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My Internet Marketing Mistakes part 3
By admin | October 11, 2008
Today’s mistake is one that some people might brush off and say it’s ok. It’s what is known as blackhat methods. Blackhat methods usually are in traffic generation. Just for the sake of those who are not familiar with internet marketing terminology, ‘blackhat’ as the name suggests means methods that are unethical, spammy, against the system etc. A clear example is loading your website with keywords but not producing good content, with the aim of attracting the search engine spiders. Another example is using white font that is ‘invisible’ to the reader but catches the attention of search engine spiders. Of course, the white font is used to write keywords.
But nowadays, blackhat methods are much more stealthy and there are a myriad of them. You can only recognize a blackhat method when you encounter it. Admittedly, the attractiveness of blackhat methods are that they work and produce good results fast. But once you get caught, the search engines WILL punish you by banning your website or consigning it to the ‘Google Sandbox’ (which means your site basically gets put into cold storage for a long time and doesn’t get indexed).
I once bought a blackhat method of traffic generation without thinking enough over it. Of course, the seller never used the term ‘blackhat’ in describing the product. So I thought it was worth the money so I bought it. It was basically a way to game the system in social bookmarking sites like Digg. It was only after I bought it that my conscience (and rational thinking!) kicked in and I regretted my purchase. Thank God for MBG’s (money-back-guarantees!).
I know it’s tempting to use blackhat methods in internet marketing. But if you’re in this business for the long-haul, it’s not worth tarnishing your reputation using these methods. Thankfully, I have never been banned by the search engines thus far. I intend to keep it that way. How about you?
Have a great weekend!
Clarence
Topics: Internet Marketing, wealth, wisdom |