Blogging is all the rage nowadays. It’s a great way to express your interests and passions, as well as make money. This is why many blogs have appeared almost overnight, many of which are controversial. Writers with very strong or polarizing opinions often choose to blog anonymously. Anonymous Blogging means posting content on a blog without revealing one’s identity. There can be many reasons for which one would prefer to become an anonymous blogger.
The public can be really sensitive towards various topics and putting forward opinions in such times has become a little difficult due to this. More and more controversial topics keep coming up every day, and knowing how to blog anonymously has become very important.
You can’t always be sure about how others will respond to your opinions so why take a risk. Apart from this, there are many personal reasons as well which are all completely fine. We’re here to guide you through the process and teach you how to blog anonymously.
Anonymous blogging is quite simple and is easier than you think. We’ll go through the exact steps of how to set up and anonymous blog. Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
In a nutshell
The very first requirement of anonymity online is to hide your identity. In order to achieve that, you will have to create fake IDs and use fake names. Be consistent. Use your pseudonym on all your social media accounts, mail servers, and even domain registrations.
We are including social media sites because you will be promoting your brand through many such platforms and if your identity is leaked on even one of them, it will be enough for readers to trace you back.
Creating fake IDs will just give you a little protection and add more layers to ensure you get the complete privacy you’ll need to hide your IP address and use other mail servers than Yahoo or Hotmail.
We say “other servers,” because the above-mentioned services ask for phone numbers for verification and other stuff due to which your privacy gets compromised.
We have two basic requirements to hide our identity:
- VPN (Masking IP address)
- Anonymous E-mail account and fake names (for all registrations and social media platforms)
Basics
What is an IP address?
IP address – Internet Protocol Address – is your device’s numerical address in this entire internet world. There are no two identical IP addresses, just like your phone number.
What is VPN?
VPN stands for “Virtual Private Network.” This is where one gets connected to the internet through a different IP address. This ensures privacy to the network by making the connection encrypted whereas the Internet is just not secure. For instance, if you are traveling and you need to connect to a public network then it will put your important data at risk, in such scenarios use of VPN becomes a must to ensure the security of your valuables.
Set-up
Here is a detailed explanation of the process:
First of all, you’ve got to set up a VPN
This can be easily done by software. You just have to download it, set up an account, and you will be good to go. Once you are logged in, your IP address will be masked by another IP address by the software and no one will get to know your actual IP.
There are many paid and a few free VPN services available. You can Google and find a lot of options. I prefer Hotspot Shield software; it is free, fast, provides tech-support and makes the geographically restricted content accessible. There is another benefit as well of using VPN software, if you are eager to watch some Netflix series unavailable in your country then you now know how to access it (you’re welcome.)
Apart from the VPN, there are a couple of other technologies like Proxy servers, TOR network and more but nothing is as secure as VPN. It’s your best bet to encrypt your data and maintain privacy.
Now your IP is masked but your e-mail ID isn’t, people cannot track you based on your IP, but they can fetch a lot of information through your e-mail ID. So our next step is to create an anonymous E-mail ID.
The second step is to get an encrypted e-mail address
You might think that entering wrong details in servers like Yahoo or Gmail can provide you privacy, but that isn’t true completely. You will only get partially protected as you will have to provide your phone number to verify your account. Hence, a compromise on your privacy which should be avoided.
There are many paid and free private e-mail services available. The paid versions are definitely better because they have more features. The free accounts get less storage, and you encounter some ads, that’s how they recover their cost but if your needs are fulfilled then why to pay. Here is a list of some private e-mail providers who can help you create a private account. It is very easy, not many details are asked only your id and password.
Once you have your ID activated, you can begin sending emails. You even get a choice to password protect the email content and also to set an expiry date on it. Cool, right? Well, if you don’t want to receive replies on your ID, then you don’t even need an account. Just open “Anonymous Email” it is a website, and there are many similar sites to send a mail without creating an account. This option can be used for sending promotions.
You can try Proton Mail to get an encrypted e-mail account; this can be used for all your registrations like domain or social media platforms.
Doing all of the above makes you untraceable. You are all set to start your anonymous blog!
