How to avoid getting Scammed!

Scams have become part of business risks we encounter or are likely to come across, one way or another. Majority of online business need to watchout and be able to make sound judgement about who they transact or want to transact business with. In order to guard against scams, an individual or company needs to be educated or enlightened about how scammers work and some of the things to look out for, when going into any business deal. Scams come in various forms and the scamming tactics could vary from scammer to scammer, depending on location, educational background, sophistication in terms of use of hacking and computer expertise and orchestration of the intended scam. And the amount of money involved sometimes determine the tactic used or whether it’s an individual, a group of scammers or even a scamming company. You need to open your eyes wide, and make some findings before jumping at any business opportunity you come across. The prevalence of scams exists more in the online world compared to offline.

Here are some tips on protecting yourself, note that the first rule to avoiding scam is to shun greed, then;

• Check to make sure you have full contact details of the company on their website. They should have a full business name and registration number. You could even check them out at their address, if you can.

• Search the domain name of their website on www.allwhois.com, or www.coolwhois.com, at least a legit company would reserve their domain name for about 3 – 15 years. You will also get to see the registrant of the domain name.

• To know a sure scammer, copy and paste some of the content on their site into Google, and you will be able to know and see if it was stolen from another site.

• When a company doesn’t ask for your tax or business number, especially for substantial sums of cash, suspect scam.

• Scammers like to use unsecure modes of payment like Western Union, Bank transfers (even though some legit China companies do).

• You could start with ordering a few items to check out the company.

• Scammers usually want upfront payment, 100%, even when they claim the product is not in stock or can’t even send you a product sample.

• A company should have a landline number not just a mobile one. Be wary when you call their line and the dude that picks up the phone sounds un-professional, least he should be able to identify himself and or his company name, when speaking with a potential customer. Scammers don’t usually sound business-like.

When dealing with a one-man scammer then you need to be more careful, they are up to no good at all. Their tactics range from contacting you through emails, on phone and through chat rooms. You mustn’t let your guard down when dealing with a total stranger, and like the saying goes, “if it sounds too good to be true, then it is…” don’t get swept off your feet by a sweet-talking scammer.

Some even tell you their father was one rich old dude who kicked the bucket with a whole lot of money stashed in a US bank account, and will reward you handsomely if they could get your help in recovering the cash, if you fall for that, too bad! Then they ask you for your full name, address, phone number, even your bank details so they could transfer the money into your account. Whenever you see such, just know its got ”SCAM” written all over it.

Another scamming game is the one in which you get an announcement in your email that you have won a certain lottery you never even dreamt of participating in, they tell you that you won a large sum of money, usually millions of dollars or pounds…..don’t fall for the scam, the mail is not worth opening in the first place. Remember the first rule…..never be a greedy chap!

What ever you do, think twice before you leap, else you might have no one to blame but your dear self. The online world is full of faceless people and you don’t wanna fall victim of a scam. Have a scam-free internet experience!

freelance your way to some good income.

Freelance opportunities abound online, and for a fact the advent of the internet has made it even more convenient for corporations to outsource some of their jobs in order to keep low over-heads and to cut spending. This, is where we (you and I) come in……. we provide the professional touch required for a certain task, just working part-time, and you get rewarded handsomely, for a job well done!

A lot of freelance job keep coming up everyday, you might just need to stay with the right group to find out about gigs on latest freelance jobs. The kind of jobs you get as a freelancer could vary depending on your area of specialty, it could be; freelance writing, web designing, copywriting, illustration, logo designing, and so on, you might even be hired to write a sales letter for a product. When a project comes up you get to bid on it, if you’re successful, good for you! You can bid as many times as you want. One good site that I also use is GetAfreelancer.

The good thing about freelance jobs is that due to technological advancement and the need for businesses to have an online identity, there is a growing population of websites springing up every single day. Most of these businesses need a professional to design their websites, write content for the sites, design their logos and several other things that don’t require them to recruit an in-house staff that would be redundant most of the time.

Imagine if they have to employ a web designer, graphic designer, copywriter, and they are actually “lying fallow” most of the time, and they get paid by the company for doing nothing. That is why the freelance market is a very vast one, people need to outsource some of their company’s tasks, therefore, freelancers are always in demand!

Here are some of notable websites where you can search for freelance jobs, most of them are free to join; www.elance.com, www.rentacoder.com, www.freelancewriting.com, and a host of others, just Google “freelance jobs”.
Now is time for you to kick start your freelance career and start earning good money!

P.S. If you like this post, don’t forget to send to a friend, also, you could hire me to freelance for you as a writer.

Write your articles and earn good money!

When you have no money to pay for advertisement in order to drive traffic to your site or blog, then you need for find targeted traffic with lots of free traffic generating tactics, one very effective way is article writing.
How would you like to earn some good money, while sending qualified traffic to your site for free? Sounds good doesn’t it?

Well here’s how; There are different websites that collect original, unique content from you and sell to webmasters and anyone who needs your article(s), in return they pay you good money for it, usually from $3 to $20 or so depending on quality and quantity.

Another type pays you royalty for your content if it gets so popular, that is, if you get to create a lot of buzz for your content, you get paid. Whichever one you decide to do is all up to you, even though I’ll advice you do both.
Check out these sites;

• Associated content, AC: also known as “the people’s media company”. It is basically useful for U.S. residents and citizens or if you have a Paypal account. The money is paid directly into your Paypal account within 3 – 6 business days. Once you accept an offer on the site after your content(s) have been approved, for every page view your content(s) gets, you get paid (around $1.50). And the good thing is, your article(s) can be used or could have been used elsewhere.

Check out www.associatedcontent.com to get started.

• Constant content: with a “-“ between is also a good source of extra income for writers and bloggers alike. Unlike AC, they don’t pay you directly as they act as middle men. You only get paid when someone buys your content, and provided you have up to $50 in your account. You can submit articles, product reviews, tutorials and any kind of content. You can use a Paypal or 2checkout account to get paid.

Wanna check out www.constant-content.com so you can get started.

• Shvoong: In this case, you get paid royalty when you get a lot of buzz for your abstract. Usually, the most popular abstracts or articles are featured on the home page.


Go on and check out www.shvoong.comand start posting.

• 43things: Works pretty much the same way, you get to find out what people want to do and you can come up with a write-up on “how to…”. They are a list of words on the home page with varying fonts (just like in Shvoong), the one word or phrase that really sticks out the most, obviously has the most people wanting to know about it or do it.

Visit www.43things.com to sign up now.

• Zoofer: Also works very much like Shvoong. Weekly top bloggers, top commented posts, and top members are featured on the home page.

Roll on to www.zoofer.com to get ‘write’ on.

• Helium: Also works like the first two. With Helium, your article(s) appear instantly, millions get to read it, you get to share the advertising revenue, and you can build your own brand. They also offer writing contests where you can win cash prizes.

Visit www.helium.com to sign up now.

It is expedient for you not to give exclusive right(s) to your articles (if you can help it), as this enables you to re-use them, or to even re-use your already used articles (as in your blog posts). With this sort of online business, you don’t even need a website or a blog. All you need is your computer and internet access. Also, make sure to give good content, free from grammatical errors and bad language. So, what are waiting for? Stick your pens out and start writing!