Pay For Your Porn

I Built Three Adult Sites This Year. Here’s My Honest Take.

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I’m Kayla. I build websites for a living. This past year, I worked on three adult projects. All real. All messy. Some wins. Some facepalms. I’ll keep it clean, and I’ll keep it real.
If you want the unfiltered post-mortem on each of those projects, I put together a full behind-the-scenes case study with even more screenshots and numbers.

You know what? Adult web design isn’t “normal” web design with a spicy theme. It has extra rules. Payments. Age checks. Hosting limits. Ads that say no, a lot. If you’re thinking about this space, learn the rules. Then build fast, simple, and safe.
Curious how I even ended up building adult sites in the first place? I wrote about my path into the industry and the advice I'd give a friend.

The Big Gotchas (That Bit Me Early)

  • Payments: Stripe and PayPal often say no. I used Segpay, CCBill, and Netbilling. For builders who want a gateway purpose-built for the adult space, AdultPay.io supports recurring billing, Apple Pay, and weekly payouts.
  • Age gates: A clear 18+ splash page helped both law and trust.
  • Compliance pages: That 2257 notice isn’t cute, but it must be easy to find.
  • Hosting: Some hosts ban adult. I had good luck with Cloudways + Cloudflare, and Rocket.net. If you’re after a host that openly markets to adult creators, TMDHosting offers managed plans with daily backups and strong firewalls.
  • Images and video: Big files kill speed. I used Bunny Stream and Cloudflare Images.

Need a deeper dive on the payment side? I compared several adult-friendly gateways and shared the winners and losers in a separate post.

Alright. Let me walk you through three real builds I did.

Example 1: A Solo Creator Site That Needed Control

Goal: Keep fans on her own site. Sell subscriptions. Post short clips.

  • Stack: WordPress + MemberPress + Bunny Stream (video) + Cloudflare + Segpay
  • Theme: Blocksy (lightweight), with a custom child theme
  • Extras: WP Rocket for cache, ShortPixel for images, 18+ splash page

What worked:

  • Speed. Home page loaded in about 1.2s in the U.S. That’s solid.
  • Simple nav. We used three tabs: Home, Feed, Join. That’s it.
  • Thumbs with soft blur. Safer for SEO. Less shock for new users.

What didn’t:

  • Chat requests. She wanted live chat. But that ate time and led to chargebacks.
  • Too many pay tiers. We went from six plans to two. Conversions went up.

Numbers after cleanup (60 days):

  • Join rate: 1.4% to 2.3%
  • Refunds: 2.1% to 0.9% (clear refund terms helped)
  • Mobile bounce: 62% to 44% (bigger buttons and faster video previews)

We had one odd bug with 3-D Secure on Segpay in Safari. Support fixed it fast. I did add a tiny line near the button: “Your bank may ask to verify.” That cut drop-offs.

Tiny design note: We tried pink. Then we switched to teal and gray. Less glare, more trust. Funny how color changes the mood.

Example 2: A Studio Library on Elevated X (Lots of Content)

This was a small studio with years of content. They needed tags, updates, and staff roles.

  • Stack: Elevated X (CMS) + Cloudflare + Wasabi (storage) + BunnyCDN
  • Payments: CCBill for subs, Netbilling for one-offs
  • Legal: 2257 page in the footer; uploader flow had ID checks

What worked:

  • The CMS. It lets staff tag and schedule with ease. Bulk edits saved hours.
  • Search. We used tags and filters that users understand.
  • Support. Their tech team replies fast, like same-day fast.

What didn’t:

  • Design freedom. Templates felt stiff. We had to bend CSS a lot.
  • Migration pain. Old file names were messy. We wrote a quick script to map them.

Numbers after launch (90 days):

  • Average time on site: 3:10 to 5:02
  • Support tickets: Down 35% (clear labels helped)
  • CDN bills: Down 22% with better thumbnails and WebP images

Would I use Elevated X again? Yes, for large libraries. No, for tiny sites. It’s heavy for small goals.

