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Anyone who’s ever been online should, by now, be aware of the hundreds of “work from home” internet based companies that are consistently advertised in various websites. One of the more popular is “doing surveys for cash.”

There are literally hundreds of online survey companies. Most of them are not legitimate ways to make money, although a few of them can earn you a few bucks. These companies target stay at home moms who want to make a few extra dollars while taking care of the kids, the unemployed who want to make a few extra dollars while watching dozens of daytime court TV programs, the elderly who are not afraid to use the computer and teenagers who think they know everything, but aren’t yet wise to the ways of the world. And let’s not forget the very greedy people of low intelligence who think they can get rich by answering a few simple questions to which a five year old can respond.

These people are prey to unscrupulous methods used by some online survey companies. These scams include the following:

1. The fee for joining. There are some sites out there who charge a “fee” to join. They promise you an opportunity to earn up to $100,000 a year, sitting home at your computer taking surveys. The fee is usually less than $50. These sites are always a scam.
If it was possible to earn $100,000 a year doing surveys online, the roads would be empty because no one would be going to work.
Everyone would be home, in front of their computers, earning easy money.
These sites prey on the greedy and/or lazy people of little intelligence. By the time they figure out that their “get rich quick” scheme isn’t working, they’re out $50.
It’s not a crime to be greedy, lazy or stupid. And, unfortunately, it isn’t a crime to prey upon them in many cases.
These sites are careful to add “disclaimers” stating that not everyone will earn this amount of money. They promise nothing, but include testimonials on their site from people with no last names who claim to be living the high life from the comfort of their homes.
They usually have photos of flashy cars and huge houses on their websites. People need to stay away from these sites like they would avoid the bubonic plague. Unfortunately, PT Barnum was right when he said that there was a sucker born every minute.
Which is why these sites continue to exist.

2. The cell phone scam. In this popular scam, you’ll be asked for your cell phone number to “confirm” your membership. Seconds later, you will receive a call on your cell phone. The call will end up costing you anywhere from $1.95 to $4.95; depending on the company.
These companies don’t usually end up charging you too much because they figure you’ll never miss a couple of bucks. But it adds up for them and that’s how they make their money.
They will then periodically send you text messages telling you you’ve won a prize and to claim it, you simply need to reply to the text. This will end up costing you more money.
Do not give out your cell phone number to any website.

3. The Switcheroo. In this scam, you will be participating in a survey and then be directed to another website. They will ask you to show an “interest” in obtaining more information from one of their marketing partners.
You will continue to answer “no” and keep getting more offers; the survey will never end until you answer “yes.” Now this scam might not cost you any money, but it will cost you time.
Because when you say that you are interested in learning more about health insurance, expect to receive an average of 10 calls a week from telemarketers trying to sell you health insurance. And the insurance they are trying to sell you is a lot more than you can expect to pay than if you contact an insurance agent in your area. I know this for a fact as I’ve actually done price researching.
And the telemarketing company will ask you for both your social security number as well as your bank information (so they can send in a deposit with your application). It’s dangerous to give out such information to anyone over the phone; legitimate companies will send you any information you require by mail.

4. The phone bill scam. You’ll sign up for a survey company and provide your telephone number. Then you’ll proceed in completing a survey and receive an offer for a free issue for a magazine.
You’ll think to yourself - what’s the harm? You’ll give your name and address for the magazine and hardly notice when a fee for a year’s subscription shows up on your telephone bill,. If you read the fine print, however, you will see that when you provided the company with your name and address to receive your “free” magazine, you authorized them to bill you via your telephone bill.
They figure that you won’t even notice the extra $12.95 attached to your phone bill. And many people don’t.

These are just four of the scams that I’ve actually encountered, Online survey taking can be fun, but be careful.

Do not give out your cell phone number under any circumstances. Do not give out your social security number or bank information.
Do not ever express any interest in receiving information from health insurance providers. And avoid the “online education” inquiries as well.

Do some research prior to joining any company, do not pay a fee, and beware of anyone or any website that promises to make you rich overnight.

Many people get into Internet Marketing with the ultimate goal of leaving their “day job” and working full-time from home. But to simply throw caution to the wind and quit your job is just insane.
Or is it?

There are two schools of thought on leaving a steady job and taking a leap of faith to pursue your dream of working from home withInternet Marketing. One side says that you should make sure you have all your bills paid-up and that you also have six months worth of living expenses saved up. In other words, make sure you have a safety net ready to catch you in case things go poorly. Other wise you could wind-up in a lot of trouble.

The other school of thought says that you just have to do it. Just quit your job and force yourself to make it with Internet Marketing. This school of thought often asserts that if you have to make money, you will make more money in a quicker amount of time than if you have a safety net of money saved up. In other words, if you have it in your mind that you might fail, you will. But if you have it in your mind that you can’t fail, then you won’t.

