Aphrodite Companions Information Update

UPDATE on 13 August 2013 @6:45PM:

It appears that the case against the owners of Aphrodite Companions is closed, which of course makes no sense as there are no documents filed on this - just the notation on the docket report that the case is terminated as of 12 August 2013. The only time I see this sort of conclusion is if a case was filed in a different Circuit. Also, according to the BOP Inmate Locator, both Vincent and Melissa Lombardo are still in MDC Brooklyn with an "unknown" release date. This is some sort of game, but your guess is as good as mine as to what is really happening in the case.

Aphrodite Companions 13 August 2013 (Vincent Lombardo)

Aphrodite Companions Case Closed 13 August 2013 (Melissa Lombardo)


END OF UPDATE


I have read and reread the Aphrodite Companions Complaint numerous times. I suppose that I'm trying to analyze the situation or at least why it happened to this company specifically and perhaps that is an exercise in futility. When you think about it, the how and the why is immaterial. It is what it is, right?

Any escort business that makes the choice to operate in multiple states, or globally as Aphrodite Companions did, could be the next candidate for federal indictment. I figure it's time to discuss it as the indictment may be filed tomorrow or it could also be filed next year or never. I'm not going to sit around and theorize for that long. The feds may not be in any hurry to file that indictment, so I won't be checking PACER on a daily basis, but I usually visit to research a couple of times a week anyway and will check at that time. As of the time of this posting, the indictment has not been filed.

One issue must be stated clearly first: Detective Myles Mahady is an anti-prostitution crusader and he has extensive experience in the field. Whatever he's decided to do by filing that complaint first, you could assume that he knows what he's doing. Most federal prosecutions are by indictment and I'd venture a guess that Mahady is in the midst of a major investigation.

Some Background on Detective Myles Mahady

There is some interesting information on Mahady in the book, "Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer," and I happen to have a copy. I found it (new paperback) on sale on Amazon for under $3 around Christmas. Now (this minute) it's on sale for $3.61. Definitely worth a read if you are currently doing business in Manhattan or ever intend to.

While I did not realize it until it was brought to my attention, I know more about Mahady than any book reveals, so I'll leave the information in the book where it is and the decision to read it up to you and tell you something that I already knew. Mahady was the lead detective on the NY Confidential case. In case you are not already aware, Jason Itzler owned NY Confidential and Natalia (Natalie McLennan) was his main escort for most of the duration of that business. Her book is titled, "The Price: My Rise and Fall as Natalia, New York's #1 Escort," though it has a rather high price at the moment.

I have spent much of my spare time blogging about the Paul Bergrin prosecution and trials on the Paul Bergrin Blog this year and on my Accused Madam Blog last year. However, I have no documents from Bergrin's NY state case. Paul Bergrin was Jason Itzler's attorney when Itzler owned NY Confidential (and prior to that) and eventually pleaded to a misdemeanor count in the case just to make it go away as he faced a much worse fiasco of a prosecution in Newark. Natalie McLennan testified for the government in the last Bergrin trial.

Jason Itzler was not called as a witness in Paul Bergrin's last trial and all of Natalie's testimony was really hearsay --- Jason told me this and Jason told me that etc.... So while I considered Itzler an informant in past as a result of statements he made to news reporters, he did not testify in the Bergrin trial. Really, I think he's just a clown. Why? Well, his many statements to news reporters in past. I also blogged about Natalie McLennan during Bergrin's trial:

Tweeting from Tahiti

In the Land of Make Believe

Detective Mahady worked closely with FBI Special Agent Shawn Brokos in connection with Paul Bergrin's NY state case and held-off on filing it until the feds were ready to file the Newark indictment. Brokos is a real piece of work, but you could read more on that in:

The Blind and Unbridled Ambition of a Narcissistic FBI Agent

Back to the Aphrodite Companions Case

Take a moment to check a few names in the Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator and you'll see that Paul Bergrin is in MDC Brooklyn. Other than one week immediately after his trial when he was vindictively transferred to Essex County Jail and separated from all of his legal papers, Bergrin has been in MDC Brooklyn for over 4 years. Guess who else is in MDC Brooklyn... Check the BOP Inmate Locator for Vincent Lombardo and Melissa Lombardo. Interesting indeed.

