The word Website appears first in the title of this record because, especially in the
home based company and network marketing industries, you will often be dealing
with an individual Webpage or Website as opposed to a large company. That Website
might be the independent representative page of a representative, or it could be an
independently developed page operated by an entrepreneur.
Even if you are looking at a Webpage that is owned by a company, often you will
have to go no further in the appraisal process to rule out a singular Website or
opportunity. Then, only if the Website passes your tests, do you go on to evaluate
the company and opportunity.
Usa
Please realize, also, that this record does not actually address the issues complicated in
evaluating the chance side of a company, or fully evaluating the company and
opportunity combined. On the Homepage of Abcincome.com appears a 13-point
criteria developed out of two decades of touch with evaluating company
opportunities. The version on the Homepage is only an overview, but a more
complete version of what to look for will appear soon in the form of a new article.
One other point before we actually get started, is that this record is not involved with
aesthetic issues. Granted, there are certain, “generally approved Web invent
practices,” some of which will be talked about here. However, just because a
Website uses a confident type of graphics, or possibly a wild color task (or a boring
one), doesn’t mean that it can’t offer good content or opportunities. There are just
too many factors having to do with personal preference for these to be determined a
major factor for the purpose of this article.
Ok, with that said, here are some of the things that you should be looking for when
evaluating a Website or a company:
1. Is the Main Website directly accessible via a Url (Web address) that reasonably
makes sense?
Some Websites, most notably those that are questionable, will
occasionally set up even their main Url so that it isn’t very intuitive or accessible for
the general public. For instance, usually a Website name might look something like
this:
[http://www.evaluateawebsite.com]
Or [http://www.evaluateawebsite.com/index.htm]
Or [http://www.evaluateawebsite.com/main.asp]
On the other hand, if something isn’t quite right it might look something like this:
[http://www.evaluateawebsite.com/prelaunch/]
Or [http://www.evaluateawebsite.com/comingsoon/]
Or [http://www.evaluateawebsite.com/invitationonly/]
Let me immediately point out that naturally because a Url ends with a name similar to
one of the examples above that doesn’t mean that the Website isn’t legitimate. If,
for instance, you are reading this record directly on the Website of Abcincome.com
instead of in my email newsletter, then it ends with a name that is tacked onto the
main Web address of Abcincome.com. It’s pretty approved convention in the industry to
add transmit slashes and further directories, folders, and/or page names to the
right of the main Url.
However, If you cannot erase those extra characters to the right and directly access
the Website with just the quantum that ends in .com, or .net, or .biz, or .ws, etc., that
may be cause for concern. Many Websites direct visitors to pages that aren’t the
main Homepage. However, if you can’t get to the Website’s main Homepage, again,
that may be cause for suspicion. company Websites are all about marketing a
product or service, so any general Website owner would typically want to make sure
that their Homepage is accessible to any and all visitors.
2. What kind of touch options are provided? Email, touch Form, telephone
number, etc.?
If there are no touch options, unless there is a Very good reason, such as that the
site is undergoing building or maintenance, reconsider it to be a big Red Flag!
If the site offers a way for you to buy something, but there are no touch
options (until after purchase, you hope), then actually reconsider it a Big Red Flag!
In general, the more touch options, the better. I would feel the most comfortable,
for instance, dealing with Website where an email address or touch form, and a
phone number, and a road address are provided. I would feel least comfortable
with a Website where only an email address and nothing else is provided.
Remember also that you can, or should, view Websites owned by individuals slightly
differently than Websites owned by a company. Any legitimate, reputable company,
for instance, should offer at least some touch information, again, the more the
better. However, it is not uncommon for Websites owned and managed by
individuals to feature less touch information. Especially if it is owned by a home
based company person; he or she might not be comfortable publishing their home
street address or phone estimate on the Web, for instance.
In rare cases with confident types of replicating Websites (where many representatives
have the same type of Website) the user may not have the option of providing more
contact details. But, again, that’s rare. These days even most Websites aimed at
individual users allow the user to add and modernize their touch information.
Even a P.O. Box is better than no address at all. Here again, whether dealing with a
giant company or an individual, it is not uncommon for clubs or individuals to
use P.O. Boxes to more efficiently deal with their mail.
True, some unscrupulous operators hide behind P.O. Boxes. However, they are a
much smaller ration in comparison to legitimate users. The main presuppose is
that, especially after 9/11, in order to apply for and use a P.O. Box or address
service the applicant has to provide various kinds of information, along with a real
street address, and proof of identity, etc.
