It’s time to talk about another possible work-from-home scam. Work-from-home jobs are extremely popular these days as most people long to have a flexible schedule, avoid a long daily commute, and possibly improve their work-life balance.
Even though working from home still involves a great deal of effort and work, I have to admit, when I first heard about online jobs, I thought they sounded much simpler than traditional jobs.
If you’ve been on the lookout for some work-from-home jobs that would allow you to earn ‘easy money’ without putting that much effort in, you might have come across companies that want you to post links online for money.
A golden rule to follow when searching for jobs online is to always be wary of scams. There are people out there who will try to take advantage of your desire to work from home and advertise illegitimate jobs opportunities online that sound too good to be true.
Being able to post links online and earn hundreds of dollars per day or per week does sound a little suspicious, but let’s take a deeper look into these opportunities.
What Do Link Posting Jobs Generally Entail?
Generally when a job ad requires you to post links online, you may be asked to post links to websites and blogs that link back to a particular company’s site. The text accompanying the links are usually meaningless and are simply intended to link back to the company’s site or whatever they are trying to promote.
Other times, companies may have you purchase training programs and materials to learn about posting links though various different methods like affiliate marketing or Google Adwords. While affiliate marketing itself isn’t a scam because it simply allows you to be compensated if someone click on one of your links and decides to make a purchase, you have to be careful not to be fooled into promoting questionable products and unhelpful services that you aren’t truly educated about.
Why It’s Usually a Scam
I say usually because you probably can make money by posting links online if someone is willing to pay you, but you probably won’t make the thousands of dollars that are being advertised to you and link posting jobs may be dishonest, unsustainable or get you into trouble.
For starters, if someone asks you to post several copies of the same link online, that could get you blocked for delivering spam. Most sites have spam filters or monitors who will delete your spam links making it a waste of time to post them in the first place.
If you do choose to post links this way, most times you will only get paid for links that remain active so money could come in extremely slow if your links constantly get deleted.
When it comes to posting affiliate links, you won’t have much luck with sales if you don’t know how affiliate marketing is and don’t have any credibility. It’s impossible to persuade people to open up their wallets and pay for something from a link you posted or be extremely successful with affiliate marketing when you don’t have a regular audience or followers that interact with you regularly.
Also, if a company asks you to pay upfront for training or other materials that could be helpful, you should simply move on to another opportunity because no one should have to pay an employer before they start the work. Legitimate companies will always provide free or even paid training along with all the necessary materials to get you started.
Bottom Line
There are many link posting companies out there promising to pay other people hundreds or even thousands of dollars per week when the reality is that they are just asking you to post spam on the internet for very low pay. Do you really want to earn money by posting spam online and risk getting penalized? There is hardly anything legitimate about posting links online for companies and the opportunity is almost always short lived.
If you want to start earning real money by working from home you must realize that working online is still work. Sometimes you might even have to work harder when you work a non-traditional job. For the most part, there is no legitimate way to start working online and earning $6,000+ per month without putting much effort or time into it.
It takes a lot of dedication and hard work to start earning thousands of dollars per month by working from home.
Consider legitimate and long lasting online work opportunities like freelance writing,virtual assistant work, transcription, and even direct sales.
Have you heard about posting links online before? What is your favorite legitimate online job?
I love it when real freelancers like yourself tell it like how it really is. When I first started blogging I was under the impression that I could make some real quick money and it’s not so. The only way to make money online is with hardwork and dedication.
Working from home requires a ton of hard work and dedication especially at the beginning stages. If it’s something you are really determined to do you’ll make it work though and weed through the scams.
Cool site
I never had to do this, but I actually have a reader who asked me about a freelancing job she received (on Freelancer.com even). They asked her to send $200 for some accounting software and she’d get the money back on her first ‘salary’. It really sounded fishy to me and after a short google search it was clearly a spam. She’s congratulating herself now for not falling into the trap. NO ONE should pay to receive a job, that’s clear. As long as I deliver the work, the client has nothing to do with the type of computer I run, what software I use etc.
I’m glad she didn’t fall for the scam. You should never have to pay anyone to let you work. That just sounds weird.
I just started adding affiliate links and I targeted companies I already use and like. For others the first thing I do is look to see if the company has a bad reputation and lots of customer complaints. I can’t even count how many companies selling services or products that align with my site that I have rejected using as an affiliate because of a poor track record and too many negative customer reviews.
That’s a good precaution to take and I do the same. Sometimes it just isn’t worth the money.
I’m so glad you are spreading the word on this. I get asked a lot by family and friend if online job offers they’ve received are legit or not. We definitely need to spread the word about scams.
I agree! The less people that fall for these types of scams, the better.
It’s refreshing to read a post warning others about scams when it comes to working from home. As a WAH employee, I often get asked how I got the job and how they can get one too. I always encourage them to see if it’s viable to do so from their current employer and if not, I direct them to reputable sites I have been following for years as a plan B. There are jobs out there; however, common sense must be applied in many of these situations. This was a great read, Chonce!
I love this…
Have look on my blog too- http://travelassitantnews.com/
I am a single mother of a beautfiul boy, he keeps me going everyday when i just feel like giving up. Everyday I keep saying to myself he’s the only one I actually did right in my life. Without him, who will I be? I’ll be lost because when two become one makes a whole to each other better half. I’m thankful to wake up every morning to him calling for me and giving me that beautiful dimple smile. I love you kingston my first born, my heart.
I am interested in working from home. Please give me a reply back. Thank you Markeisha!
I am interested in working from home. Please give me a reply back. Thank you for your time.
I am looking for online work at home. I have rheumatoid arthritis and can not work I need to make money
am interested in working with you to earn
Can i work also with you?. i need a rope to teach me about legit and ethical WAH businesses
Millions of people all over the world earn part or all of their income online. I’m not just talking about big companies by the way, but individuals working from the comfort of their own homes using websites they created to earn incredible sums of money every year in and year out. When faced with this fact you might then begin to think, “yeah but those people are probably computer geniuses who have spent all their lives behind a computer.” Actually, nothing could be further from the truth.
I am in an awful marriage, have Fibromyalgia and osteoarthritis and can’t work traditional jobs. Constantly being threatened with physical violence and being kicked out. No family except for the ones threatening to kick me out..I NEED to make money so I no longer have to be subjected to the way they treat me. They know they can get away with it because I have nowhere to go. PLEASE, please give me some work from home tips so i.mat be set free from my current situation…
Thank you,
Sincerely
Kristine
I’m currently off work for maybe a year due to injury. I do have some income but it’s less than what someone who receives ssi/disabilitt would get. My husband is ill and on hospice. I definitely need to find some sort of work at home income. I’ve searched relentlessly to find a work at home job but all cost money to start so I’m Leary it’s a scam. I definitely can’t afford a startup fee right now then risk losing the money completely to a scam. Please if you could point me in the right direction or maybe even mentor me starting journey I would forever be grateful. I’m loyal dedicated and devoted. I want to have confidence in the company I work for allowing me to pass that confidence onto potential clients. Please email if there’s anything you can do.
Sincerely Nancy King
I am well over 70 and work an 11 hour day to come home to a disabled husband , then start meals and other necessary care. I am exhausted and need a better way to keep an income coming in so we don’t have to move to government subsidized housing. I have been looking for many months and keep running into scams. I am not totally computer illiterate but not completely comfortable with this new technology. Please point me in the honest direction. Thank you for any help you are willing to offer.
Laura Hodgkins
You can find a list of legit jobs here. Hope that helps and best of luck!