New Member Learning a LOT !

Hi IU!
I started in a similar boat and wasn't really getting anywhere, so I'm glad you're at least making 'something'. In the light of "You can always do better", learning as you grow is an important part of knowing how to do better online.

On thing I've learned as I transitioned from black-to-grey-to-white is that some of these "greyhat" techniques stem from rapid automation of long-accepted (and mostly encouraged) white-hat techniques; learning the "why" behind these methods can help you understand how to improve basic technique, and 'usually' get better results when you devote more effort to them.

Take, for example, a web-forum.
White-hatters use forums as a way to reach out to niche communities, talk about their services and products (when applicable) and (occasionally) link to them. Very little hard-selling, more interaction with the community, and typically a higher conversion rate.

Grey-hat might visit specific forums solely to create a profile, post "just enough" to get the sig link, and then vanish (or, possibly link more than might be acceptable for the community). The primary difference here is "intent". A white-hatter is typically more interested in the community, while a grey hatter is typically more interested in the link.

and the Sombrero of the darkest shades? They will use tools to rapidly create thousands of (debatable) useless profile links, with no interest in the community (or even knowledge of the niche of the forum), no bother with subject matter, and little regard for the clutter.

Maybe a bit of a simple comparison, and I'm sure others might have examples as well. The same concept applies with many things (auto-commenters, posters, backlink spammers, and the like).

To transition, try to learn the "why" behind what you are doing, and if you think you can make a better investment in a community (and your business) by leaning more towards the lighter shades, then make that investment in the community, and that community might be interested in investing in YOU.

There's some things that 'grey' might be OK for (... perhaps why they call it grey?...) but I've found that individualized, personalized work yields greater results for me personally.

Spend some time learning and reading. Even "black" sombrero forums can be a good source of information. The info is good, even if the method might be questionable