There are thousands of affiliate marketing programs for individuals who want to earn money online. Most of them require a small amount of money whilst the rest have high costs involved. Studies show that today, with most individuals doing business at the comfort of their home, there are thousands of affiliate marketing scams going around claiming themselves to be legitimate. These affiliate marketing scams are usually designed to create wealth for the creator and not for the customers who are part of the program. Most people who are unaware of such affiliate marketing scams fall into their trap, spending thousands of dollars on something not worth at all.

If there are so many affiliate marketing scams out there, disguised as legitimate marketing opportunity providers, how can one identify the warning signs? How can you choose the legitimate one from the illegitimate one? The following are a few signs that you could look into before starting up an affiliate marketing business.

One of the first warning signs you will notice is that these affiliate marketing scams will usually have no product or service. If by any chance, the only product is the opportunity to generate income, this will probably be seen as a pyramid scheme. These schemes are supposed to be illegal in the US and therefore you must avoid falling into their prey.

Another warning sign that the program you are checking is one of many affiliate marketing scams is that they do not have a proper website. A legitimate affiliate program will usually have a website that will give you details explaining the program, etc. Although this in itself does not necessarily guarantee that the program is a legitimate, you need to be more skeptical and watch out for a program that has no site.

It is important that an affiliate marketing program has contact support as beginners will always have questions to ask regarding the start up of a business. Identifying affiliate marketing scams with regard to this is easy, as most illegitimate programs will not have an email or contact number. Even if they do have an email address, rarely will you get a reply for your question. These are things you must pay attention to.

A good program that is not one of the affiliate marketing scams will be around in business for some time. Affiliate marketing scams can be easily identified when they have no positive testimonials about their program. Search for past customers and get their testimonials without relying on what the company site says.