1. 1
Ethics
Ethics and Promoting Your Website
Victoria Rock
Electronic Business
AIU Online
July 28, 2012

2. 2
Ethics
Introduction
With the globalization of the World Wide Web companies can market their products in area’s
they may not have ever had the chance to do before. This has allowed most if not all companies
the ability to adopt their businesses to a website, which allows companies another way to connect
with their customers. The proper marketing of a website could be the key element that will
determine the success of a company’s e-business (What is eMarketing and how is it better than
traditional marketing?, 2012).

3. 3
Ethics
Unethical Marketing Techniques in E-Business
Marketing techniques are used to promote the operations of a company. Through their use,
sales will increase thus allowing a company to dominate the market. Companies should always
make sure the marketing techniques they are using are legal and ethical. Some examples of
unethical techniques used in e-marketing include Page Cloaking and Mirror Sites. Page
Cloaking is a technique used in search engines by providing different content or information on
the same company. By doing this customers that may be interested in the products or services
could be misguided (Kyrnin, 2012). Mirror sites are a marketing technique which provides
multiple sources of the same information. This can be looked at as being unethical because
customers looking on a search engine are given a variety of sites for the same company (Search
Engine Optimization, 2011). A good thing to remember is the use of extremely fierce marketing
techniques for a company’s website could damage their image in the market industry.
Spam Emails and Spam Blogs
Spam emailing is another unethical and illegal marketing technique used by companies to
make their business known. This is done by sending unsolicited e-mails without permission to
people you have no business relations with in order to create awareness of the company.
Contrary to the positive effects this may have, spam e-mails tend to aggravate potential
customers. By sending spam e-mails you run the potential of making customers lose interest in
your business, thus making the company lose potential customers (Wilson, 2011).
Spam Blogs are blogs that engage in link spamming and is also illegal because it is aimed at
manipulating customers into visiting a company’s site. You can recognize spam blogs by their

4. 4
Ethics
irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text as well as large links that point to a single site and tend
to clog up search engines making them very annoying to clients. This marketing technique is
aimed at obtaining a large number of clients to visit a certain company’s site (Is spam permitted
on Blogger? What Are Spam Blogs?).
Keyword Stuffing and Irrelevant Keywords
Keyword stuffing and irrelevant keywords is a search engine optimization technique. This
occurs when a company uses loaded keywords in their content. A good example would be
something like this: “If you like giving Birthday gifts, buy your Birthday gifts here! We have
Birthday gifts for all of your Birthday gifts buying needs.” With this technique, the company
tends to hide significant information from clients that could mislead them in their decision
making process. Irrelevant keywords are also placed in the mega tags of the site so that people
may not see the true image of the company causing the client to lose trust in the company
(Keyword Stuffing, 2010).
Link farms and Link Bait
Link farms are a group of web pages that exist for the sole purpose of increasing the number
of back-links in a sites link network (SEO DICTIONARY, 2012). Companies that use link
farms as a marketing technique uses it solely to boost the company site. These links are aimed at
directing people who visit the 'link farm' to the company’s site. They are considered spam by
search engines and are prohibited by law because it tricks clients to other irrelevant sites. By
using this kind of technique a company is creating a bad image for themselves and which is far

5. 5
Ethics
from professional. Also by using this form of technique a company can find themselves not only
removed from search engines but paying heavy fines. The link bait technique occurs when a
content feature is placed within a website of the company designed specifically to encourage
visitors to the site. This marketing technique cheats clients who end up not trusting the
operations of the company and can make the company lose prospective customers (How to Deal
with Link Farms, 2012).
Unethical, Illegal, and the Consequences for Using Them
Keyword stuffing and irrelevant keywords are unethical marketing techniques since they are
morally incorrect and can give a bad image for the company making it harder for the company to
gain their set profit. Spam blogs, spam emailing, link farms, and link bait are considered illegal
techniques. The law, as business principles goes, does not allow these techniques to be used by
companies and huge fines can be placed on the company that uses them (Wilson, 2011).
Promotional Techniques for a Site
Promotional techniques used for a company site are aimed at getting a lot of prospective
clients. This can boost the operations of the company and lead to an increase in sales. The use of
ethical means of marketing creates a good image for the company and will give the clients the
feeling that the company can be trusted. One ethical promotional technique is the use of e-mail
marketing. E-mail marketing is a form of direct marketing which enables the company to use
electronic mail as a means of communicating to their target audience. By sending e-mails to
clients who are registered with the company will help in avoiding e-mail spamming which as we

6. 6
Ethics
have learned is unethical. This will enable the company to stay in touch with their clients as they
inform them of the progress of the company (Harpf).
Another promotional technique is online advertising. The advertisers host advertisements for
companies so that clients can visit the advertisers' site and know about the operations of the
company being advertised. This technique is rational since the activities of a company will be
availed in other advertisement locations, which will make prospective clients aware of the
company being promoted. An example of this is when a company places their link, 'with
permission,' on the advertising company’s site. This promotional technique is ethical since
permission has to be sent from the advertising company, unlike Link farms and Link Bait. This
online advertising networks technique will make the clients trust the company they may wish to
engage with. This will also help the company gain profits and expand their operations (Harpf).
Online banner advertising is another significant technique that can be utilized by a company.
Online advertising technique places an embedded advertisement of a company into a web page.
Through this promotional technique the organization will be able to attract traffic to their
company website by linking their site with the website of the advertisers. This technique is
rational since it can help the company gain clients ethically (Search engine marketing explained,
2003).

7. 7
Ethics
Conclusion
After looking at the different kinds of promotional techniques, we can note that the ethical
marketing techniques for the company’s website will bring more positive results than the
unethical ones. The company should embrace the use of legal techniques that are ethical and
which will also give their corporation a good image as well as gain a lot of genuine clients who
will be loyal to them.

8. 8
Ethics
Reference
Harpf, L. (n.d.). Free website promotion tutorial. Retrieved from A Promotion Guide:
http://www.apromotionguide.com/
How to Deal with Link Farms. (2012). Retrieved from Dummies.com: http://www.dummies.com/how-
to/content/how-to-deal-with-link-farms.html
Is spam permitted on Blogger? What Are Spam Blogs? (n.d.). Retrieved from Google Support:
http://support.google.com/blogger/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=42577
Keyword Stuffing. (2010). Retrieved from SEO Terms: http://www.seo-terms.com/keyword-stuffing.html
Kyrnin, J. (2012). Cloaking: What it is and Why You Shouldn't Do It. Retrieved from About.com Web
design/HTML: http://webdesign.about.com/od/seo/i/aa092704.htm
Search engine marketing explained. (2003). Retrieved from TheJungleMarketer´s internet marketing
newsletter: http://www.thejunglemarketer.com/
Search Engine Optimization. (2011). Retrieved from Hot For SEO: http://www.hot4seo.com/on-page-
seo/techniques-to-avoid.html
SEO DICTIONARY. (2012). Retrieved from Submit Express:
http://www.submitexpress.com/seodictionary.html#linkbaiting
What is eMarketing and how is it better than traditional marketing? (2012). Retrieved from Quirk:
http://www.quirk.biz/Resources/88/What-Is-Emarketing-And-How-Is-It-Better-Than-Traditional-
Marketing
Wilson, D. R. (2011, April 19). The Web Marketing Checklist:. Retrieved from Web Marketing Today:
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm