Let's say a girl is a solid 9 or 10 in looks, has great pics and advertises on one of the big sites. If she doesn't have any reviews on TER....how well can she do bussinesswise? Just curious how powerful TER is in terms attracting clients. Does it make a huge difference or would she do just fine being on one of the big ad sites alone?
I took a time out this month from TER.. I stop posting my availability, no ads nor discussion threads or replies..
I only used ads at CityVibe and backpage...
My traffic dropped in a big way..
I wanted to see were my traffic was coming from.. This has told me volumes.. It seems and has shown TER drives the MOST of my visits..
So why the alias?? When I am ready to start back here at TER I will.. Sometimes change is a good thing..
Dear Saddle_blazer
Considering your recent experiment with not doing the normal advertising that you would do if you had to take a survey would you say that over 75 percent of your business comes from post internet ads and how much would you say comes from magazine ads if you post and would you get other hobbyist via referrals as well? Also would you name get referred from hobbyist in the community say by a way of meet and greets were you could go and connect with potential clients that way? Would you also use the whitelist and have others contact you? Would there also be a way that clients would contact you that would be totally unsolicited? A penny for your thoughts with respect to one of the most important phases of you business madam
Well, the worlds oldest profession existed and thrived long before the internet even existed. One of my two favorite ladies has absolutely no TER presence at all. She runs an Eros ad when she wants to work and she has her own web site. She is as busy as she wants to be which is to say she sees two or three guys a week and turns down a lot of inquiries that don't pass her screening or give up on her when she refuses to talk specifics on the phone or in email.
TER is a great tool but not every provider is interested in using it. Honestly, many men who hobby have never even heard of it.
I also agree that girls were plenty successful before TER and can do very well without it. What TER has done for the industry is pretty amazing. Women can find a large, captive audience of potential clients and guys have access to an unbelievable amount of information in order to stay safe.
That said, I think TER to some degree can make a provider lazy in how she markets herself. Because basically the membership and her reviews do it for her. Here all she needs to do is have some pretty good (or higher) reviews and maintain some sort of presence. Guys find her w/ little effort on her part.
I think if a provider learned how to be successful w/out TER first, she can duplicate that anywhere. Also, if she has depended on TER from the beginning and was then without access to it (say being banned or otherwise), it would be much more of a struggle to equal her previous success.
I have NO idea how much of the "hobby market" runs through TER, but I would think it's a VERY small number. And frankly, I hope it stays that way. There are more women here than I could go through in a lifetime already. 
.
-- Modified on 4/18/2008 12:04:43 PM
I'm getting clients with just my website and ads on Cityvibe and other sites.
I have no reviews, and I'm doing well.
I realize that being reviewed will boost business for me tenfold.
I'm very glad that I found TER. I'll never go back to CL to post.
-- Modified on 4/18/2008 8:10:09 AM
Lamaya
Your new site looks great. Very well done
I wish Rare would create new templates. The ones they have now lack variety.
I try to make every effort to be safe and to have a great experience. Therefore, if a lady does not have any TER reviews I will probably not see her. The rare exceptions are those ladies who have been recommended by another hobbyist who I trust. After 6 years, I am no longer interested in TOFTT.
On one hand, a LOT of my business comes from gentlemen who have at the very least checked my reviews, and chosen to contact me based on what he found. I would not say that half or more of my business comes from gentlemen who have checked my reviews first, but certainly a large enough proportion of men so that I would certainly feel their absense if I did not have reviews on TER.
On the other hand, have a look at the review I am linking. Obviously her bad reviews haven't slowed her down much.
So is TER helpful, absolutely. Can a woman survive without TER, yes - but I wouldn't want to try.
Four pages of reviews with nothing higher than a 4 on performance. What were these guys thinking?
And many of these guys have multiple reviews. I guess they read the reviews after they see the lady. Either that, or they just have to see for themselves.
to say, "She can't be THAT bad, I just gotta see for myself."
she fits your description quite well as she has really made the effort and put herself out there.
