Updated: December 22, 2022

How to kill it at marketing (keep in mind I know nothing)

SEO sexwork marketing digital

This is going to be a shift from what I typically write about. For one, I’m technologically inclined. For two, I find this stuff b-o-r-i-n-g. Last, we’re sex workers, why bother with ‘technology’?

I’ll tell you why: marketing is 90% of our job. It’s not enough to just look pretty and have a great ass (wouldn’t that be easy?).

I read a few articles a while ago, so forgive me for not having all the details. But I wanted to share some aspects that stuck out in my mind.

Tip #1 – Broad Term Search

If you’re already lost, and literally starting from scratch, do a broad search, Google the term ‘Marketing’ instead of SEO, you’re going to get some pretty good info into what this is all about before you dive in.

Then search search engine optimization (SEO), which is the quality and quantity of website traffic to your website from search engines. SEO focuses on what search engines look for, and then orienting your content around those terms. Start by figuring out a few key phrases that you want to lead your site, then use SEO techniques to make sure you’re on the first page for that search result.

I love this website, Ace in The Hole, it’s got tons of great info.

Tip #2 – Make Booking Easy

Calendy— add a page to your site as an html code for booking. Or, add a page to your website as a form-type that makes the booking process smooth so that potential clients can fill it out if they’re interested in seeing you. This will eliminate a lot of back-and-forth in texts and emails. Most websites have this feature built-in.

‘By taking my phone number off my add and including a booking form, I saved so much time and eliminated so much nonsense!’

FSSW friend of mine

Tip #3 – Check, Check, Check

When registering for a free website, or domain (you’re better off going with a sex work friendly consultant, like Secret Red) check if their TOS are SW-friendly.

Tip #4 – Yoast

Use an SEO plugin like Yoast to help you follow the SEO best practices. It will help you create SEO-friendly content and ‘get help with optimizing your posts for the desired keyphrases more easily, recognize related keyphrases, synonyms of keyphrases, and different word forms of your key phrases, {as well as} let you write more naturally {to make it} easier to improve your content for audiences and the search engines.’

Tip #5 – Images

Compress your images and videos and if you can, use the WebP format or anything more modern. WebP is a modern image format that creates smaller, richer images that make websites load faster as the images are 26% smaller in size compared to the original.

Don’t forget about alt text, or alternate text: what a browser will display if an image cannot be shown. It will also tell search engine crawlers (that cannot interpret information from images) what the image is supposed to be. If alt text is not present, an empty icon or broken graphic will be displayed. Include a brief but complete description to allow users to more easily discover what they’re searching for.

Just like PDFs, videos, and HTML pages, images can be marked up with metadata. This can help improve the chances of appearing in search results. You can access metadata with a photo editor such as Adobe Photoshop. Ensure you optimize the following fields: Document Title (descriptive of the image with a keyword if possible), Author (brand name), Description and Keywords.

Tip #6 – Use a VPN

Use a VPN for safety. It helps you stay private (A VPN scrambles your traffic in an encrypted tunnel so not even your ISP can read it- no monitoring, no activity logs), hide your internet activity and location to avoid being tracked (especially on public WiFi networks), encrypt everything (A VPN encrypts your entire internet connection to protect all your communications, even over unsecured networks), freely browse the internet without constraints, browse safely and anonymously with no speed throttling along with many other perks.

This is especially important as sex workers who need to maintain a certain level of anonymity and stay safe in the industry.

Tip #7 – Get a Domain

When getting a domain name, get it for as long as possible (it indicates to Google that it’s not a site that will soon disappear).

A domain name is a primary thing to focus on when structuring your website. If your domain name is short, simple, and relevant, users can quickly memorize it. Whereas a long domain name can be challenging to remember. Simple domains are powerful, and when combined with the main keyword, it generates substantial organic traffic.

It is always beneficial to choose an expired domain name. Such existing domain names already have backlinks and help in attracting traffic.

When you are purchasing a new domain name, check its relevance as per your escort website. It should match your desires and the content you will upload on your adult website.

A perfect domain name should not have hyphens or numerics. It should be easy to memorize and look powerful with significant keywords. Slang words should be avoided while searching for domain names.

Tip #8 – Learn Sex Work Specific SEO

Learn the basics of SEO. Not just SEO in general, but Sex Work specific SEO. The adult market has excellent competition, and the online demand is proliferating. The demand for adult content is increasing day by day, and to fulfill this demand, various new escort businesses and websites are emerging. This is one of the significant reasons for regular updates of search engines’ ranking criteria. It is also to be noticed that the rules to create adult content are very strict and cannot be neglected. To meet these ranking criteria and abide by the rules, getting the right digital marketing plan for your escort business is crucial. If you have the right SEO and marketing strategy for your escort website, you can win the race on search engines. A proper SEO strategy can get you traffic and allow your website to rank on top of the search engine.

