This post is educational, nothing else. I hold no responsibility for any actions you decide to take with this information. I do not do blackhat marketing anymore and do realise that you can get banned from whichever network you are using with the below information.
When I asked people what they wanted to see on TUK I had a few people contact me on instant messenger and say that they’d like to know what blackhat marketing was and whether it was worth looking into.
First off – my opinion is that you should not use blackhat marketing; I’ve done it in the past, but have been ‘clean’ for over a month now. The thing about blackhat marketing is that it generally (note, not always) tends to be short term and there is a decent chance of you getting banned from whatever you promote (unless you clarify with your affiliate network first… some of them allow this type of marketing).
Blackhat marketing is not fraud; let me make that clear – too many people confuse it with such. Blackhat is also not illegal. For a comparision, filling out your own CPA offers with proxies and freshly generated emails would be illegal, as you are cheating advertisers and engaging in fraud (which if they sued you for you could go to jail / be fined) but something like cookie stuffing is an example of blackhat marketing; not fraud, not illegal, but usually against the terms and conditions of most affiliate networks.
In the past, blackhat used to be a term related to search engine optimization – for example, injecting links – basically ways to ‘cheat’ Google into giving you a higher ranking. Nowadays however, shady-ish ways to make money online have also been dubbed blackhat.
As mentioned at the beginning, this post is purely educational and I hold no responsibility towards whatever you do with it; I have done this in the past and know that the tips work, that is all I am going to say. 
COOKIE STUFFING
Cookie stuffing is probably the easiest way for anyone looking to get into blackhat affiliate marketing to start out, as it doesn’t require a cent of investment apart from your own domain name and hosting.
The basic way to cookie stuff is by using fake images on forums; every view of your fake image would count as a click (and have your affiliate link embedded in the visitors computer). When someone buys something, you will get the affiliate commission credited to you.
What is done is people create a .htaccess file (or edit their existing one) with code redirecting images to affiliate links. So for example, it would be:
Redirect /1stimage.jpg http://www.hostingaffiliatelink.com
Now, every time you place 1stimage.jpg on a website, and someone views it – it counts as an click. The easiest way is to target niche forums and start threads related to the topic at and (so for example, starting a thread on Hostican asking for opinions and placing your image). Note that this does not hide your referrer link and thus is extremely risky; I am not going to tell you guys how to do this as if a whole range of cookie stuffers start, it will not be my fault
Anywhere that you can place an affiliate link is ripe for cookie stuffing; niche forums, your own websites, blogs etc. For example, if I wanted to (I haven’t) I could cookie stuff all visitors to this blog and they would not know it.
For those worried, cookie stuffing does nothing to you if you view such an image; all it does is embed an affiliate cookie into your computer. So if you are buying something through a friend (or your own, even)’s affiliate link, clear your cookie before you make the purchase.
There are far more advanced blackhat techniques to make money; having spoken with a few marketers I know quite a bit of them and may talk a little about them here depending on the response this post gets.
My opinion is that there is nothing wrong with doing so on larger webmaster forums, as they would buy anyways and all you are doing is netting some (easy) commission; however, it is not me that makes the rules and most affiliate networks do not like this – if you are going to try this out and want to stay safe, ask. I’d love to hear what affiliate networks in particular feel about this; if you know anyone, feel free to redirect them to this post so that we could spark off a debate
Again (it’s better I repeat myself 
) I do not do this anymore and do not recommend it to newbies unless you have been told by your affiliate networks that this is allowed. If you do come across one or two (some of the bigger pay per install programs allow types of blackhat marketing) go wild, as it is very, very easy to make some short, investment-less income from this.
Let me know what you think!
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:30 pm
hmm………I never knew about cookie stuffing. This mean no clicking on any picture I see. Write more blackhat tips, so that we can be aware of the tactics.
technoob’s last blog post..Firefox is bestowed with download record by Guinness
[Reply]
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I never heard of this term ‘cookie stuffing’ . I am not interested in blackhat marketing. Bu this article is quite informative and educational.
Agent 001’s last blog post..Help Me Choose a Wordpress Theme
[Reply]
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Sounds pretty slick.
Flimjo’s last blog post..How To Improve Your Search Engine Ranking With Lucky Off-Page Optimization
[Reply]
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Cookie stuffing works but it can give you huge pain in your ass when your affiliate networks banned you
[Reply]
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Wow cookie stuffing is so darn sneaky…no offence but anyone who does that is just a little bugger in my eyes lol. I’ve always hated everything about blackhat methods, I’d much rather earn money a genuine way and feel proud then cheat people and have that sitting on my conscience forever. Very interesting post Jason ^_^
Josh’s last blog post..Rambling Thursday- Banned Again!
