Outreach person different than guest post write

[BobGW]

Hello,

For a current client of mine, the person doing the outreach (me) and the person who is going to write the guest post (expert) are different people.

Also, the expert doesn't want their real name published. They're going to use their first and middle name instead of first and last.

How do I taylor my outreach and link building to accommodate the above two facts?

BTW: The expert's picture is on the site if that helps, in an "Ask the Expert" menu tab

Thanks

[ahockley]

As someone who receives pitches for guest posts, here are the two distinct reactions that came to mind when I read this:

• It doesn't bother me that someone else is doing the outreach, as long as they're representing things correctly.  I've received pitches along the lines of "I'm contacting you on behalf of..." and it doesn't bug me at all.
• It seems really weird that an expert wouldn't use their real name.  Expertise is very closely linked with credibility, and I can't help but wonder "what do they have to hide?"  The exception here is if this person grained their expertise while doing business or otherwise acting under a pseudonym... it's not that one can't become an expert without their real name, but it's the fact that if they became recognized as an expert using their real name, the shift to using a different name seems funky.

[sprynewmedia]

What if they just want to use a pen name to protect their privacy?  Hard to remember with modern life being so exposed and annotated but there are lots of people that prefer to remain anonymous.

So long as the persona is well developed, I wouldn't have a problem with it given the content was high quality.

[ahockley]

I get the privacy concerns... as I mentioned, if they've developed this expertise using a pen name or pseudonym, then I have no issue with it.  But if their expertise is tied to their real name, and they're going to write under a different name, then that expertise might not be as strong.

[sprynewmedia]

Sorry, I didn't see where you mentioned privacy but that's fair.

[ColinWhite]

At our agency we run outreach programs and are very clear who we represent and are very open to the person on the other end and 99% of the time they are fine with the scenario as it's understood that real, clean organic outreach is an immense job that should be handled by experts, which is usually not the client. So that part is OK.

The whole anonymous thing rubs me a bit wrong only because if you are anyone trying to show credibility usually you want your expertise out their as industries look for thought leaders to build communities around. I understand wanting privacy but really..are the Paparazzi gonna show up at your door for the blog post you wrote? I think their privacy is safe all in all.

[BobGW]

Because of all of your responses I  talked to the client and she's willing to use her real name. Thanks for helping to make that clear.

How do you reference the expert in the outreach? Do I put a link to her "about the author" page in the outreach footer?

[ColinWhite]

Make sure that all of your content pieces include REL="Author" or a simple about the author with a link to her Google Plus Page. Are you familiar with Schema Markup?

[BobGW]

Thanks. I know what Schema Markup is, I'd have to study it to do it. What should I be doing with schema markup?

[ColinWhite]

Well with Schema you would be telling the Search Engine a bunch of detailed information about you the site and the product. You can use many different ways.