The Facts About Earning Money Online

Home Entrepreneurs

In October 2009, Businessweek Magazine reported that more than half of all business in America were home-based, and about 6.6 million provided more than half of the total household income for the owners. These businesses employed more than 13 million people in 2008, while venture-backed companies only employed 12.1 million.

Work for Others at Home

Rat Race Rebellion, an online job resource co-founded by CNN Internet Fraud and Safety Expert Chris Durst, notes that many well-known companies offer legitimate work from home opportunities. Aetna Insurance has a Telework Program that hires work-at-home employees for call center work and a variety of other jobs. Demand Studios hires people to write and edit articles on a wide variety of topics. An educational background and/or professional experience in virtually any field will qualify competent writers, even if they have no professional writing experience. Rat Race Rebellion lists opportunities for dozens of other specialty areas, from home court reporting to home translation to home teaching jobs.

Google

Web developers can sign up for Google's Adsense program and make money from advertising on their sites. To make significant profits with Adsense, you need to upload quality content consistently, working in a niche market, and you must understand the ins and outs of search engine optimization. Google also hires people for various work-at-home jobs, including--believe it or not--web surfing. As a part-time Ads Quality Rater, you would be responsible for analyzing the quality of websites all over the Internet to help Google establish its search rankings.

Scams

The Ad Quality job requires a Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience and verifiable knowledge of the Internet. This distinguishes it from what Scambusters--a nonprofit Internet watchdog group--calls 'Know Nothing, Do Nothing' scams. Any make-money-online offer that says you don't need to know about the Internet or even use a computer is a scam. Scambusters advises that you never pay for an opportunity to work from home and that you research the business making the offer before investing yourself in it.

Reporting Fraud

While it may be embarrassing if you find yourself a victim of an online scam, it's important that you report it so that others don't suffer the same fate. The Internet Crime Complaint Center combines the resources of the FBI, the National White Crime Collar Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance to track down a wide range of Internet scams. You can file a complaint at its website.