Some Websites provide only an instant chat username as a means of contact. Here
also, usually to be determined a red flag.
Because scam artists know that providing a means of touch considerably increases
the credibility of a Website, one of the cleverest tactics to watch out for is a site that
provides a “Live Chat” or “Live Support” or “Live buyer Service” option, etc., but
it is never actually staffed!
The above tactic is often combined with the further tactic of the site claiming to
be settled in a part of the World that just happens not to be open for company
during regular company hours in busy parts of the World such as the Usa and
Canada.
I saw that tactic employed by a scam Website claiming to be settled in the Uk. It
offered, “Live Support,” but noted that they operated agreeing to Uk time, which,
conveniently, meant that by the time that most population in the Usa and Canada got
out of work and visited their Website, it was too late to make touch due to it being
after hours in the Uk. In reality, the site’s “Live Support” option was never staffed,
but most visitors never caught on due to the cleverness of the scheme.
3. After checking the items above I usually look for an “About Page.”
Here again a
Website run by an individual might not have one. However, the best companies,
whether large or small, will almost all the time have at least one page if not more
devoted to information about the company. Sometimes information about the
company’s supervision is provided as well.
These pages also go by names such as, “Company info.,” “Our Company,” or just,
“Company,” etc.
The About page can often tell you a lot about a company, along with how long they
claim to have been in business. In general, the longer the better!
4. Does the Website feature any certifications, affiliations, or rankings, backed by
reputable and unbiased 3rd party organizations such as The better company Bureau,
Chamber of Commerce, Dun & Bradstreet, Truste, Alexa, Dsa (Direct Selling
Association), etc.?
Though none of the above organizations endorse or certify companies,
membership in and/or certification by a respected 3rd party society can go a
long way toward giving you greater peace of mind that a company or individual is
legitimate and trustworthy.
Something that population don’t generally know about the better company Bureau is
that they can invent a file and keep records on Any company or individual
whether they are a member or not. The inequity is, however, that a company who
is not a member has not agreed to the terms of the better company Bureau, cannot
display their logos, and has no way to actually showcase a good record if they have
one.
However, even if a company is not listed with the Bbb, If they’ve been around for a
while and you can verify that fact, at least the Bbb may have on file any negative
complaints that have been filed.
I must stress, however, this actually applies only if the company that you are doing
business with has been around for a important length of time, and you can verify
it. That’s because a base tactic of scam artists is to start a new company, take
people’s money, and then naturally close their doors, start someone else new company, and
repeat the process all over again. Thus, if they are not a Bbb member, they may very
well have taken advantage of many unsuspecting victims, but naturally haven’t been
around long adequate for complaints to have reached the Bbb yet. That’s why it is a
requirement that when a company or individual applies for membership they must
have been in company for at least 6 months to a year, and, further, the Bbb goes as
far back as 3 years in their files to see if there have been any past complaints before
granting membership.
Unscrupulous clubs that try to evade detection by conclusion their doors and then
opening up again under a new name are often detected in the Bbb’s database. So, if
you know that a company previously operated under a dissimilar name it would be a
good idea to check to see if any complaints were filed against the company under
its previous name(s).
5. Whois and Alexa are tools that you can use in aggregate to further invent a
profile and photo of what a Website is all about.
Alexa ( http://www.alexa.com/ ) allows you to track various data about a Website’s
activity, possibly how long the site has been around, and maybe who owns it.
Alexa can be a great tool, but you have to be very meticulous if you aren’t customary with
what all of the various pieces of information mean. For instance, just because a
Website has a high Alexa rating doesn’t mean it’s credible.
There are adequate population who love money adequate to jump onboard any task or
scam even if it seems too good to be true that unscrupulous Websites have often
been able to accomplish high Alexa ratings. The thing to watch for is most of the traffic
being generated by the population who are jumping onboard the task and
advertising the site, as opposed to the Website climbing up in the rankings on its
own merits.
Again, it may take you a while before you are able to explicate and read the data to
be able to remarked such things. However, one possible clue that “might” be a tip off
is when you see a Website appear out of the blue and all of a sudden it has a high
Alexa rating. Maybe it’s ranked at #77,000, for instance, but it’s only been on the
charts for a few weeks or months. Not always, but, especially if you are utilizing the
other methods discussed here, you may be able to decide that such a brief and
rapid turn in ranking is a red flag for that singular Website.
