Black, Grey and White are all dull colors. And they happen to be associated with Internet Marketing. They are all different type of SEO.

Now for a newbie, it might be very confusing at first what decides what type of SEO it is. I never heard of the term “Black Hat” until about my 2nd month in this internet marketing adventure.

I remember stumbling upon this forum called “Black Hat World” while searching for information on SEO. The tag line of the forum says “Once you do Black, you never go back”. Catchy huh!! I hung around there for a few hours and read a few threads only to realize that Black Hat techniques were not for me. I considered learning them but in the end ruled against them.

Now we can all argue how it is unethical and how you are CHEATING and robbing the hard working “WHITE HAT” marketers of their hard earned money.

I don’t know about STEALING AND CHEATING.

But, I do know one thing. I don’t like RULES and will always break them if I don’t like them. I make my own set of rules that I can live with.

You know  why? Because rules aren’t fair.

Anyone can argue that any type of SEO is basically not following the rules set by the almighty Google. No, I am not stating this as a fact that SEO is breaking the rules. I am just saying it can be argued upon. And probably can be argued till death. (As a side note: Using MNF(Micro Niche Finder) and MS(Market Samurai) is against their TOS as well. You can’t use any software to see the search results)

Who the heck is Google to decide how to promote my business? If they like it, rank my website, if they don’t then don’t rank it.

It’s basically a risk factor. The higher risks you take, the higher the rewards. So the darker color of SEO you choose, the more will be your chances of getting slapped by Google. But at the same time, the chances of you ranking quickly and high in search engines will increase.

It’s just like in life. Aren’t you breaking the unwritten rule of life by not working a 12 hour job and trying to start your own business? Is it fair that with IM you will be earning 10 times more than your school friends who are working 10 times harder than you at the office?

You chose to take the risks. The risk of failing, which your school friends weren’t willing to take. The higher the risk, the higher the rewards.

The three colors of Internet Marketing are sort of the same.

The next part that is being talked around a lot is ethics. Now there is probably a huge thread somewhere at the Warrior  Forums about the ethics of IM which sets the rules for what is ethical and what unethical. But, I haven’t read that thread. And I am not even going to read it.

I believe that whatever a person is doing is ethical in their eyes. Nobody really thinks of himself as unethical. And anyone can probably write a book justifying their actions (Mein Kamph!!!).

Usually, someone who is just one step below on breaking the rules has the right to bash the other person for being unethical and cheating (and they use this right all the time). For example, a person who comments on the blogs  themselves can call those who outsource this commenting as being unethical. Those who outsource the commenting can call those who use automated programs (Scrapebox) to comment unethical. Those who use automated programs can call those who use much more powerful automated programs (Xrumer) unethical. And a person who purely relies on quality content for popularity and traffic can call those who comment on blogs to increase their search engine rankings unethical.

It’s like the pyramid of screaming (courtesy Barney Stinson). People like to bash on people below them to feel better about themselves.

So how do I justify my actions? What rules I go by in SEO? Here are a few.

1. Google can take their TOS and stick it. I don’t care about their rules. The only thing I care about is my rankings. And if breaking some rule can affect my ranking, then I probably won’t break it.

2. I think in terms of people. Are the SEO actions going to harm anyone or cause any type of discomfort/annoyance? For example, there are a few programs that can blast comments to thousands of forums/blogs etc. I have seen a few forums that have to close their website because they were inundated by these automated comments known as SPAM. And I get comments everyday on my blog that I can spot clearly as SPAM. I don’t want them on my websites, so I don’t use them to promote my websites.

I am not saying it is wrong to SPAM. I am not an authority on right and wrong. I think everyone is intelligent enough to decide it themselves. What is wrong to someone might be Okay to someone else. That’s just the nature of life.

3. Mutual benefits: Let’s face it; we are all trying to win this thing together. When it comes to SEO; it’s Internet Marketers vs Google. People are always trying to outsmart Google by helping each other in this adventure.

In the starting it was with link exchanges. People will put other people’s links on their website in exchange for their links placed on other’s website. So, Google made its next move. It brought in the algorithm which makes reciprocal links useless.

So, people quickly devised other ways to help each other. UAW, FTS, SEOlinkvine these are all ways for people to help each other. It works on the principle of giving a website fresh content in exchange for links.

I am a part of Social bookmarking group (not the one mentioned in the forums by bwh1) in which we all help each other by bookmarking each other’s web pages. I don’t believe it is hurting or harming anyone.  I bookmark other’s webpages, and in exchange they bookmark mine. Maybe it doesn't comply with the TOS of the bookmarking websites. But, just like Google I don't give a damn about their TOS. They don't like it, they can go ahead and remove my bookmarks. It's their website, they can do whatever they want. Give it any color you want, but I will always find a way to justify this to myself as ethical.

4. I don’t really give a damn about my competitions feelings. Do you really care how hard your competition is working? I don’t. All I care about is whether I am ranking better than him.

Usually, the search engine rankings are directly related to how hard and how smart you are working. So, if my competitor is working 10 times harder than me but I work smarter and out rank him. This is just fair game, in my eyes.

So, if you are above me in the pyramid of screaming, go ahead and say I am unethical, go ahead and say I am a black/grey hatter. Call me a cheater. I couldn’t care less, because the only person I need to live with is I. And to live with myself, the only rules I need to follow are mine.