[Reply]
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
COOKIE STUFFING hmmm, u remind me when i started making money online 3 years ago i used cookies stuffing for while then i stopped, but its true you can EASILY get banned
Jim’s last blog post..Making Money With Proxy Sites
[Reply]
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Sounds scary and like something I wouldn’t want to be involved in!
Chelle’s last blog post..All About the 4th of July – School House Rocks Style
[Reply]
July 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
great explanation… i use cookie stuffing when i was starting just like jim.. Right now im still using blackhat methods and am trying to refrain to use it on blogging idol… W/blackhat you really have to understand the risk of doing it and the effects that will surely be devastating.. But I enjoy blackhat and am a member of blackhat seo forum..
Melvin’s last blog post..RevResponse Looks Good!
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 12:33 am
WTF man?! I known you for how long now? I’ve talked to you on yahoo for how long now? And now you bring this up? lol… damn you! Do you know how many people click on my images on all my blog(s)? I could be filthy rich now!
And yes, I’m going to test this theory out and if I make money from it, you know it’s just going to help me $3,000 goal
Jay
Jay’s last blog post..Be Your Own Competition, Literally, to Make More Money Online
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 3:10 am
If we cant use it, then what is the use of knowing it ? How about showing us some whitehat ways to make money
Elroy’s last blog post..Tai-chi-chuan
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 3:20 am
“(Shudder.)”
I do not like getting involved in anything that is bad, I didn’t even feel sure about setting fireworks off tonight. I don’t want to get into somethinf bad I guess unless needed (I don’t really mind online age rules, accounts and stuff).
Nathaniel’s last blog post..Blogging Idol Was Launched!
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Wow! I never knew things like these exist.
Thanx Jason! You keep surprising all of us !
Daniel’s last blog post..The Next Web Revolution Starts here…
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 6:25 am
I have used cookie stuffing tricks to get referrals on different Paid to Click sites but other than that I haven’t used it for affiliate marketing.
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Very nice technique. Not something I’ve ever done myself. I play around with the dark arts, but I never push the limits too far =)
To the person who said something about “what is the use of knowing it”. Learning about techniques like this give you insight on the creativity required to game the system, even if you don’t use it. I like posts about blackhat, because it always gets you excited and creative about the ways you promote your sites.
JB’s last blog post..First Porn Movie In History
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 7:08 am
People hear the term blackhat all the time but many (myself included) never really know what it means. Thanks for the example, it kind of gives me a better understanding of the term. Not too sure that you want to make too many of these types of posts though, could get you an unwanted reputation as a blackhat marketing blogger (despite the repeated disclaimer!)…
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 7:18 am
I’ve never tried this, but if I’m correct you will also be overwriting other marketers cookies that may have referred the buyer in the proper way, so you will actually be stealing commissions if you do this.
Alex Terris’s last blog post..Welcome to AlexTerris.com
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 7:30 am
@ Jay, they don’t need to click, just view.
@ Elroy, I never said that you can’t use it, just that I advise against it
@ EGK, this’ll be the last one for this month unless I see serious interest in a few more
@ Alex, that is why it could be considered blackhat. However, if you do it on your own websites…
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Wait, wait, they ONLY need to view and whenever they sign up for some other affiliate link, I get credited for it?
Jay
Jay’s last blog post..Be Your Own Competition, Literally, to Make More Money Online
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
hmmmmmmmm, very very sneaky….I bet there are a whole host of folks out there doing this….not something I would engage in personally, but good to know how some things work.
It helps explain some issues people may have with getting proper credit for promotions and such.
JK Swopes’s last blog post..Free Money From Pepperjam. Get $10 just for joining!
[Reply]
July 4th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Definitely. I’d like to see more posts about Black Hat techniques. Not that I use them, but I’d like to understand it from a different perspective.
Thanks for this post about cookie stuffing.
Hendry Lee’s last blog post..6 Free Advertising Server Plugins for WordPress — Setup, Manage and Track Banner Ads
[Reply]
July 5th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Don’t use cookie stuffing with Hostgator.. Lost $800+ of earnings because of cookie stuffing.
[Reply]
July 6th, 2008 at 5:31 am
I don’t think even starting a post about blackhat is good. Its only worth to use blackhat if of your desperate.
Gerard’s last blog post..Make money online by telling people how
[Reply]
July 7th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Interesting post just to know about. I think I would never do this.
Aleks’s last blog post..Joke of the day – Confession
[Reply]
July 24th, 2008 at 10:40 am
quite interesting stuff on cookie stuffing.but i think there is always risk involved whenever blackhat techniques are used.so for those of you who want to try cookie stuffing do it with a affiliate account which you dont care about.
[Reply]
July 26th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
[...] What Is Blackhat And Should I Use It To Make Money? | The University Kid [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 1:43 am
Interesting stuff, I don’t think I could ever do something like that though. But hey keep posting these so that we know what to look out for.
Driveway Sealing’s last blog post..The Best Time To Seal Your Driveway
[Reply]