Watch For Scams: Affiliate Marketing

Are you happy in your job? Are you getting enough money to live on? Ever dream of being in your own business?

These are questions that populate most of our time, almost every day. What is the answer? Being in business for yourself pops into our minds. But how do we get started and where do we get the knowledge? I’m going to talk about On-line marketing and how you can get into it.

The first thing we must be made aware of is to watch out for scams. The internet has millions of scammers. Each one trying to make money off of all of us. Ever hear or read those sites that say “You don’t have to work but 1 hour per day!” and “You’ll make millions of dollars for that 1 hour.” We all have either seen, read, or heard that mantra on the web everyday. It just can’t be done. I’m going to show you some signs to watch out for on-line.

Joining an affiliate maketing project is the first step. You are going to sell a product or service. If it’s a product, you’ll have a range to sell. A lot of affiliates offer a free product to hook you and then you join for $40 to several hundred dollars. You sell this product by e-mail, having a product page on the net, or writing an article (like me). Some affiliate’s even furnish you with a web page for you to use. However you do it, it’s a lot of work. I work an average of an 8-hour day, most everyday. But remember, you can choose to work when you want to. That’s the best item you can have, being in business for yourself.

Okay. Let’s get to the subject of this post. Here’s what to look for and identify scams on the internet:

1. Beware of those companies that sell you the opportunity to become rich. These companies don’t have a product, they just sell you on selling so you can become rich.

2. Beware those companies that sell you membership to a free e-book site. Usually these companies are offering a bunch of well-used e-books, with just a few new products thrown in.

3. Beware of pyramid schemes. These usually take the form of “get rich quick” or “you don’t have to work” programs. These are usually all fake and you won’t make any money or get slammed for using “spam” in your mailings. These programs are illegal and you could get prosecuted.

4. Beware of any program where you have to buy something so you can sell it later on. These programs are commonly referred to as Multi-Level-Marketing (MLM). The bad thing about these programs are that you could end up having a garage full of product that you can’t do anything with. Now don’t get me wrong. Some people can make money off of MLM, but buddy…it’s a lot of hard, hard, work.

Good affiliate programs are either free or almost free. They should be risk-free and not demand hundreds of dollars. A small service fee of less than $10 might be okay. Check to see what product or service the company is selling, before getting into affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing can be a good opportunity, but you need to examine every company before you commit. Expect to work a lot more than you are now in the beginning. But as you become more successful, you can slow down a little.