Ethics in Affiliate Marketing

[SteveAZ]

I am looking to get more into affiliate marketing.

I have seen posts regarding blackhat marketing and when reading them I noticed that everyone, well almost everyone, is against it and with good reason.

I can understand that deceptive ads and such would be wrong, but I see people state that to make a site for spiders isn't good but to make one for search engines is. Isn't that how the search engines determine rank, with spiders to check you out.

My basic question is, what is ethical and what is not.

[StephenR.]

I can understand that deceptive ads and such would be wrong, but I see people state that to make a site for spiders isn't good but to make one for search engines is. Isn't that how the search engines determine rank, with spiders to check you out.

Unless your sources are referring to search engine marketing (i.e. PPC, etc.) then yes search engine/spider optimization is one and the same.

Here is a good thread on what is ethical affiliate marketing and what is not: http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=47220

[SteveAZ]

I have read the thread and to quote you on this..

Originally Posted by StephenR.

If you have no idea what we're talking about, a white-hat search engine marketing professional practices ethical marketing and follows all the guidelines, terms, and conditions established by the search engines. In other words they do not exploit the loopholes in the search engine guidelines.

A black-hat search engine marketer doesn't follow all the search engines' rules and exploits these loopholes.

and....

Originally Posted by StephenR.

If you KNOW what you're doing you do not have to use these unethical practices:

Doorway pages - these are fake pages that your prospects never see, strictly intended for search engine spiders. These pages attempt to trick th engines into indexing the site higher. (DON'T DO IT)

Invisible text - i.e (placing keywords in white text on a white background). This was popular a loooong time ago but won't get you anywhere now. (DON'T DO IT)

Keyword Stuffing - another old school trick whereby the webmaster loads hundreds of keywords onto a page with little to know content. (DON'T DO IT)

I know there is more to it then these 3 things. Is there a list of what to and not to do somewhere?

[StephenR.]

New tactics are thought of daily so you would be hard pressed to find a site that lists ALL unethical marketing practices.

Here are some sites worth reading on the most dominant unethical marketing practices:

http://www.bigmouthmedia.com/live/ar...r-guide-17.asp
http://searchenginewatch.com/searchd...le.php/2175141
http://www.searchengineguide.com/art.../0119_rc1.html
http://www.freemarketingzone.com/sea...echniques.html
http://www.webworkshop.net/search-en...tion-spam.html

[incrediblehelp]

This is actually a good one to:

http://www.highrankings.com/forum/in...opic=15343&hl=

To be honest I don't like this argument much anymore. I used to be very much on the side of the "white hats" but now I just don't know anymore. In the end everyone in SEO is out to get to get to the top. If the "black hats" were cheating or un-ethical I would hope the SE's would be able to get rid of them if they wanted to. It doesn't appear that they can. The only thing that really gets me pissed is when "spammers", "black hatters", etc. go after certain websites to push them down the listings. This is when the line is truly crossed. If they are exploiting the search results just to push their own websites up without affecting others, that is one thing, but when they exploit the SE algorithm flaws to hurt someone's website, that should just be plain against the law.

[incrediblehelp]

Another good one

http://www.isedb.com/news/article/1212

[Linda Buquet]

Yes, Stephen pointed out a good thread on the topic.
http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=47220

Lots of "black hat" techniques will get you kicked out of the engines and out of some affiliate programs.

The best "white hat" formula for affiliate marketing is lots of good content, nice friendly pre-sell and a good customer testimonial.

[Rational Beaver]

IMO, the best thing about the "white-hat" school (ethical considerations aside) is that it encourages the creation of something worth finding (and doing it correctly so that it gets found). That kind of site tends to maintain top positions over the long haul instead of rising and falling as spammer sites are bound to do.

[SteveAZ]

So basically, as long as I use a well made site with good content I should be okay, right?

Does this include single pages that describe the product/service I am promoting with a "click here to learn more" or something like that?

Also, it was mentioned that backdoor pages are not good to use. Is this refering to pages that redirect the person to the site you are promoting automatically? If so, then I would think it can be just as much work optimizing these pages as anything else. It seems they are pretty much like using adwords or a similar advertising idea without paying the major search engines. Is that considered wrong if you do honest SEO on them?

BTW, thanks for all the replies so far.