If you are looking for a proven legitimate online business there are a number of things you can do to try and establish whether the opportunity is legitimate or a scam. This is not always easy but it is to your advantage to invest some time in researching the opportunity before parting with any money.

There are thousands of scams on the internet as well as proven legitimate online businesses and for new visitors to the internet the task of trying to distinguish between the two can be very overwhelming.

Often the scam sites look so attractive and offer such great incomes or rewards that it is hard to believe that it is not legitimate, hence the reason so many people fall prey to the scammers. So one thing to be wary of is those sites that make huge income claims, like earn $10 000 in your first week or month. This really is totally unrealistic and if that amount is perhaps fives times your current salary, do you really think it is possible to earn such a huge income in such a short period of time with no prior experience of the business?

If the opportunity is legitimate then it would not be unreasonable for somebody who has been in the business for a couple of years to be earning a huge income. But be warned that nearly all the business opportunities on the internet advertise the income of their top earners who have been working hard for a couple of years. They rarely advertise the income of those just starting out in the business. An online business is like any normal business, you will need to work hard at building it up over a period of time to produce a good income.

So then do not get carried away with excitement when you find a website making such unrealistic income claims. The internet does not have magical powers to enable us to earn magnificent incomes overnight.

One can get so caught up in all the hype that it is easy to sign up for an opportunity that does not live up to its promises and this can result in huge disappointment, so a website that is not promising the earth is probably a safer route to take.

When you find a website offering an online business opportunity that appeals to you, spend some time going through it and do not jump in immediately and part with your money.

Have a look on the website to see if there is any contact information, either an email address or a Contact icon like an envelope, and send a short message expressing your interest in the opportunity and see if you receive a response. Check also to see if there is a physical address on the website as this adds credibility.

Look for logos on the website of the respectable bodies on the internet like the Better Business Bureau (BBB), Truste.org, Alexa Ranking, i-Cop.org click on these logos and you should see information about the site. You could also look up the domain on the DomainTools.com (previously called Who is) website and you will see the registration details, spend time to see if they look legitimate, for example you do not want to see a phone number listed as 1234567890. You will find a lot of information from this websites, so it is advisable to spend time doing some research.

Check on the website if there are any guarantees offered, such as a 30 day 100% money-back guarantee or perhaps a 14 or 30 day free trial offer. It is also a good idea to see if any training is offered, this is really important if you are new to internet marketing.

There may also be the opportunity to sign up for a free Newsletter, which will give you the opportunity to not only learn from what the newsletter offers but also enable you to get a general feel for the opportunity and put you in touch with your referrer.