Abby B. Are you thinking of blogging anonymously for the first time? Afraid of how that might impact your blogging career? Anonymity can lead to greater creativity. However, it’s important to understand the pros and cons of blogging anonymously before getting into it.
It’s possible to blog anonymously without sharing any identity. A lot of blogs were created anonymous in the beginning and they are just as great as a non-anonymous one. A blog’s success is more dependent on the amount of quality blog posts it has and the site’s speed, less of the person behind it.
I’ll be sharing the pros and cons to blogging anonymously, how you can start with anonymous blogging and prepare your business for the long run.
*This post may contain affiliate links. This means I may earn a small commission (at no cost to you) if you sign up for a program or make a purchase using my link!
Can A Blog Be Considered A Business?
Blogging is definitely a business anyone can get into with work and consistency. Just like any other business, it takes time and effort to build a successful venture. Most bloggers are able to retire comfortably from full-time jobs just by blogging and creating multiple streams of income using their blog.
Other ways that you can make money with your blog include selling merchandise, creating digital courses and offering monthly memberships to more exclusive content. As you build traffic and readership to your blog, sales can come in at any time of day providing you streams of online passive income. This is possible even with a faceless blog.
Advantages of Blogging Anonymously
1. There’s not much to think for
Often people don’t start creating any type of content because they are afraid of what others think. We are also afraid of showcasing failures to the public when it is simply just progress. We then spend hours overthinking about starting and end up not doing anything. Are you guilty of this as well or are you someone who starts without caring what the world thinks?
Blogging anonymously means we’re not exposing our identities, making it almost impossible for anyone to judge us. You have nothing to overthink about now?
2. Build a side hustle alongside a full time job
Not everyone can blog with their identities exposed, for a multitude of reasons I respect you for. One of them is that is if their bosses find out and they lose their jobs. It’s good to note that most bloggers started out blogging as a side hustle while having a full-time job. Some became pro bloggers and are still holding onto their full-time jobs well after making it in the blogging industry.
Not everyone wants to do blogging full-time although they make more than their everyday jobs with blogging. This is even truer for men bloggers compared to women bloggers – a huge chunk of women bloggers were either single moms or stay at home moms. So if you’re worried about your boss or company finding out about your other source of income, it’s ok to blog anonymously for the time being. You can quit your job in due course or just continue doing what you do best on the side anonymously.
3. You can build an entirely different character for yourself online
There’s a reason why authors use an entirely made up pen name for themselves. Sometimes to get into a topic they know nothing of takes up a whole journey of building an entirely different self. You can do the same with blogging.
I get that not everyone is privileged to have a nice life and we oftentimes want to forget about what’s happening in our personal lives. If it helps you work better, it’s perfectly fine to blog anonymously with a different nickname. You can always maintain your own personality in your writing!
I am in no way condoning cheating others, making up stories or getting involved in scams by hiding your identities.
4. Your family or friends won’t find out
It’s almost impossible for your family and friends to find out about your side hustle, unless you let them know. You may get occupied with blogging once you get into it and they might show some interest to understand. But just like social media, you don’t have to share the name of the blog you’re working on or any links to it. They can’t find it too if you’re blogging without your name.
I did this for quite awhile just to remain at peace – I didn’t need anyone’s opinions for what I’m trying to explore in this world. It’s important at the start of any new hobby or side hustle, that you carry out the activity and learn the process on your own. You have to work on your own thoughts and feelings about it – whether you like it or you don’t. So before taking any advice from anyone around you, find out if blogging is really something you want to pursue.
Disadvantages of Blogging Anonymously
While there are great advantages to blogging anonymously in today’s noisy world, we can’t deny that there are disadvantages too. One of the main reasons an anonymous blog might not be great for you is it slows down your growth, at least in the short run. Hence, it is important to include this aspect in your action plan and analyze the strategy you’re choosing before even starting. This is one of the top things to think about if you’re thinking of making money fast with blogging and if it’s something you’re doing full-time.
1. Difficult to scale a business
Most of the time, building a successful online business requires you to talk about yourself and your personal journey. It is what sets you apart against other bloggers in the same industry. What makes you unique? Why should I read your articles and buy from you?
Depending on your niche and focus, a blogging business can be scaled up to offer different products to make you more money. This includes ebooks, online courses, 1-1 coaching and even monthly memberships to your premium content. While it is possible to create some of these products without ever showing your face, it may be difficult for you to make a lot of sales without an enticing product sales page.