You also have to realize that Websites and the clubs and individuals behind
them are isolate entities. For instance, Sears Roebuck had obviously already been
around a long, long time before they ever had a Website. And even clubs or
individuals that have a Website sometimes add new ones, etc. So, if a company or
individual says they’ve been around for a while, but their Website hasn’t been
around as long, that isn’t necessarily a red flag as long as you can verify the
information.
As for Whois, there are numerous Whois servers that you can use. Many in fact.
However, three of the best known and most beloved are:
InterNic
http://www.internic.net/
VeriSign
http://registrar.verisign-grs.com/whois/
and Network Solutions
http://www.networksolutions.com/en_Us/whois/
Whois is a special database that lets you find out about a Website by typing in the
domain name (the Website address). Among the things that you may be able to find
out are out how long the Website has been around, who owns it, and where that
company or individual is actually located.
Earlier I mentioned a scam Website that claimed to be in the Uk. Well, using the
same kinds of methods that I’m telling you about here I swiftly found all kinds of
red flags. One of the biggest was that when I ran a Whois query the ensue came
back that the site owners were not actually in the Uk as they claimed to be, but were
actually registered on the offshore island of Belize, a base tactic of, and a Huge
red flag characteristic of scam operations.
Another thing to watch for are private registrations by clubs or individuals who
are obviously advertising as doing company with the public. private registrations are
those where the real identity of the Website’s owner is not revealed. That’s fine if
someone just wants privacy. However, clubs doing company with the group are
by their very nature doing company with the public! Therefore, it actually makes no
sense, in most cases, for person to file a private registration. It can be a red flag
that makes one wonder, who actually owns this Website, and why don’t they show
themselves?
6. Dun & Bradstreet and similar company brain and credit reporting agencies,
most notably Hoovers, are also perfect options if you actually want to find out more
about a company.
From Microsoft to Motorola, Dun & Bradstreet (also known as
D&B) is The industry’s most respected credit reporting and company brain
source for that kind of information.
Unlike most of the other resources mentioned in this article, D&B primarily focuses
on large clubs like the Fortune 500, or larger “small” businesses. So, many, if
not most individuals and small businesses will not be listed. Additionally, these
services require a fee, which can be mountainous in order for you to pull a record on a
company, unless you have a subscription, which also involves a fair estimate of cost.
You can, however, run miniature queries at no cost that may be helpful to you.
7. One last point to reconsider is one that most population never give much idea to
when evaluating a Website or a company, and that is the payment methods they
accept.
Limited payment method acceptance (the inability to accept online payment) may be
a red flag when dealing with all but the smallest clubs or individuals.
The lowest line is that the more payment methods a site is able to offer the greater
the convenience for the customer, which equates to more sales. Therefore, no
established company would want to be without the capability to accept multiple forms
of payment, unless, of course, something is wrong.
This record is already lengthy, and space naturally does not permit going into information
about the dissimilar types of payment processors. However, in general, a Website
that accepts payment via a accumulate merchant shopping cart of its own has probably
passed the most meticulous application, credit check, and background verification
process. With a third party processor, such as 2Checkout, ClickBank, or PayPal, this
is less so, but still applicable.
If a company or individual can’t qualify for an account with one of the above
processors that can often be a red flag and a sign of whether credit and/or financial
problems, or even fraudulent activity. If a company has had problems that could
explain why they can’t accept base forms of payment. An online Website saying
that it can only accept payment in the form of a money order, cashier’s check, etc.,
should probably be viewed with suspicion.
Also, if a Website features StormPay as the only payment option, and not also
PayPal, that too can be a red flag. That’s because StormPay has much less stringent
application and maintenance requirements than PayPal. So, a Website who Had an
account with one of the most respected payment processing company accounts like
those described above, but then got into problem and had their account banned or
terminated, may still be able to get a StormPay account. actually not all StormPay
accounts fall into this category, but, again, if it’s the only payment method
accepted, it may be cause for concern.
Likewise, a Website offering as it’s only means of conducting transactions the e-
gold service, may also be cause for concern and even a red flag. E-gold is an
alternative aid that allows clubs and population to use gold instead of dollars
as a means of conducting transactions. Though e-gold is a legitimate aid that
continues to grow and is approved by many reputable merchants, it is often used by
scam artists for confident reasons.
