Free to Join – Not every legitimate home business is free. In fact, many are not, but it is definitely a good sign if they at least let you check it out for free to see if it is for you. It is nearly impossible to build a successful home business without some monetary investment, so you will probably have to break into your piggy bank at some point. However, I would definitely be much more skeptical of an opportunity that does not let you have a free trial.

Free Website - You will definitely need to get your own website sometime in future but when you are just beginning you probably won’t have one yet. So business that you are joining should provide free websites for you to use. Chances are that you won’t be able to make changes to these or get them into search engines, but you can at least send prospects to them.

Compensation Plan – When evaluating compensation plan of a prospective business opportunity ask yourself these questions; How hard is it to get in profit? Can you earn a full time income with them? Are income expectations reasonable (not full of hype)? There should be a clear compensation plan and you should earn commissions from your very first sale.

Lead Generation System - Until you get more experienced at marketing it will be very difficult for you to bring in very many leads on your own. Good business opportunities will have a way for you to purchase high quality targeted leads for a fair price.

Resources and Training – Every good home business opportunity should have a resource center that members can go to for support, training, and resources to help them succeed with their home business.

Your questions should be answered quickly and accurately and there should be more than one means to get help. Members should have two or more of following available to them at all times; upline members, email support, phone support, live chat, or a forum.

Well, there you have it… some very good criteria to help you in selecting a legitimate home business opportunity. Use above information as well as your own instincts when selecting a home business and you should never get scammed again!

Avoid Home Business Scams Information on About.com

Home Business Grant Scams

Avoid The Scams Information on BizyMoms.com

If you need more information than what these sites offer, you can find more by searching on google for Home Based Business Scams.

Most importantly use common sense, if its sounds to good to be true, it is! Pass it up.