If you know the Lombardos, you can always write a letter, but I would not attempt to discuss the case with either of them:

Melissa Lee Lombardo - #80711-053

MDC Brooklyn

Metropolitan Detention Center

P.O. Box 329002

Brooklyn, NY 11232

Vincent Lombardo - #80712-053

MDC Brooklyn

Metropolitan Detention Center

P.O. Box 329002

Brooklyn, NY 11232

On a different note, I did some reading on The Erotic Review (TER) last night and consider the situation improved in reference to reviews since my last visit over a year ago. Perhaps the majority of explicit reviews published these days were written by law enforcement or a few idiots. I am not a member and can't access the "juicy details," but site participants do not seem to be as insanely explicit in the discussions as in past.

I did note that one person commented in numerous discussions that the Aphrodite Companions arrest could be attributed to doing business with clients in other countries and several others picked-up on that and used the "foreign commerce" statement from the complain; however, they all omit the "interstate" part of the statement. For the record, any federal indictments or complaints related to escort or prostitution businesses use the terms together.

Any conclusions as to what caused this investigation that resulted in prosecution are theories at this point. It may have been a wire transfer from Dubai to an Aphrodite account or it may simply be the interstate operation business model. It could also be enemies making police complaints - I state this after reading the "rip-off reports" by a vindictive escort or two and the statements of a complaining escort on the ECCIE forum. I have heard a variety of theories and they are all exactly that.

Mentioning the complaining escort on ECCIE, what in the world gave this woman the idea that Aphrodite Companions would pay for her attorney in her solicitation arrest? If this was some promise made by an Aphrodite representative (Pamela) as the woman claims, I can see why Melissa and Vincent Lombardo were arrested and are being prosecuted. But note that I seriously doubt any such promise was made to the complaining escort.

Tolerating TER: A Reminder

Last night I came across an article online that reminded me of why I shouldn't wish ill will on The Erotic Review (TER). It is my opinion that TER and other sites like it have successfully set women's rights back more than a century. Women are treated like merchandise or a product on Amazon on these sites and many of the male participants would have it no other way as is clear by a read through some reviews.

The problem, at least for me, is that these women accept this delegation to last class citizenry on these websites without much objection as if it's all a part of business. It's not a part of any decent business and shouldn't be acceptable for a woman selling her time and companionship to be reviewed like a pair of shorts or any inanimate object. Companionship is personal and should be treated as such. Most people will not have the same experience anyway because we are talking about people and human behavior here.

So before I digress too far, realize that my issue is the toleration for such behavior by a major online community. Forget the fact that we are all traceable these days and the writing and acceptance of such reviews by all participants is just plain stupid.

I'm sure that there are some mild and kind reviews written by nice gentlemen on TER, ECCIE, and various other review and membership sites in the world of adult business, but they are few and far between. The sort of reviews that I am referring to are what is discussed in the Aphrodite Companions Complaint in #20 on pages 14-15, #23 on pages 23-25, and #25 on pages 25-26.

What sort of deranged client would want to call a "provider" that provides services like that? Well, I will tell you - these are the people that I refused to book when I had escort services. For more than a decade, they've found their own little holes on the internet and succeeded at changing the business for "providers" and services alike. Most of us old-school service owners consider them to be the street trash of adult business.

I have no clue what value a service could see in this sort of thing and consider it a one-way trip down indictment lane. We can all be happy that the great majority of the provider participants require advance appointments and aren't interested in lower rates for dinner bookings. There will always be a place for real escort services.

Yes, I have digressed from the entire point of this post. The article I found last night was written by John Moore: Censorship starts with porn

Mr. Moore is correct, you know, especially with this sentence: "Here’s a radical idea: Let’s subcontract Internet-governance to the Taliban."

