I've found just how very much alike Las Vegas and Internet are. If you let it, Internet can become Fantasy Island. You can begin to buy into Hype, false promises, and idea of something for nothing. You can lose your money, your dignity, your self respect and yes even your family. If you get really carried away you could even lose your freedom.

There are No Free Lunches here. Your success is gauged on how much time, effort, determination and education you've applied.

Did I say education? I'm not talking about a college degree here. What I am saying is that there's a tremendous amount to be learned if we are going to successfully market on Web. We need to wade through hype. Listen and apply what we learn from those that have already paid their dues to become successful Internet Marketers.

Read everything you can. Then step by step apply what you learn. Visit some Business Discussion Forums and pick brains of those that have done what we are trying to do. Here's a Good list. http://www.entrepreneur-web.com/index_1.shtml#generalbusiness Don't go to these expecting to blast your offers all over. It's liable to get you banned from board or even reported to your ISP as a spammer. Board spamming is a No No!

I never really had a clue about Marketing on Web until I began reading posts on these forums. What a wealth of information. There are people that frequent these boards that will bend over backwards to help. If you ask.

The way I see it is we are all in this thing together. People! Not faceless, anonymous robots behind our keyboards and monitors. We need to watch out for one another. Help when we can and place needs of others before our own. When we do, We get what we need.

As long as there are people willing to believe in Fast buck, something for nothing deal there will be those waiting with anticipation to relieve them of their hard earned cash.

What say we go out there and make some money! Help as many as we can to do same. Our lives will become richer for it.

Posting To News Groups/Chat Groups

Don’t reveal personal details to strangers or new friends you meet on-line. You don’t know who you’re talking to in a chat room. For sake of security don’t give out your real name, where you live, where you work, your phone number or any other personal details which might be used against you or to track you down.

Messages you post on Internet or on mailing lists reveal your email address. This is easily discovered and either targeted or used by just about anybody. Services such as Deja News also keeps a record of every posting ever made by an individual. It is a simple matter for someone to search Deja News to find out details of postings made from your email address, which news groups you post to and why. To counter this, have more than one email address. Set up a free web-based email service. Use this for posting to news groups, mailing lists, chat and public rooms. Tip: If no-one knows that this extra email address belongs to you, no-one can link you to it or any posting you make from it. In this way you can post regularly to alt.sheep.fanciers. without any fear of being identified by snoops! Use a further clean email address for small members-only mailing lists and for communications with known, trusted individuals.

Safe Surfing Techniques

Many free sites require you to register personal details before you can get access. Just because a site asks for personal data, it doesn’t mean you have to provide it. You have options. Provide a phoney name, address, preferences etc. There is no law against this. Such details are never checked. They are collected for marketing purposes only. Note: If you purchase something you must provide real billing information to avoid claims of fraud.

Beware of sites offering rewards or prizes in exchange for contact details and other sensitive data. You’re unlikely to win a prize and any data obtained in this manner is sold often to multiple direct marketers. Pretty soon you’ll be deluged with unsolicited email, post and telephone calls. Protect your children too. Set clear rules for them. Make sure they know not to reveal personal information when they visit sites unless you okay it.

Web sites store bits of data, Cookies, on your computer’s hard drive. Cookies contain your user IDs and passwords to sites. However, Cookies can also be used to trawl for data, tracking your surfing, recording what links and pages you click on, how long you spend on specific pages. This data is used to create a profile about you for marketers. Remember that sensitive information about your Internet preferences, interests and actions could come back to haunt you. For protection turn on cookie notices in your browser. How? Open your Internet browser. Go to Tools/Options/Security. Press Custom Level button. Select prompt for Cookie options. Now each time a Web site attempts to place a cookie on your hard drive you’ll receive a warning and information about cookie. Decide whether or not to accept. Only accept cookies from trusted sites. Decline cookies which are not temporary or which provide information to sites other than one you want to load.

Be anonymous when you surf. How? Use Anonymizer, a specialised service which disguises your identity and on- line movements. Check out: http://www.anonymizer.com . Alternative anonymising services you might try: http://www.in.tum.de/~pircher/anonymouse/ ; http://www.spaceproxy.com ; http://i-security.addr.com

Safe On-line Shopping

Never send credit card details over Internet without ensuring that your connection is secure (encrypted). How to tell? Look for a locked padlock icon at bottom right hand corner of your screen. Or see that security button on your browser bar is highlighted. If connection is not secure take your business elsewhere. A company that is careless with your information and money does not deserve your trade.

Before doing business with any site, in case of problems, satisfy yourself that site operator provides off-line contact information including a postal address and telephone number. Before ordering, try phone number to ascertain that it works . Keep a note of these details.

If connection is not secure take your business elsewhere.

Check to see if site has a privacy policy. Read it. Does it provide protection for data you may submit? If it doesn’t, don’t release data.

Many sites display seals or certificates awarded by watchdog organisations which testify to trustworthiness of site. But there can be problems. You can’t rely on taking seals at face value. The reason being that con artists fake seals or fraudulently post them on their sites. The solution? Before entering into agreement, contract, or making any payments on-line, check with seal-issuing body that site’s seal is authentic.

Do necessary due diligence: Read terms and conditions before you pay for anything or enter into an agreement. Make sure you know what you’re getting into. Be aware of auto- rebilling scams and hidden fees.

Always print out order form you use on-line and keep any confirmation of sale, payment details and delivery dates you may be emailed.