2. Understand and Conform to Long-term Trends
You need to pay close attention to the trends affecting your industry, as failure to conform to them can have serious consequences. In the SEO profession, Dean had to come to terms with the fact that black hat SEO was a dying art and adapt to the new white hat model that was emerging.
In his interview with me, Dean said that there used to be a point when SEO agencies could purchase 50 backlinks from a member of the Warrior Forum and create tremendous results for their clients. These agencies could then charge $2,000 for their services. However, Google eventually became annoyed with these black hat techniques, which forced a lot of agencies to change their practices. Dean was doing a little black hat SEO, but found that he had to embrace white hat strategies to create a sustainable business model.
Key Takeaway: It may be tempting to try to make a quick buck capitalizing on short-term trends, but you need to make sure that your business practices work in the long-term if you want to maintain growth and earn a solid reputation.