How to Blog Anonymously Using WordPress
Do you wish to blog anonymously using WordPress? There are so many people that want to start their own blog but don’t want to use their name. If you are one of those people, there is hope for you when using a WordPress blog.
Why blog anonymously?
There are many reasons why you might want to blog anonymously using WordPress. Most people use this option so as not to affect the people they see in real life. Some do so to be a little more creative. Whatever your reason is, you should start by understanding the pros and cons.
Pros of anonymous blogging
- Artistic and creative freedom
- Freedom to express yourself without being judged
- Protect your identify
Cons
- You can’t meet your loyal followers
- Limited monetization options. You can use Google AdSense but to do so you have to share your information with Google
- A determined person can still trace you to your WordPress blog
How to get started
To have the complete control of your WordPress blog, you should use the self-hosted WordPress.org instead of the hosted WordPress.com. You will have to register a domain name and also get web hosting. Once your website is created, you then need to go ahead and make it anonymous
Use the Whois Privacy
During the registration of a domain, you have to provide personal information like address, phone number, email address and your name. This information is accessible publicly. To protect your personal information, you need to use the Whois privacy service. This will cost you a small fee. After that, if someone looks up your domain name, the details of Whois will be displayed instead of yours. You can purchase the service during setup or later on from the hosting account’s dashboard.
Using blogging email address
The next step is to setup a new email address that you will be using with your new WordPress website and author profile. You can use the free email service like Gmail or the more private email services such as Proton Mail. Add the email account as the WordPress administrative email address. This is the email that will be used for notifications. You do this from Settings>>General page. The same email should later be added to the author profile by going to Users>>Your Profile page.
Use pseudonym
To blog anonymously using WordPress you will have to pick a pseudonym. Don’t rely on the admin as the author name. Think of a unique nickname that you can use to login. You add the pseudonym by going to Users>>Your Profile page. Add the new name next to Nickname field. Don’t forget to click on the drop down menu and select ‘Display name publicly as’.
Use VPN
Last but not least, you should consider using a VPN. That will make your IP address hard to find and trace.