Do you associate your name with your blog?
One of the choices that face bloggers when starting out is one around their own name and whether they will use it on their blog (and to what extent).
There’s a range of options open to bloggers:
- Blog under your personal name and promote it prominently on your blog (this is what I’ve done here on ProBlogger)
- Blog under your personal name but don’t really promote yourself (this is what I’ve done on DPS – my name is on the about page but not much more)
- Blog under an alias and promote that name (Skellie does this on Skelliewag)
- Blog without any name on your blog at all – letting the content speak for itself
I’m sure there are other options – but these would be the most common.
So which is the best option?
I heard a speaker recently answer this question and they argued strongly that the best way to build a blog is to associate your name with it. In answering the question they used me and ProBlogger as an example saying something like ‘when you think of blogging for money, who do you think of? Darren Rowse’.
It’s nice to have you name associated with a niche and it certainly can be a smart move – but it’s not the only way to build a successful blog.
Let me use myself as an example of this.
Here on ProBlogger I’ve always blogging under my name, included it in the byline of my posts, had a prominent about page, written in a personal tone, included personal details of my life and included video and pictures of myself in numerous places.
As the blogger I mentioned earlier suggests – it’s paid off. Having my name associated with the blog has opened opportunities for me to speak at conferences, pick up consulting work, meet partners to start a business and write a book. Some of these things might have come to be without promoting my name – but I suspect less so than they did.
But what impact has it had on traffic? Let’s look at the stats:
- ProBlogger has had just over 7 million readers since it started a three and a half years ago. It currently averages around 14,000 unique visitors a day.
- RSS readers osilate between 43,000 – 46,000 depending upon the day of the week.
The growth has been steady since I began blogging with different peaks and and troughs along the way.
But what about my other blog Digital Photography School
DPS is a blog that I don’t really associate my name with very much. Like I mentioned above I mention myself on my About page and use it in passing on weekly newsletter emails but my approach on this blog is much less about aligning my name with it and letting content speak for itself. It is a step up from anonymous blogging – but it’s much much less than I do here on ProBlogger.
If anything these days the names of other writers (those who I employ to write weekly posts) are more associated with DPS than my own name.
What impact has this had on traffic? Lets go to the stats (note, these are just for the blog and don’t include the forum stats):
- DPS started almost exactly two years ago (it’ll be our 2nd birthday later this week).
- As you can see from the Sitemeter stats it’s now over taken ProBlogger in it’s visitor levels with 8.5 million uniques in that time.
- It currently averages 20,000 readers a day
- It’s RSS feed subscriber numbers hovers between 41,000 – 44,000 readers a day
So despite it being a a younger blog with no one name behind it DPS has overtaken ProBlogger and continues to pull away.
Some might argue that if I’d associated my name more with DPS that it could have grown faster but I’m not so sure. My feeling is that some topics and styles of blogging probably do lend themselves more to associating your name with them.
I guess the point of this post is really to present the options and to point out that there’s no one way to building a successful blog in terms of aligning your own personal brand with your writing.
A Couple of After Thoughts:
As I go to hit publish on this post a few other thoughts come to mind.
An Advantage of Not Aligning Your Name with Your Blog – one of the advantages of not associating your name with your blog prominently that springs to mind is that if you ever choose to step away from your blog and sell it it can be quite helpful. One of the challenges facing many blog purchasers is that to buy a blog written by someone else is to transition the audience from one blogger to another. Obviously not having your name associated with a blog makes this easier.
A less Glamorous Pursuit – I always have to chuckle when I hear myself introduced as the guy behind ProBlogger. While this is true and I’m very proud of this blog DPS is obviously a blog that is doing better when it comes to traffic and readership. Choosing not to associate your name with your blog is not a glamorous approach. You might never appear on the top list of bloggers for your work or get written up in mainstream media… but then again that is something that I know is attractive to many.
Do You Associate Your Name with Your Blog?
I’d love to hear your approach to whether you associate your name with your blog. What do you do? How did you come to your decision? What are the Pros and Cons of the approach you’ve taken in your experience?
Not only do I associate my name with my blog, my name IS my blog’s name.
Sometimes having a ‘professional name’ – that is really colorful – will allow you to have the branding you need
but also have the privacy you need for those times when you want to be anonymous or you want to isolate your family from your work.
So in essence, you get the best of both worlds – having your cake and eating it too
I guess the thing I take away from this is that it doesn’t matter. Looks like content is still King. It does give me hope about the niche blogging. I had no idea that DPS was on par with ProBlogger!
