So the latest news is that Manny Ramirez, who some argue is the catalyst for the Los Angeles Dodgers recent success, is being suspended for 50 days, nearly a third of the season, for a positive performance-enhancing drug test. It seems like this comes at the worst possible time for the Dodgers, who had been riding an impressive streak of home victories. What’s the lesson in all this?
Crime Doesn’t Pay
Manny is learning, like so many other ballplayers learned before him, that cheating just doesn’t pay. Even if you convince yourself that you’re not really cheating, like Manny did, and even if you get away with it for a little while, you will be found out eventually, and in some cases, the longer you get away with it, the harder the inevitable fall when you are found out.
Short Cuts to Disaster
Of course, the parallel here is to black hat SEO practices. Sure, in the short term, using less than ethical means probably will get you more traffic and better conversion rates. Eventually though, you will be found out, and once you are, your name, your website, and your business won’t be worth the virtual paper it’s printed on. You could just start over of course, but the more you take the easy way, the harder you’ll find it to do things the right way, and the stigma of unethical behavior will hang over everything you do.
Doing it Right
The ironic thing is that there are so many ways to be successful the right way, both in areas like sports and in SEO. There are plenty of great white hat methods for generating SEO traffic, so a creative, determined SEO marketer should never even need to delve into ethical gray areas.
If you’re not getting the traffic or conversion you want, resist the temptation to cheat. Explore positive and original legitimate methods for turning things around. Your business will last longer and you’ll sleep better.
