to us or anyone else via the Website, you automatically grant, and you represent and warrant that you have the right to grant, to us an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, fully paid, royalty-free, worldwide license to use, copy, perform, display, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, and otherwise exploit such Posted Content and to prepare derivative works of, or incorporate into other works, such information and content, and to grant and authorize sublicenses of the foregoing.

You also waive any and all ‘moral rights’ in all such Posted Content. By uploading, posting, e-mailing, or otherwise transmitting any Posted Content to us or anyone else via the Website, you consent to our use of your name, photograph, and/or likeness, address, voice, and statements made by or attributed to you, in perpetuity, in all media, technologies, and other formats now existing or later developed (including but not limited to print, broadcast, and Internet), for all business purposes, such as advertising and promotional activities, without additional compensation, notice, or approval, unless prohibited by law.

Let’s not forget this:

As part of our services, we may allow you, either free of charge or for a fee, to use various domain names or subdomains that are owned by us, so that you may have a unique identifier for your web pages created and hosted on our Website. If we registered a domain name for your use, or if we created a subdomain of one of our domain names for your use, that domain name or subdomain shall be deemed, and shall remain, our property. We have the right to control the use of all such domain names and subdomains, in our sole discretion. We reserve the right to change, modify, remove, or delete any and all such domain names and subdomains, in our sole discretion. We reserve the right to terminate your use or access to any such domain names and subdomains, or to switch you to a different domain name or subdomain, in our sole discretion.

Oh, and this too:

You acknowledge that once your website is lauched [sic] (template was applied) your page will be used by many of our escort robots for marketing and spread on the web [... ]. For this reason, we will not be able to immediately terminate your page on request. (However, your page will be deleted by our system automatically, when no activity will be detected).

For the record? Escortsite.com and rareescorts.com are the same she-bang.

What does all of this actually mean?

That your picture(s) could turn up anytime anywhere advertising anything without your permission. Who’s to say that they aren’t somewhere else already

That you are expected to link to them from ANY SITE you might own.

That your original text and words no longer belong to you – they belong to rare-escorts/escortsite.

That if you are in trouble or need your site taken down – tough luck, kiddo. They need your site to make money and it will stay up until they get to taking it down. So sorry about your kids and your job.

That YOU don’t get any affiliate points from sites such as TER – THEY get them.

Don’t believe me – read the terms at the bottom of the escortsite.com and rare-escort.com sites.

WTF.

Sure it is, but there are just some luxuries or extras that people will not give up.  For me it’s a daily Cappucino and my tabloid mags – gotta have ‘em.

And here’s the thing – cappucino and tabloids haven’t gone down in price because the economy is “tanking”.

So … have your dropped your prices, even “temporarily”?  How is that working for you?  Are you aware that once you drop your prices, the odds of being successful at returning to your previous price are very low?

In a down economy it is necessary to increase the value of the service you offer without lowering your prices.

Lowering your prices, even for a short time, also means you may have to work harder (more clients) and it MAY mean having to deal with those potential clients that you don’t WANT (the “frugal” client who is always looking for a deal).

Keeping your prices the same (or even RAISING them) and offering added value for that price prevents the possibility of losing your current clients.

Look at your marketing efforts, look at what you’re offering for the value – has it helped or hurt you?  Are you working harder and making decisions that you really don’t want to in order to keep your head above water?

Is that what you really want to do?