Since the dawn of time, it seems that sex sells. Naturally this is a niche to get into and make some money, but what REALLY is involve in adult hosting and what do you need to do to get your feet off the ground and start your own business, hobby or network or where should you look to get what you need. Unlike regular hosting clients, adult hosting customers need more, but also are willing to spend more to get it. It’s quite a competitive industry with lots of options and directions to go. This article won’t necessarily tell you which path to choose, but give you a better idea on how to start and or where to go to get what you need.
Many shared hosting providers have policies against adult hosting. You might be able to get away with non-nude or slightly nude images, like lingerie, see-thru clothes or other scantily clad wear, however, for the most part, it is unaccepted. This is where the search begins. Ideally, if you have plans to grow and you see a future in what you are doing, do not choose a web host that doesn’t give you any room to grow. At least you need to make sure that if you grow out of the current plan that you will be able to upgrade to a better product offering and so on. Even small hobby sites will outgrow their hosting account, so you need to keep this in mind.
The adult consumer is a far more experienced shopper in many respects when searching for a host, whether they are new to hosting or have an existing web presence. Being REALISTIC is the main area where thinking is different. For a normal web site, you will find end-users always choosing the big numbers and lower prices, often being let down because of problems, use of excess processes, or some other reason and ultimately will be removed and forced to find a new host. Now this does not ALWAYS happen to a normal website, but it does happen about 10% of the time. Adult hosting, is completely different. Users will know they will use lots of CPU, RAM, storage and so on, so you need to shop smart.
What to look for at adult hosting?
Actually, just be sensible, especially for this industry. Does it look to good to be true? Do your homework. Don’t go for the marketing. In your industry, it is better to go word of mouth than to see advertisements of big numbers and low prices. You will be disappointed if you fall for the marketing trap. There is big money to be made, so spend a little more to ensure that you actually do get what you need. The most important factor when choosing an adult host is the level of support and quality of service, in no particular order. Remember, web hosts are not there to teach you how to do things as you should already have that in mind and how you should implement it.
Is your website just for hobby sake or do you want to have a store, image site, have live video feeds or other forms of media? Your web host needs to be able to offer those features to you and should have other similar websites as current clients, so call up those web hosts and ask for references of other domains they hosts. It is always good to have a reference and see what other people are doing. You do not necessarily have to contact them, but your research will show that these web sites are in good working order for adult hosting. Do you need Windows media streaming or Quicktime or both? Does your web host know what they are talking about? Do they have separate servers for media streaming which would be mutually exclusive from the actually webserving (meaning web site is hosted on a different server than the media files) of the web site? These are some of the questions you need to ask.
After you have decided which web hosting company you want to go for, choose the smallest package to fit your needs, but make sure that you can upgrade at any time and also how quick the upgrade is. You’ll need a company that can do instantaneous upgrades to reduce the possibility of delays. Keep in mind that if this will be an ecommerce enabled site, you do need a merchant processor which on the contray to popular belief is NOT the responsibility of the web host. You need to procure this yourself from companies like ccbill.com or others like it. Your conventional internet merchant processors will not allow adult related business to be part of their network and discount rates as well as risk are higher in the adult hosting industry.
When looking for adult hosting, try search engines to do your initial investigation and also some review sites. Then ask questions and ask your friends or colleagues that are in the same industry as they might be able to give you more insight. Review sites are only good for some background info like history of the company, prices and package offerings. All else take with a grain of salt as some of them are rather bias and can give you the wrong information which will lead to a bad experience.
Our experience has shown that usually, VPS hosting is the best choice due to the demand of the adult market. Usually pertaining to traffic and stability. The only setback might be the level of knowledge you have with running your own account.
