Points to be kept in mind...

To make money online can be an arduous task since there is little guidance and an overload of fake and legitimate opportunities, with websites screaming money making techniques. Most are aimed at hoodwinking innocent people and gleaning a few quick bucks. At the end of the day you might end up empty handed and disillusioned if you don’t go about earning money online with a definitive plan. Having said that, there are genuine and legitimate ways through which you can earn extra money working from home. I have already discussed in earlier posts under the Label ‘Basics’ about the most common online money making ideas and concepts.


Here I write about some broad tips to help you in your quest of making money online from your home!

- Look for free opportunities – Always be wary when you are required to pay up to join some money making program. Serious companies that offer online jobs shouldn't be asking for money before they recruit you. Neither should you be spending your hard-earned money to buy e-books with titles like "get rich quick", "becoming rich online", "make money", "free money" or any other similar topics. You can get all the information you need for free on sites like this and thousands of others. Also, forget pyramid schemes and programs which claim that you can invest a dollar and get five thousand back; they are scams and they just don't work. Finally remember that there is no such thing as free money. Be realistic, nobody is going to give away money but you can still earn some decent amounts online!- Use Electronic Payment Systems – Keep your personal money separate from the money you make on the internet. There are many safe online payment systems like Pay-pal, Alert-pay and E-Gold. Open an account with one. I have already posted about Pay-pal earlier.

- Launch Google - Before joining any program that is offering you an income, research the program well. Check with our good friend Mr. Google. Type the program name and scam and see what results you get. Check whois details of the owner, put in the domain name (eg yahoo.com, amazon.com, etc, without 'www.') in the text box on SpamHelp and choose Whois (Domain).

- Gone in 60 seconds - Many sites make a quick buck and disappear. Don't be surprised if you invest or join something and the owners vanish off the face of Earth. Always be cautious. Always weigh the pros and cons wisely before investing. Decide whether it will be okay if you lose the amount you are putting. Don’t bite more than you can chew. See whether you can afford it. Don’t gamble. I don’t recommend paying money upfront to join some program or for some benefit. And don’t be taken in by promises of big money. As a rule, “the bigger the promise, the bigger the scam”.

- Spread the word about scams - If unfortunately you do get duped, don't be afraid to report it. Remember that reporting a scam site will help a lot of innocent people from getting ‘scammed’. And your action might just help shut it down. Don't let scammers get a single red penny of your hard earned money. I will put up a post later on this topic. Get back to me if you need more information on scams.

- Keep away from adult websites - Adult and pornographic sites are hotbeds of spyware, advertisments and popups. Stay away from them.

- Safeguard your Identity – Be very careful while transacting money online, or providing passwords, card details etc for ID verifications. Think before you do. There are many sharks out there to get a bite of your hard earned money. If you do have to make a transaction, look for SSL certificate of the site.

- Safeguard your computer – There are truckloads of malwares out there on the internet...viruses, botnets, worms, keyloggers, rootkits, trojans and what not. A lot of them might creep in to your computer without your knowledge. Install a firewall, antivirus and popup blocker and keep them updated with the latest patches. Use your browser’s pop-up blocker or that of the Google toolbar.

- Safeguard your email - Never post your email address in public forums or websites. There are softwares which are sent to crawl websites and register anything that includes @. The addresses found then become prime spam targets. Also there are some who make a living out of selling these email addresses as lists.

- Get separate email addresses – I had mentioned this earlier in one of my posts. For your money making endeavours get separate email id’s. It will not only help you get organized, but will also protect your privacy. Never use your personal email address. It is very likely that you might give away your email address somewhere and you start getting spam mails. Best to keep them getting mixed with your personal mails. Never respond to spam or better still, don’t even open a mail if you think it is spam. Use the unsubscribe option that comes with many unwanted or unnecessary mails. These links are placed in small font at the bottom of the mail. It might just help you get a few mails less.

- Don’t hurry with subscriptions - Whenever you opt to use an online service, you are asked for your email address. And just before the submit button there will be a set of checkboxes regarding subscriptions to newsletters and the like. Most of the times by default these boxes are already checked, and many people fail to read and unselect these options. I expect you to be more careful unless you have the patience of cleaning out your mailbox every few hours!