I just wanted to touch on this topic because even though I use my name “Adnan” on this blog and in my other internet ventures, I don’t like putting my full name on the internet. Now call me mad, paranoid or simply foolish, but I am still cautious about putting my information on the net. You might also say, well I can lookup your full name anyway from the Whois on the site. But still, I would prefer to keep using Adnan in my emails, PM’s and in the various forums I participate in.
But am I at a disadvantage by doing this. Every single one of the young entrepreneurs I know use their full names in all of their businesses whether they be offline or on the World Wide Web. As a result they are able to build a brand associated with their name. By building up readership and traffic to their blogs and sites, they are making more people aware of themselves, and ultimately in business isn’t this what we all want?
At the same time however, I have come across a few bloggers who don’t use their full names or in fact any part of their name in business. This anonymous effect has created a buzz in the blogosphere, and as a result, they have managed to create a high amount of traffic due to their unknownness. Take for example The Manolo from shoeblogs.com, he does not tell his readers his name and instead refers to himself in the third person,
“Manolo says, these attractive shoes from the Isaac Mizrahi, which come in the wide variety of the colors and the materials, they are on the sale!”
I like this approach and at the same time, The Manolo is also creating a brand for himself! Another person who doesn’t give out his name is
The Anonymous Blogger. I am assuming because of his high Google ranking that he must be doing something right.
A few reasons against anonymous blogging would include however losing the sense of a relationship with your reader. Normally, once your visitors know a bit about you and your goals and aims as a blogger and entrepreneur, they may feel attached to your sites, and this could form a true friendship. It is this networking which could be lost through anonymity.
Also, you may become less searchable by being unknown on the internet. I have know people to search for a site through Google by name if they have forgotten a certain URL. By being anonymous, this makes searching very difficult, and as a result, you lose a form of traffic through search engines.
My advice is to at least include your first name in all of your entrepreneurial endeavours. By having an unusual name like Adnan, I am also ensuring that more people remember and recognize me if I happen to venture into different niches. Being anonymous can help bring in quick visitors if you are a novel blogger and have a certain appeal about your “unknownness”, however in the long-term, you will be definitely putting yourself at a disadvantage.
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13 responses so far ↓
1 Solid // Jul 17, 2006 at 8:58 pm
I like the way we did a post for each others question.
Anyway back to the topic, I wish to remain anonymous instead I am trying to brand my nickname SOLID. I use that most places, rather then my actual name. I just feel parnoid with security issues on the internet but thats just me.
Solid
2 adnan // Jul 17, 2006 at 9:14 pm
“I like the way we did a post for each others question”.
Im not sure I understand what you’re saying here.
Solid, I too am a bit paranoid with security issues in using your own name. Although people might now my full name, there is a lot of identity fraud out there on the net, so I really don’t blame you.
Also, SOLID may turn out to be a really great brand, so if you want to develop it, then that is great also. Please explain what you mean for your first sentence
Thanks for your comment Solid
3 T.A.B. // Jul 17, 2006 at 9:23 pm
I’m not really an entrepeneur. I blog anonymously because I share personal information on my site as well as unpopular opinions regarding the fairer sex and don’t want to have the National Organization for Women egg my front door. I’ve been doing it for a few years now and have no idea how it became so popular. Thanks for the plug, by the way!
4 adnan // Jul 17, 2006 at 9:27 pm
No problem T.A.B, your site was the number 1 site for anonymous blog on Google!
I suppose anonymous bloggers do so, so that they don’t have to give out every single bit of personal information on the net - mostly for security reasons. I’m not saying that being anonymous is a bad thing, each to their own is what I say!
5 Andreas Bard // Jul 18, 2006 at 1:07 am
As you know Adnan, I do use my name to brand and promote my business.
Im my opinion, that is really one of the best ways to do it, but of course there are a lot of risks.
But I think the advantages are bigger than the risks.
//Andreas
6 Dennis // Jul 18, 2006 at 6:26 am
If someone wanted to find out who you are, they can do it relatively easily. By registering a domain name, your information is public and can be found if you did not pay to make it private.
7 adnan // Jul 18, 2006 at 10:04 am
Thanks Andreas and Dennis,
Andreas - I think that it is great that you can promote your business by name, I just wish I wasn’t so paranoid about putting out my full name on the net. I know the risk of fraud and the like might seem extremely minimal, but Id rather not take the risk.
And Dennis - I know that someone can do a Whois on my domain (I think Namecheap have included a Whoisguard for free), but still, at least I am not that searchable on Google!
8 Spencer Fry // Jul 18, 2006 at 5:26 pm
The original idea of a blog was to be a personal journal. And the idea of a personal journal is to include your name and everything about you. This has changed somewhat, but let’s not forgot that a blog is a blog and NOT simply a list of articles. Including your name and details about yourself is what separates it from an article site.
9 adnan // Jul 18, 2006 at 6:04 pm
That’s true Spencer. The blogosphere was intially created as a means of people writing down daily occurrences in their lives. I agree that its only reasonable if people know who’s lives they are following, therefore I at least include my first name and that Im from the UK.
10 Spencer Fry // Jul 18, 2006 at 6:16 pm
I think that’s a nice start, but who are you? Where did you grow up? What were some of your life experiences? How did you gain the knowledge you now have? I think it helps the reader to be connected to what they’re reading when they have the answers to some of those questions.
We’re not asking for your address or phone number, but we (as readers) want to know about the person behind the posts.
11 adnan // Jul 18, 2006 at 9:43 pm
About where did I grow up, it was here in the UK. I’ve been here all my life and don’t intend on moving in a hurry!
I think I have explained my situation to quite a lot of people throughout my blog posts. Most of my knowledge has come through good old plain reading. There’s so much information in the blogosphere, I just find it hard to actually focus on blogging!
I understand where you’re coming from, and I will try and give a bit more information about myself in future posts, so thanks for pointing that out Spencer.
Please consider joining the Blogtrepreneur Forum so we can discuss more issues like this!
12 Spencer Fry // Jul 18, 2006 at 10:27 pm
It was just something to consider.
I think you’re doing a great job, but that human touch is always a nice addition.
13 Matt (Mithrill) // Jul 20, 2006 at 1:59 am
Nice post…I had wondered if I should use my first name more often. The human touch is a nice addition, but I don’t think that touch requires a last name. However I don’t/won’t provide my last name on the net. On most things, I don’t provide my first name. I usually go by “Mithrill.” I do this for security reasons (I’m an IS Auditor and know the importance of security). I think as long as you have a rememberable url and quality content people will remember you and you can afford to be anonymous.
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