Same as Michael, my blog is my name. I do that because I want people to think of me when it comes to web analytics for the small business.
However, I have found an opportunity in a niche area, and my blog has focused more on that in recent months. So now I am positioning myself as one with knowledge about comparison shopping engines.
Part of me wants to branch off the niche opportunity into its own website and keep more targeted on my initial focus. But I think I will just stick with my main blog, because that niche is contained as a part of my overall focus.
I’m not sure where this will take me, but I am enjoying the ride so far!
I personally can appreciate having my own identity mesh with my blog. I find it difficult to not relate to posts, or to hold back information from my audience – by being transparent, we can relate to each other.
For example, I never used to disclose that I was still a student; but as I moved on, I found it hard to explain or convey certain things (like my posting schedule, my quirky interests, my immature voice, etc). And if I hadn’t revealed that I was a student, I would never have been able to start videoblogging (which is a ton of fun).
Sorry, I might’ve went a bit off-topic there, but I hope some people can relate (har har).
On Music In 2D, I follow the second option, which is to blog as myself, but not really promote myself. As a musician I have plenty of pages on the web that are all about me, and I wanted this site to be for other indie musicians.
I think the tone of the blog comes into play as well. A news or product review type of blog is usually impersonal and may benefit more from a non-personalized approach. On the other hand, a blog that is all commentary and opinion should probably feature the author’s name more prominently.
I post under Gori Girl at my blog, which goes by the same name. I have two reasons for this:
1) My blog topic (intercultural relationships) is not very close to my “real life” profession (economics), and I don’t want the blog coming up first when potential employers google my name. I don’t mind if people find out my real name (Never blog anything you’d be embarrassed for your Grandma to find out!), but I don’t want it too closely linked to my blogging.
2) Gori Girl is both easier to remember and easier to spell than my real name, at least for non-Indians. It’s quick, easy to say, and somewhat catchy – much more brandable, really.
I blog using my real name (the blog isn’t my name) because I started my blog and already had a built in audience from my podcast where they knew my name. The blog is about the same material as the podcast.
This is a great post as I am considering just using my first name and not having it very prominent on another blog I have been considering. It’s a niche that isn’t associated with the other stuff I do so the name recognition isn’t there.
I associate PARTS of my name with my blog. (Grinning) Is that the same thing?
Seriously though, it depends on which blog and what purpose the blog has. There is no need for Clientk.com to be associated with me personally. It adds no value to the reader and no value at all to me.
However, my romance writing author blog is closely associated with that pen name, for obvious reasons. I want reader to not only read the blog but to buy the books and to do that, they need to know my name.
On 2 of my blogs, I use a pseudoname. On one blog, I use my personal name. The choice is driven by several factors, but in part it’s also an experiment. On the blog where I use my personal name, I expect to get to know my community on a much more personal level. For the others, they’re currently more focused on a one-way conversation than generating community. If I choose to take them in the direction of community, I’ll make them more personal.
I dont. I like to stay anonymous as much as I can. Only use my name where I have to.
My name is Matthew Giovanisci. That name is way to long for people to remember let alone pronounce. So I will either post under Matt Gio or Killer Pickle (which is the name of my blog). But I find it is easier to post under Matt Gio cause it can be remembered pretty easy. But I never thought about the consequences of my Author name. I’m going to look into that more. Great Post!
This blog label/identity issue is one that I debate with myself all the time as I look ahead to how I want to move forward as a blogger. I chose an anonymous identity initially because I wasn’t certain how safe I would feel out here (the Kathy stuff had just broken). I didn’t want to embarrass my friends and family if I did something really weird as a newbie. Also I often work for somebody else and would not really care to get fired for what I write online.
Now that I am thinking of using my blog as an addendum to a page about freelance/contract writing I wonder whether to keep the title, or change it, or start a second blog. So many decision, so little time.
I like G’s Cottage; it holds a great deal of meaning for me because a part of me wants to share with others the life lessons I have learned even if I’m not as eloquent as some high profile bloggers. The idea came from the last scene of the PBS series “The Scarlet Letter” where Hester is seen sitting in her cottage surrounded by women who had seemingly everything; everything that is but hope. I may eventually add a photo and my name in the profile but I think the emphasis will remain on G’s Cottage and not me personally.
I don’t. I came up with a pseudonym many years ago and have been using it as its own brand. At some point I may decide to associate my name with it (anybody I know in real life who has my email address knows who Voyagerfan5761 is personally), but for now I prefer to remain largely anonymous.
Oh yeah, a couple of my classmates have seen my stuff on the Internet and didn’t know it was me until I told them. Amusing… I guess I’ve done well.
I do associate my name with my blog, but that is because I am using my personal work experience as the basis for my “expertise” in the subject of my blog.
I have a personal blog with which my name is not associated. It’s funny, because that blog is a lot more about me, but it could be about the person next door just as well.
I choose to associate my name with my blog. I had a url that I wasn’t using and bam the idea struck me. Start a blog with my name.
I haven’t seen any effect one way or another using my name besides searching for my name. I believe that using your name makes it seem more human. Also it is a bit of an ego thing too.
There is always a debate between anonymous blogging and blogging with your name and I have written about my experiences sometime ago in a blog post on my blog – http://sudeepdsouza.blogspot.com/2008/01/anonymous-blogging.html
I post under an alias although my About Me page contained my real name as well as my other aliases. I left it to the readers to choose which they liked best I suppose.
Some of my posts are very personal and at this point I’m a little uncomfortable sharing too much about me online, so I picked an alias that was very similar to my name.
After reading this post I decided to change my About Me page to show only one alias and nickname, rather than many aliases. I also changed my template to include the author name at the bottom of each post. I made this change because I think it would be hard for readers to interact with a nickname or nameless person.
Great post! It definitely made me think and re-consider how I had things set up.
Hi Darren. I think, for the most part, it depends on your blog’s topic. For instance, my blog is dedicated to raising awareness of “all things breast cancer” (http://www.pinkribbonreview.com); Using my real name feels authentic; I bare my soul on that site because I am a survivor, the topic matters to me greatly, and who I am give me credibility (I hope!)
It wouldn’t feel genuine and sincere if I used a different name. Ya know?
It’s funny. Your posts seem to follow my concerns as I get deeper into blogging. This is my biggest one. I have associated myself with my blog Url and title, however, I personally don’t like it. It started as a joke amongst friends as a place where all my non-techie friends can ask me questions (due to the amount I get each day) and I would promote the Q&A appropriately on the blog.
Well, turns out it isn’t as easy as I thought to get my non-techie friends into any type of pattern/routine to supply me with questions to answer. They all prefer to call me instead.
Also, the tone of AskWayne.net as a domain name sounds like I have all the answers, which I don’t of course. I might be able to find answers and perform quasi-fantasical things on computers, but I feel uncomfortable with the whole ‘Ask Wayne’ concept now.
My thoughts were to transfer my blogs to other domains I own such as waynejohn.com (again, personal, but not as ‘know-it-all’ sounding, or establish BlogChronicals.com, where I can involve other writers with more ease perhaps due to the generic nature of the domain.
I would love some constructive criticism from anyone on this. I’ve been battling my next move in my head for about a month now, and I’m still not closer to making a decision either way. I have no problems taking a hit in traffic either, but like eMomsatHome, I too feel I’m limiting myself with my name.
Advice? Always appreciated!
Darren, yet another great, though-provoking post that was as timely for me as the sun is for morning. Thanks!
I don’t associate my name with my blog. The biggest advantage of this decision is that we are now 3 people writing and owning Dev102 blog. Having a name associated with this blog would have prevented us from joining together. We do have an about page but the general approach is like “Digital Photography School”.
I normally associate my name with my blog but didnt have my name in the domain http://www.thewwwblog.com/ . My other blog http://www.drchetan.com/ is related to my name as i think about its future and my dentistry career.
I have mostly seen having your name in the domain name had helped a lot for most of the bloggers like john chow, skellie, matt cutts etc. And this blog’s content speaks mostly for the blog and no association with the name makes no much difference.
Great topic to start with. Well i had my thoughts on that. Since my blogging age is less than a month as of writing this comment, even though when choosing among other thing i came up with this question. Should i link my blog to my name? Here is what i thought about it…
1. Linking your name to your blog gives a personal touch to the reader. But as you argued, there are the four categories and different people have different preferences. Like my personal choice would be option 2 by keeping my name but not really promoting it.
2. Your comparison is not exactly fair. Reason being both blog cater to sample population of different interest / criteria.
3. The aging of the blog is also different. DPSchool was started when you already had established your name in the Blogosphere.
