?Blog Away – Tips to Blogging that Still Safeguard your Privacy

The definition of a blog (web log) is basically a journal or diary that is on the Internet. Blogging is more mainstream and gaining popularity. It is a great way to express your thoughts and emotions. It is also a good way for your family, friends and others to stay in touch with your life. However, blogging does have some side effects like your loss of privacy. Blogging can also cause problems with your life as well. If you rant and rave about work, your boss could see it and find cause to fire you. Potential employers could research you on the Internet and find your comments. If they don’t like what they see, they won’t even consider you for a job. And perhaps one of the worst problems that could stem from blogging is the stalker. Someone could fixate on you after reading your blog and decide to stalk you.

While some of the instances above are worst-case scenarios, you will always have some privacy issues in regards to blogging unless you take some steps to protect yourself. The only real and true way to safeguard your blogging privacy is to do it anonymously. However, staying anonymous is not as easy as you think! There are some enterprising people out there who will dig deep to find out who you are. Here are some tips that can help your anonymous blogging cause:

1. Choose a pseudonym and leave out the distinguishing details. This is often many people’s downfall who tries to remain anonymous. They may inadvertently mention a local landmark or overly describe their workplace or neighborhood. The pseudonym should not sound anything like your real name nor should it incorporate an interest or trait like “soccermom” because that would lend another clue as to your identity. Be sure to blog in the comfort of your own home. Many workplaces monitor computer and Internet activity. Your blogging efforts could easily be traced back to you.

2. Take advantage of technology and use services, which will mask your identity and even re-route any visitors to your blog through an anonymous server so that your IP address cannot be viewed. There are several services on the Internet which hosts anonymous blogs for free. No real names have to be given – ever. And you don’t have to worry about your IP address being recorded with the anonymous server route.

3. Domain names are traceable so if you have your own and host your blog on there, you may want to register anonymously. There is an entity called the Online Policy Group that assists you in registering your domain anonymously. Your name would then not be able to be traced through WHOIS, a company in which you can look up owners of registered domains.

4. If you have a small audience for your blog, say perhaps just close friends and family, you can password protect your blog. This way, if anyone in the general public happens upon your blog, they cannot access the contents.

5. Create a special file called robots.txt for your blog to try and exclude it from being included in the more popular search engines like Google. This will garner less traffic and therefore less exposure for your blog and you will more than likely attract little attention. There are several places on the Internet, which can help you do this.

Evaluate the reasons why you want to create a blog. If you have your own business, a blog is a wonderful way to garner more response for your work. You would not want to stay anonymous in this situation. But if your blog is a way to blow off steam or keep in touch with family, perhaps you need to incorporate some of the ideas above to go anonymous.

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