Or …

You’ve been in the industry for several years and have decided to market your services to higher class of clientele. You’ve raised your prices and had your photos taken. Your next step is to have your website re-designed.

Where to start? There are at least a dozen designers that cater to the escort industry. Which one to choose?

There are many companies that offer web design, but not all of them are familiar with escorts. When it comes to building a website, or hiring someone to build a website, escorts have a whole different set of requirements and criteria that be considered. First and foremost is the discretion factor; the companies you deal with must be discreet and aware that there are precautions that must be considered when setting up an escort website. Additionally, YOU are the product that is being marketed; trying to sell a service that is so highly personal is different than trying to sell a product or even a mainstream service. You should try to find a designer who, if not skilled at designing sites for escorts, at least understands the business. It is also to your benefit to make a list of what you’ll expect your website to do for you before you start emailing design companies or filling out estimate forms.

• Do you need web hosting? A domain name?
• What kind of personality are you trying to project? Fun, flirty, sophisticated – maybe a little nasty?
• What type of client are you trying to attract?
• Do you want to have your clients contact you through a form?
• Are there specific features that you’d like to have on your site? Wishlists are popular. Calendars, nice photo galleries and newsletters are other popular features that some providers choose to have on their sites
• Can/will they design a mobile friendly version of your site?

Also, make a list of websites that you like, whether for their color, their layout or because they have a specific feature that you would like to have on your own site. If you have a general idea of the kind of site you’re looking for, and you have examples of what you like, it’ll be easier for you find the right design company.

One good way to find a designer is to ask the owners of sites that you like who does their site. Drop them an email, most people who are happy with their sites and their designer are more than willing to share the information. If you belong to any forums or boards or groups, ask the other members who they might recommend. Many sites have links to their designers on them somewhere as well.

Once you have a list of possibles, take a look at their portfolios. If a designer is serious, they’ll have an online, easily accessible portfolio. Do the sites in the portfolio look professional? Do you like the designer’s style? Are their sites fresh and unique, or do they look like a hundred other sites? Can they design a memorable site for you, one that will stand out from all the others?

Ask for, and contact the designer’s references. Consider it a red flag if they hesitate to send let you contact current/previous clients.

Something else that absolutely MUST be taken into consideration when hiring a website designer is their personal view on copyright issues. You don’t want to get involved with a designer who “borrows” script and code from other people who’ve worked hard to develop them.

Before making a decision, be sure that the designer understands the finer points of designing for the escort industry. It’s important, for safety’s sake as well as for the basic but very necessary issue of anonymity, that a provider’s site be registered so that their identity isn’t easily found. Many providers also prefer that their photos be altered so that they aren’t easily recognizable. Look for a designer that understands and can accomplish these things.

What a design company charges has been discussed here before. Because websites are as unique as their owners, there is actually no such thing as an average price. Price is something that MUST be determined on a site-by-site basis. As always, buyer beware. You get what you pay for, but sometimes you can get tricked into paying for more than what you really need. Unless you’re looking to set up a paysite, with thousands of pictures, dozens of videos and an extensive private area, a basic 5-7 page site is more than sufficient for the average provider’s advertising needs. Remember that you are paying for a designer’s time and expertise, much the same way your client’s pay for your time and experience.

If you intend to update content regularly, ask whether (and how much) the designer charges for that service and how long it takes.

While it may not seem that important, try to find someone that you feel comfortable with. You want to work with someone who does their best to answer your questions and who makes a point of listening to you. Your designer should keep in touch with you on a fairly regular basis during the building of your site. You don’t have to best friends with your designer, but you do want someone who will respond to your phone calls or emails in a timely manner. If you find yourself feeling that you’re being talked down to or taken advantage of, it might be time to get out of the situation.

Bottom line is that you’re looking for a designer that can create a site that reflects you in an attractive, alluring manner, that is easily found by the search engines and does exactly what you want and need it to do.

This post was originally written on Friday, April 14, 2006. You can find a plagiarized copy of it here and here which were posted September 20, 2010 and December 14, 2006 respectively.

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.

Of course, many of you are diligent about advertising and making sure that the right viewers get to your website, but having a blog (active, changing content) is something to think about if you’re wondering about your position in the search engines and wishing it were higher.

The content on your website is very important for the search engine spiders. It does no good for you to have a blog if you’re not going to update it. The experts recommend that you add to your web site frequently.

Search engines want to see FRESH INFORMATION on websites. As they visit your site and see that there is active content, they will continue to visit, index pages and rank those pages.

Some of you are diligent bloggers; some of you have no interest in ranking high in the search engines (preferring to remain UTR), but for those of you who DO want to rank higher in the search engines, consider updating the blog you already have or converting your site to WP so that you HAVE a blog.

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A few words about mobile sites …

I recently received this via email from SiteTribune.com:

2011 is the Year of Mobile!

Every year for the past three years I’ve heard, “This year is the year of Mobile!” Every year, Mobile marketing becomes bigger and bigger, but it has still yet to explode. Well, 2011 will be the year.

