Internet Newbies Beware

Internet Newbies Beware

Less than a year ago I joined the Internet community. I set up an e-mail account and began surfing. Before long my in box was filled with opportunities. Being naïve, I tended to trust everyone and signed up for several online opportunities “guaranteed" to result in easy income streams in no time at all. I soon found out that these “simple to implement" systems for making money invariably were missing some critical aspect necessary to develop an income. Usually it was a customer list. Some opportunities required bookkeeping skills I had yet to develop, and I became overwhelmed in the minutiae of details necessary to succeed at them. (I should mention, at this point, that back then I had no typing skills.) Others offered easy money by pasting names, addresses, etc. in forms like product rebates or unclaimed tax refunds. It may have been my fault, but after purchasing these “how to" manuals, I was never able to figure out how to begin, let alone how to get to the pay window.

So, after wasting a few thousands of dollars populating my hard drive with useless programs, I succumbed to my frustration and fell victim to the big one. These people had their rap down. They appealed to both my common sense and experience. They pointed out how ridiculous I was being expecting to make a decent living by spending a few tens or twenties. In order to make real money, they said, I should be prepared to spend some real money. Having been in brick and mortar businesses for myself for 30 some years, and knowing what was required to succeed in those types of businesses in terms of money, I was prepared to agree.

So along came an opportunity to partner up with the big boys. I was told EBay, Amazon, Target and others were offering affiliate memberships. All I had to do was to pay $125 per store to affiliate with them and then purchase as large an advertising package as I could afford. This, I was told, was to keep the cost per click down. Then my company would deliver a stream of buyers through my link. All that would be required of me would be to sit back and count my money. At my age I should have known better, but the lure of easy money was too compelling. I purchased a package of two affiliations and 5000 clicks at ten cents per click. (A click is someone looking for a product, say a bicycle, and who uses a search engine like Google to find a seller. The company I was scammed by supposedly purchases millions of these “leads" and then redirects the customer to a store, say, Amazon, through my link. If they purchase a product through my link I receive a percentage of the sale. Simple enough.

I put up my $750 and sat back, certain a flood of cash was coming my way. I religiously checked my back room waiting see my sales and commissions stack up. After a month or so I began to get a little concerned since, thus far, I had not been credited with a single sale. I called the company, Ultimate Business Solutions of Phoenix, Arizona, to see why I was failing to generate any sales. I was told not to worry. I had barely begun my program and, while they didn't guarantee me any sales, the law of averages was on my side. Eventually and inevitably things would improve. They suggested that to really improve my prospects I should increase my clicks per day and also buy more clicks. I adopted a wait-and-see approach.

The long story short, 5000 clicks later I had managed to chalk up only one sale, which "theoretically" netted me about two dollars. I say theoretically because I later found out the threshold for receiving payment was a minimum of $10 earned. I never made another commission through them. Therefore I never received any money. After investigating, I realized I had fallen victim to the click scam. These crooks hire people to click through the links of people like me to simulate traffic. No real buyers here. I also found out that the stores I affiliated with offer marketers the opportunity to affiliate with them for free. No $125 charge to get hooked up. Sign up for free and away you go.

I consider myself lucky in some respects. The more aggressive of these swindlers try to convince you to put thousands of dollars on a credit card so you can avoid any out-of-pocket spending. The idea is to pay the cost of your new business (supporting these crooks) out of your future earnings, which of course never materialize. So the morals of the story are old and obvious. 1) If it sounds too good to be true, it is. 2) If it were that easy to make money these people would be doing it instead of conning someone. 3) Never buy anything the day it is presented to you. If it is a legitimate idea today, it will be there tomorrow. 4) Google it. Type into a search bar the name of any potential online opportunity. Find out what others have to say about the opportunity before you put up any money. What you are thinking of doing others probably have done before you, and they often post their experience. 5) Lastly, be prepared to work both hard and smart if you plan to succeed. Don’t expect success overnight. Unless you already have a huge customer list forget any offers which promise you a giant income in 30 days. While you can reach millions of people, it takes money to do that. Most successful net entrepreneurs take several years to replace their brick and mortar incomes.

Making money by working online can be extremely rewarding. However, those gurus showing us their PayPal accounts have probably been around since the net began. It is like a career in acting. Most actors spend years before realizing success, but to the rest of us it looks like they succeeded overnight. Most people spend several years learning the internet ropes, developing the skills and tools needed, and finally generating a list of potential customers. Without all of the above in place, success on the net is somewhere on the other side of a wing and a prayer.

About the Author

After a year of losses and struggle it looks like a corner has been turned in my attempt to conquer the net. I value my setbacks. No lesson is ever as valuable as the one that costs you both money and face.(Face is an Asian concept which refers to pride or self respect) If you are ever in doubt and could use some advice, don't hesitate to contact me. I may not be able to help, but I guarantee I won't hurt!