Is it Blackhat to use Craigslist for Affiliate promotion?

Just recently i read a post by someone using craigslist with an autoresponder in gmail and using it for affiliate promotion. Is it Balckhat??

Wont the affiliate network/merchant know that we are using this technique??

 

In my opinion i think blackhat is over done. I think the customers know what is going on. When ever im on craigslist interested in a item, i always get emailed with a link. I automatically know........

 

im assuming you are referring to my post . it depends on the affiliate network, some allow CL traffic, others don't. it can be blackhat in that you can hide the referrer from the network - but it's entirely down to your specific network

 

Yup..i saw your post..
Now my question is how does the network know that the traffic is from Craigslist?? If is send the link through email(autoresponder in Gmail) then the network will see that the visitor is coming from an email..innit??

 

Its not at all blackhat as long as u r sending them targetted leads and if advertiser allow u to promote with email marketing.

 

The problem is more with the CTR, if they click on your link in the email, it will be really high, so the way around it is to get them to type the link into their browser, and it shouldn't get any red flags from the network

 

It's blackhat, because craiglist doesn't allow promotion of digital products. Cragilist is against promotion of digital goods. Also people who use craigslist for affiliate marketing, break the rules and post the same ad in several differents cities.

 

But there is always a high CTR in targeted email campaigns. How will that make the networks suspicious??

 

I didn't know that before!!

 

What rules? Are u sure craiglist do not allow promotion of digital products?

 

I don't know about digital products, but they don't allow you to advertise an internet site.

Also, to be honest, all the people that use craigslist for affiliate promotion, do it the blackhat way, by posting the same ad several citiies which is not allowed

 

hey i can help you out, i charge 0.20 per post, however i give discounts for big orders, let me know if oyur interested. I know everything about posting on craigslsit.

 

There are too many people promote all kinds of products in Craigslist and I think some CPA now considered it illegal.

 

There are million and millions of craigslist page views daily, there are plenty of advertiser to advertise to.

 

It's not blackhat, but it not a very good idea because your messages will get deleted fast.

 

That's exactly why it's blackhat, because you're messages get deleted, cragslist doesn't allow them, you break their TOS, and they delete it. That's what makes it blackhat

 

hahaha that depends on if you know what your doing or not. ALL MY ADS get flagged but by real people not bot.

 

I have an affiliate program that pays an average $20 per sale. I don't mind CL traffic at all. In fact my affiliates that use CL make at least 2 sales a day.

 

How are you able to track the traffic if its coming from CL or not??Becasue they mostly come from Emails. Not CL.

 

This is taken from the Craigslist TOS http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use

This is what is not allowed:

It doesn't depend if you know or don't know what you're doing.

It's blackhat either way, If you don't know what you're doing the ad is getting flagged and removed, if you know what you're doing, and your ad isn't flagged, it's still blackhat, because you're breaking the rules, it doesn't matter if you get away with it or you don't.

If you rob a bank and get away with it, it's still illegal, but you have just gotten away with it.

The question is not whether you can or cannot get away with it, but it is whether it is blackhat. The question is yes. I have posted an excerpt from the Cragslist TOS which clearly states that you're not allowed to post affiliate material.

Cragslist is working hard to enforce this, but they will not always manage to remove 100% of the ads which break their TOS. They do manage to remove most of them tho.

It is clearly evident that craigslist posting for affiliate offers is indeed BLACKHAT