The third step is to register a domain
Register a domain with your anonymous e-mail address and also set up the social media platforms. Choose any blogging platform, according to your needs and start writing your heart out.
So far we discussed the extra steps that one needs to take to set up an anonymous blog; now we’ll discuss general steps that are required to set up a simple blog.
Choose a Host
Choosing a host means choosing a server for the storage of your valuable blog. You might think that why can’t you store it on your computer and why you need a server for it? You need it because you want your data to be accessible throughout the world. The servers provide you that place and connect you to the world, the internet. Choosing a good host is important because if the servers used by the host crashes then your site will also go down. You might have come across some situation where the site hangs a lot or becomes unavailable, that happens because the servers go down.
It is better to buy a space on the server; this allows you complete control over your blog. You can do this at any stage of your blog, it is not necessary to buy it initially, but it is a good idea if you want to monetize your blog. If you are looking for free options, then ignore this step and move to the next point.
There are many options like Bluehost, Siteground and more. I have been using Siteground for a while now, and I have not had any problems yet.
Choose a Content Mangement System(CMS)
CMS means a portal/dashboard to organize your blog, blog posts and the entire look of your blog. You need a CMS whether or not you buy a host. There are free and paid CMS available. If you’re right at the start of a blog, then you can choose a free CMS as well, later you can switch to a paid version where you will get more options to enhance your blog.
DO NOT buy a paid version of CMS if you plan to buy a host space later. This might end up being a waste of money because you might not be able to switch your paid CMS features to the new hosted blog.
The most popular CMS is WordPress, it claims to own 30% of the world’s internet. Huge, right? The WordPress is divided into two segments – self-hosted version (.org) and the other .com version. If you buy a host space, then you will be using the .org version otherwise .com version.
.com version
You fill the required details (put fake details), and you are all set to go.
.org version
After buying the host space, download any CMS you like through your host dashboard. Start using it now, and for WordPress, you log in to www.domain.com/wp-admin to access your dashboard.
You have other options like Blogger(by Google), Joomla and more.
Domain Name
Once you have chosen your CMS, you will be prompted to select your domain name. It is a good idea to buy the domain name in the beginning otherwise you will have to redirect your traffic later. Choose your domain name wisely, keep it related to your niche. Don’t use any word that could reveal your identity. In case you shift your domain to other host or buy one later then you can map it for a small fee. Have a look at our detailed post here – how to get a domain name.
Set up your theme
Make yourself familiar with the dashboard and then start setting up the look of your blog. There are free and paid theme options. Choose according to your needs.
You can make changes in the CSS as well for making more changes to your theme. It is your playground, enjoy!
Maintenance
After you start posting the posts, you will have to take a lot of other things in mind. You can only share your post through your fake social media accounts. You will patiently have to wait for followers. If you share the posts many times through your personal account, then there are chances that people will suspect a link between you and the blog. Once or twice is fine. Do not ask your friends to like the pages or posts.
Keep your page speed maintained by using small size pictures and apps. Keep revising your old posts from time to time.
SEO is an important part of your blogging life; it really helps you to attract organic traffic. Read as many articles as possible to sharpen your skills.
Tools
There are many free tools to help you find the status of your blog like DA; it is a parameter by MOZ which helps you to judge the quality based on your backlinks. DA means domain authority; it will increase with time and the number of backlinks.
What are you waiting for? Go ahead and publish your first post. Check out this step-by-step guide for more tips.
Tips
- Use MailChimp or Convertkit to manage your subscribers. Track your growth through Google Analytics and Google search console.
- Whenever you think of making a purchase for your host or theme or anything similar, you should look for discount coupons or promo codes prior to your purchase. It is easily available, just Google it, and you will definitely find some articles where the codes will be mentioned.
- Finally, do not tell many people about your blog! Keep the news only to your close ones. Telling too many people will defeat the whole purpose of this project.
You are all good to go now!
Blogging takes time; it really tests your patience. Success and fame don’t come overnight even if you are really good at what you do, so you need to keep calm and keep on doing what you do till the time you don’t achieve your goals. It might take a year or even a couple of months. The key to success is patience. No matter it is an anonymous blog or not, both take equal efforts and time.
Since you are a beginner you might need a course to kickstart your blogging life, check out some good blogging courses.