{"id":143853,"date":"2022-04-21T09:49:33","date_gmt":"2022-04-21T09:49:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/?p=143853"},"modified":"2022-04-21T09:49:33","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T09:49:33","slug":"how-to-safeguard-your-privacy-while-building-your-digital-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2022\/04\/21\/how-to-safeguard-your-privacy-while-building-your-digital-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How to safeguard your privacy while building your digital business"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"well\">\n<h3><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-143856\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/How-to-safeguard-your-privacy-while-building-your-digital-business-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"How to safeguard your privacy while building your digital business\" width=\"728\" height=\"256\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/How-to-safeguard-your-privacy-while-building-your-digital-business-scaled.jpg 728w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/How-to-safeguard-your-privacy-while-building-your-digital-business-300x106.jpg 300w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/How-to-safeguard-your-privacy-while-building-your-digital-business-768x270.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px\" \/><\/h3>\n<h3>30-second summary:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The need to become a public persona in order to be a successful business owner is overrated<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to create an anonymous digital entity while using a majority of efficient marketing strategies<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The problem arises when you already have your personal data published and want to delete it &#8211; it is neither easy nor possible (given all the variety of archiving tools that are publicly accessible these days)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So how do you keep your life private while owning a successful online business? <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How do you navigate this conundrum as your private content may still become public at any moment?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The internet is both, a boon and a bane, depending on &#8211; how you use it, and how others use it to interact with you. A lot of new businesses and side hustles emerged post the pandemic, while brick and mortar businesses started digitizing themselves. This has raised well-being challenges around how business owners and senior executives can separate work from their personal pockets over the internet. How can they ensure their privacy and online safety are strong while building a digital business footprint?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are a few things you should know about safeguarding your online identity from the internet:<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>1. Making your site anonymous<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Digitizing your business while remaining anonymous is difficult but doable. Here are all the steps you need to take to <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">create an <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.namify.tech\/how-to-start-an-anonymous-blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">anonymous blog<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. In essence:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You need to come up with an online pseudonym (a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">moniker<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as we used to call it back in the days when we were using forums and never used our real names around the web)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Set up a new email address and create your new public social media profiles representing your business<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition, you will need to pay for domain privacy protection to prevent your phone, email, and address from being tied to your domain. Domain privacy protection replaces personal information with proxy info in the public WHOIS directory.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure you are using an SSL certificate (which you <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/beginners-guide\/how-to-get-a-free-ssl-certificate-for-your-wordpress-website\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">can do for free<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I know we have been talking about <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/resources\/why-should-marketers-care-about-transparency-in-paid-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">transparency<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2011\/06\/13\/authenticity-in-social-media-dont-get-mad-get-youtube\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">authenticity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and building your <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.clickz.com\/senior-executives-heres-why-you-need-to-become-b2b-influencers\/265832\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">personal brand<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> too much, so creating a successful anonymous site without exposing yourself seems almost like an unpopular choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, I believe there\u2019s still a place for anonymity in social media, and you can still succeed without the cost of compromising your personal details to the public. You just need to take careful steps when using <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">all kinds of <a href=\"https:\/\/pwd.com.au\/blog\/12-types-of-digital-marketing-to-win-new-customers-in-2022\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">marketing tactics<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; like blogging and social media marketing &#8211; in order to keep your private life &#8211; well &#8211; private.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, that means, not posting family pictures on Instagram, and not telling personal stories, but there is still a wealth of opportunities, from SEO to PPC ads. With more personal tactics, like blogger outreach, you will likely have to come up with an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.seosmarty.com\/how-and-why-to-maintain-several-online-identities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">alternative identity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as no one likes anonymous emails or emails coming from a business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s one thing to note here: For both ecommerce and SaaS businesses creating an anonymous business entity is doable. Of course, some of your customers may be curious who is behind your brand but if you have working contact information, it is not a huge issue. It is, of course, more challenging for a freelancing business, as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/colorlib.com\/wp\/popular-freelance-marketplaces\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">most freelance marketplaces<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> require your real name in order to join.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some may argue about the possibility of anonymity in the context of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/09\/07\/what-googles-e-a-t-score-means-for-ecommerce\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">E-A-T<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but in reality, it isn&#8217;t common knowledge how exactly Google translates its E-A-T requirements into a ranking algorithm. So far, I&#8217;ve seen plenty of websites with no humanized &#8216;About&#8217; pages ranking, and ranking high. Besides, you can tell the story of your business without telling the personal story of its founder.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The need to become a public persona in order to be a successful business owner is overrated. It is still a matter of choice. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/08\/07\/steps-better-technical-seo-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Technical SEO<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/12\/20\/types-of-backlinks-seo-boosters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">high-quality backlinks<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, as well as <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the quality of <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2021\/05\/06\/why-killing-your-content-marketing-makes-the-most-sense\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">content<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and properly performed <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">keyword research<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; remain the three pillars of solid organic visibility. A well-done &#8216;About&#8217; page can exist without personal branding as long as it conveys your business&#8217; proposition, origin story, and conveys values that will resonate with your target consumers\/audience.