Example 3: A Boutique Shop Selling Adult Products

This one was a store, not a member site.

First try: Shopify. We hit payment walls. We moved to WooCommerce with NMI + Authorize.Net. It was stable after that.

  • Stack: WooCommerce + Astra + Woo Subscriptions + NMI + Authorize.Net
  • Extras: Cloudflare Turnstile (spam), MailerLite (email), Algolia (search)
  • Content rules: Clean product photos, clear use, no graphic words

What worked:

  • Category pages with plain language. People found what they needed, fast.
  • “Starter,” “Quiet,” and “Premium” badges. Simple labels beat tech specs.
  • Shipping rules. A flat rate under 2 lbs kept carts smooth.

What didn’t:

  • Shopify Payments blocked us mid-test. Stressful week.
  • Image sizes were too big at first. We rebuilt image sets under 150 KB.

Numbers (45 days after fixes):

  • Conversion rate: 1.1% to 1.9%
  • Cart drop: 78% to 61% (guest checkout helped)
  • Email revenue: 0 to 14% (two flows: welcome and cart reminders)

Design Moves That Keep Working

  • The 18+ gate: Short and calm. “This site is for adults 18+. By entering, you confirm you are 18+.” Two buttons: Enter and Leave.
  • Above the fold: One line. One button. No fluff.
  • Proof helps: “New posts every Tue/Thu.” A simple schedule builds trust.
  • Less choice: Two plans beat six plans. Every time.
  • Tap targets: Big buttons. Bottom of the phone screen. Thumb-friendly.
  • Captions on mute: Auto-play without sound is kinder and faster.

A/B tests I liked:

  • Button text: “Join Now” beat “Start Free Trial” by 18% on one site.
  • Dark mode: Helped watch time by 9% after 8 p.m.
  • Blurred thumbs vs. clear: Blurred won on bounce, by a lot. It’s safer for new folks.

Traffic, SEO, and The Stuff No One Wants To Talk About

  • SEO tone: Use plain words. Avoid graphic terms in titles. Keep it human.
  • Schema: Product, VideoObject, and FAQ schema helped rich results.
  • Links: Many sites won’t link to adult. Partner with review blogs and forums that allow it.
  • Social: TikTok said no. Twitter (X) was fine. Reddit worked if we followed each sub’s rules.
  • Email: Warm up a new domain. Keep images light. Use double opt-in, always.

Another slice of the adult market is location-based escort directories. When you’re targeting “city + service” keywords, the page has to load fast, answer local intent, and show trust signals like verified photos. A focused example is the TS Escort Northampton listing — it lets visitors zero in on verified trans escorts in the area, view transparent rates, and grab direct contact details, illustrating how a geo-optimized page can convert local search traffic without a big brand name.

A practical example of a link-worthy asset: roundup posts that target a specific niche. Check out this curated list of the best Black hookup sites to try in 2025 — it shows how up-to-date comparisons and clear pros/cons can attract organic backlinks, long-tail traffic, and affiliate revenue all at once.

Deliverability tip: Put your address in the footer. Simple, but it matters. For a solid overview of why paying for adult content keeps the ecosystem healthy, see PayForYourPorn.org.

What I’d Choose Next Time

  • Small creator, low budget: WordPress + MemberPress + Segpay + Bunny Stream. You can launch in two weeks.
  • Big library, team workflows: Elevated X with a clean CDN setup.
  • Product store: WooCommerce with a high-risk gateway (NMI, CCBill, or Netbilling), not Stripe.

Hosting notes:

  • Rocket.net or Cloudways with Cloudflare has been smooth for me.
  • Keep backups off-site. I use Wasabi. Cheap and fine.

Money Talk (My Real Ranges)

  • DIY creator site: $2k–$6k build, $150–$400/month for tools and hosting
  • Studio CMS setup: $

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