Things to remember...

Hello!
Today, I think, would be a great time to discuss some of the basic rules when searching for ways to generate revenue online. Alas, a post such as this is needed for myself since i find myself breaking my own rules too many times. This may be a moderately long post since there is much to discuss. I probably won't get to cover all the important stuff in one post. No harm in trying.

These are very basic rules that everyone should know and follow in order to keep their internet experience a happy one. It's one thing to lose money over a stupid purchase (like what happened in my last post and has happened to me before). It's a whole another thing to get yourself involved in some really dangerous stuff such as getting your identity stolen and having your bank account hacked. I've compiled this list of rules mainly for myself to keep out of deep kim-chee. So far it has helped and I have yet to be the victim of identity theft... yet O_O.

To be honest, I am paranoid about these things. Everyone should be. As I said before, there are a lot of scams out there! Unlike people like you and me, there are people out there who have no problem with scamming money out of your pockets! There are some who have no problem with ruining your entire life just for the fun of it! I have a story or two i'd like to share here later when i get the chance. For now, back to topic!

My first rule: Always be cautious
Simple really. Never trust any of the sites out there, especially the paid survey (PS) and data entry (DE) sites. As far as i can tell, there are NO legitimate DE sites out there.There are many many legitimate ps sites-- but five times as many illegitimate scam sites. Even if a site seems safe doesn't make it so. Take the time and do the research on the company you plan on signing up for. A very useful tool on finding out whether the companies you sign up for are ethically sound is the Better Business Bureau website. You can find the company by searching for them on their site here. If BBB is not satisfied with them, they are most likely scams. This should be your first tool and resource in evaluating a company you sign up for.

My second rule: Always be skeptical
Never trust anyone on the web! Did i say that enough?
Trust is good. I understand that it is impossible to go through life without trusting people. There is, however, a problem once you put the net into the picture. There is no person-to-person communication. The reason scammers can sleep at night is because they never see you. They don't know who you are. They don't even care since, to them, all you are is a screen-name and a blip on their computer screens.
Besides the BBB site, two VERY useful sources on evaluating money generating sites are blogs and forums. Still, be cautious, as many of the survey companies pay people to post good things about them. Most of the blogs and forums, however, are made up of real people who have already experienced the system you want to get into. I, personally, like to use blogsearch.com and technorati.com. Many online article sites such as Helium also provide useful information if you want real reviews by real people.

My third rule: NEVER ever ever ever give away personal information.
Social Security, Drivers license numbers, bank account numbers, passwords, etc. should never be shared! If part of the sign up process requires you to input your tax payer id (SSN), make sure that with an absolute certainty... without a DOUBT... that the company you're giving that information to is legitimate and has satisfactory privacy and payment policies.

Also, it's just not smart to use a primary email address for surveys. I get 300+ emails a day for my PS email account alone, 280 of which are purely spam from these sites. It's best to just set up a proxy account on hotmail or gmail, which ever you prefer. In fact... it's necessary! ESPECIALLY if you host your own email server ;).

My fourth rule: Pay attention to policies!
Paying attention to the privacy and payment policies could be the difference between signing up for a scam site and signing up for a legitimate one. Legitimate sites will always have the following stated in one form or another. I like to call these rules the golden three:
1. They will promise not to sell or give your information to anyone or coorperation. Except paid survey sites. They will give your basic DEMOGRAPHIC information to research sites in order to get you some more paid surveys. They will state that they do so, if they don't, run away.
2. They will never give ANY personal information (SSN, bank accounts, etc)... period.
3. They will promise to pay you at the correct times or as you request
4. They promise not to use your email address for anything other than for the necessary communication

This post is getting a bit long so i will probably check back later to add another post to this. I'd like to end on a note about Paid Survey sites

PS sites will NEVER require you to pay anything in order to sign up. They are ALWAYS free. Period. If they charge money to join them, they are scams!