I certainly do not want to become the censor of anything in adult business online, but some of the stuff in these reviews is so disgusting that eventually it will run all adult business underground. Agencies have no excuse though. If an escort that's been on TER expresses an interest in working with your business, and you read a review like the ones quoted in the complaint, tell her to retrieve her self-esteem or get used to working alone, but certainly do not attempt to play in that game.

Happy New Year and Other Stuff

I truly admire the people that visit this blog. For the most part, you're a driven group of people that have arrived on the Blueprint Blog in your search for information on how to open and operate an escort service. You have an idea and you want to know how to implement a plan, be safe, and make money at the same time. Even if money is not your ultimate goal, you've come to the conclusion that the revolution must be funded via some means and what better way than this?

A Year for Censorship - Reflection 

It (2012) has been a trying year for those of you already in the escort business. Censorship of anything adult has come to be accepted by the general population. Some of you may be thinking that the word "censorship" is being used improperly here.

Actual censorship is only applicable with government involvement and a business (i.e. Google, Yahoo, Bing, all newspapers etc...) has the right to choose who it does business with. This is true, except for the fact that it is the hand of government behind the elimination of all that is adult from the internet and newspapers.

Some of you are aware of the fiasco with Google over Maps and Places listings for escort services. The bottom line is that if you're operating a legitimate, licensed business, you can argue it and any suspended listing will be reinstated, eventually. It certainly is a time waster though, isn't it?

There were several rogue Map Makers that made claims of all escort businesses being illegal and according to the arguments I became involved in, they were backed by Google. Well, Google has cleared the air on the topic and you shouldn't have any trouble - if you are operating legitimately and have a license. Really that is good news because those of you that do it all correctly do not need or want the unlicensed online marketers' listings competing with your own. Good riddance to them, right?

On the other hand, during the course of the big purge of escort services from Places, they have ruined it as a tool. Google "your city escorts" or "your city escort service" in Maps or Places and you will see every type of business in the world listed there with one or two escort services - everything from finance companies to high schools. So, they succeeded in ruining it - that is a fact. It is still worth fighting them to get your listing posted or reinstated though. Spend 15 minutes a day working at it until you succeed.

Marketing your escort business today

The truth is that I was never much at marketing. The way I know the business, it is most intelligent to just place ads where other services advertise and try to make your own stand-out in the crowd. It is the renegade marketer placing ads where they do not belong that will end-up with problems in the long-term.

You place the listings and ads where they belong and the clients will locate you and call. Same deal with the escorts seeking calls - there is no need to "recruit escorts" as several have stated it to me in email. If a client can find your listings and ads, so can an escort. Simple stuff there people.

With this type of business, you do not throw marketing copy or ads in everyone's face. They must be seeking you and not vice versa. This is where the marketers and I part ways because this business is not supposed to be marketed as a book, or a vacation to Belize, or a house is. For the 10 years that I was in the biz in Orlando, I simply placed ads and listings where they belonged and clients found me. It is the same in any geographical market.

If you force the church people to view your ads, don't be surprised when it bites you in the ass. On the other hand, if the church people (or rogue Map Makers) succeed at removing your listings from a place (Places) where they do belong, they should expect to see those listings all over the place in all sorts of categories. It's a two-way street, for sure. Look at what happened with Craigslist - there are no "adult" categories today, but you'll find adult ads all over in many different categories.

Whatever happened to the .xxx thing?

Well, I went searching this last week and discovered it to be a no man's land of sorts. Google, Yahoo, and Bing do not index the .xxx sites in regular search results and there is a specific search engine for these sites. It isn't much different than moving the red-light district out of town, on the outskirts of nowhere, and hoping no one ever finds it. In the case of .xxx, it appears that no one does find it.

The special, isolated search engine is http://www.search.xxx/ and it is referred to as, "The Search Engine for Porn". Well, we are operating businesses for adults here, but porn is an entirely different topic. Who in the hell wants to be listed in the porn search engine with an escort business site? No one with much intelligence, or at least no one in the US.

