Prostitution is probably the oldest trade known to mankind. Humans have exchanged money and goods for sex for thousands of years. And now in this digital age, sex workers around the world are moving the trade to a new portal – the internet.

Portals of Lust: Digital Realms

Today’s digital technology is shaking up the oldest profession. The marketing and arrangement of commercial sex are moving and shifting online, and as a result, looking for sex is now as easy as clicking a button. In fact, E-commerce abounds in the virtual commercialisation of sex, proof of which are the increasing numbers of porn sites, cybersex, Australian phone sex offers, webcams and online sex shows on the internet.

Technology has reshaped how adult erotic industry workers do their business. They simply turn to the internet to find their clients and expand their market. Commercial online sex is thriving and global adult content is growing by the day – from brothels to escort agencies to sex workers’ personal websites.  Numerous profiles of male and female sex workers are put out there with images and detailed information about the range of services they provide, as well as the rates they charge. All the prospective clients have to do is browse through the categories by location, age, body type, hair colour, physical characteristics, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Once they find what they like, they simply communicate with them to discuss and negotiate on the service before meeting up. More ads are also found on different social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram which has become a new frontier for sex workers as well.

The sex trade has a lot of different sectors and some of them involve young men and women who are being forced or coerced into the sale of sex through force or manipulation. There’s also another sector who engage in providing sex for a charge who feel that digital prostitution has become a safer place for them as compared to the days when they walk the streets looking to pick up men. The internet has improved their safety and reduced the criminality that can sometimes be associated with sex work. This sector has also been taking advantage of the technological developments and has become more entrepreneurial, profiting more financially.

Prostitution has certainly embraced the digital age and we can’t understate just how much it has changed the oldest profession.

We have seen and experienced how today’s technology evolved for the past three decades. As it progressed, everything takes one step forward — from how we do things at work to how we live our daily life. Technological innovations made a lot of things easier, simpler and better. The Internet, computers, electronic gadgets and the web are among the best inventions we have seen so far, and they all contributed to a more efficient and productive workplace. Even major industries transformed by the digital age are reaping good harvests.

Industries Transformed by the Digital Age

The introduction of new technologies resulted in significant changes in old business models. Because of this, there are businesses that continued to thrive after making a digital shift, while others are hanging by a thread. Here are some of the industries transformed by the digital age.

Sex Industry

Before, men who are seeking pleasure need to go to brothels or pick up prostitutes on the street for a quick rendezvous. But with the dawn of technology, anyone can easily get off without leaving their houses. For instance, there are now online brothels that allow you to book escorts discreetly. Hookers are also using the social media in getting new clients. As a matter of fact, Wired magazine featured prostitutes who use Craigslist and Facebook in promoting their adult services.

Technology has also changed the way how we have sex. As long as you are connected to the web, you can access millions of pornographic materials and meet like-minded people in adult chat sites.

Travel Sector

Even before there were computers and the Internet, the travel sector has always been a  big industry. Fortunately for us today, we don’t have to line up at travel agencies and book a trip. In addition, holidaymakers and businessmen can now make a flight reservation online, and even make hotel arrangements prior to their actual stay.

The digital age also paved the way to a more straightforward organization of data in travel companies. Owners can run their business more efficiently since productivity losses can now be averted.

News Industry

Over the last decade, there has been a decline in print readership. This is because everybody can get their news online. As a result, some newspaper companies shut down their operations, while some went online. Those that managed to stay in the business looked for ways on how they can use technology to their advantage. Now, news agencies deliver news stories real-time. They also increased their online presence by creating social media accounts and establishing their own websites. Even if they have lost quite a number of readers in print, they managed to find new followers online.

If you own an online business then you know how important marketing is, such as online advertising is. This connects your company to computers and mobile devices via online marketing, allowing it to introduce potential customers to your company’s products and services. However, knowing the best way to conduct the marketing can be difficult. Here are some helpful methods:

1. Social Media
Experts highly recommend that an online business use social media to market their products and services. The reason is that it’s becoming an increasingly effective way to advertise, especially among millennials who tend to get information via mobile devices instead of computers. The main benefit of social media is that it’s much easier to keep customers and potential customers aware of the latest developments related to the company, such as new products, upcoming promotions, etc. It’s highly advisable to have multiple social media accounts, including Facebook and Twitter.