A good product sales page should come with your name, a brief background, a picture of yourself, statistics to show what you’re doing is working as well as customer reviews. If you can earn a lot with info products while doing it anonymously, I’d say you’re a rare gem.
2. Building credibility in the eyes of Google
Just like humans, Google likes to see that a real person is behind a blog. This is even more the case for YMYL niches where you need great authority and topic expertise to be ranking in search. You might never rank at all for YMYL if you don’t talk about your experience – which makes it almost difficult to blog anonymously.
For other easier to rank niches, having a name, placing a picture of yourself and using your own pictures on your blog can help you build credibility in Google’s eyes. Talking about yourself and experience, although not necessary, can also set you apart from other bloggers in the same niche.
3. Extra work to build trust among readers
To be successful online, you’ll have to build trust and as humans, that is built through connection and bonding. Research shows we trust and like people who closely resemble us and share similar journeys. If you decide to blog anonymously, it could be a little more difficult to build connection with your readers and get them to trust you.
Can You Transition to A Non-Anonymous Blog Later?
I started off my blog to be anonymous as I was pretty insecure of my writing. But as I progressed, I got a lot better at writing and gained more confidence to open up about myself. I began to include a few pictures and wrote a more in depth introduction of myself at my blog’s “About Me” page.
It’s possible to do this because your blog will barely get any traffic in the first 12 months and you’ll be focusing a lot on content writing day in day out. By the time you reach the 100 article mark, you’ll be feeling much more confident in your writing. It’s a huge milestone! You’re certain that it is not merely just a hobby and ready to make money.
The important thing is to just start! If blogging anonymously can get you to start, do it regardless of your future plans.
Since you’re new to blogging, you might not know that blogs can be sold to others for money. This means that any blog can be revamped to match styles and content direction of their new owners. So what’s stopping you from blogging anonymously today and making the same kind of change in a year’s time? The difference is you’re keeping the blog to yourself.
How To Start Blogging Anonymously
Now that you’ve decided to proceed blogging anonymously, here’s a short guideline on what you should do. You can find my complete guide on setting up your blogging business here.
1. Decide a niche for your blog
Choose something that is within your passion or expertise. Blogging isn’t an easy activity everyone around you thinks it is, so you’ll need to show some love for it by writing in your favorite topics. It should be something that has enough search online to ensure you have enough traffic.
2. Register a non-personal domain name and get hosting
Decide on a name for your blog and get it registered on Bluehost. Since you’re blogging anonymously, the domain name shouldn’t be your personal name. Make it short and easily spelt.
3. Install WordPress, theme and necessary plugins to your blog
WordPress website builder doesn’t come together with the blog so you’ll have to install it for free via Bluehost. Get a nice theme (a free one will do) and install plugins you think you need.
4. Setup legal disclaimers and privacy policies
Legal disclaimers and policies are needed for every blog, anonymous or not. Cover yourself with the right T&Cs by grabbing this blogger legal bundle, created by a lawyer blogger herself and most pro bloggers are using it. No headaches for you!
5. Write your first blog post using Google Docs
Setting up a blog is pretty easy right? The hard part is making content consistently for the next few years. I recommend using Google Docs to write all your posts as everything is well synced to the net and you can access it from anywhere. You’ll just need to copy paste later to publish via WordPress.
6. Repeat the process until your blog has enough content
Blogging is pretty straightforward. All you need to do is find low competition topics you can rank for, learn how to write SEO-optimized content and repeat the process. I always tell others to achieve at least 100 posts in their first year blogging. More content means more traffic – that’s only 2 posts per week!
Bottom Line
Starting a blog anonymously is a great way to overcome your fears of exposing yourself on the web. This is especially the case if you’re a new content creator! Over the years, a lot of blogs have been successful and made great amounts of money even if they’re anonymous. While it may be an alternative in the short run, you might want to explore greater opportunities in the future by leveraging your name and personality.
The great thing about blogging and owning a blog is that you can always look back, reassess and change your strategies to adopt newer ones. If you’re new at blogging and looking for the right guidance, I suggest you get a blogging coach!
Are you blogging anonymously? Let me know why you’ve made that decision and how it’s going for you so far!
Photo by Julia Volk from Pexels
