This issue is current in my mind, ironically, because  of work I was doing today to set up a mainstream blog.  Mainstream blogs require a bit more robust use of plug-ins because they are decidedly more Web 2.0 in nature, more interactive, and the commercial veneer is much slimmer.  Not to mention that the Search Engines view of porn and adult sites in general leads to a stricter spam filtering for any domain containing an adult theme.

An adult blog, therefore, will typically use fewer plug ins, but the ones you use are far more critical.

So, I will start with the five Wordpress Plug-ins that any adult market blog should have – in order of importance in my experience:

1. Wordpress Database Backup:  This should be self explanatory.  A blog is a work developed over time, and it gains value with age.  You will spend a cumulatively large amount of hours and work that is put into your work and that work accumulates value with listing in the search engines.  Should your database crash or server go down, all of those placements and that work is potentially lost.  This plugin is simple to install, simple to configure, and is an absolute must for any blog.
2. All In One SEO Plugin:  This plug in helps you to optimize your blog for search engines.  Since the primary benefit of blogging is search engine traffic, I list this plug-in second on my list.  Another reason for it being ranked so highly in terms of requirements for the adult blogger is that, properly configured, the plugin will prevent your blog from creating excessive duplicate content, and, because adult related domains tend to have more spammy and commercial content, avoiding duplicate content is absolutely critical to the sucess of a porn blog in terms of your search engine performance.
3. Ultimate Plugins Smart Pinger:  Pinging is one of the great values that blogs provide.  When I put up a static HTML site, I need some inbound links and time to become indexed by a search engine.  Pinging often results in being visited and idexed relative rapidly (A mainstream blog I brought on line was indexed within 6 hours recently).  The downside, again, is that spammers abuse this service and overping.  What most people do not realize is that they inadvertantly ping the search engines and ping services each time they edit a post or page in the default wordpress installation.  This could get you banned by pinging services.  Implementation of this handy plugin will ensure that your blog pings only when you add a new page or post, not when you edit it.  Again, adult domains are under heavier scrutiny for this practice making this plugin a must have.
4. No Follow Links:  People do not often realize that they get turned down for link exchanges because they have excessive links on their website.  This is because your site can be penalized as a link farm should it have too many outbound links.  Not only does the site in question get penalized, but so do all sites linking to it.  Again, adult sites are relatively more vulnerable to this because of their high number of outbound links to sponsors.  This handy plugin will allow you to link to sponsor blogs and websites without having the link count in your outbound link total from the viewpoint of search engines.  Also, it will pass on more value to your link partners by not splitting the votes of a link with your sponsors.  Warning:  Do not put the nofollow code on your link partners links – it will get you banned by anyone linking to you.
5. WP Affiliate:  This handy little plugin accomplishes two things for your blog.  It masks your affiliate code to your affiliate links in posts and pages and it essentially makes them a “nofollow” link.  These two things improve click through on your affiliate links and protects your blog from getting link farm penalties because these links are looked at as “nofollow” internal links.

Now for a couple of notes and qualifications regarding this very narrow list of essential plugins.

Some people recommend the Platinum SEO plugin over the All in One Plugin.  I find the All in One Plugin to be easier to use, more intuitive regarding its structure and search engine preferences, and also for the fact it has been around for awhile and has a history of regular updates.  That latter point is critical from and SEO standpoint as the rules and algorithms of search engines are constantly changing.  You may want to try both, however, as the Platinum plugin is a very good solution as well.

I also want to emphasize that the above 5 selections are used on every adult blog we introduce.  Our mainstream blogs have a list of 8 that we use on every one.  The adult market, and the commercial nature of the blogs, however, change both the requirements of plugins and the breadth that are necessary.  Regardless, I would never bring a blog live without these plugins installed in an adult blog as their use from the absolute initiation of your blog can save you money and search engine heartache later on in its development.

Please note that comments on this blog are open, and we welcome them.  We do, however, scan them with Askimet.

And, we hope the above is helpful to you.

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