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In them good old days when I began online freelance work, I knew very, and I mean very few sites that were offering online jobs. However, in recent times I have met people selling writing accounts that I have never heard of. Of course the biggest question is, how do you know these writing sites are genuine? You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you use all your time and energy to work for a scammer.

Online freelance jobs are a very lucrative way of earning not only as a side hustle, but you can also become a full time worker, and grow it as a career. There are guys earning a decent income online but if you are not sure what is required to succeed, it is not all a bed of roses out there. There are ghosts in the machine that will ever haunt you if you don’t know how to spot a good job website. These ghosts are online scammers who will make you regret why you decided to become an online freelancer.

Just to give you a heads up I have prepared some characteristics of scam sites.

1. They suffer from dry content spell

“Sites with little or no content can go offline anytime, this is because they have nothing to lose; their site had two blog posts anyway.

Ever stumbled across an old site that has three blog posts and two or three pages on what they might be selling? I come across a number of them on my browsing sessions online. Most them have a home page with one paragraph trying to explain what they are doing, an about page and another having a two or three old blog posts and a “service or product" page on what they are trying to sell. If you have ever been keen, the rest of the spaces in the sites are usually full of ads.

Sites such as these usually don’t have an official domain and if they have, it is probably the cheap ones where they can bring a site offline without feeling a pinch. These are the kind of sites that can con people and go off the grid when they have got enough cash. This is because they have nothing to lose; their site had three blog posts anyway.

To be safe avoid associating your time and money with such sites. You may do some project for them or make some payments only to wake up in the morning and realize have gone offline after they have scrapped your cash account and energy.

2. Not clear about what they are selling

“If you ever stumble upon a site that the most element that attracts attention is a Payment mode or credit card button, and you cannot tell exactly what they are offering that is likely to be a scam.

Have you ever entered into a site that is full of payment modes but you can’t point out exactly what they are selling? If you ever stumble upon a site that the most element that attracts attention is a PayPal cart or donate button, and you cannot tell what they are offering that is likely to be a scam. A good genuine site should concentrate more on the value of the service or the product they are offering more rather what it costs.

Most genuine sites have separate pages for each service or product they are offering. A good example is freelance writing website which has a page for a book store, blog services, custom paper writing, training academy and much more. When a visitor gets into the site they can clearly know these guys are offering writing training or selling books. Therefore if you stumble upon a site that has nothing to offer but keeps asking you for money, think twice.

3. They tell you how much you will make upfront

“If you are buying something that you personally have to hustle the market and clients, then no one has the right to tell you how much you are going to make”

Without pointing fingers, I know you have come across sites that tell you that you will make lots of cash for using their service or product, after a given duration. No offense but that is not right. It is okay if someone tells you that they have a product or method that have proven to work. However, it is illogical if such person starts telling you that you will make 5000 dollars after one week. If it is an automated system that looks for clients, sells to them a product or service, receives the money and puts it in the bank…., maybe that is negotiable.

If you are buying something that you personally have to hustle the market and clients to buy what you are selling, then no one has the right to tell you how much you are going to make. Unless you are a looking for a get-rich-quick-scheme, avoid sites with these characteristics like a plague.

4. Zero or negative reviews

“If the blog posts date over ten years ago and the site still don’t have even a single review, once again, think twice.

New sites can be pardoned a little from this point sine a site that launched the other day may find it difficult to gather enough reviews. However, if a site has been in business for certain duration, it must have served client s who can write few reviews about their experience with the site. The best way to find reviews about a site is to Google the name of the site with the word review at the end. This will give you plenty of negative and positive reviews about the site. If you find that the site has more negative reviews than the positive ones, think twice. If the site has no reviews, check its contents such as blog posts to estimate how old it is. If the blog posts date over ten years ago and the site still don’t have even a single review then, once again, think twice.

5. Little or no progress after a long time

“I cannot feel comfortable buying anything from a site that has been in business for over ten years and still has three likes on their face book page.

We are in the year 2021 and you come across a site that was lastly updated in 2003, you should definitely put a question mark about its owners. Of course if you are selling a product whether it is a book or a service, after some time basically one or two years you are supposed to polish some improvements on it. This means that the site will show update in within a short time.

However, if you find an old site probably from the last century that have never been updated offering products that needs regular updates, you should have second thoughts before swiping that credit card. Honestly if I were to chip in my two senses in such a situation, I cannot feel comfortable buying anything from a site that has been in business for over ten years and still has three likes on their face book page.