Beware Of The Dark Side

There is always a better mouse trap being built somewhere in the world. The same goes for techniques in making money online. Everyday more and more techniques and services are being marketed to both new and advanced affiliate marketers promising quick and lucrative results. The more you delve into this business, the more things you will come across. While I have not seen everything, I have seen a bunch of things that are slickly marketed that on the surface look very white hat. Affiliate programs and their managers are getting smarter and more in tuned with what is happening in the affiliate world, along with Google as well. If your in for the quick buck, then these might be appealing to you, but if you are in for the long haul of building quality e commerce sites that will produce a long term residual income, I highly suggest turning the other cheek. Guaranteed traffic programs are on top of the list. They promise x amount traffic for a certain dollar amount. Make sure if you do buy traffic, you know exactly where it is coming from and how targeted the traffic really is. It is not uncommon for sold traffic to be that of trojans, viruses or exit traffic from porn sites. If a traffic purchase program looks good, put it to the test on a test site that might be built with info only and no affiliate links. Study your traffic logs to see exactly where the traffic is coming from and put it to a litmus test. The best traffic is traffic from organic search engine queries, link trades with like sites, social web 2.0 sites and article marketing.

Having used the first part of this post to warn you, I will use the second part to say that some black hat techniques can be useful in gaining knowledge that might apply to another technique. I have learned quite a bit from the black hat world that has generated a few ideas of my own that are white hat. Some black hat techniques have even crossed over into everyday acceptable practices, with the cookie being on top of the list. In any event, make sure you research out any new techniques when applying to your own sites. Also remember there is no quick and easy way to long term success. Being smart and applying hard work over a long haul will be more lucrative and rewarding.

May the force be with you all!

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