Tip #9 – Your Website

A website makes you look more professional and organized, You can use any free template like Squarespace or Wix for more vanilla content, then host more explicit content on a site like OnlyFans. Don’t forget get read their TOS to see what is and isn’t allowed. And post your website to your links page to ensure it gets seen!

Launch your site ASAP even if it’s not ready. If it’s not ready, just don’t promote it yet. Launching asap will give more time to Google to crawl it.

Tip: make sure that your mobile site contains little pop-ups that will create a mobile friendly site.

Tip #10 – Site Speed

Test your site for speed and issues on Google Page Speed Insight. Research shows that if a website is unable to load within 2 seconds, it ends up losing a lot of traffic. Hence, your website has to be speedy! Your visitors are looking for immediate gratification. That’s why a speedy website is crucial. If your blog loads slowly, chances are that your visitor has clicked away before your blog has fully loaded.

The speed of your site is also one of the factors in Google’s algorithms. Fast loading is not just important for your visitors, but also for search engines.

Tip #11 – Errors are Important

Test your site for crawlabilty errors on Google Seach Console Website crawlability is how well a search engine can access and crawl your site’s content without running into a broken link or dead end.

I found a great website to check if your website is crawlable here.

Tip #12 – Details Matter

When writing content on your pages, make sure to provide as many details as possible. Google likes it when you write more than 500 words.

Tip #13 – Keyword Search

Conduct keyword research. Use trial periods on free SEO software (Ahrefs and SEMrush are two I use) to know which keywords you should rank for. The right keywords will translate to higher cost per click and enhance your monthly search volume on your website.

Try to optimize for only one primary keyword per page or blog post in order to avoid cannibalization (= when several of your own pages compete between search other on Google).That way you can be found on less competitive keywords to specific posts.

Tips:

• Use tools like Yoast (for WordPress) to help you with keywords.
• In WordPress statistics you can see what keywords visitors used to find you. Unfortunately, this gives only the top keywords. Use Google Search Console to get a better insight.
• Make sure the URL of your post contains the keyword on which you want to be found.

Tip #14 – Links

List your sites in online directories to get a backlink. A backlink is a link to your site from another website. It tells Google that your page has important information since other pages link to it. Search engines like Google view backlinks as votes of confidence. Essentially, you vouch for another site when you link to it. That’s why pages with lots of backlinks often rank higher on Google. Especially if the backlinks are from trusted, authoritative sources.

Also add links everywhere! And link back to your social media to build traffic and act as SEO. And add links on your pages internally.

Backlinks can:

• Improve rankings
• Boost your credibility
• Help Google find new pages
• Send referral traffic to your site

Tip #15 – Metadata

Meta tags are snippets of code that tell search engines important information about your website, such as how they should display it in search results. They also tell web browsers how to display it to visitors. Every web page has meta tags, but they’re only visible in the HTML code.

Don’t forget about the metadata— titles and meta descriptions of content can be beneficial in reaching out to the right audience and improving your ranking as they help the search engine understand relevant data.

I won’t go over everything of course, but as for the metadata description, it summarizes the page’s content. Search engines often use it for the snippet in search results. It should generally inform and interest users with a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about. It should be a descriptive paragraph generally under 160 characters, creating something click-worthy.

Tip #16 – Utilize Google Search Console

Upload your sitemap on Google Search Console ‘. Search Console tools and reports help you measure your site’s Search traffic and performance, fix issues, and make your site shine in Google Search results.’

Tip #17 – Breadcumbs

Have breadcrumbs on your website. Breadcrumbs are website links that allow users to track where they are on a website and how far they are from the homepage. You’ll usually find them at the top of a website or just under the navigation bar.small text path, often located at the top of a page indicating where the user is on the site. On my website for instance, the path to my Booking Page is Home > selenecandace > booking for Booking. This breadcrumb trail immediately shows you where you are. Every step of that path is clickable, all the way back to the homepage.

Tip #18 – Reddit

Follow the r/SEO and r/bigseo subreddits for tips and tricks.

There You Have It! SEO for Sex Work by Candace Selene (The VERY Unfinished and Rough Version)

That’s all I can think of right now. If you have any other good ideas please don’t hesitate to add them so the comments! I’d love to get this list flowing!

Love always,

Candace Selene