Of course no one can tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. Ultimately you are the one who has to make the decision and you are the only one that knows what you need to make that leap of faith.

However, notice that I write “need” and not want. There is a huge difference. In all honesty everything probably won’t ever be lined-up the way you want it to be before you leave the comfort of a regular paycheck. However, as long as everything is the way it needs to be then you are ready to take the plunge.

So the next logical question then becomes how do you know when everything is how you need it to be? Well, that question has a different answer for everyone because there are a number of factors that come into play. For example, if you are a single person living at home with your parents then you might be able to quit your job tomorrow. However, if you have three little kids to support then you need to make sure you have a constant income coming in.

The bottom line is to set a goal for when you can quit your job and then strive for that goal. Don’t allow your own fear to push that goal further and further into the future. At some point you just have to take the leap of faith. And when you do, you have to believe you can make it and then not settle for anything less than success. Failure is not an option, and if you consider it an option, it’s probably what will happen to you.

A leap of faith is nothing more than believing in yourself. And if you do believe in yourself and your willing to work for your dreams, then you should not fear taking that leap of faith and you should do it as soon as possible.

An often asked question is, should I create a Website or a Blog?

What the advantages and or disadvantages of each that I should consider?

It is a dilemma, so how do you differentiate a Website from a Blog?

*** A Website is known as an Internet application that houses a combination of texts, images and flash messages or animation.

*** A Web log or a Blog is a part of a website that is usually known as online journal.

Here is a simple breakdown of the various points of difference comparing a Website to a Blog:

- A Website versus a Blog in terms of navigation.

A Website’s navigation is often likened to that of a book. Its main index is the homepage where the key topics are referenced.

A Web log or a Blog is usually navigated through links to previous or next entries shown either at the start or end of each Blog post.

If those links can’t be found, a Blogs sidebar/s aid in navigating it. A common web log’s sidebar has a segment entitled “Pages”, which usually contains the “About” portion of the Blog and other non-time-sensitive information.
Other segments of a Blogs sidebar include the “Archives” which are sets of posts in regards to the dates they were posted.
A “Categories” segment is also a mainstay of the sidebar.
Also, a Blog roll or a list of external links may be included in the sidebar.
The reverse chronological order of Blog posts is the norm.

- A Website versus a Blog in terms of update-ability.

A Website presents static content. It could link to a news page if it wants to offer fresh info every now and then or even regularly. But with the advent of the Blog, the popularity of news pages has changed.
Blogs are the more like updated chronicles.
This feature of Blog is attributed to the content management system that Blog applications come with.

With Websites, understanding HTML along with the use of a web editing application is required before you can update them.

Blogs, however takes care of this process for you so the need to learn HTML is not a requirement although a basic knowledge will be off assistance.

- A Website versus a Blog in terms of Web usability.

Web usability refers to how to increase the conversion rate with the user-friendliness of an application.

Usability-wise, a Blog may not differ that much from a website. However, due to the ease of use of a Blog and since it’s also relatively simple to customize with a large number of templates available, making changes are a lot less-taxing compared to a Website that requires copywriting and design skills.

There are still some other issues that Bloggers need to address to be more effective in the field of Blogging such as: hyper linking without the proper or identifying anchor links, not including an author’s biography page or a well-stated “About Us/Me” page, post titles and numerous other items.

To become well known or a credible figure in the field one is Blogging about, then all aspects that make up an excellent Blog needs to considered and applied.

- A Website versus a Blog in terms of author-reader interaction.

Blogs have a commentary feature where readers can respond to any post.
The author of the Blog can easily interact with their readers by leaving a comment in return.

In summary, if you intend offering information that does not require regular updating, a Website may work well for you, But if you want more interaction with your readers, the need for frequent updates without learning HTML then a Blog would be your best choice.

Consider the fact that these two applications can actually work in conjunction so that you get the best of both worlds, the decision is ultimately yours but whichever way you go each will give you an online presence and this could be just the start of your online journey.

About half of all downloads that claim to be free versions of Microsoft’s Vista operating system are actually malicious Trojan horse software, security vendor DriveSentry warned today.

With Vista’s consumer launch just days away, hackers have been bombarding discussion boards with offers of “cracked” versions of Windows Vista, which are typically being distributed on peer-to-peer networks, said John Lynch, vice president of sales and marketing for DriveSentry.

These posts offer downloads of the operating system that skip Vista’s activation process, created by Microsoft to prevent users from running illegal copies.

Users who fall for the scam can end up with some pretty nasty problems, according to Lynch. DriveSentry researchers have found malicious key-logging software and spyware on about half of the downloads it has examined recently, he said.

Be aware.