2. Email Reminders
This is a means of digital communication that is being overshadowed with by social media. However, it is still a very effective online marketing tool for a business. In particular, it’s quite effective when integrated with social media, such as via e-mail reminders. In fact, studies show that up to one-fourth of online companies’ sales from deals, coupons, etc. are linked to reminder emails. While people use social networks to get the latest updates, e-mails can be an effective tool to remind customers about upcoming events and such.

3. Press Releases
This is an often overlooked method of marketing for an online business. However, it’s definitely an effective one. Sometimes people simply aren’t aware of the sales and promotions your company is offering. An online press release is definitely an effective method for getting the word out about your company’s special events. It’s important to inform several local media outlets about upcoming specials and promotions your company will have, so they can help to notify netizens of them.

4. Webinars
This is an excellent method for marketing, as it teaches potential customers about issues related to your company’s products and services. Sometimes it’s a matter of building interest by making potential and current customers more aware about topics related to them. That will generate interest, which in turn encourage them to invest in your company’s products and services. It’s critical to always have experts conduct the webinars, to increase your company’s credibility and maximize the legitimacy as a retailer.

5. Blogs/Vlogs
There’s been much buzz in the past few years about whether blogs are still an effective method of online marketing. This is especially due to the popularity of social networks including Facebook and Twitter. However, blogs are still an effective way to market online. One of the main reasons is that it’s not direct advertising. Visitors have the ability to click on links if they want to make purchases. However, the key benefit of a blog is that it provides the latest information

In the world of business marketing, there are several technology tools that can be used, such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). This allows companies to effectively introduce users of computers and mobile devices to their products and services. Here are some of the most effective SEO tools for marketing:

1. Keywords/Keyphrases

These are some of the most critical tools used in SEO. It’s important that they be effectively weaved into a website’s content. The process of finding the right keywords/keyphrases is significant, as they’re based on web surfers’ searchers. This will help not only to drive traffic to a business’ website, but also the “right” traffic. Finding such keywords/keyphrases requires the certain web tools that will help to determine the best choices to increase traffic to the website.

2. Typo Generator

This is an interesting tool, as it involves factoring in human error when selecting keywords. Certain keywords such as “marshmallow” (misspelled “marshmellow”) are frequently misspelled. By not factoring in such misspellings with this technology, you can miss out on a lot of web traffic.

3. Meta Tags

This is another important tool that a business can use to increase web traffic to their sites. They’re used to organize the web pages of the website into applicable categories. Meta Tags are becoming increasingly important due to the growing use of mobile devices to access the website. That highlights the need to organize certain webpages under the right categories.

4. Local Ranking

A big mistake many online companies make is not developing their sites to drive local web traffic to their sites. However, this is critical, especially for Google-friendly sites. Studies show that if your company doesn’t show up in the first page of local searches, let alone the top 3 listings, it will be highly unlikely that consumers will click on your company’s link. More companies are now realizing the importance of ranking high, not only in Google searches, but also local searches. The competition can be tough in the local realm, so it’s critical to use every technological tool possible, to drive web traffic from computers and mobile gadgets to your website.

5. Link Sources

Another important tool to include in effective Search Engine Optimization is link sources. The good news is that various link suggestion tools are available, which will help to determine the most effective link sources to include on your website. Adding the most effective ones will help to increase web traffic to your website, which is one of the most critical goals when developing a SEO strategy.

6. Keyword Density

A mistake that many online businesses make is having a keyword density that’s either too low or too high. If the former is done, then it will be difficult to increase web traffic to the site. On the other hand, if the density is too high, then a similar problem can happen. Fortunately, there is analytics software that can calculate the keyword density of particular web pages. That allows developers to make adjustments, whether it involves lowering or increasing the keyword density.