The first comment everybody makes when you mention online business opportunities is SCAM…..very loud and very clear. There have been so many internet scams over the years that simply take people’s money, provide nothing in return and time and time again set up new businesses to take more money from those people least able to afford to lose it.

Question…..why do people look to the internet to earn some extra money???

Answer……because they need the extra income to pay their bills, save for a holiday, or just to make life a bit more enjoyable.

One thing they do not need is someone mistaking their trust for an open cheque book to pay out more and more of their hard earned cash over to this unscrupulous person only to never see any benefit in the long term.

So how do you know which ones to trust and which ones to steer clear of?

Initially, you need to be very clear about what you actually want to do. On the internet there are a number of options out there:

1. Turnkey websites – ready built websites requiring advertising and product selection. You need to generate interest in your website to get strangers to purchase a particular product from you.

2. Build you own website from scratch – decide what subject you want to have your website based on, and find ways to generate income from your website – again advertising the site is vital and getting visitors to “click" on your products / links to affiliate websites is required.

3. Paid Surveys – there are 1,000’s of companies worldwide that require your input into their product to determine it’s place in the market. They pay depending on time taken in either cash or points. Surveys can be either online, via the phone or in focus groups, which pay the best, but require the most effort.

4. Paid to read e-mails / visit websites. The least chance of making good money is this option. You are paid up to 2c to read e-mails from advertisers or visit their websites. They are hoping you stay and purchase from them, the opposite end of the spectrum to the Turnkey website above. Here you are the person doing the visiting, and they are the person hoping for that “click" that leads to a sale.

This list is not exhaustive – there are many other types of income out there, including share trading & currency trading, but these require a certain degree of knowledge and are less likely to be for all people looking to generate income from home.

Secondly, realistically how much time do you have each day learning how to make this work for you and building your income streams? Initially many people say they have at least 4 hours each evening to spend on the project, but after a few weeks, something else comes up or they start only focusing on it for a couple of hours a week. Those “get rich schemes" are the ones that still attract many people hoping for a quick win…..of course the majority of these will be the ones to fail, after all, if it really was that simple the whole world would be signed up to it, right?

You need to find out how much time you need to invest before you are likely to see any return. Does where you live have any impact of the opportunities you will receive. Predominately the US have the most adverts for viewing when looking at the paid e-mails option etc.

Lastly, and probably the most important question you need to ask yourself is…….

How much can you afford to LOSE if this scheme does not work out for you? It is vital you know when to stop. More importantly, it is vital you recognise which schemes not to touch. DO NOT BORROW simply to try an internet scheme. I know it’s very tempting with all the screen shots of the Paypal accounts with $1,000’s each day being deposited. But never ever forget the small print right at the bottom which will usually say something along the lines of “Examples of earnings are not to be interpreted as a promise or guarantee of earnings. Earning potential is entirely dependent on the person using our product, ideas, techniques and the effort put forth."

At the end of the day you are searching the internet for ways to make some additional cash because you need it for a reason. This reason is good enough that you are willing to give up your spare time to try to generate this income. So spend that extra amount of time to research it as much as you can, before you take the plunge and send off your introduction fee.