Search for something - like Miami escorts - and look at all of the "quick search" categories to your left. Good grief - as an escort business owner, I'd run from all of the terms listed except two. Perhaps this works for people in other countries that operate in those countries, but in the US, it's a one-way street to an indictment.

I'd still have one .xxx site if I were in the biz today, but it would probably be the most conservative of any listed, which is not a bad thing. Of course a client searching in that search engine is not really seeking conservative, so you may not do any business from that particular site, or you may start a new trend. For the price of a domain, it's worth a try anyway.

A FREE book for you

I sell few copies of my Memoirs of an Accused Madam: The War on Adult Business in Orlando book and decided to place it in Amazon's Kindle Select program. This allows me to offer it for free for a few days and hopefully sell a few copies once the free days are over. Memoirs will be free in all Amazon Kindle stores 30-31 December 2012. Search for it by my name in any specific country Kindle store.

The way Amazon works, this would be from 12:01AM PST (Pacific Standard Time) 30 December 2012 through 11:59PM PST on 31 December 2012. Times are always approximate and if you do not see it free, then try again in a few hours.

I really advise anyone getting into or already in the escort business to read that book. Find out what they really did to me and how I turned the tables on them. Sure, I was acquitted on all counts by a jury following a two-week trial, but they ruined me in the process and I am still suffering from the experience. If you learn nothing else from the book, you should learn that Orlando is not the place to operate such a business.

I have noticed several new services in the Orlando area recently and imagine that those operators think it was something I did that resulted in my prosecution / persecution. Well, newsflash people: All that I did was exist, and I did so legitimately. Yes, my case put the powers that be in their place in a sense, but only in the sense that they make sure they have all their ducks in a row before pursuing arrest of an agency owner.

Orlando is nothing you want to mess with - trust me on that or read the book - even as conservative as I am with the business. If you do not have a Kindle, all you need to do is download the Kindle app for your PC, laptop, or smartphone. No excuses people.

The book is the Second Edition with most aliases omitted because I had an argument of sorts with some asshat cop under the original edition when he claimed that the characters were mixed-up. No, all it was is that my subconscious used the real name of the main case agent twice in just under 300 pages and I decided not to change it. The main case agent that abused so many people had an alias in the original book. I solved that problem for asshat the cop by writing a second edition with real names. Please laugh - I did. ;)

The only review on the book is on Goodreads and was written by someone named Drew. I have no connection whatsoever to Drew and it is a totally random review (that I love). I never solicit reviews - you should know that if you've read through my blogs. Read it: Drew's Review


I wish all a great New Year in 2013! May you prosper in all of your entrepreneurial pursuits!

Escort Services on the Internet: The Future

 Very important update! 

EDIT - 9 July 2012 @5pm:

When that other thread was locked, Deb started a new thread requesting clarification from Google on the policy relatng to Places / Maps listings and escort services. An actual Google employee responded:

We treat escort services like any other service area business - if the address is faked or isn't marked as hidden, the listing will be removed.

Locking this thread to discourage further negativity about this topic.

The thread is here:

Hi Jade saw you locked the escort service thread can you please clarify the issue?

So obviously it was the renegade Map Makers with a mission. Make sure to check the box to "hide your address" in your Places dashboard as no customers come to your business location if you have an escort service.

End of edit.

Anyone that has an escort service today needs to pay attention to the outlook for adult businesses on the internet in the US. There is a disturbing element of censorship that becomes more pronounced every day and it's only going to get worse in the future. There are ways around it though.

EDIT on 7 July 2012 @1:45am EST:

I have completely updated two of the Blueprint Updates pages on my website with help around the Maps / Places issue and advertising and marketing ideas and thoughts:

Focus on Local

Advertising

For those of you that read this blog and the Accused Madam Blog regularly, this should not be news. I have often written about the censorship experienced in Orlando for many years and my belief that Orlando is a test city to see what works and what doesn't. They want to know what level of censorship the general public will tolerate and how to work around it. Well, now I see that they've found new ways to bypass the First Amendment using government contracts with big business.

