Updated
As you might have heard by now Blogger has it in for Adult bloggers. You may have received an email that looks like this.
Adult content policy on Blogger
Starting March 23, 2015, you won’t be able to publicly share images and video that are sexually explicit or show graphic nudity on Blogger.
Note: We’ll still allow nudity if the content offers a substantial public benefit, for example in artistic, educational, documentary, or scientific contexts.
Changes you’ll see to your existing blogs
If your existing blog doesn’t have any sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video on it, you won’t notice any changes.
If your existing blog does have sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video, your blog will be made private after March 23, 2015. No content will be deleted, but private content can only be seen by the owner or admins of the blog and the people who the owner has shared the blog with.
Settings you can update for existing blogs
If your blog was created before March 23, 2015, and contains content that violates our new policy, you have a few options for changing your blog before the new policy starts:
- Remove sexually explicit or graphic nude images or video from your blog
- Mark your blog as private
If you’d rather take your blog down altogether, you can export your blog as a .xml file or archive your blog’s text and images using Google Takeout.
Even if you haven’t received this email you are not off the hook, as I suspect you soon will.
This is a wakeup call; it is time to move your blog to self-hosting if you have adult content of any type. *Even if you are on Wordpress.com, rumor has it that they are deleting blogs too.
It is not hard, nor is it very expensive.
You need three things
- A Domain Name
- Domain Privacy
- A Hosting Company
Step 1: Export all of your content from Blogger. Do this NOW! Do not do any of the other steps. I’ll wait. Blogger Export Instructions!
Do this even if you are not going to self-host, or think you are safe. This is your content; grab it now before anything bad happens.
Step 2: Go to Who is and see if the domain name you want is available. I do not recommend that you buy a .co.uk address as it has privacy issues (message me if you need this explained further), ALWAYS buy a .com address if you can.
Step 3: Choose a hosting company. Read their Terms of Service very carefully about adult content. Do NOT choose GoDaddy
Step 4: Purchase your domain name. You can do this from whoever you like however please be sure that they offer domain privacy or you might find your name and address visible on the web for all to see. As a best practice I suggest buying it from the same people you are going to buy your hosting from. It just makes things simpler later. *If you have already purchased your domain name for use with your Blogger/Wordpress.com site this makes things a little more complicated. Contact me directly for more information.
Step 5: Buy your hosting, again please be sure to VERY carefully read their Terms of Service for Adult content. (I am a big fan of Hostgator I’d suggest the “baby package”)
Step 6: Install your blogging software of choice on your new host, I find that the Wordpress software works extremely well, but it is not the only choice. On most hosting packages they have a very simple wizard to walk you through doing this.
Step 7: Import the file from your old site and choose a new theme and design for your blog
Step 8: Extend your right arm out horizontally from your body with your palm up and fingers clenched, slowly raise your middle finger and say “FO Google”
For more information (or to hire me to help) contact me @domsigns on twitter.
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