Should This Woman Blogger Be Anonymous?

I got an interesting email the other day from a woman named Sandy who is thinking of creating a sports analysis blog that she will eventually monetize (through affiliate marketing) by reviewing and recommending sports equipment.

Sandy claims to be very knowledgeable about sports.  She was an athlete in her younger days and all her kids are heavily involved in sports. Her main concern, however, is that she is a woman and most popular blogs on this topic are written by men.

She read my blog post, “Being Anonymous Can Hurt You” and agreed with my points, but was concerned about revealing her picture/identity because she didn’t think men would take her content seriously (or at least as serious) if they discover she is a woman.

What I’ve learned is that there are always going to be people who will discriminate because of something, whether it’s your sex, age, race, religion, etc.

I cannot count the numerous “N word” comments I’ve received on my YouTube channel over the years.  I even had a guy tell me he would have taken my information about making money online more seriously if I wasn’t black.

However, I believe that the benefits of displaying a picture and sharing a little about about who you are outweigh the negatives by far.  It gives your site personality and also helps build a degree of trust with your audience — particularly if your goal is to earn an income from your site.

Of course, there are always going to be intolerant / ignorant people in this world who judge people on their appearance, but fortunately most people are not that way.  People go online searching for information, entertainment, answers to their questions, etc. So if your site can help someone and provide value, most people are not going to care what you look like.

And as far as Sandy’s situation goes, being a woman could actually help in some instances.  Many men will respect and be impressed by the fact she is a woman tackling a subject that is mostly dominated by men, and this could work to her advantage.

Will there be some who won’t take her info seriously because she is a woman?  Perhaps, but as I said earlier, I think the advantages of providing information about yourself usually outweigh the disadvantages by far  — especially if you know your stuff and have an interesting approach to the topic.

I’d love to open up a discussion about this.  What are your thoughts?  Have you ever thought about staying anonymous because you fear discrimination of any kind?  What do you think Sandy should do?

Lisa Irby