The reason why Mobile marketing hasn’t taken off in a significant way is because of one really simple reason: Mobile internet usage. Only a small percentage of users accessed the Internet on their cell phones. Most feature phones can access the Internet, but it’s slow and tedious.

To really be able to use the Internet to its full potential, you need a smartphone; yet smartphones have been too expensive for a large portion of the population. Now with the explosion of Android phones, smartphones can be had for less than $50, which is less than the price of some feature phones.

According to the Nielsen Group, sales of smartphones will surpass feature phones in Q3 2011.

This is the year we’ll see an explosion in Mobile advertising and marketing—from apps to location-based services to the Mobile web. If you are yet to take a look at Mobile, now is the time to start. Whether you need a Mobile-optimized website, application, or listing on Foursquare will depend on your individual business … but one thing is for sure—you need to do something!

Something to think about.

I have always taken great pride in offering top-notch customer service, no matter what job I held. “Under-promise & over-deliver” has always been my motto.

I’d like to clarify what is included with customer service if you are a current HHD client or thinking of becoming a client of HHD.

I perform FREE maintenance for all clients on Thursdays and Fridays. Free maintenance consists of banner and link exchanges and basic text changes. “Basic text” means 2-3 lines of text, NOT complete pages.

As is clearly stated on my Policies & Procedures page, as well as in every client’s welcome letter:

(If you have chosen the option of taking care of your own site) It is your responsibility to familiarize yourself with the way your site works. I provide step-by-step instructions for the areas of your site that you can update yourself (your calendar, photos, etc.) and recommend that you ASK for these instructions, then PRINT these instructions so as to follow them easier. I am also here to help whenever you need me, but be aware that “helping” is different than doing it for you.

and:

Your inability to understand HHD’s policies and procedures IS NOT considered poor business practice on my part. I make a concentrated effort to explain every expectation and procedure to you before and during the creation of your project; my expectations of you as a client are VERY clear. I will not be held accountable if you fail to understand how the process works.

and finally:

Your inability to understand how your site works even after explanation from me IS NOT considered malfunction. However, in the event that your website is in-operational due to a mistake on my part, I WILL make repairs at no additional charge.

I will always stand behind my work and do my best to make taking care of your site as easy as possible.

What I can’t do is be expected to TEACH you how to take care of your site beyond the detailed instructions and links to other informative sites that I’ve already offered.

When a potential client expresses the wish to take care of their own site, I am going to assume that once the site is created, they will be able to take care of their own site.

This post is not meant to insult any current or future clients of HHD; it is merely clarification (and a reminder) of what is already stated elsewhere on this website.

“Criticism of Adobe Flash have included questions of its usability, the problems Flash-laden pages cause for those with disabilities, security issues, limited platform compatibility, performance and compatibility issues on certain platforms, the inability for search engines to index data contained in Flash binary data, its use as a means to restrict access to content and the implementation of DRM.”

In real-life terms this means that Flash makes your site difficult for viewers that use cellphones and dial-up connections (there may some out there that still do). It also suggests that your site will be difficult to find via web-search.

It is NEVER a good idea for the average person to have their site designed entirely using Flash. HOWEVER, a little bit of Flash causes NONE of the above problems.

A small Flash element here and there on your site doesn’t make the site load slow and will give your site a pretty, memorable kick.

A small Flash element does not interfere with search engine optimization.

Flash can cause problems for cellphone users, but, if you’re worried about that, it can be gotten around by using a well-place link at the top of your entry page or having a separate mobile site designed.

Flash used sparingly is just another way to make your site stand out in viewers memory.

Designing your site so that its viewable in all FIVE of the big browsers is difficult, but it can be done. It takes a bit of time and tweaking and testing, but if you’re a serious professional, it’s one of the top three most important things about your website.

It may surprise you to know that Internet Explorer is NOT the King of the Mountain anymore!

As of September 2010, Firefox is the leader with 45% of the Internet’s viewers. IE comes in second with 31% and Chrome has 17% of the viewing public. Opera and Safari bring up the rear tied at 3% each – you can check the stats here –

Internet Explorer, especially older versions, does NOT play well with web standards. Your site may look great in IE, but seriously AWFUL in Firefox and Chrome. Worse, and I have seen this over and over with some of the free sites (email me and I’ll let you know the worst offender) you site will not show up at ALL.

Period.

Think of it. All the hours of work you put into your site. Pages of seductive writing. A beautiful gallery. You point a viewer toward your site and he gets …

The black screen of death.

Of course, you KNOW what happens then. He moves on to the next gal on the list.

Why? Because your site was designed with free software that isn’t up to web standards. You don’t HAVE to design keeping web standards in mind, but remember you could be alienating nearly FIFTY PERCENT of the viewers who come to your site.

Can you afford that?

I mean, I know technically it should be about design-related and industry issues and I’ve tried mightily, but because I’ve been personally blogging online since 1997 (yes, REALLY), I can’t get over the urge to blog personally here.

So I get started on an on-topic post and suddenly find myself veering off into Personalland.

To make matters worse, I have slacked off in my personal blogging since I started designing websites for escorts (six years ago), so one of my biggest outlets has suffered.

Pondering …