When first starting out, looking for a business that you can set up on the internet and run from home it is very easy to become swamped in all the information, offers and advice that is available. As some one who is very new to the market (a ?Newbie?) how are you supposed to know whom to trust? What is the correct information? Who is giving the best advice? What you are after is a tested & proven home based business idea and opportunity but how can you tell which is which?

There are things that you can do to protect yourself and you need to because, unfortunately, there are still many, many scams out there being run by unscrupulous people who are after your cash. The thing you have to remember is that the good guys are after your cash too. The difference is they will then give you something of value in return and try to help you achieve your aims, that is they will give you a tested and proven home based business idea or opportunity!

So, the first thing you should do to protect yourself is to ensure that your credit cards are locked in a cupboard in another room whilst you first peruse the market. This is because the sales pages, whether genuine or scam, are designed to elicit an emotional response from you that makes you part with your hard earned cash without analysing everything fully. By keeping your cards in a separate room you will find yourself more able to resist the temptation to buy without fully analysing the product. (this is also a good learning experience in marketing by noting which words in the sales pitch have you itching to reach for your plastic!)

The second way you can protect yourself is to only look at products that are supported by an established and respected source, for example commission junction or clickbank. These two sources are well respected and provide you with some protection through money back and returns policies. These are not the only two sources just two of the better-known ones.

The third way of protecting yourself is to research the product thoroughly. You should make a short list of products that you are interested in promoting. Once this list is completed you should carry out searches looking for other peoples comments on the products in forums and articles to see if there are any negative statements or whether previous buyers have been happy with their purchases.

The fourth way you can protect yourself is to research the author of the product. How long have they been around? What other products have they been involved with? Are there any black marks against their names? This is actually fairly easy to do since most product authors have spent time building up a reputation online, a quick ?Google? of their name should produce plenty of feedback, at least enough for you to decide if you wish to be involved with their product or not.

Finally though it comes down to you. After all your research, you have to go with the products and authors that you think are legitimate. By following the steps above, you can greatly reduce the chance of becoming the next victim of a scam. I can not guarantee that you will never get scammed but usually they are easy to spot and by following my steps above you should end up only looking at truly tested and proven home based business ideas and opportunities