Article Marketers: Will You One Day Be Seen as a Criminal?

I had never thought of that, interesting idea, now I'm off to check I'm not a terrorist or anything

Valid point I guess, although if you were to use a generic name like John etc, you would assume your audience would have the logic to think you are another John. Never really thought of it before though.

Very few article marketers do, particularly those who are in lots of niches. I have about 20 different pen names (all are completely unique).

I do use my own name, AND I use a couple dozen pen names.

I started doing so one time when I wrote an article about American History -- one of my favorite topics to write, not that anyone would know.

I wrote two articles on the subject in my own name, and I started getting nasty letters from people about how I was "wasting their time."

They said they read me, because I make some very insightful observations about online marketing. But this history garbage is not what they want to have to read. LOL

I took the point.

And since that time, all articles that talk about non-marketing topics get published under a pen name.

I write under more than two dozen pen names, on more than a dozen niche topics.




You miss my point.

I am not talking about law enforcement in this post.

I am talking about what your audience thinks you are or are not.

I have received dozens of emails from one person concerning one of my clients, about how they are going to trash my reputation if I don't stop representing this crook.

I talked to my client about the deal, and he was very apologetic.

IT IS A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY. My client shares a name with a fellow who was convicted in New Jersey of fraud. My client owns a business in Florida and has never lived in New Jersey.

The cops are smart enough to know these two guys are different people.

But people on the Internet are not always as smart.

This woman has been chasing my client around on the Internet for years, even building websites that try to make him into the NJ person.

Why? Who knows what motivates people to do what they do....

Like I said, it is not about law enforcement thinking you are a crook. It is about Joe Schmoe on the Internet, who had been respecting your work, but turning on you because they think you are that crook that they read about, who shares nothing with you but a name.



p.s. It almost happened to me the other day.

Google Bill Platt. You will find a blog post about how "Bill Platt is a racist ass-hat".

Yes, the blog post is about some guy who shares a name with me.

And the person I was talking to on the phone thought it was about me, until she opened the post and saw it was about the head of the Ohio Republican Party.

If it wasn't legal, then 'Betty Crocker' would have been locked up ages ago.

You should probably have a chat to Mr. Stephen King who has penned several stories under the name Richard Bachman. While you're at it, check out the many actors who act under different names (although some have legally changed their name.)

Even Benjamin Franklin used a false name, Silence Dogood, in order to get some of his work published.

It's a long and glorious tradition.

LOL Charles....

Rus, surely you don't want to receive death threat messages and calls? LOL

-10 points for Bill.

I am generally clever, but in this case, clueless...

The established author's name is another good reason to check pen names before use.

I actually built a quick dirty tool for my own use that pulls from +16k last names from Roots Web and the top 1000 male and female first names from the last 80 years according to the Social Security Administration.

I have those names tossed into a database, and I select sex and a last name, and the software kicks out a list of names for me to check.

It pre-loads with hot links to Google for the specific name with and without quotes around it.

Then I click each link in the search for a pen name I like.

It really streamlines the process for me.

So...

Is "Web" your middle name, or part of your last name, as in Mr. WebContent?

LOL

(Sorry couldn't resist)

- - - - - - - - - -


The tool I use is at (I'm not affiliated with them)...

Random Name Generator

You can select male or female, how many names you want returned, and how obscure you want them to be.

All the best,
Gerald Halford, or...
Winford Aponta, or...

Bill, I could be wrong, but I don't think it's the last name Saylor that's causing people to accuse you of using a fake name. Aliza seems rather unusual to me, and it's certainly not a common name that you see everyday, and that is what's probably behind the accusation.

You should have chosen a more unique name like "John Doe".

I got a good friend named John Smith (his real name) and if only I had a nickel for every time I heard someone tell him they don't believe that's his real name........!

If that doesn't work, may I suggest Atilla Hitler Amin?

~M~

Speaking of Ted Williams, we may very well see him on the big screen starring beside Jack Nicholson -

EXCLUSIVE: Ted Williams and Jack Nicholson Are Not Starring in a Movie Together . . . Yet - FoxNews.com

And some people insist that stuff does not happen...

Should I count the ways for you?

I did outline several scenarios through this thread...

Most publishers would not publish your article if you only signed off with a last initial. They seem to think if you are ashamed to use a last name, then they probably don't want to read your article...

So give publishers what they need to read and publish your articles...

1. Readers who expect that Bill Platt should only write about online business;

2. When Bill Platt needs to write from a female perspective;

3. When you write about subjects that are just fine, but some people might be squeamish about;

4. When you are ghost writing for a customer;

5. Women use pen names a lot, because there are a lot of freaky guys out there that may want to do them harm;

6. Some women find that men are pigs, because they will not believe a woman capable of knowing what she knows;

7. Did I say that sometimes Bill Platt writes articles about people who cheat, and some may be offended;

8. Did I say that Bill Platt writes about dozens of topics;

9. When Bill Platt wants to write an industry overview that describes his competitors too, using his own name with the article could cloud people's view of his objectivity;

10. Sometimes Bill Platt will write an article that offers valuable information, but he doesn't feel that it quite lives up to his own high standards;

11. Sometimes Bill Platt has two sites in the same niche, competing with each other, offering the same product at two price points... So he does not want to confuse his customers... For example, at one time, he offered ghost writing at two price points simultaneously, and right now, the Traffic Strategies report in his signature is sold at a lower price at the WF than on his own site;

12. Bill Platt might be talking about truths so true that the people in the stories would be pissed if the story was told... A pen name will allow the story to be told, while protecting the identities of the guilty;

LOL

There are 12 solid reasons to consider using a pen name on your articles...

The little town in Nebraska where I lived for awhile had two "John McCabes" - me, and the parish priest.

Made for some pretty funny phone calls from drunks trying to reach the good padre and my wife answered the phone at 2:00 AM...:p

Killed off my J.W. Gacy "How to Draw Clowns" product, too...

So what's it like going through life with "The" as a first name?

Dude, isn't that obvious?

As far as I knew, he was the chief broadcaster.

As for being a cowboy, where do you think the strikeing resemblence to "Brushy" Bill Roberts came from?

This is no coincidence. I've been researching.

He passed on about one year before I moved to Stillwater.

It would have been fun to finally meet him in person, as he has never been any relative of mine.

Which in itself is kind of bizarre since there are few Platt's around anywhere, and in these parts, most of the Platt's are related to my dad's family.

Right on John. I seek out names with a Google-footprint of fewer than 100 results, but I often strive for even fewer.

My first pen name picked out of the air turned out to be a name shared with a U.S. Senator and a Pro NBA player.

Richard Bryan has 8.1 million search results... I bet you cannot find the articles I wrote under that name, unless I tell you how to find them.