That means; do not buy anything without having done research and don't jump on the first offer that comes your way. You probably have some
experiences with this yourself, and understand the importance of this.
If you consider starting your own business you have to invest money to get it off the ground. But the internet offers the possibility to start a
business with very little investment. If you have little money to invest, then spending the money wisely becomes all the more important.
If you make a wise choice your initial investment will soon help you move in the right direction. Recommended programs are mentioned in the resources
section.
SIDE NOTE:
It is not recommended to use free hosting and sub domains to start your own business.
If you base your internet marketing business on free services likes web hosting and sub
domains, you will soon regret. You are then fully at the mercy of the one who provides the
service, and usually all these free products has a lot of advertising in them.
Personally I have lost quite a few thousand dollars on different investment and pyramid scams that has been offering quick riches via the internet.
The lesson has been expensive but it sticks; no matter how fantastic a new product or service sounds, I always think twice or more before I sign up
for anything.
The questions you should ask:
.Do I really need this?.
.Is this going to help my business?.
.Can I find this for free somewhere else?.
.Can I get a better price somewhere else?.
.Can I do it myself?.
There are a lot of hype and great sales letters around about .must have. products that will catch your attention and bring you into dreamland where
you fantasize about making mountains of money without getting anything else done then emptying your credit card.
Watch out for them, they mostly promise you instant solution to all your problems, and that is of course what you are looking for. Not all of them
will keep their promises and sometimes you will end up disappointed. When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. There are varying
degrees of this, and it does not relate to all products. Many products also deliver what they promise. Make sure you check out what others think of
the product you are about to buy. Have a look around on different forums to see if you find any information about the product. A list of forums is
presented in the resource s section of this paper.
Do a search on the forum on the product name, and see what comes up. Also do searches on Google like this: productname+review or the other way
around: review+productname. Then you can see if there is anyone who has made a review of the p roduct. Another way to check out the reliability of
the person or company that you are about to buy from is to do a search on their name and see what information comes up.
You can also take the domain name of a site, and do a Whois and a Alexa search. These two searches will usually give you some details about the
person or company that has registered the domain. http://www.betterwhois.com/ and http://www.alexa.com/
SIDE NOTE:
If you think the product or service is a scam or fraud, just exchange the search term .review.
with .scam., and do the same search. http://www.scambusters.org/ http://scam.com/
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2000/03/rich.htm
Work at home scams
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/invest/homewrk.htm
There are all kinds of scams on the net, please come back to www.internet-marketingstartup.com for more detailed information.
Here is a list of scams:
http://www.internetbasedmoms.com/get-rich-quick-schemes/
Here is a nice joke about scams:
SALESMAN: Step right up, folks, buy some Instant Smart Pills. Take these and you'll be smarter than you've ever been before. Only $99.99 for a 30-day
supply of Instant Smart Pills!
CUSTOMER: Hey, I bought a bottle of those last week. Those aren't Smart Pills. They're just bits of rabbit dung.
SALESMAN: See, you're smarter already! Most reviews you will find are made by affiliates of the product, but that does not mean that the review is
not valid. You need to learn how to detect if a review is just cheering and touting of a product or if it gives you solid information.
If the review sounds and says the same as the sales page of the product itself, look somewhere else. The sales pages of products usually looks the
same way with one long page to scroll down, and highlighted text in bold. The sales letters are very persuasive and convincing. Just know that this
is a part of the psychology, and you will be fine.
The sales letters are made this way because they work. That is why you will find the same sales letters on products that are making fully legitimate
claims and delivers everything they promise and on products that are hastily thrown together to make quick profit and does not deliver what they
promise.
This relates both to software and information products which is the products you usually see the same style sales letters from. Make sure the product
you are buying has a money back guarantee. Also check out if you they offer support and are willing to answer questions about the product. In the end
there is no one else responsible for your credit card then yourself.
In short:
1 Do not jump on the first offer
2 Ask yourself if you really need the product
3 Learn to look through the hype
4 Check out what others have said about the product
5 Confirm that the product has a money back guarantee
PS: Rule of thumb for recognizing a scam:
When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
