So, you were shopping for a hosting company what you want to work with. And you were finding ways to upgrade from a free version of a hosting platform. Although; free hosting platforms often have strict content policies. Think for this instance, Blogger… owned by Google Inc… now Google LLC. Blogger has content policy that is designed to govern use of their platform. Other free platforms have policies too! However some policies infringe the rights of the content owners. Even a free version of a platform integrated with your email account like Gmail can have strict policies. If you abide by their policies, and keep your account in good standing, you can easily use this free platform without any worries.
However; you were about to upgrade to a paid version of a hosting platform to expand your blogging career; you may need to check with their policies. I’ve listed these hosting platforms what I’ve stumbled upon:
GreenGeeks
This is my best favorite hosting company to work with! GreenGeeks has a user-friendly TOS page that you must read before signing up for their hosting service.
However; they prohibit pornography on their servers because, this is a hosting company designed to keep their websites free of porn. If you were an erotica-writing author; you must be cautious when publishing content on your servers.
Bluehost
Bluehost has a policy against pornography because, they don’t support erotica. This is a hosting platform what you should steer away from,–if you are an erotic author who writes an erotic book.
Okay, there’s the another hosting platform what I’m about to mention, and this is a music-hosting site that enables you to sell your content.
BandCamp
This is an alternative to SoundCloud because, you can sell your tracks, and license them under a Creative Commons License. Although; their policies are less strict, giving musicians a “wiggle room” for publishing music. BandCamp is suitable for artists who were independent or record labels.
SoundCloud
This is the biggest music-hosting platform. And many artists and average users around the world. However; it was a time When SoundCloud was under fire for a scandal involving copyright, or something, remixers, who remix music via licensing of some artists/labels are often affected in my opinion. Their policies do fail, and they do be criticized for infringing the rights of the artists. Unfortunately, copyfraud is still condoned with copyright schemes what YouTube relies on,–fueling corporate greed.
Okay, we have to take a closer look of these free hosting platforms, and some of them require upgrades.
Blogger
This is an easiest to host your website on servers,–maintained by Google. Blogger is the most popular platform for starter site owners who wanted to own a website without spending a dime. And this is the most used platform. And it has grown overtime, and people still use this platform because, this is a “poorman’s” version of hosting service.
There are major drawbacks for erotic authors, according to Blogger’s content policies.
Monetization of adult content isn’t possible because, if you have ads or affiliate links to commercial porn sites, your blog may be deleted. This is the top infringing policy what Google added to their policies. If you are a professional pornstar, you may need to find a paid version of a platform for your content to have this kind of content.
Professional pornstars often work with paid hosting platforms. And they make lots of money with their content via an adult audience. Most of these professionals rely on paywalls, subscriptions, memberships, and merchandise to make their sites profitable, and keep themselves at financial float.
That leads me to a question: Will pornstars sue Google for taking down their blogs illegally, and barring them from monetizing their adult content on Blogger?
What You Should Do?
Think twice before you work with any of these platforms!