If you have a site hosted on Blogger, or are considering starting a site on Blogger, you may have received this message yesterday:

Important Update to Adult Content Policy on Blogger

You are receiving this message because you are the admin of a blog hosted on Blogger which is identified to have Adult content.

Please be advised that on June 30th 2013, we will be updating our Content Policy to strictly prohibit the monetization of Adult content on Blogger. After June 30th 2013, we will be enforcing this policy and will remove blogs which are adult in nature and are displaying advertisements to adult websites.

If your adult blog currently has advertisements which are adult in nature, you should remove them as soon as possible as to avoid any potential Terms of Service violation and/or content removals.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

While you may try to “risk it” and see what happens, here are some alternatives and recommendations for moving your blog to a safer site:

1. Back up your blog! Under the “Template” section, click “Backup/Restore” in the upper right hand corner and then save the file. Then, go “Settings” and then “Other”, click “Export blog” at the top and save that file (this contains your posts and comments). Since your pics are all also hosted here, you’ll need to download them all too if you don’t have them saved elsewhere locally. Google has complete instructions for backing up these pictures.

2. Find another free platform? Two of the other biggest free blogging platforms out there are WordPress and Tumblr. WordPress does not allow affiliate links in blogs hosted with them, so I recommend avoiding them for free hosting. While Tumblr currently allows adult and says that they will continue to allow adult (just make sure to flag your site NSFW!), there are also risks with excessive affiliate links – in their “Community Guidelines,” under “Spam,” they include creating “blogs with the primary purpose of affiliate marketing.” While this phrase and your blog may be debatable in the extremities of its meaning, it is good to keep this mind just in case. There are a number of various of free blogging platforms (and ones that specialize in adult), however, over the years, some have come and gone or may also change their rules in the future, so if you choose this route, just research and be careful.

3. Go solo! Buy your own domain and host it yourself. For a long-term strategy, this is best, and is really not that difficult or costly. For example, at Godaddy, .com domains are about $10.99/year and if you want private registration (so your name and address aren’t publicly available) it’s only an additional $7.99/year). Hosting there can be as cheap as $2.99 (note: it appears everything there is on sale currently). This is just one example, many people use DreamHost and HostGator as well for inexpensive hosting. Different people have different experiences with different companies, so if possible, ask others for recommendations, and make sure to read each company’s terms to ensure that they allow adult content as well.

4. Install a blogging platform. WordPress is an extremely popular option that is pretty easy to get the hang of and has a multitude of free plugins available as well to simplify various things (since you’ll be hosting this yourself, you can add affiliate links to your heart’s delight!). Another popular option is Joomla. Both of these have pros and cons, as well as what kind of interface will work best and will be easiest for your needs. Again, if possible, ask others for recommendations, and check out different systems to see which you feel more comfortable with.

5. It’s easy to learn! There are a multitude of free tutorials online for setting up your own website. If you don’t mind spending a little money to learn even more, Lynda.com can be a great source of tutorial videos for a huge variety of skills from technical to creative to even business oriented for a small cost.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me monicaj@stockroom.com