I have notice many bloggers and online entrepreneurs who seem to live very open lives online. By this, I mean they seem to share too much personal information without regard to the fact that anyone and everyone is reading what they are writing. Running an online business is great, but we certainly need to be mindful of personal safety at the same time. As I began my journey of running an online kids boutique, I suddenly realized there were several more factors to consider with regard to privacy. With that in mind, here is some advice for moms out there who want to maintain some level or privacy.
Register Your Domain with Privacy. I was surprised when I realized that the information I used to register my domain was so openly available. Many use their home address and cell phone numbers; no wonder we get so much spam.
Be Careful When Telling Personal Stories. When you are telling a story from the heart, it’s easy to slip in tidbit of personal information about your kids without thinking about it. Sadly, there are people out there who live to prey on our kids, and they wait for these opportunities. Don’t ever mention you church, synagogues, or child’s school by name.
Limit Your Personal Social Media Connections. If you have a blog or a website, you should have a corresponding Facebook Business Page to promote it. I do not recommend connecting personally with all of your fans as they will have access to more of your personal and private information. If you don’t really know them, do not accept them as a personal friend on Facebook or any other Social Media website.
Never Connect With Strangers through Location Based Applications. This includes apps such as Foursquare and actually Facebook Places because these apps actually tell people where you are when you check in and you don’t want people you don’t know to be able to track you, or have your personal information (such as your home address) and then know that you are not home.
My goal is not to try to instill fear in anyone, but just to remind us all that the world we live in is very connected and as Internet Entrepreneurs we need to be cautious of how all of these things work. I’d love to hear your thoughts and get some feedback, so feel free to comment below.
About the Author:
Inspired by her children, Valérie Susskind combined her passion for fashion and her Marketing MBA and founded TreZ’Unique, an online kids boutique clothing store in 2009. Valérie was born and raised in Paris, France where she was surrounded by haute couture fashion. She has since moved to New York and earned her MBA at the NYU Stern School of Business after which she spent 5 years marketing cosmetics and fragrances for luxury brands.