I did edit my last post several times as I had new information to add and I won't be editing it again. The first link in that post is: Listing Removed from Maps Due toTechnical Issue. The link is to a Google help forum for those having various issues, including problems with Maps and Places listings. Read the entire thread. I guarantee it is enlightening.

After my last post on that help forum, I did conduct due diligence. My short time spent on research revealed the following and it is not good news if you own an escort service, a stripper service, or even a strip club. Make no mistake: The agenda is to censor anything and everything that is adult on the internet.

I actually had telephone conversations with close to 10 people in adult business early this morning. Most were positive about the situation and sort of shrugged their shoulders on it as they all recalled what we did before Google existed. Yes, these people were all long-term adult business owners and not people that purchased my books to open a service in the last few years. A few thought that it would be to their advantage when the industry is shoved back in time to print ads. Perhaps they are correct because knocking 100s of thousands of independent escorts out of the picture can't be bad for escort services.

You see, print ads – especially the yellow pages – eliminate much of the competition. No more free or cheap advertising would be available. As one man stated to me, he needed $10K to $15K to get into the yellow pages with decent sized ads and compete. If you've read my book, make sure you've followed all of the advice and not just Google Maps/Places advice. That advice included yellow pages ads, though I did advise you to go light and use services available free or cheap on the internet. Start saving everything you're making now, because you're going to need a yellow pages presence in the future and they usually want substantial down payments.

We already know how hard law enforcement is working to get rid of Backpage, so I won't get into that here. You should also know my thoughts on The Erotic Review (TER). Every federal case that I have researched and posted about in relation to escort services on the Accused Madam Blog has involved TER because their forums are entrenched with agents. Ignore what I'm saying and be a part of a future federal case.

What my research today revealed

If you have placed all of your eggs in the Google basket, you have seriously screwed-up. Fix it right now, before it is too late. I searched for the keyword phrases “escorts” and “escort service” preceded by the city. In other words, “orlando escorts” and “orlando escort service” or “boston escorts” and “boston escort service” etc... Map Makers with an Agenda have already been working hard to remove Maps and Places listings for escort services and entertainment businesses that are adult (i.e. stripper and bachelor party listings) in cities around the US.

Another part of this trend relates to Google updating web search results. About two months or so ago, my two websites that I used for research were completely removed from natural search results when both had been on the top of the first page of results for a long time – one for several years and the other for a year. At the time, I tried guessing why, but none of it really made sense. Anyway, no skin off my ass because I was not actually operating a service. I recently deleted both sites from my hosting account.

More recently I noticed that two services that had operated in Orlando for many years had also been removed from search results. One has been in business since 1992, and the other since 2000. Both are now the disappeared. Thank goodness for Yahoo and Bing, but then we all know that few searchers use either in comparison to the almighty Google.

On a positive note, Apple is working on a local listing service and we will have to watch and see what the future brings on that. Now for the bad news. My research revealed:

All Maps and Places removed in the following cities, but some have popped-up again and then disappeared again, but usually one or two reappeared where there were many before:

Orlando

New Orleans

Boston

Philadelphia

Cincinnati

Louisville

Omaha

San Antonio

Tulsa

Atlanta

Baltimore

Bangor, Maine

Indianapolis

Detroit

Albuquerque

St. Louis

Kansas City

Washington DC

Fort Myers, Florida

Milwaukee

Quebec

Paris, France (yes, you read that correctly)

The following list of cities has most Maps/Places listings removed and only 1 or 2 remain.

Seattle

San Francisco

Pensacola

Reno

Buffalo

Chicago

Fort Lauderdale

These city lists are by no means comprehensive. I didn't search for every city in the country or the world, obviously. If you do not see what I saw, be really happy because it may mean that someone took the censorship power away over at Google. It is hard to imagine that the order to remove all adult businesses came from the top or anywhere close to the top, but you never know.

