IMPORTANT WEBSITE ADVICE For Independent Escorts..................

[Pleasure-Admin]

Being an Independent escort suggests you are an independent person and have the following preferences.............

Organise your own working/availability timetable.
Speak to your clients/potential clients and arrange your own bookings.
Choose where you advertise both on line and in the media.
Organise your photoshoots.

Basically you prefer to be in full control of every aspect of being an escort.


Your biggest and most important advertising medium is your domain name and website.

It is crucial that you purchase your domain name yourself - your domain name is your escort identity without it you are nobody.  Never let anyone buy it on your behalf unless you are 100% sure they are purchasing it in your name and that you have all the paperwork!

You will have full access doing it this way - you can login and update your details via a domain control panel.  if you don't follow these guidelines for domain purchase you won't have a leg to stand on if you fall out with the person/web company who bought it for you.  Never say never - it does happen!

First of all decide on your working name - try and choose a name that no one else is using to prevent confusion among clients, a name which is easy to spell - bear in mind it will form part of your domain name and if you have to spell it out to clients all the time on the phone it soon becomes a pain.

Your domain name can simply be your name eg www.somebody.com/www.somebody.co.uk  Always buy both the .com and the .co.uk

Next check to see if the domain name is available if they are not both available to purchase think of another combination until you find a name which is
available eg www.sexy-somebody.com/.co.uk.

If you already have a domain name and it was purchased on your behalf - check who owns it here  http://whois.domaintools.com/ (type your domain name into the search box on this site) this will reveal who actually owns your domain check the .co.uk it will give you the most info as to who owns it.

Domain names are not expensive and can be purchased from as little as £8.99 http://www.names.co.uk/ is a good place to start. When registering your domain it is important to know and remember that when you fill in the registration form this info will be available to anyone on the internet - therefore if you do not want your real name in the public domain make sure you register your working name as your name too. 

Same goes for your address - for .co.uk opt for the address opt out (non trading individual) and for the .com pay the small amount to retain your address privacy or opt to keep the domain name company eg Names.co in the address fields.  If you are unsure ring them up and they will take you through the sign up process step by step.  I personally find it easier to buy domains from a company where I can ring them up and speak to someone - names.co is ideal for this purpose. AVOID  X.reg they are impossible  to get in touch with and do not reply to emails or on line support. Also beware of Evo Hosting they are not easy to contact and the advertised telephone number does not work, all enquiries are by email support tickets - nightmare. 
Some web designers are resellers for a hosting company such as Evo Hosting and purchase names under the reseller/Evo umbrella which means you may not have access to your own control panel and it is likely the domain has been purchased in their name.

A reputable web designer will always transfer your domain to you if they originally bought it in their company name - however do beware of the less scrupulous out there - they do exist unfortunately


Next you need a website
Remember your website is your shop window for the purpose of inviting potential clients to arrange a date with you.  Opt for a simple easy on the eye design and one which is easy to navigate and holds all the information a client needs to make an informed choice as to whether they would like to spend time with you.

The following pages are generally sufficient to hold all the information you need to display
Enter/Exit (index)
About Me
Statistics
Rates/Diary
News
Gallery
Reviews/Feedback
Links - linking you to other high quality escort and adult sites.

When choosing who to design your website you can either choose an adult web designer or general web designer who doesn't necessarily specialise in adult sites.

Ask other reputable well known escorts and escort agencies for advice - they will be happy to advise you based on their experience.  I and most service providers on Northern Pleasures will be happy to assist you based on their local knowledge.

Adult web designers usually offer hosting too. However just because someone designed your website doesn't mean you have to host with them as well

Points to consider and ask a potential web designer/hosting company...........
How much will it cost to host my site per month - is there a discount for paying for a full year upfront
Do I have full control of my website.
Do I have access to update and maintain my own website if I choose to do so.
Do you offer a maintenance package - if so at what cost and what does it include
Is there anything which is not included in my hosting/maintenance package
Will you back up my site on a regular basis.
If you have designed my site will I receive a copy of it on disc
I want to add links/banners to quality sites on my link page if I let you know which sites I want to link to will you add these for me and or let me add them myself.

If you are satisfied with the answers provided to  all of the above questions -ask for it in writing by way of an agreement.

Beware of any company who try to tell you how it is going to be, look for someone who is reputable and flexible to your individual needs, not rigid to their own.

You would hope your chosen company will advise you on all aspects but................

Remember you are in the driving seat and the decision maker which is why you chose to be independent because you want to make your own decisions, make sure the company you deal with respects this.

[Mysterons]

Excellent post Dannii, you make a lot of very good points there  hurray

[Cuddles]

a canna few hard learnt points in there me thinks :)

[Helen@Prestige]

spot on Dannii as you know it something I have gone about for years but it isn`t just Indies anyone with a website should have full control
anyone in dispute with web domains should contact nominet
 

[Pleasure-Admin]

Ladies generally start their escorting career with an escort agency, some ladies never go Independent but for those who do it can seem complicated getting started................

Adult web design companies aim to alleviate your transition from agency to independent escort by offering a 'complete' package.

This is likely to include the web company doing the following on your behalf..........

Purchase of your domain name

Design of your website

Hosting your website

Looking after your website - including updates and adding links (banners) to other good sites

This can be an appealing prospect leaving you the escort to get on with being an escort

However as I have already said there are pitfalls in leaving it all to your web company

Rule number 1 - Make sure you buy the domain name yourself I can't stress this enough!

If you adhere to this rule and you have issues with your web company and they decide to be unprofessional and remove your website from the www
You can contact the company where you bought your domain name and change the name servers (name servers indicate where your domain name points to = your website)  If you can't do this you may find your web company will point your domain name to any site of their choice and there is absolutely nothing you can do about it. If they bought the domain in their name it is their domain not yours.

Because I am in control of my own domain names I can if I choose point Northern Pleasures to Danniis-Angels, so anyone clicking a link to NN would be redirected to Danniis-Angels.  You can do similar if you are in control of your domain name 

In the meantime you will have been working away building up your reputation as an independent escort and all of a sudden you are no body - liken it to identity theft if that makes it easier for you.

It wouldn't be too much of a problem to ask a new web designer to design you a new website and point your domain name to this new website.

Make sure your web designer is working for you and NOT the other way around

YOU are paying them for a service they are YOUR client, while they may advise YOU it is Important to remember they should without question do as YOU ask.  If they don't, ask yourself WHY NOT.

Nominet are the governing body for .co.uk domain names - you can take up a dispute with them but if you didn't buy the domain yourself there is not much they can do either and they will probably confirm the advice I have given.

To sum up - if your web company has bought your domain name for you  - Ask them to transfer it into your name. you will receive confirmation of this from their domain name company.

When I had to do this I set up an account with names co and the domain was transferred to them.

I will post examples of the procedure shortly  wink