There are numerous types of jobs available that can easily be done to earn money by working at home. Many people work in a virtual call center atmosphere. They field phone calls to service their employer's customers, answer questions or concerns customers may have, and even take orders for products. Other people work from home as a virtual assistant, completing many of the tasks an administrative assistant would do in an office. There are also data entry jobs, telemarketing jobs, and appointment setting jobs. All while working at home.

I am writing this paper for folk who want to work at home and for potential Internet Marketers. These can definitely be well paid jobs and are ideal as a home based business. The best part that there is work which anyone can do if they are computer literate and have an Internet connection.

But please be warned. Caveat emptor! Buyers beware! It has its pitfalls.

I am astounded at the number of Web experts who are lying in wait out there ready to take advantage of Beginner Internet Marketers. Having recently traveled this perilous road myself I know some of the dangers and scams which await beginners and students before we have even got our feet off the ground in our work at home jobs.

I have experienced, also, the difficulties, confusion and ignorance about this vast industry and the challenge it offers and feel compelled to provide essential information which every Work-at-Home Newbie requires.

I write to you as a fellow Pupil of the Web, maybe a few paces ahead, but still a pupil.

Above all I do not want to ever mention the word SECRET! It seems to be an overworked, murky expression and is always associated with $$$$. There is little doubt that we will all encounter this as a sales ploy and it will appear on various Websites we will visit, but this is outside my control and there is no point of us being naïve!

There is an incredible amount to learn about working at home, Marketing and the Internet in general, but PLEASE UNDERSTAND AT THE OUTSET that this is not a get-rich-quick joyride whereby you are going to achieve your new beach house by the sea within a couple of months.

This perception is highly publicized only by schemers who want to rope you into what they present as mechanisms which generate instant wealth.

We often read of programs which offer you attractive profits within weeks. Sounds good, but is it for real? I don't think there is too much logic in believing that it is even possible. There is no doubt that exceptions occur! But in the real world we have just got to do the graft. An extremely successful alternative is to buy into an organization which provides a complete business with multiple streams of income already set up. In this way you will not have to do all the groundwork nor go to the expense of arranging your affiliations and website. There is no question about the effort you will have to put into any business, but cutting the corners is not always such a bad thing. After all, we have Excel and MS Word to assist us! Is that cutting corners?

The Web is immense and our competition is huge, it's experienced, it has learnt all the tricks of the trade - and only 20% succeed. That is 20% of all the few million guys who have dreamt of success on the Internet. Be prepared to work at it or fail. Learn the basics, for without them you will rank among the 80%. Work hard and master the groundwork. Then, possibly, the world will be at your feet!

Believe me that nothing is free - you will soon discover that there is something to pay somewhere down the line or that you have been working your butt off for someone else's profit.

Another alternative is to study under a Tutor who knows the difficulties. Someone you can actually talk to as a fellow Human and not an auto-responder.

When the basic studies have been done, the many concepts fully grasped, the scams recognized and you are ready to go to work for yourself only then should you consider buying into a program.

I regard myself as being extremely fortunate in that I went through the study, investigated programs, learnt the groundwork and became familiar with the Internet culture before I found the business in which I am now immersed.

Previously I tried the fast track to riches too! I seriously searched through the glitzy Websites offering immediate money. On one occasion I clicked onto someone's beautiful presentation offering guaranteed wealth within weeks.

They promised that I would get customers by the thousand. The sales commission was to be 75%. The income advertised was to be about $50 for every customer who was signed up and there was great potential for massive profits.

Details were provided about how to sign up in the Vendor's Marketplace with ClickBank, how to develop a domain with GoDaddy, how to obtain Web hosting and how to link up with PayPal, an Internet Bank which attended to all the administration and banking!

I had my cursor hovering over the buy-button when my cautious (scared!) nature kicked in and I decided to check further before clicking.

These further checks revealed some rather startling facts. Everything which was offered on that Webpage was spot on, but it omitted to advise that the Affiliate Culture required a whole lot more than joining a few ready-made facilities. It required, at least, a good understanding about website design, keywords, niche marketing and search engine optimization!

It required an ability to present a website which would at least get recognized by the search engines and start the long march to success.

These few items alone are paramount. Fail any one of them and your beautiful, well scripted website will never make it to the buying public. All your efforts and dreams will forever reside in the back pages of Google.

Customers seldom go beyond the first page in their search for anything and on average your sales page has only three seconds to catch their attention and keep them reading. If your site doesn't get found it doesn't get read. If your website is not read by the buying public you can't expect to ever be paid!

You will find this repeated over and over. The Internet is not a cornucopia of instant wealth. There are millions of competitors all after the some Dollar you are chasing and it does require knowledge and persistence. There is immense amount of income available, but each of us has to really work for it.

To quote my Guru "Your success depends on how well you maintain Relentless Focused Action".

Copyright (c) 2009 Garth Evans