The other disturbing trend involving escort service websites disappearing from natural search results benefited the following list of ad and listing websites:

EROS

TER

City of Love

City Search

Open Adult Directory

Yellow Pages

Dex Knows

Manta

Naughty Reviews

Map Quest

Backpage

Date Check

EZ Local

Local.com

City Vibe

Insider Pages

Many US cities have few or zero actual escort service websites in the natural search results now. I always thought that search results were supposed to index the most relevant websites first, but obviously something has seriously changed. Watch all of this closely in the future.

Registration Begins on XXX Domains

Today begins registration for the new .xxx domain names. I found an excellent article in the International Business Times that explains the registrations schedule far better than I could and it includes a chart: .XXX Domain Registration: A Cheat Sheet for the Sunrise

I do not care for the segregation aspect of .xxx and feel that it will make blocking all adult websites, no matter how conservative in design, much easier for ISPs, hotels, and anyone else that so desires. However, if you already have a TLD (top level domain), you really do need to buy the matching .xxx if nothing else.

Advice for Escort Business Owners and Clients

This could turn into a complicated post if I allow it to; I will try not to go that direction herein. Anyone that has read any of my books is aware that I discuss the blocks on escort business telephone numbers and websites during conventions in Orlando. Memoirs is all about the blocking and the Blueprint books mention it more than once. I have also posted occasionally on the topic on the Accused Madam Blog.

There are always ways around such blocking. First, what do I mean by blocks during conventions?

When there are large conventions in your city you may notice that you receive few calls, if any at all. This is obvious in Orlando, at least to me. This was obvious to several operators in Las Vegas for years and civil suits were filed over the problem. In past I heard from operators in Los Angeles that it was clearly happening there as well. Now I am hearing that the practice has become all too obvious in New Orleans.

Check the conventions in your area. I cannot define “large” in relation to the number of attendees at a convention, but I have seen it with a convention of 45,000 and with a convention of 1000. Today I was asked: “What are the chances that nobody at all calls during a convention with 45,000 attendees?”

I asked what specific convention was being referenced and the answer was Rotary International. Well, the chances in Orlando that no one will call are 100%. No one at all called during the Golf Merchandise show here back in late January and 45,000 people came here for it. Imagine how many hotels fill in New Orleans when that many people come in town for a convention. Yet, not a single call. This owner had his eyes on the situation because previous large conventions brought zero calls and he has great placement in search engines.

One trend that you will notice is that you receive calls immediately before the convention and immediately after it from people there for that specific convention. Some people do arrive early or stay a day or two extra in a convention city. You may even hear from a random caller there for the convention – I try to question on how he found the website and what device he is using to dial me.

Up until mid-January, people using some advanced smartphones were able to view the site and call without issue, but something changed by the end of January 2011. I do not have a grasp on it yet and can only research and make educated guesses. When I figure it out, I'll post about it.

One thing you may notice is that your websites are still receiving high visitor numbers from unique IP addresses and the numbers get higher during the huge conventions. So is it believable that not one person from that huge convention will call to ask a question? No way in hell, especially when considering that it rings off the hook when there isn't a sizable convention in town or from outside areas when there is.

Let's consider possible solutions for the escort business

Plaster your email address on top and bottom of every page on your website. Announce on the main page that interested clients should save your email address – the blockers sure as hell cannot block your email. Include a short statement on the main page of your site that if an interested client is coming to the area for a convention they may find escort service websites blocked and may not be able to get through on the telephone. Assure them that you will respond quickly to email and instruct all to save your email address and/or book an advance appointment.

This is a plug for the adult business forums and sites that offer ads to adult business and are at the top or near the top in the keyword phrases that matter: Place ads on a few of these sites that will run before, during, and after that big convention. Use a new telephone number in any of those ads. Your number on the website may be blocked by the blockers; mine is. Repeat this, always getting a new telephone and number, for all large conventions. You decide what large is, but to me it is 10,000+.

