Yes, someone has come up with a way to do this already: http://www.threadwatch.org/node/1562. I’m going to have to make a little time to implement this, because while I haven’t had a problem yet, I don’t want to wait until I do have a problem.

It amazes me how many people regard this as acceptable because Google is doing it. It’s no different to me than any other spyware that adds links to my site. I don’t care who is doing it. It doesn’t matter that in its present form I only really need to worry about book ISBNs, since everything else they currently AutoLink to looks relatively innocuous, I don’t want to be caught off guard by any changes.

Am I paranoid? No, just don’t trust it to remain that simple for long.

On the other hand, it sounds like Barnes & Noble will be putting up a fight over this one as soon as they figure it out. I’ve read that a lot of people are calling them to let them know about it, so I do expect a legal challenge to this practice soon. I wonder if it will have an impact on other spyware? Much bigger companies going at it with this case, after all, so it might just set the right precedent if things go the way I would like to see it go.

Looks like they got some good ones this time. I love seeing the scams get taken down, even though I know more will come to replace them. This one hit more than 200 operations though, on a variety of charges.

Owning a home business is a dream for so many people it’s easy to see why scams flourish the way they do. Many people see what looks like a way to make money fast, and logic goes out the window. Let’s be honest - if it were that easy to make money, we’d all be doing it. Of course, then it wouldn’t look like a lot of money, would it?

If you’re still looking for that perfect home business opportunity, make sure you know how to look out for the scams. The FTC website is very helpful when it comes to screening home business opportunities, and I urge you to take advantage before joining any opportunity. You will save yourself a lot of heartache and money.

Even if you are starting your own business, make sure you read up on home business at the FTC website. You need to make sure that you aren’t making any claims that could get you in trouble. These laws apply to everyone, and ignorance is no excuse. Keep up on the legal side of your business even before you start.

With any luck they’ll realize their mistake and stop before they get sued.

Google just released a new version of their toolbar. This one makes links to their properties out of plain text on a site. I DO NOT WANT ANYONE MESSING WITH MY SITES! I put my content the way I want it, and I do not need anyone distracting my visitors from my content.

I understand that they have some association with Amazon already, since someone on WebProWorld tested and found that links were added on Barnes & Noble, pointing to Amazon. I don’t expect B&N to put up with that for very long.

I don’t care who does it, changing the content on someone else’s site to benefit yourself makes you a parasite. I do not trust parasites.

The question I have is: How long until the other toolbars do this if Google gets away with it?

Running a home business isn’t an easy thing. It’s harder yet when you also have a work at home job (medical transcription) and are 36 weeks pregnant. For those of you out there who are mothers, you know how easily you tire late in pregnancy.

So how do you make the most of the time you have? It’s quite challenging sometimes.

The first thing to do is to set your priorities. Know what will benefit your business the most and get it done promptly. However, do not skip the small things for longer than necessary. I spent much of one day getting my business name and license in order after a move because it had to be done. Those may not earn me money, but they do save me from worrying about getting in trouble with the city and getting hit with some pretty horrendous fines.

For a mother, of course, the children need to have some of the priority. My daughter is 2-1/2, and I have a son on the way. Thank goodness my daughter is old enough to play on her own for a while. One of the things I do is make sure that whatever can least be interrupted is worked on while she naps or after bedtime. My poor husband sometimes gets neglected, but as the computer chair is far more comfortable to me in my present condition than the couch is, he knows that even if I watch TV with him, it’s not often going to be cuddled on the couch. So he puts up with my working more night hours than I usually do.

What do I consider a high priority in my business?

Since my business is essentially information based, I work hardest on creating content, and secondly on getting my content noticed. For people selling just about anything, the priority will often be finding new customers or fulfilling orders.

You are the only one who can properly set your priorities. Think about what is most beneficial to your business and limit your time and stress over the smaller details. Write a schedule if that works for you and set office hours. Your business will benefit from the focus.

Everyone needs help with their home business. There’s so much to know and so many places claiming to have the answers.

