This is a guest post by Jane Sheeba who also writes about autotrader and photos.com discount coupon codes and hence wishes to share the following couple of discount deals with you: auto trader promo code, photos.com coupon code.
Blogging is a platform allowing you to express your opinions and ideas to the world through the web and has become hugely popular today.
As a blogger, you would certainly feel the need to be known to most in the social media to get traffic and visibility. But this is not the case with all the bloggers.
There are bloggers who choose to author their blogs under their pen names or even prefer anonymity, hiding their true identity.
Blogging so, would be known as ‘Anonymous Blogging’ in contrast to the traditional, conventional blogging.
For our multi-author blog that features autotrader and photos.com discount coupons, we had many authors offering to write columns anonymously.
The Cons First…
Authoring a blog anonymously is increasingly catching up, maybe because of the subject of the blog (controversial blogs, I mean) or just for sheer fun or whatever the case maybe.
Hence anonymous authors have many reasons to hide themselves behind the confines of their blog from the online world.
Authoring anonymously though comes with its own benefits and flaws. It does not allow others (audience and readers) to invade the blogger’s privacy to a large extent. But, there is a catch.
- You always will have the threat of being caught or known to people someday, if not today or tomorrow. People can find you with many other resources available online through your IP address and track your whereabouts. So, remember that anonymous blogging cannot be under wraps for a long time. It will reveal itself one day or the other.
- Even though protecting your online identity is not a bad idea at all, it may affect the effectiveness of your blog. You may not be in a position to grab a strong audience, which will invariably affect the profitability of your blog.
- It might become a hard task for you to build trust among your audience. As you are always under a mask, even if you are selling something through your blog, you may not get the required number of people to buy. Trust becomes an important factor when you are online. People may not be ready to share their details with you as they are as well concerned about their privacy.
- All hell breaks loose when they find and easily track who you are as a real person. If you are running a controversial blog or the subject of the blog is too sensitive an issue, needless to say, your reputation is at risk. Anonymous blogging has a flip side to it too since you cannot blog your heart out against the law of enforcement.
- You also run the risk of getting your family in trouble. They may get upset by the posts you write on (For example, if the post contains vulgarity, uncensored topics, against law or something terribly upsetting about your personality)
- And yes, you definitely cannot make friends on the online platform. It may sound almost like an oxymoron, ‘being anonymous’ and a ‘friend’ at the same time.
Now The Pros…
Well, the other side of anonymous blogging is relatively fun as it provides you with high end privacy and the much ‘freedom of speech’. After all, blogging is all about expressing what you think and presenting your thoughts online.
Let’s see what you get out of authoring your blog anonymously…
- You get yourself away from many eyes. In other words, you are in a safer zone to venture into writing something you ‘prefer’ anonymously. Privacy is usually the utmost concern of most of the anonymous writers.
- Hiding your real identity from the online world may save you from a lot of problems in personal/professional life. This may help you to avoid unnecessary attention or painful cribbing at your work (if you are writing about your terrible workplace or on the boss). Since your online image always influences your personal life, it becomes important to maintain privacy.
- You can freely experiment with different topics, ideas and write on them on your blog.
- Some authors like the idea of remaining anonymous as it is alluring and thrilling to be under wraps. People who just prefer fun (as a hobby)and nothing else can happily remain anonymous.
- You can write about your interests (anything, for that matter) with total sincerity and honesty.
Winding Up
As said earlier, authoring a blog anonymously requires caution. Using a Proxy can help you in many ways. Some writers also anonymously promote blog content of their other sites/blogs on the blog too.
It has got two sides to it, however it goes on to show how you take it into your stride and ensure yourself of being an anonymous blog author.
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• anonymous blog • internet anonymity pros and cons
I know this is not quite he same as anonymous but I know of several internet marketers who write blogs under pen names.
One does it because he has made himself a name in an offline business and then started an online internet marketing business and wanted to keep the two separate. Another just did not like his name and fancied changing it when he got this chance.
Ya it actually depends. Some want to keep businesses separate, such people would like to keep anonymity.
Personally I see no benefits of hiding behind pen names.
Anonymous author always makes me suspicious.
Why do they hide? Don’t they believe in what they write about? Are they trying to fool me into some scammy business or buy a crappy product?
By blogging in your own name you gain trust and reputation, both very important to your business.
Thank you for a well written article
If the blogger is developing a serious business around their blog, anonymity won’t work, because as you say, there comes a trust issue!
Hey Jane,
Interesting post! I however believe that should a blogger want to build a long term online brand and reputation it is important to get yourself known. Use your real name and display a picture of yourself on your blog. Interact with like minded people on various social networks and start positioning yourself within your specific niche. People online are more willing to engage and do business with you if they feel that they know you, trust you and like you! But having said all that, I guess everyone has their own reasons for blogging! Do what works for you!
That’s right Allan. If its business that involves money, people won’t certainly believe an anonymous author. Anonymous authoring, on the other hand, is fine for writing on different businesses, in the backend!
I agree that if you’re looking for evergoing blogging then you should certainly show your personality to your readers.
I think usually some bloggers don’t show their information as they might like to keep their personal life unaffected with their professional life. They might be feeling afraid that someone can misuse their information as risks increases with enhanced technology.
Hiding your name is not good signal. I respect need for privacy, but if you are in blogging this act will be recognized in negative context and suspicious. If you are trying to share good and quality content why to hide?
I agree, Jeff. I value honesty and would have trouble doing business with someone who conducted theirs anonymously or under an assumed name. If it’s just an online diary, who cares? (For that matter, why post it to the world?) If it’s meant to be shared, why would a blogger hope to make a connection with real people, if he or she is unwilling to do the same – regardless of whether there’s any buying or selling involved??
I think there is nothing need to be an anonymous author. Whatever post it may be, be frank with your name. This helps you to find friends in your niche. Being an anonymous author, it degrades your online reputation and trust.
I think using a real name on your blog may be a better idea then hiding behind a pen name. I do agree that it could eventually help with sales because visitors may trust you more. Anyhow great guest post Jane.
Thanks for the pros and cons, it is a great piece to think about the next time someone wants to create a blog. I would however like to offer this, sometimes we write things and post them not to become known but because we just want to write.
Well if you are building an authority blog then i don’t think anonymity helps. To build an online reputation you have to disclose your name or else have a pen name for our benefit.
The idea behind anonymity is to speak out a controversial topic and it is short lived.
I agree that hiding your real name, especially in the blogging world is not good. If you want to be trusted by other bloggers why don’t show who you really are. Stop fooling other people just to gain something.