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>2. Delete your public content from third-party platforms<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chances are, you have been contributing to several third-party platforms using your real name. It is only natural because there are a few powerful social media players (like Facebook and Quora) that have real-name policies in place preventing users from maintaining anonymity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If at some point you decide that you don\u2019t want that content to come up in search when anyone is searching for your name, what are your choices?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The hard truth is that removing your own content that you added to a third-party site is a challenge. Some platforms don\u2019t even have tools for mass-deleting content from the platform. In the case of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Quora, you will probably need to <a href=\"https:\/\/howtonow.com\/how-to-delete-a-quora-account\/#happens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">delete<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> your own account in order to get rid of your content.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In some cases, like Reddit and Tumblr, even deleting your own account won\u2019t help as your content will remain there assigned to a removed entity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In case you are curious, here\u2019s a break-through of major third-party content-based networks and how you can wipe your content off them in an easier way:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Third-party content- driven platform<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Any Way to Mass-Delete Content?<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>Will the content be gone once you delete your entire account?<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Reddit<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>No<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>No<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Quora<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>No<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(<\/span><b>except for questions which are mostly anonymous<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Instagram<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes<\/span><b><br \/>\n<\/b><b>(You can also make your <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/knowtechie.com\/understanding-privacy-on-instagram-who-can-see-what-and-for-how-long\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><b>profile private<\/b><\/a><b>)<\/b><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Twitter<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>No <\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><b>(However, you can make them all private\/protected)<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Facebook<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>No (But you can make them all private\/hidden)<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Pinterest<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>No<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(<\/span><b>but NOT re-pins other people make from your pins<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Tumblr<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Using the mass post editor)<\/span><\/td>\n<td><b>Not all<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Your <\/span><b>group blog<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> contributions will be kept)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>Yelp<\/b><\/td>\n<td><b>No<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(But <\/span><b>not<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> instantly)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><b>YouTube<\/b><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(You can mass-delete your comments and mass-hide your videos)<\/span><\/td>\n<td><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In summary, deleting your content from the web will take some work, and in some cases, it will not happen instantly. But it is better than saving future hours trying to block and delete spam communications targeted toward you and your business.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can, of course, change your username on most of these networks to hide your real name but mind that your previous name will be still visible through the Wayback Machine and similar archiving tools, should anyone take the time to research.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>3. Make your remaining accounts private<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you think going off the grid is an extreme sport and want to maintain some sort of social media presence to stay in touch with friends and family, simply make your accounts private. But remember that your name and profile picture may still be public and findable through Google, even when a profile is set to private.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s an example of a private account on Instagram which still makes your name, username, description, profile picture, and website public, even for a non-logged-in viewer:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-143855 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Safeguard-your-personal-identity-over-the-internet-and-social-media.png\" alt=\"Safeguard your personal identity over the social media while growing a digital business- making your account private still keeps some parts of your profile visible\" width=\"512\" height=\"276\" srcset=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Safeguard-your-personal-identity-over-the-internet-and-social-media.png 512w, https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/Safeguard-your-personal-identity-over-the-internet-and-social-media-300x162.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Generally, when a social media account is set to private, neither logged-in nor unregistered people cannot access your content or your friend list.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The culture of spontaneous sharing is going too strong: People publish and share private information without much consideration or without meaning any harm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And let&#8217;s not forget about an always <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aura.com\/learn\/what-to-do-after-a-data-breach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">possible data breach<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> risk that can land your personal information in the possession of hackers. From the past incidents, it is quite clear a social media platform is unlikely to even let their users know about the breach (they may do that but months after it happened, months after your private data may have ended up in the wrong hands).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That being said, deleting your accounts is probably a better &#8211; still not a perfect &#8211; option.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The truth is, once we start opening up our lives to the digital world, that private content gets wings of its own. It becomes very difficult to bring it under control and can easily spread without you even being aware.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If this is something of a concern to you, take at least some steps now: When starting a new business or digitizing your current one, keep your anonymity options in mind and make an informed decision as to what you want your customers to know about your personal life.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Ann Smarty is the Founder of Viral Content Bee, Brand and Community manager at Internet Marketing Ninjas. She can be found on Twitter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/seosmarty\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@seosmarty<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/#newsletter-modal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Engine Watch newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for insights on SEO, the search landscape, search marketing, digital marketing, leadership, podcasts, and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Join the conversation with us on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/61126\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sewatch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an age where our whole lives are online, is it possible to build a successful business without exposing your private life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":143856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27893,7,13],"tags":[5718,4255,28065,12474,28163,33,96],"content_type":[],"class_list":["post-143853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-digital-marketing","category-industry","category-local","tag-data-privacy","tag-digitization","tag-influencer-commentary","tag-online-safety","tag-privacy-best-practices","tag-search","tag-social-media"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":"Independent","tad_content_format":"Infuencer commentary"},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/How-to-safeguard-your-privacy-while-building-your-digital-business-scaled.jpg","category":"Digital Marketing","timeago":"4y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143853"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=143853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}