I am writing this article in extreme frustration that two months of my work has gone down the drain. I have no one to blame but myself for the situation that I am in right now. People have advised me that certain actions would lead to this situation, but I did not listen.

It seems that some lessons are meant to be learned only through experience. Even though some readers might still make the same mistakes that I did after reading this article, I am writing with the hope that a few people like you may be willing to learn from my experience.

Are you wondering what I am talking about? Or have you guessed already? I tried to use “black hat” methods to make money. Black hat methods are not illegal, but they do violate some terms of conditions. To put it another way, these methods bend the rules rather than break them.

People have always been greedy. Sometimes we become bored by the slow and steady pace of our progress, and we get the urge to take a short cut. Imagine a man who drives slow and steady to his destination, but grows bored of his routine. He decides to go beyond the speed limit or take a short cut on a no-entry zone. He will get away with this a couple of times, but he will get caught eventually.

Internet marketing is a relatively new business model. The business system has not yet stabilized, which leaves loop holes in the various systems. Those who are clever and unwise try to take advantage of the loop holes to make money in the short term. But such actions will ultimately lead to frustration.

Many “real world” businesses, such as automobile manufacturing, building construction, and ornament businesses, have been in existence for centuries. They leave almost no room for manipulation. Maybe in the early days a goldsmith could have tried to cheat people by mixing his gold with cheaper metal, but can you imagine someone doing this today? It would leave him behind bars.

Today’s black hat methods always become tomorrow’s illegal methods. Consider when people discovered spamming as an amazing money-making tool. People bought databases containing millions of email IDs and blasted them with advertisements. Even if the number of people who bought products from those emails was a tiny fraction of the total emails sent, the spammer could still earn hundreds, thousands, or even millions of dollars. Yet by now I’m sure you have heard the widespread news of spammers being arrested.

There are many people who are making thousands of dollars per month by these online black hat methods. I have seen people promote dating websites by posing as a lovely girl in a classified website. I have seen people build useless websites, put ads on them, and drive traffic to the sites by unwise methods. Some of these methods cannot be completely branded as illegal because the Internet is not yet fully regulated by law. But sooner or later these methods will become obsolete or illegal.

If you cannot differentiate between black hat methods and honest methods of making money online, there is one simple rule that you need to follow. Find out whether what you do adds value for the people in the Internet economy. If it doesn’t add value, and yet makes money for you, it may be good today, but illegal tomorrow.

One cannot build a business based on such methods. It would be like building a sand castle: for a while you can admire its beauty, but it will get washed away with the next wave.

This wave has come and has taught me a valuable lesson. I will no longer do anything that does not increase value for people. Even if it makes money for me, I am sure that it will not stand long. Eventually the time and energy invested would be wasted. I hope that you do not do what I did. I wish you good luck.