You Take Your Branding, I’ll Take My Traffic (And Other Marketing Fallacies)

Ok, so first off allow me to say that courtesy of the blackhats and mainstream SEO community I’ve met since my start in this industry, I’ve learned a lot. I accept many things on the idea that people have been doing this longer than me, know more than me(especially on the “people” level, rather than the computer level). However, I keep hearing a few things over and over again that I will never agree with(especially in regards to shady tactics). I decided to highlight them here, so hopefully people will not waste their time.




“But Won’t That Hurt Your Brand?”

No. I have no brand(shit, my sites are only up for a month or so for the most part). But you don’t have one either! Very, very few sites in any niche ever rise to have a “brand”, and even if they do, the audience doesn’t care how you got your traffic. You become a brand by people seeing your site over and over and over.

I’m going to give you guys an example. AdultFriendFinder. AdultFriendFinder is a brand name. They currently claim 20 million registered members, or about 6-7% of the US population(though I believe they have international members) But let’s take a look at their advertising practices.

They have the most consistently misleading ads online today. You know those ads that show several nude or partially nude females, saying they’re looking for a date and *somehow* live right near you? That’s them, and those people don’t exist

Several have said they use spyware/adware to promote

They use fake members in chat rooms to try and convince people to upgrade.

Another example for you. Awhile ago, I joined an affiliate program for a site. I was the only person promoting at the time(according to the management), and they had a steady amount of traffic before I joined, neither losing nor gaining. My job was to pick up the long tails w/a blackhat site. Well, 1.5 months after I had begun doing this, their type-in traffic had increased by 13%.

Both examples tell us one thing. Users have no idea when a shady tactic is being used. If a site is shoved in front of their nose enough times, it becomes a brand name for them.

The Users are Too Smart For That

Some users are really intelligent. I will not deny that. But a large piece of them, are damn stupid. Awhile ago, I was stumbling around the internet, and found this little gem. Now before someone jumps on this, no, it’s not a stoner thing, it’s a “decline of America” thing.

Now Really? Are these the people I’m supposed to be worried about marketing to? Are these people the reason I’m supposed to avoid shady tactics? Really?

It Is Possible to Compete In Any Given Niche Playing By Google’s Rules

I consider myself pretty adept at SEO, especially given my age and experience level. But whoever spews this stuff out, come on now.

I’ve taken a look at some of the sites leading SEO firms and members within the SEO community have done linkbuilding work on, and I’m going to share a secret. If they were in a competitive area and they are ranking, they did not play by the rules.

In most cases, this means paid links. In some cases, there were other tactics I won’t call them out on here. And keep in mind, this is not to make what they do less impressive. They’re awesome at it in many cases. But that doesn’t change the reality.

If Google were to truly force people to play by their rules, they would have to abolish every single site currently ranking in anything related to mortgage, insurance, lawyers, medications, pornography, dating, escort services, and a bunch of others. There are certain categories where Google has essentially accepted that it’s going to be saturated by naughty tactics. Penalizations will eventually occur there, but they do not pay attention. Why? Because if they banned one site, they’d be putting another site that is just as guilty into it’s spot.

Your Site Is Failing Because It’s Ugly

Everyone, raise your hand if you’ve ever been to Craigslist.

Sites need to look professional. Not pretty. And even that’s debatable. Right now I’m actually doing battle with a PR5/4000 inbound link geocities page that hasn’t been touched since the mid 90s. All 100% organic. Yes, I’ve defeated it thank you very much, but every so often it surges for a week or so. And it is ugly as sin.

I’m Playing By The Rules, so I Can Afford to Have My Eggs in One Basket

Go onto some newbie SEO forum, and search for “banned by adsense”. You can’t control everything. Invalid impressions/clicks? Out of your hands. Diversify for god’s sakes!

That is probably the one of the most major things that keeps me from going Whitehat. Putting all your time/effort into one site, and having it be completely at Google’s will to destroy or prosper. Why do that when I can turn the tables?

Hope You All Enjoyed this lovely installment.



-XMCP