If you've spent much time on the Internet, you've seen at least one advertisement for websites offering "work at home" business leads. Before the proliferation of the Internet, these same advertisements could be found in less-popular magazines, local publications and cheap signs tacked to telephone poles and community bulletin boards. Although the method of delivery has changed, the message is the same: make easy money by starting a home business.

The ads sound tantalizing and promise hundreds or even thousands of dollars per week for working from home; doing data entry, transcription work, telephone sales and more. These ads for at-home business opportunities make astounding claims of making more money at home while working fewer hours. These Internet ads are professionally designed and written. They are so good that even reasonable people begin to wonder if perhaps they are missing out on something.

If you can't resist the urge to click on the ad, go ahead and satisfy your curiosity. But before you sign on the dotted line, don't let the dazzle of a fancy website and savvy sales ploy cloud your common-sense judgment. 75% of these websites (a conservative estimate), are designed to give you little or no information about exactly what home business opportunities they are actually promoting. Instead, the home page leads you further into the depths of the website, where you'll encounter personal testimonials from people getting rich working from home. When you finally find the link that takes you to "the bottom line," what you'll find is this: a page that asks you for a subscription fee to gain access to a catalogue of companies purportedly offering work-at-home jobs.

Is it a scam? That's a hard question to answer. You really can't tell from surfing one of these sites whether it's legitimate or not. The truth is some of these websites do have legitimate work-at-home offers. You won't know how legitimate it is until you've paid your subscription fee, however. The question to ask is: how much money am I willing to lose before I find my perfect at-home business? The subscription fees these websites charge usually range from $29.95 to $79.95; some more, some less. Once you've paid your subscription fee, you have only purchased information and not an actual home business or work-at-home job.

Let's assume that a particular website is legitimate and your subscription fee nets you bona fide information about a home business. It's still up to you to pursue these leads yourself. This could take anywhere from a couple of hours to several days. In the end, you may or may not end up with a job. Some people do find legitimate jobs, many don't. Of those who find work, some make good money (those are usually the testimonials that you saw on the website), but most make an average or less-than-average wage.

Can you afford to spend $30-$80, several hours pursuing home business leads, and receive little or no return for your efforts? It might be worth the small chance you'll net a good-paying, work-from-home job. The odds are against you, though. It's important to realize that the people making the most money are usually the ones running these websites and collecting subscription fees from people like you. While there are some legitimate, high-paying jobs to be found through these venues, they are typically the exception rather than the rule.

Tom McMullen

http://www.pluginprofitsite.com/main-13714