The most known site with great ad prices is EROS. Bigdoggie.net is another well-known site that has been around for a while, but their ad prices are high. You can also post in the forums on these sites. One more to look at is World Escort Guide – they have great prices and are somewhat high in search rankings in the cities they operate in, but they are not in that many US cities.

While you are at it, grab your netbook and wireless modem (all major wireless companies have them) and head out to the hotels during one of the larger conventions. Sit in the lobby and see if you can search for and click on your own website using the wireless modem you brought with you. Dial your own telephone numbers from different wireless phones. Now, go online using the hotel's Wifi if at all possible. If at all possible, use the hotel's ISP for a cable connection in a hotel room reserved by a convention attendee. What worked and what didn't?

Encourage clients that visit your website from elsewhere prior to visiting for the convention to book advance appointments. To do this you would want accurate photos of escorts on the website and know each escort's schedule of availability. You may want to offer a decent discount for appointments booked in advance. You may also want to aim your marketing at other areas and try to grab potential client's attention before they come to your city. If you are in Las Vegas there are many options that are not online.


Possible solutions for clients

If you have any idea that you might be interested in seeing an escort when you attend a major convention, search in advance for the websites. Save the telephone number and the email address. Consider booking in advance or at least calling and making sure that the business will respond quickly to an email when you are ready to make an appointment.

Remember that a Google or Yahoo or Hotmail address cannot be blocked by the hotel. Never use AOL because they have always been known for blocking issues – in email and in search results. Businesses are going to need to adapt to responding immediately to emails – no more 24 notice by email stuff.

This may not be happening in your area at all, but as long as I have been aware of the problems (since 1992), I have known that a major connector is a hospitality industry entity that works closely with conventions in most major cities. The situation has evolved over time, but the convention and hospitality industry connection to the problem has never changed.

Search Indexing and Advertising for Adult Business

Where your website would show in Google, Yahoo! and Bing used to be somewhat predictable over a period of time, but it isn't anymore. In case you haven't noticed or wonder why your telephones stopped ringing, Google has a new and mostly unpredictable algorithm. Yahoo! and Bing often take so long to index websites that hopefully you have not isolated your attempts to get websites indexed with Google alone.

Advertising for adult businesses – escort services and party or stripper entertainment businesses that serve adults only – on the internet has become extremely complicated lately. I admit that I resent this as we are not all 10 years old and the parents of the 10 year-old (or whatever age) should be responsible for the non-adult's internet access and not the rest of the damn world. I am not sure about the rest of the world, but it seems that in the US everything is being optimized for children. It has always been that way in Orlando because of Disney so I am used to it, but I imagine the rest of the country is surprised. Welcome to my censored world.

This new obscure algorithm will soon be implemented throughout the world, so don't get too happy if you're in another country. In all that I have read recently I understand this is a really serious issue in Germany too. This surprises me – no adult ads in Google, Yahoo! and Bing in Germany? What happened that I missed? Germany has undergone serious changes since I lived there. There is a list of countries that have been affected by these new rules concerning adult content so it isn't only Germany.


Focus on Local

I think we all realized the importance of the local focus a while back. Google Maps was really great for all while it lasted, but it has changed (see previous posts) and Places is not so great. If you read through the help forums for Places you will see what I mean. If you already had a listing before the major change then you may be okay, or not. Now they are even rejecting many that use a mailing address instead of a physical location, but that is far from the only problem. It isn't only adult businesses that are having problems with Places – it is all types of business, but you could forget about phone verification as the rules have changed. Read through the Places Help Forums

People are actually changing their websites in attempt to conform to Places demands and get a listing. Now that is crazy – the website is what it is and if you delete all the keyword phrases that matter, well, your website will be worthless anyway.

A while back I had a couple of websites that were refused by Yahoo! Local. The email stated that there was no way to appeal this so don't bother trying. Please keep in mind that I have never designed and submitted any website that even had nudity! Not even a breast! Any website I have ever submitted could easily be considered general audience, but focusing only on adults. Bing Local has always been out – Microsoft has never been keen on anything adult, which is ironic as the first escort service website in the world was in Seattle, Washington (Microsoft territory). Now Bing and Yahoo! are together.

