Adult webmasters like you have a few options to tackle online affiliate marketing.
They can start from scratch and code their own sites, a process which takes considerable time and requires advanced knowledge of programming languages such as HTML, CSS, PHP, etc. Not to mention hosting, design and other areas of web development.
They can also buy scripts like AdultVideoScript that do the heavy lifting for them. Never having to worry about the technical side of your adult website is great. However, the barrier of entry is quite high if you’re just starting out—around $200 USD for the most barebones plan.
This is why the WordPress path is usually favoured. It’s a quite powerful option for adult affiliates on a budget. As an added bonus, the popular content management solution (CMS) offers a ton of flexibility and freedom, two important factors to take into consideration going forward.
As you’ve probably noticed, there’s a truckload of adult websites using WordPress precisely for this reason… because they’re cheap, reliable and super fast to set up.
Interestingly enough, the biggest porn sites in the world avoid most public content management solutions altogether. The reason is simple: they don’t scale well past a certain traffic threshold and put a constant strain on servers. So if you ever make it to the big leagues, prepare to have to upgrade at some point (but trust us, that’s a really good problem to have).
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.
Today, we’re going to give you tips on how to choose a WordPress theme for your adult website so you can achieve kickass results in record time.
Set your priorities straight with these fundamentals
If you want to enjoy any degree of success, you must start off on the right foot.
And let’s face it, there are a number of essential features all the most popular WordPress themes share.
A word of caution, though: the perfect WP theme doesn’t exist. Most of the time, you’ll probably need to compromise.
The goal here is to make an educated choice so you won’t need to change your WordPress theme every few months because it no longer suits your needs or breaks after a major update.
Let’s talk about speed
Lightweight themes have a better chance at scoring blazingly fast loading times.
Bear in mind that a majority (53%) of mobile users leave a webpage if it doesn't load within three seconds.
Did you get that? 3 SECONDS!!
John Mueller, senior webmaster trends analyst at Google, suggested back in 2016 that websites load within the 2 to 5 second range.
In February 2017, Google published an industry benchmark report, further emphasising its commitment to a faster Internet.
As you can see below, past the 3-second mark, the bounce rate increases almost threefold!
Recently, SEMrush revealed that bounce rates do indeed impact search ranking.
All of that is sweet information, but how exactly are you going to test your adult WordPress theme’s performance?
Here’s a few of our favorite page speed diagnosis resources:
- Pingdom: the free version of this tool allows you to test loading speeds from 7 different servers. A performance grade is given to your website (from A to F). Page size is something you want to keep as low as possible as it directly impacts page load times, an important ranking factor. Pingdom delivers a solid analysis and even offers solutions to fix problems with your theme/website.
- GTMetrix: another way to test your adult WordPress theme’s performance. GTMetrix also hands out grades (from A to F) and gives useful suggestions for a lot of details including gzip compression, redirects, image optimization, etc. While very similar to Pingdom, use both as they have different testing methodologies (hence why the performance scores may vary).
- WebPageTest: this is the most advanced tool from our list, better suited for developers over casual webmasters. If you want to run very specific tests for your WordPress themes, you won’t be disappointed. You can emulate slow connection speeds, choose from a huge selection of devices and mobile browsers, use scripts, ping from locations all around the world, etc.
Understand the importance of responsive design
With users constantly switching between their favorite devices to browse the Internet, you simply can’t afford a non-responsive WordPress theme.
Here’s two enlightening facts about web traffic to better understand how crucial responsive design has become over just the past few years:
In 2018, 58% of site visits were from mobile devices (Stone Temple)
- 52.2% of all website traffic worldwide was generated through mobile phones in 2018 (Statista)
Imagine if your adult site doesn’t display properly for mobile users?—that’s a whole lot of traffic you’re likely to lose!
How can you know if an adult WordPress theme is responsive? There are a couple of solutions.
- Google offers its own mobile-friendly test. After being analyzed, websites are given a stamp of approval (page is mobile friendly) or a warning (page is not mobile friendly).
