When you work online, create a website, and set up an eCommerce store, your credibility is everything. As you establish your business reputation online, it is of utmost importance that you keep your reputation on the positive side.

Ways To Make Money Online Legitimately
What Is A Legit Way To Make Money Online

There are so many ways to make money online. But, the legitimate ways to make money online, which will replace your current jobs and give you a full-time income, are very few. Earning money online is not difficult, but it requires discipline and hard work. Although some methods will provide you with immediate results and some ways may require time. Working remotely doesn’t have to mean taking a pay cut. There are more legit online jobs than ever. All it takes is being aware of the possibilities. Below are 33 legitimate online jobs where you can earn over $50,000 a year without a degree — and most of them allow you to make your own schedule.

Unlike in the real world where people can come into your real building, shake your hand and look you in the eye, people establishing a business online need to develop trust another way. This is usually referred to as “social proof.” Social proof is the condition of creating a psychological sense of importance or credibility for a brand based on the ideas and opinions of others.

One real example of this phenomenon is a business owner who puts up a Facebook page and obtains hundreds of followers who share and comment positively on their page or brand. Over time, this creates hype for a name positively and thereby “proves” the social validity of a brand.

There are other ways to gain credibility such as writing a book on a particular topic that shows your credibility or hosting a webinar or blog that promotes your brand.

With this in mind, we take a look at 13 unethical and potentially illegal ways to make money online in this post. So you will know what opportunities to avoid.

1. Spamming and keyword stuffing

You probably already understand why keyword stuffing will drop your rankings. But it also helps to remember why it is so unethical. Keyword stuffing is the process of overusing specific words with the purpose of directing people to a certain website or sales page. There is nothing wrong with sending people to legitimate pages when keywords are used naturally. But keyword stuffing is an overabundant use of words that are low in quality and are only meant to influence where people go online. It is considered a “Black Hat” technique.

2. Affiliate Marketing with Bogus Products

Affiliate marketing is a legitimate way to make money. But directing people to bogus products or products that are less than good quality is an unethical practice that should be avoided. It is important to check out any products that you promote on your website or blog so that you know you are representing good products. You have some legal liability regarding this if you recommend a product.

3. Selling Pirated eBooks or Media

Original eBooks are written by you are fine, and you can make a great deal of money this way, as well as use the books to promote your business or products. You can also outsource this work to other writers if you do not have the time to write the books yourself. However, you absolutely must retain “resell” rights from the author when you do this. To take any work that someone else created without their selling the exclusive rights to you is illegal and is considered an infringement of copyright.

4. Creating Autoblogs

Autoblogs are blogs with bots. In other words, they are set up using 100% automation software and designed to put out blog articles on a specific schedule that can be controlled by you ahead of time. While this may seem like an interesting way to put our fresh content, this is often done using tools such as WordPress’s Autoblog feature which pulls articles from other sources. This is dangerous for some reasons. First, people will be able to tell that it is not your content. Google may drop you in the rankings due to duplicate content. But worse, you could be accused of copyright infringement which is a federal crime that carries a penalty of $250,000 for one offense! If it is clear that you are not saying the posts are yours, you might get by with showing others’ content, but this practice could be perceived as claiming the content as your own. Do not risk this!

5. Setting up fake social media accounts

Ways To Make Money Online Legitimately

You probably already know that it’s unethical to set up fake accounts. But operating a business page that is not tied to a real business is also illegal. That’s because it creates the illusion of being representative of a real company and possibly causing people to spend money on something that is not legitimate. This is unethical and illegal. Transparency is necessary if you are going to create a good reputation online that will allow you to make a regular income and develop trust with your audience.

6. Writing Useless Posts or eBooks

Writing quality content is the only way to create your brand and make money in a legal and ethical way. When you write useless eBooks that are full of keyword stuffing, broken links, or references, not only will you lose your ranking with Google over time, but you may also receive terrible reviews on Amazon or Audible for the low-quality content. Anything you write or put out to the masses should be the highest quality possible. The content you write in any form reflects on you and your brand and website. So make sure it is good content and not meaningless text.

7. Counterfeit trading

Counterfeit products are still rampant on the internet today and buying and selling counterfeit products can be very lucrative. It is also very illegal. Legitimate companies create goods that they want to sell and promote online. Then illegal companies or individuals in China and other locations create an imitation product to compete with this legitimate product. This creates a clear disadvantage for the original product owner, and they can sue for damages if you try this unscrupulous tactic. If you are an online seller, avoid this practice always. Always check out the authenticity of the product before selling or promoting it.

8. Holding contest with money prizes without a permit

Holding contests online is a great way to get attention for your brand or products. Giving away free products is perfectly fine. But if you hold a contest involving money for a prize, you are entering into what is considered “sweepstakes” territory. There are particular regulations in various states regarding such contests, and you must make sure you follow these to the letter or face criminal charges. If in doubt, leave it out!

9. Lying to readers about content or offers

As a business or online blog owner, you probably already know the importance of telling the truth. This is just one of the most basic business ethics that all business owners know. This is not to say, however, that all business owners follow this. It is critical, however, if you want to create and maintain a viable business for the foreseeable future. As a rule of thumb, you might get away with something once or twice. But if you continue to deceive people, you will be destroyed online through social media and your credibility will be lost. This is just not worth the risk to take. Be honest with people about your brand, your products, and your services. Don’t overinflate an offer and tell them what the product does that will help them. Answer any questions honestly. People are looking for businesses they can trust online. They will be loyal to business owners who meet up to this standard. Ones who don’t may lose their good name. And once you lose that, it’s very hard to gain it back.

10. Posting digital content that is not your own

Just as we talked about eBooks and other content that belongs to someone else, the same rules apply to any digital content of any form that you did not create. You cannot post, sell, send as a file, or offer any downloads of digital content that is owned by others. This is an infringement of federal copyright law as well as the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. To post anyone else’s content, you must secure a written notice from them granting you permission to post their content. Read the contract carefully, and this usually doe

Is There Any Legit Way To Earn Money Online