Government websites are some of my favorites. Got a tax question? Check irs.gov first. Want to keep up on issues small businesses face? The SBA has a newsletter. This month they’re covering changes the IRS is making to the tax code, ways to minimize your tax bill, tax forms your small business must complete, and surviving tax season. Something of a theme this month, which makes sense considering tax time is rapidly approaching.

The FTC is also a great resource when you are researching online opportunities. They’ll tell you about common scams and much more.

Government websites can sometimes be difficult to navigate, but when you’re looking at legal issues, you need to look at the source, not just what someone else online is telling you. Take advantage of your local, state and federal government websites to keep your business legal.

That’s the focus of some pages I’ve just added, and there are more to come, covering many kinds of freelance opportunities. Many home businesses are based on freelancing, and freelancers are often hired by home businesses to do the work an individual running a business may not have the skills to do on their own.

Freelancing is in many ways just another word for a home business. You can say you are a freelance website designer or that you have a website design business that you run from home. It’s the same thing, although not everyone realizes it. Freelancers need a business license in most places that require them for home businesses, so it pays to do your research before starting, just to stay out of trouble.

Pretty soon I’ll be doing some serious work on how to get into joint ventures. I can give you one secret now, since it has launched. Unlike many joint venture networks, which can be expensive to join, JV-Network is free to be a basic member. You pay only if you post a proposal or announcement. There are other membership levels as well. If you’re interested, just contact me through my website and I’ll tell you about it. You have to contact a member to join - this is not open membership.

That’s an important time in any home business. Getting started means finding customers (or for websites, getting traffic, which hopefully leads to customers) and earning some money off all the work you had to do to even start your business. It’s a difficult yet wonderful time.

In this case, this is just the start of the blog. This is where I’ll be telling my visitors about new and interesting programs, tools and tips too quick to create a new page on the website. I’ll also be talking about my own progress as a home business owner.

What experience do I have? I started out creating my first website several years ago; I don’t even recall exactly when, but more than five years ago. It wasn’t intended to earn money, as at that time I hadn’t even heard of affiliate marketing. I wish I had. I’d be in a much different place now if I had that kind of head start.

The site was nothing more than a creative outlet. It’s long gone now, so you can’t go looking. But one of my planned websites will probably be its cousin.

My next efforts came about because I took a website design course. I was just getting started in medical transcription (about three years ago), and people kept asking me how to get into it. Working at home is something so many parents want to do, so I created a website on that so I could just give people the address and let them read. Once again (arrgh!) I had not yet heard of affiliate marketing.

That website design course inspired me to try my hand at a website design business. I don’t do sites for others anymore, and one of my current projects is converting my design website into a tips on how to get your own website started. I have the domain name, it has some traffic, so why not?

It was shortly after that that I first heard about affiliate marketing. A couple of months later, I started my work at home website. However, I decided to give more of a focus to stay at home parents, since there are so MANY work at home websites out there. And so, Home with the Kids was born. That site is doing reasonably well for me, but over time I realized that people interested in home business have very different needs than stay at home parents or parents who want to work at home at a job.

This website is the result of a decision to split the two websites. Certainly I hope to have people going between the two, but I feel that I can best serve the two communities by splitting them. It allows me more focus in the newsletters, so each group gets what they want. And of course, anyone who wants both kinds of information can easily sign up for both.

Much of the information on this website comes from talking to people in these various businesses or from articles they have written. I write what I am able to learn about or have done myself. One of my current projects involves using datafeeds, so I talk about that in the affiliate section. It’s an interesting technology, with its own special challenges when it comes to getting ranked in the search engines. I’ve also worked at various forms of offline marketing, as that is the best solution for some programs as well as for some kinds of home business.

I hope you enjoy my website and my blog. I’m a mother of a lovely daughter (Ariel, 2-1/2) and a baby boy on the way (due mid-March), and I’m loving every minute this kind of business allows me to stay at home and be a mother rather than miss out on all those wonderful moments.