Welcome to Online Business Income!
Welcome to Online Business Income, the ultimate resource hub designed to turn your passion into a profitable online enterprise.
. The Internet has brought numerous opportunities for businesses and people to generate more income. However, it can be difficult to spot viable business opportunities. We believe in democratising entrepreneurship. We are here to remove the guesswork from starting an online business by providing clear, trustworthy, and expert-led information. Whether you are aiming to launch an e-commerce store, a service-based business, or a digital platform, we provide the tools to make it happen
Doing research using search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.
With the widespread use of the Internet, It has become helpful to check the legitimacy of any business online before doing anything with them. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) suggests checking for the following:
- The links of the business – This can be the starting point by using their social media icons to check their links and pages. An example is a Facebook page that is www.facebook.com instead of facebook.com/business name. Also, the social media page will show whether they are active or not and whether there are negative comments by others. These are signs that there might be something wrong.
- Privacy policy – By law, Internet businesses in some countries are required to have privacy policy. This policy should state what personal information is collected, what they intend to do with the information and how such information will be protected. I think if a business fails to comply with the law, it is an indication that there is something wrong.
- Checking the business address – With Google and Apple maps, a business address can easily be verified. If a business does not have a business address, this is an early warning that there is something wrong.
- Bizarre claims – What is very common these days is what is called influence marketing where a person of influence in that segment of the market is used. Also it is important to check endorsements by well known companies and business people to ensure that they are real or whether the business is using them as a cover up.
- Images and grammatical errors – If there are improperly sized images on the site or a lot of misspellings and incorrect sentences, this may be a sign that the site is a scam. Spelling mistakes and wrong sentences are inevitable but where these are too many, care should be taken to find out more before committing yourself.
Reviews, testimonials and complaints
The emergence of reviews have made doing business online easier than it would have been. There are many sites devoted to reviews, like this one and also individual reviews. This is one of the first places to go before deciding to join any online venture.
Online business opportunity too good to be true?
One of the main reasons, if not the main reason, that people do not take time to evaluate an online business opportunity is the lure of quick easy money. This is a very powerful technique that many scammers employ because they know that people are vulnerable to the promise of making a lot of money with little or no effort. After all who does not want to be a millionaire cruising around the world while the money keeps falling like the Biblical manner from Heaven!
In reality, that is not how things work. The idea of seed and harvest is a natural law. You have to sow before you reap! People may win the lottery or luckily and miraculous make money from one deal, but these do not happen all the time.
References
Better Business Bureau, (2015). How to Spot a Fake Online Business.[online] Available at: https://www.bbb.org/sacramento/news-events/consumer-tips/2015/07/how-to-spot-a-fake-online-business/ [Accessed 11 Nov. 2017].
Missouri Business Development Program, (2014). Business scams. [online] Available at:https://missouribusiness.net/article/business-scams/[Accessed 11 Nov. 2017].