- Responsinator lets you see any website as if was being browsed on iPhone, iPad or Android Pixel 2 devices.
- Responsive Test Tool is more of the same, with the inclusion of TV displays (!) and custom screen sizes.
- Of course, you can also use Chrome or Firefox Development Tools directly from your browser to change the resolution in real-time.
Check for browser compatibility
Responsiveness isn’t enough.
Just like users have their favorite devices, they also use many different browsers to access web pages.
See below the most used browsers according to W3Counter:
Since Chrome has the largest adoption rate (57.4%) by far, you should at least make sure your theme runs smoothly on this browser. It doesn’t hurt to test others though.
Here’s 3 completely free browser compatibility tools which you can use to test your theme or debug problems once it’s been installed:
Don’t neglect update history and customer support
You might have found what appears to be a great WordPress theme for your adult website, but has it been recently updated?
Up-to-date themes, just like WordPress installations, prove less of a security risk. It’s also a pretty good indicator to gauge how involved theme creators are. We’ve unfortunately discarded some themes in the past because they hadn’t been updated in a while.
The same applies to customer support. Most premium WordPress themes have it, but you need to make sure it is the case—especially if you’re not a developer.
Ironing out any potential issues can go a long way for your affiliate activity. If an ad spot doesn’t work as intended, that’s a bummer. You need to be able to fix problems ASAP or have someone (preferably support) assist you.
While not mandatory, most theme creators provide item support to their clients with the premium version.
Read user reviews beforehand
WordPress themes come in all shapes and sizes.
WordPress themes for adult websites are a bit less common than say, your typical store templates, but they do exist and are still subject to criticism.
If you can’t find any reviews, that should get your Spider-Sense tingling. Well, unless the theme was released just yesterday. Conversely, 100% glowing reviews might suggest foul play.
Read up on what people are saying. Doing so will tell all you need to know about the product.
Oh and by the way, people really do like them reviews. They have a powerful effect into buying decisions according to research data from Fan & Fuel (2016):
Avoid shiny object syndrome (SOS)
WordPress themes can easily be overloaded with features.
Ask yourself this: do you really need a Hero section? And what about all those integrated plugins?
Truth be told, a minimalist design works best. You don’t need to turn your adult theme into a swiss army knife. Keep it simple!
Ultimately, you want users to be drawn to your creatives and call-to-actions (CTAs). If there’s too much clutter in the way, your click-through rate (CTR) will nosedive.
Also, feature-packed themes tend to put a burden on your server with increased page load times. Unless they’re built on a framework like Bootstrap.
Anyway, here are the things you never want in a theme:
- A complex layout
- Lots of dynamic elements
- Plugins for everything
Now that I know what’s required from a WordPress theme for my adult website, what’s next?
It’s time to be on the lookout for quality themes that tick all the right boxes from our priority list.
Last year, we’ve put together a selection of our favorite WordPress adult themes.
You’ll also need adult hosting for your content. Be sure to read about our 7 top choices before you purchase anything.
Special Shoutout to the Awesome Work From WP-Script
Already included in our list of favorite adult WordPress themes, WP-Script’s RetroTube has evolved into an even more incredible product.
Lately, the team has added niche functionality for RetroTube. In only 2 clicks, you can transform your design into something much more representative of your traffic’s interests.
As of now, there are 5 available niches with more coming in the near future:
- Lesbian
- Live Sex Cams
- Trans
- Fuck Me Daddy
- College
WP-Script’s themes are available for $49 with deep discounts often available that slash the price in half. Be sure to give them a try if you haven’t done so yet!
Last Words
Still at a loss? Using any of WordPress’ default themes isn’t that bad an idea. They’re updated often, load fast and do a pretty great job. Unfortunately, you’ll need to customize them a lot if you want to stand out and create something closer to an adult website in functionality.
Default and premium themes go well with CrakRevenue’s adult offers: you’d be surprised how fast you can be making money with us. Feel free to share what you’re really looking for when the time comes to choose that perfect WordPress theme for your adult website. If you have any theme suggestions, all the better!
