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Best practices for author names in article marketing?

by MarkR
11 replies
I'm diving into article marketing and have a dilemma of sorts.

I plan to start writing articles for my own sites, to drive traffic and get backlinks.

I also have deals signed with my clients to do article marketing for them for the same reasons.

My questions are - how do I best manage the multiple accounts / author IDs that I need to have, all from the same IP address? I plan to write under a branded name for some of my niches - e.g. "Golf Pro" in the golf niche, "Fat Guy" in the weight loss niche (just stupid examples for you). I know this isn't what ZEA wants, but the same person "John Doe" can't ethically write articles in 10 different niches without confusing the world and losing credibility.

Also, I can't imagine that I have to set up 10 different accounts for the 10 author names I need to use, and therefore have to check 10 different accounts to check my reader/click-thru stats, do I?

Any thoughts on how I'd manage the various personalities I plan to have? How do you do it? I know I'm not the first person to deal with this issue.

Mark
#article #author #marketing #names #practices
  • Profile picture of the author Chris Lockwood
    Ethics has nothing to do with what you mentioned. I don't know where people get the crazy idea that someone can't write articles on multiple subjects. The funny thing is that everyone who seems to think that's an issue is already doing it.

    Ever heard of ghostwriters?

    Many published authors have books on different topics- they don't seem to lose credibility.

    You can only have one account at ezinearticles, but you can have multiple author names under it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mike Long
    Originally Posted by MarkR View Post

    I plan to write under a branded name for some of my niches - e.g. "Golf Pro" in the golf niche, "Fat Guy" in the weight loss niche (just stupid examples for you). I know this isn't what ZEA wants, but the same person "John Doe" can't ethically write articles in 10 different niches without confusing the world and losing credibility.
    I'm actually a little surprised to read this Mark. To me, EZA's backend is set up exactly for this kind of thing. I've definitely used a number of different pen names in the past depending upon which market I was targeting.

    EZA makes it exceedingly simple to do that. Now with other AD (article distribution) services, it's much tougher and more time-consuming to do.

    Has EZA come out publicly and stated that they don't wish authors to use multple pen names? If so, it just seems odd then that they would set up their backend the way they have.

    ~Mike
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    • Profile picture of the author KenJ
      Hi Mark

      I have 5 pen names on 1 EA account and the only reason I did this was that as a newcomer last year I was advised this was what I should do.

      I now only use one name and the other 4 just sit there.

      EA make it very easy to use pen names - they do not have a problem with it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Mark Clayson
    Of course ghostwriters write on a whole variety of subjects (as a previous poster said) but they give their content to a named author.

    EZA is perfect for pen names.

    To be seen as an expert in something it looks better to have a tighter niche area of writing. Someone who is an "expert" in fat loss would be less likely to gain credibility in the aerofuels sector. At least, grouping all these article together in one author name account on EZA would look odd.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rachel Goodchild
    I set up a new pen name for oneof my clients just today
    all my clients are authorities inthier niche- but I need to track them all under the same acount- and EZA is fine with it
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    • Profile picture of the author MarkR
      That's great. I appreciate all the responses. Sounds like having multiple author names in one account isn't the problem I thought it might be. I figured Warriors and EZA would be way out in front of this one.

      Part of my reaction was to Chris K's comment on his blog where he said ...

      Our position is that we give LESS credibility to articles under pen-names vs. real human names that we can determine.
      From your responses, it appears that many Warriors are doing exactly what I want to do (multiple author / pen names and using non-"real human names") and having success with it. That's great. Looks like I'll tread down that path and see how it goes!

      Thanks for all the comments.

      Mark
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  • Profile picture of the author MarkR
    Alexa,

    That's one of my issues, along with being limited to five author names. I'll have to research the TOS and see if you can put a graphic / logo in there for the photo, or if it has to be a real photo. More to come.

    Mark
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