Yet you see escort businesses with listings in Google Places, Yahoo! Local, and Bing Local. So how do they get there? One way to get in Yahoo! Local is through Express Update or through City Search as both feed Yahoo! Local. City Search looks far too expensive, but I admit that I haven't read thoroughly and am not exactly clear on what you get for your $s. Express Update has a free listing option.

I am not clear on Bing Local yet – supposedly they're mailing a few postcards out so I will post when I see what happens next. Perhaps they have changed, or not.


The New Algorithm

Google's new algorithm is supposed to use a secret formula and thus far it is a secret kept from all. I am getting mixed messages between Google, Yahoo! And Bing. Yahoo! appreciates the keywords in the domain name and this will give your website higher ranking with those keywords. Read the section on Domain Implementations in this Yahoo! Advertising guide. I do not believe that Google appreciates this anymore though, and it may serve to lower your Google ranking – I have seen evidence of this in the new algorithm.

Perhaps you must have one website optimized for Google and one optimized for Yahoo! and Bing. It has all become confusing. It used to be that you simply had one website that said what your business did and offered information, and then the SEO (search engine optimization) people came along and changed that – your website needed SEO or it would sink in rankings. Now the SEO craze seems to be over, except that everyone is attempting to figure out and master the new algorithm. Read through the ongoing discussion on Webmaster World.

As an example, my site that I use for research has been lost at times and research is not really possible as the phone doesn't ring anymore, except periodically (I will get to that issue). Websites that do not relate to the keyword phrase at all have a better rank now, including one that has a couple of sentences and a telephone number and otherwise several blank pages. What the hell? Somehow I do not believe that deleting all information from my website will help it get back the better ranking. I do not get it.

I sometimes check ranking on that site from different IP addresses – easily done by checking from a Blackberry, an Android, and a PC or laptop. Well, the results are astonishing to me: Using the same keyword phrase it will not show at all (I only check up to page 5 of search results) at times, it will show on page 1 at times, and on page 2 at other times. There is no formula possible here except a rotation of some sort. There is no way to optimize with that algorithm and perhaps that is the idea, except that when it doesn't show some total garbage websites do show – and what good is that to the searcher? What good is it to the business? It is just screwed-up and nothing more.


What about PPC (pay per click)?

This is also confusing. You will certainly see PPC ads at the top and side of search results for adult business websites; however, Google has been suspending accounts of adult business sites using AdWords and Yahoo/Bing are anything but clear on adult content ads in their advertising program. Still, you see ads on all three that are wild in comparison to your mild content and images, right?

Want to be confused? Read Microsoft Advertising's Adult Content Guidelines and the Google AdWords Help forum to start. Apparently the rules do not apply to all of us.


Final Thoughts

My advice is to have at least two websites that are different and use different keyword phrases. One domain should make use of the most important keyword phrase in the URL and the other should not. They have decided to confuse us all to death. Use confusion to your advantage and have 10 different websites and watch and see which websites make it in which search engines. Now that is time consuming!

Backpage under Attack on Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper and Amber Lyon are now attacking Backpage in the same way they went after Craiglist. The show is on the air right now so I cannot find a link yet. Give it a while and do a Google search for the link.

Because of a runaway girl and some idiot that sent her out via Backpage these people attacking adult business in the US will most likely succeed at censoring out any adult categories on the Backpage website. I'm sure you've noticed how prices have risen since Craigslist exited; well wait till the categories are removed on Backpage. Already – as of two or three weeks ago – no images are allowed in the "adult jobs" category.

Ad space for any adult business anywhere will be premium price. In my opinion this is overkill and purely an intention to eradicate adult business in this country except under the most controlled conditions. What is next? Internet Service Providers that host adult websites, in my opinion.

Keep your eyes open here folks – life is really changing in the US.