4. Another thing i would like to focus on is the spill over effect. You would agree that there has been occasions where you have knowingly or unknowingly promoted DPSchool, maybe just by referring to it.
5. Finally, there is advantage to sell the blog. But it would be really difficult to decide while starting your blog, whether you would sell it or not. I can say that for people who enter into blogging by passion. People like you.
Would like to hear on it from you.
Yes, i do associate my name prominately with all the blogs that i write. I try to promote my own personlaity through the blogs.
yup. My blog have the same name with me :) http://www.davcheong.com, which is a short form name for me, and in which i was known as davcheong all this webmaster while.
my blog “sarahspy” features my first name pretty prominently, i’d say. but i keep my last name out of it for my own safety/peace of mind.
I believe associating your name with your blog can be very helpful and provides the reader with a better more comfortable experience, but then again DPS is doing better then Problogger is so it leads to the fact the what really matters is quality content.
Sorry for posting twice but another thing is it can be is that you can’t compare the 2 problogger and dps have a totally different topic they cover, so it might just be more people are interested in digital photogrophy then making money online, just a theory.
I just started a blog in February with the desire to pass on wisdom and thoughts gained from years of teaching personal growth via the martial arts and from tons and tons of reading on personal change that starts in the heart — from the Tao Te Ching to Wayne Dyer to Dr. Seuss. I wanted the information to be the focus, not me, so I went with SpaceAgeSage.
I started out with my name as part of my first blog, and it seemed that people wanted to know what I thought about issues. I still never said much because of what my job was at the time. I’ve since started a hyperlocal blog called The Terminal and did not associate my name with it in the beginning.
What I found was that as more people found out that it was me being the lead blogger on The Terminal, our numbers went up. It also seemed to have an affect as certain writers started posting for us. People still call the site Andre’s though and I’ve been trying to figure out just how to get them to start saying “ours” instead…
This is a very timely post for me as I was just thinking a few hours ago about what name I should use for the blog I’m working on.
I thought about using a nickname instead of my real name, and then mentioning my real name in the about page. Why? Because my nickname sounds more appropriate for the blog, and because I may want to sell it someday. This isn’t the Trisha Bartle show. It isn’t about me, it’s about makeup. You know?
We’ll see what I do. The site isn’t even up yet.
Due to the nature of my work I use a “nom de blog”.
After years of self employment working with local politicians, lobbyist types, PR people, power brokers, etc., I found I often had opinions that would not endear me to my contacts, so I started a local placeblogger where I can say what I think.
Most people in my niche (personal finance) blog anonymously if they share any personal statistics on their own financial situation. I can certainly understand doing so. I started blogging behind the “Frugal Dad” name myself, and occasionally referenced my first name in comments, etc. It wasn’t until I started getting some media attention that I had to reveal my full name for inclusion in a story. Because I had not revealed anything overly personal I didn’t have a problem doing so. My guess is that at some point all bloggers must make a decision to fully brand themselves and their blogs, or just continue to be the “man behind the curtain.”
I thought I had covered all the bases with regards to separating my blog and my personal life. Recently, I had an interview for a programming position at a bank. I forgot to change the email address on my resume to an account not associated with my domain. Luckily, the interviewer was a friend of mine, because at the end of the interview, he said “So, is there anything on BradBrown.com?” I sheepishly said “Maybe…” – at which point he brought up his browser and went to my site. I was slightly embarrassed, since the blog is a) oddly humorous and b) pink in color. It turned out ok, because he chuckled a bit. However, I realized that when it comes to exposing myself to the conservative public (in particular, employers), I need to dis-associate myself with my blog – at least until the blog brings in enough income that I don’t have to worry about the conservative folks.
I see it as the “Professional” thing to do – i.e. since most of my work is freelance and more or less tied to me whether I like it or not (my comic and its art style, for example, are not just unique but also a key selling point of what I do), using my name lends a level of professional authority.
Also, as a webcomic artist, revealing a certain level of personality behind my work is just plain good for business.
I used to just use my first name, then more “Barbara’s” started appearing in blogopshere, so I added my last name. I think using your real name adds to the credibility of your blog, and shows your readers that you stand behind your words.
But I also understand why some with use pseudonyms (due to the subject matter, e.g. financial),
I had to chuckle at Brad Brown’s comment, and how he could have been “outed” due to what was on his blog. With more employers Googling prospective employee’s names, it’s all the more reason to be careful what you post in cyberspace.
