Piles of cash, beautiful people, homes, cars, and places. These are the images used to convince people that their “method” of making money will lead to them becoming rich quickly and easily. Ignore the pictures and read the entire offer of the program. Then think about it before you buy it.

The biggest concern to most people trying to start an Internet business, or any business for that matter, is making the right choice that will lead to success. It’s difficult avoiding the “work at home” scams that make it sound as if clicking a mouse once will bring you piles of cash. For the uneducated beginner to Affiliate Marketing, it’s easy for them to be swindled by unscrupulous people.

With a standard brick and mortar business most people realize that they must pick a business that is in demand, choose the best location for that business, and have sufficient capital to cover costs such as insurance, licensing, advertising, and inventory. Few people will risk $50,000 or more without doing research and making a serious calculation of the odds for being successful.

They will risk a couple of hundred dollars without any research, though. People see a beautiful woman helping with a sales pitch, filmed at a rented location, with pictures of money and cars flashing on the screen, and they’ll throw away money before the infomercial ends. Add a few comments about how [previous customer] made $40,000 in one night and they’ll buy the “Upgrade” offer for another $29.

It’s human nature to have greed. Everyone has it – and sexy ads sell products. We have all hoped for the most money with the least amount of work and there are people who are more than willing to take money from people with uncontrollable greed. The desire to make money isn’t a bad thing. What’s bad is when we don’t reason out what we are being offered and we believe everything that’s told us. Skepticism has to be part of our reasoning. As the saying goes, “If it sounds too good to be true…”

Does this mean that an Internet business can’t make money? No.

There are thousands of people making substantial second incomes with websites that are monetized to earn money through commissions from Amazon, eBay, Adsense, and a thousand other companies that pay commissions for online sales. Companies such as Wal-mart, Sears, and Sony, to name only a few.

Others people are making money through different venues, like cell phones, social networks, videos, and other means that involve the use of a computer at home.

The problem is that the developers of legitimate Internet programs, designed to pass along information on how to get started, found themselves competing against the con artists who promised people they would be millionaires. Suddenly, the honest program developers found that human nature being what it is, they were losing sales to those who gave exaggerated claims of wealth earning results. The honest developers who were selling legitimate information were being outsold by those selling false promises.

To compete, the honest developers had to keep pace by exaggerating their claims. Now, it seems every program promises to make you rich in a matter of days. The truth is none of them make money that quickly, but nobody wants to say that like any business, making a success of an Internet business and seeing a good income from it will take time and work. That doesn’t sell.

How do you recognize scams?

First, if you see anyone selling website fortune on television infomercials, often using large breasted women with pictures flashing of homes, cars, and boats in the background – avoid it. Every one we’ve seen, from Foxy Websites (“Crazy Like A Fox”) to Shortcuts To Internet Millions is nothing but a smoke and mirrors show. The Department of Justice or State District Attorneys are actively pursuing many of these businesses for false advertising, or simply continuing to bill people every month for subscriptions to their programs, that were asked to be cancelled.

Any program you buy should have contact information available, as well as support for answering questions, or solving problems.

Every program should have a money back guarantee. We only list programs that offer an unconditional, no questions asked guarantee of a full refund. Use the time allotted during the guarantee to see if what you bought meets your expectations. Not so much the promised wealth part, but has it delivered what it promised in the form of functionality, support, ease of use, and other factors.

If you have a guarantee of an unconditional refund, then the risk is non-existent. Keep that in mind when ordering any program.

What are the definite, no-possible-way-to-succeed scams?

Stuffing envelopes, filling out surveys, sending emails for pay. You’ll pay for a list of “clients” and will never earn any money. That’s Guaranteed.

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