I've only been on TER for a couple of months... and I find it an incredible resource. I would not be without it now.
The reviews are where it's at. They are invalueable to me. She does need reviews. Why would a honest provider NOT want Reviews?
Could she get along without ADVERTIZING here? Probably. Just keep the link to her web site up to date on the review here. I'll bet there are many more non-paying "lurkers" here besides the VIPs.
A lady's selling point is her reputation for being an honest provider. No matter where, her ads should state her stage name, her work phone number (so can be used for searches), a current photo, donation.
On photos: I am sick to death of butt pictures... I want to know that the girl I get is in the picture... single hot poses (in my experience) are suspect that they are stolen or not current. 3 or 4 decent photos should rotate.
Absolutely, YES, the quality professional ladies need their own web site, to advertize their rates & services so guys don't waste their time & hers to get basic information.
In my area there must be a couple of hundred girls advertizing on CL... and only a handful of them TER reviewed. Am I going to risk my limited hobby time, opportunity, donation on an unknown? Never again!
skb
PS Just because one is on TER does not mean they should ignore other advertizing. Many {my own favorite is Escorts(dot)com } allow free basic listings & clever ladies figure out how to get their contact information to prospects.
PS2) Ads attract New Clients, reviews help close the deal. TER only allows 1 review per provider/client. So no allowance for Favs we go back to time after time.
-- Modified on 4/18/2008 8:34:45 AM
-- Modified on 4/18/2008 12:36:55 PM
Reviews are important, but they don't have to be here. There are a lot of reasons that ladies have chosen not to be listed here, but are listed in other places.
If your area has an active local board, guys can find your review there. I'm in the upper midwest, and TER is an afterthought for most guys here. If I see a new lady, I'll search a bunch of places for info on her. For instance, look for "Megan Love" from TN.
Once you are established, TER is helpful but not crucial. For a new lady, it can be really helpful in getting established.
have never heard of TER. Of course, when I started as a mature escort 4 years ago, I had never heard of it, either... and I got plenty of quality clients simply by putting up a custom website and an ad on Eros.
Of course, once you've seen the value of the site, I think you'll never go back. But one shouldn't discount the large number of hobbyists who go solo.
1. "I've never done this before."
2. "I will be a regular." (When they say it before they've ever met you.)
3. "TER? What's that? I've never heard of it."
me too...so many of my reg gents either never heard about Ter or they are not members. I was always busy enough even in the begining b4 I knew about Ter. I found out when a client told me I had a review here.
I started out though as a private companion for a sweet Gentleman who I still see and it grew from there. It's not a must but it does help and it draws attention to you that you may not get without it.
I hobbied without TER for many years. I wouldn't give up the great resource that this site has become but, OTOH, I may be more inclined to roll the dice than some others are because I did it on my own for so many years. Of course I make every effort to be safe and avoid problems. I look for reviews and most of the time will not see a lady without them. Still, I have met some great ladies that had no presence on TER. Heck, I even found one of my favorite UTR ladies on Craig's List a few years back.
Not that I would wish for it but I doubt the hobby would cease to exist if this web site did.
...with the looks you've described along with great pics and advertising on a "big site", it would likely be only a matter of time b4 someone reviewed her. Ala the "Look at the hottie I just scored with" effect is to never be underestimated.
and the answer to your question is yes. you generally do need ter reviews to be a successful escort or agency.
-- Modified on 4/18/2008 11:58:39 AM
most of us don't even know what TER is about!
TER is a review site, not an Escort mall like Eros. Advertising attracts the POTENTIAL clients, the quality of service and customer satisfaction, sales, makes REGULAR satisfied clients and increases the sales.
It's your reviews on TER that gets you clients and not your once a week AD on message boards. Those ADs help with receiving more reviews.
Just how many providers out of more than 100,000 who are reviewed here post ADs on boards? How many members out of more than a 1000,000 visit the message boards? Only %0.7! The rest come here to read reviews. So no matter how active you are on boards or how much you spend on advertising online, you need 1 or 2 satisfied clients for convincing the potential clients to use your service. A well established provider with pages of reviews on TER, and just one simple AD on Eros, does much better than one with her name all over the Google, escort malls and message boards here with no reviews.