I use my name (first at least). Food is pretty personal subject and I think it lends itself well to knowing the people behind it, likes, dislikes, talents, etc.
I blog anonymously in order to be able to reveal more about my chosen topic. I don’t want to burn any bridges in my industry because of what I wrote on my blog. I can say things and report on stuff that may get me into trouble if I were to be open about my name. I do have an about me page and try to reveal a little just to give my blog some level of credibility though.
Darren,
Do you feel that using only your first name can have the same effect as using your second name?
I think if you approach your blog as a business then in this world there are various businesses which started with the owner’s name in the brand and have been immensely successful. Hence including your name in the brand may not be a deterrent in your blog’s success provided you are able to market it well and write good content. I started ‘Jeet Blog’ which includes a part of my name. Although that was primarily because I couldn’t decide on any other name but later I thought that this name has the potential to establish itself as a brand if the blog is a success. So I’ll have to wait and watch. :)
In my little blog world, the mom’s are posting photos of their children and blogging about going to Grandma’s for the weekend, so it makes sense to not use our real names.
If I had a business blog, or if I was establishing myself as a consultant in some area, I would use my real name.
Like Skellie I use a pseudonym and promote it. I’m starting to find that it’s more me than my other name. A couple of the topics I blog on are reasonably often blogged anonymously, so it’s not like I stick out or anything.
Also, I have a day job that I really love, and I’m planning on publishing papers so I’d prefer people to google me, and get that, rather than a whole load of blogging stuff which is likely to have better ranking.
When I started writing I’m used to write my real name,but it wasn’t a good choice.I was lucky when I tried to choose another one becase the Mike was manifested.All of my friends call me Mike.The only problem with my nickname that is very popular.I don’t care.This name’s easy and it’s mine :)
I only associate my name with the blogs that are focused on building expert status/authority as an expert, particularly those blogs that associate with my professional-service side of my online business.
I love your points in this post, it’s a great thing for people to consider from the start… especially the name/selling blog later issue. Super point!
Maria :-)
I like associating my blog with my name. I have stumbled a ton of different alternative medicine websites and wondered who was behind the information…what their motivations were for their websites and what not. Although I may recommend products on my site, I am recommending them as me. Dr. Nicole. So if I say that something is good, or I approve of it, I am forcing myself to take the time to do the research behind the product or food or diet or herb and apply the ten years of post secondary education I have acculmulated to form some sort of expert opinion. If people want to disagree they are welcome to, but there is so much hype out there in my field right now it makes me feel good to actually help steer people in the direction of the things that work. Step aside Dr. Phil…there is a new doctor in town. LOL
Oh yeah and one more thing. As a woman on the internet, it is terrifying to put your name out there. The first few days my site was live I worried that stalkers were going to come chop me in to pieces or be following me around in windowless white vans…but so far so good. To me that is the only real downside of putting my name and pic out there…SAFETY!
I work within a certain industry, and because I find it interesting, I write a blog that covers news and my personal opinions on subjects related to that industry. I have my employer’s permission to keep this blog, but I don’t want to associate it with them. It’s my blog, not some official (or even semi-official) corporate blog. So I post on that blog under a pseudonym.
But for my other blogs, I tend to either post openly as myself, or at least include my name on the “About” page.
Back when I first began blogging, I blogged under a pseudonym (mostly die to the subject matter of my blogs!). But I always felt disassociated because of this. Never using my real name or revealing myself eventually caused me to abandon these blogs.
Now I blog as me, full name and all. I don’t have a problem with this at all though as Dr. Nicole mentioned above, I was a little anxious revealing myself as a female blogger at first!
I also think a name adds credibility to a blog, and helps readers relate to the author (whether the author uses the Problogger or DPS method). But it’s understandable that some would prefer to remain anonymous or be associated with an alternative persona, especially if using their real name could result in employment problems or personal issues!
Con: Immoderate and impolite posts may come back to haunt me personally, in real life.
Pro: I have no choice but to “own my words” and mind my manners, points that writers with pseudonyms often forget.
Con: I don’t want the search engines to think my blog is about ME–but my name is inevitably one of the most frequently occurring “keyword phrases”.
Pro: Hopefully, I am building both online and offline trust by using my real name.
I’m mulling this very topic right now. I’m only using my first name on my newly built PF bog. Maybe I’ll do full disclosure in the future but I’m keeping mum on it right now, lest I have family and friends hit me up for money. Not that I have any to give out at the moment :)