Whether you are new to internet marketing or not, there are certain marketing techniques that you definitely need to avoid. Use these techniques, and I can guarantee that they may work for awhile, but eventually, the search engines, especially Google will catch on. If Google will ban Mercedes Benz of Germany, they certainly won't think twice about banning you.



Be careful of trends. The "gurus" are infamous for creating trends so that they can sell more product. A perfect example of this occurred last year with article writing. Articles have always been an effective way to not only market your business and build your expertise, but it's also a great way to build a content rich website.

Below are five techniques that many internet marketing "gurus" use, or have used in the past, that you should NEVER use to promote your business:

1. Unsolicited Commercial Email

Although most of the internet marketing gurus don't use this technique anymore because it's illegal, at one time, they sent email to anybody and everybody they could to sell their products. This included using robots to find and spider email addresses from the internet and sending emails to these addresses.

As I said before, this technique is now against the law. It's also a great way to offend people, so much so, that it's a waste of time because hardly anyone responds to these emails anymore.

2. "Rich Jerk" Tactics

Not too long ago, some unknown "guru" revealed his secrets for marketing on the internet. All of the money this person made from the internet came from porn and gambling.

Basically, his tactic was to insult those who read his sales letter, and then insult them into buying his ebook. Once he had sold several thousand copies at $97, then he offered the same ebook for only $49.95. A lot of people were burned by this scam.

Never offer your product at a higher price and then lower it. It's one thing to say that you are raising the price. This is expected. However, I can promise you that no one will buy from you again if you resort to this tactic.

Also, be careful what you say to others in your sales letter. Hype is one thing. Insulting others is another and when you compound that with misrepresentation of your product the way this guy did, you have a recipe for disaster.

Don't hide your identity. Credibility, good reputation and honesty are everything. If you're hiding your identity, it lowers your credibility, which you can't afford to do.

3. Splogs

Splogs are spam blogs. They are blogs that have been set up simply to generate Adsense, or some other type of income. They offer no real value to the visitor except to take his/her money.

These blogs can get you banned from the search engines, especially Google. Google's terms of service is very clear that sites should never be set up for the purpose of generating income.

If you plan to use a blog in your business, the best thing to do is to build one from scratch, or sign up for an account at Blogger.

Write your own posts. You can also add articles by other writers that you consider to be of value, but don't go overboard. Any content that you can add that brings value to your site will be appreciated by your readers. You'll build a search engine friendly site that will make you money and build you a loyal following.

4. Blog and Ping

First, let me say, used correctly, blog and ping is an effective way to improve your rankings in the search engines and get you indexed. It is a technique that I use myself. What I don't do is abuse it.

If you plan to set up your blog to ping automatically, set up your posts at least 30 minutes apart because the blog directories won't accept pings less than 30 minutes apart.

Even if you only ping your blog once after posting, especially if you are using Blogger, don't post more than three time per day. More than that, and you're sending up a red flag, especially to Google.

5 Junk Pages

Junk pages are any pages that have been created using software or online tools that scrape content from other sites. Usually these pages will also contain Amazon recommendations, as well as Adsense ads, and maybe an ad advertising a product or service.

If you want to succeeed on the internet, your reputation is everything. You need to build credibility, as well as a relationship with your readers. You can't do this if you are offering them junk, and that's basically what these pages are.

Build quality content on your sites. Yes, it takes longer, it's a lot more work, and it will take you a little longer to show a profit. However, while sites like those listed above are being banned from the search engines, your site will survive, and your customers will thank you.

Although there are many legitimate internet marketers who can teach you how to market your business on the internet, marketers who engage in these types of tactics should be avoided. The same techniques for building a business offline, also work online. Build a business you can be proud of, and you'll make money for years to come.