If you read Briar's response and visit the link on his response you will understand what I am trying to say.
Do not compare a review site with an advertising site.
Do you think if I start a coffee shop and pay Google enough money to show my site all over the first page of "Coffee" search results, I can sell more than StarBucks????
The answer is NO, I have no reputation and no good history ....
=========================================
This is an answer to those who compared TER with advertising sites....
Not pointed at a particular member here,...
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http://www.theeroticreview.com/discussion_boards/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=2117&boardID=17&page=
AND:
now that i've read carefully, i can better understand what you are saying.
they can survive without TER, they can even survive without any reviews on any site, TER does not affect what a provider has to offer. It can help with selling the offered service but it's not the one and only place for doing so.
My boss drives his Mercedes to office and I take the bus, the end result is the same we both make it to the office, Only a spoiled lazy person would say, "I can't go to work because I don't have a car"!!!
You are right, TER is not needed for survival.
I was underground for years, never a loss of business for not being on here, nada.
One day someone I saw mentioned that I should join (since he knew I have a total internet chat addiction as well) and suggested it would be helpful to help me in screening clientelle.
Voila! I joined, I made new friends with the providers in my area, and I still do well.
I have always done well when I needed to work and I know plenty of girls not on here who make BANK in LA without having been reviewed on here, but TER is just an added little nice thing. It can't really hurt, you know, and has proven helpful.
Katie
Bravo... Kayielady
I refer to the reviews on TER whenever I find a new provider whom I am interested in meeting, but this isn't the only place to find reviews and not all providers are listed on TER.
It's very helpful to see other peoples experiences with that particular provider to determine if that's the type of person I want to spend some time with.
It does appear to me that TER is more centered toward southern California and doesn't cover northern California quite as well. But thats just an impression that may or may not be correct.
maybe I'm lazy but I stick to TER. I've found no reason to change. The "protocol" seems to be fairly well adhered too...guys post relatively honest reviews.
S. CA is just so much bigger in population than N. CA (where I am) so it's natural that LA has more posts and overall action.
Eh? Rosemann?!!
Honestly speaking..im new on this board and none of my reviews have yet to be accepted...And i do pretty well. I think it all balls down to a girls marketing skills and her ability to network with her seasoned sisters that make the difference.BUT!!! Ter is very resourceful, besides the fact of me having no reviews..The info that i have read alone will make a difference in my results....Thx
NY?....I'm already sad because I won't get a chance to write a review on MS Priceless
It depends upon the client. I for one use TER to research who I will see. My first experience was amazing, and I thank my fellow TER members for all their work in documenting their experiences so I would know what to expect. It enabled me to meet a wonderful provider and have a great first experience. Being so new, I would not consider meeting a provider who does not have good TER reviews. I’m a nice guy with a decent hobby budget, but a lady with no reviews is not going to have me as a client. There are other resources for doing research and perhaps one day I would branch out and look to those sources as well, but for now, I prefer to play it safe and see providers who are well reviewed on TER.
I never used TER until last year, and I never ever lacked clients. I stopped asking men to post reviews when I saw it was attracting the type of men I wouldn't really enjoy meeting. I eventually refused to meet anyone from TER because they generally ended up being hagglers with no understanding of the service I provide. I'm NOT saying that all the men on TER are this way, just the ones I have had the misfortune to encounter. There are two notable exceptions: one Asian gentleman I met in NYC, and one designer I met in LA who asked me to model his wife's shoes. I liked him very much.
I now only see two gentlemen, period. Neither of them have even heard of TER, but they are the best Friends a lady like myself could hope to have. I see each of them maybe once or twice a month, and in all honesty their contributions make up 80+% of my annual income. Porn, modeling, and sports journalism make up the other [roughly] 20%.
-- Modified on 4/19/2008 3:35:21 PM