Considering that the great Studio Traffic had been running for nearly two years when I made my debut, I was a latecomer to the get paid to auto surf scene. When I first started to take notice of the get paid to auto surf sites, I looked at the possibilities, did a double-take, looked again and wondered where the catch might be. Surely, I thought, there must be a catch, or can it really be that simple? I'll spare you the suspense and tell your right from the start that the answer was yes, it really is as simple as it appears. Before you go rushing off to spend money with auto surf for cash programmes, let me just stress that it is simple but that is not the same as saying that every get paid to auto surf site is safe. Crossing the road is pretty simple but, if you fail to look out for approaching traffic, it certainly isn't safe. Jumping out of a plane is simple but, if you don't get a parachute and a course of instructions, it's far from safe. So don't try auto surfing for cash at home until you have read the rest of this.

Of course, at the start, I didn't know the answer and I toddled off into the realms of get paid to auto surf, taking baby step investments and breathing sighs of relief every day when the get paid to auto surf sites appeared and I knew my tiny investments were still safe. Considering the idiotic abandon with which I embraced the dreadful money doubler phenomenon, it might seem strange that I was so wary when it came to the auto surf for cash experience. Maybe I learned my lesson from the amount of money I wasted on the money doublers. (By the way, if you happen to know my husband, there is absolutely no need for you to mention to him anything about me and money doubler programmes. Really, no need at all.)

Don't get the wrong impression through me mentioning money doublers and get paid to auto surf programmes in the same article. The auto surf for cash sites are in no way related to the money doublers or run by the same people. The one thing the two types of programme have in common is that they are very easy to do but, whereas money doublers were pure scams, get paid to auto surf sites are real online businesses where you can make money at home. The webmasters and webmistresses who own get paid to auto surf sites are, in the main, honest hard-working people, who want to have a thriving business which will bring them an ongoing income for the future. I'm not saying all auto surf for cash sites are run by saints, the owners are just ordinary people who want to make a living on the Internet, and the industry (like any other) has its share of rogues and thieves who will take your money and run, plus a few inept webmasters who just have no idea how to run a business and lose everyone's money.

So, you might ask, how do I take sensible precautions against getting stung? The answer, like most things, is simple! Investigation is the answer. If you like the look of a get paid to auto surf site, join as a free member and check out the forum (if there is one). Surf to test the quality of surfing and don't invest if the surfbar is unpredictable. Email the owner to ask about the site. If you get no reply, drop the site there and then: any website owner who takes a pride in his business will respond to a member's enquiry. If you get a terse reply, pointing out that the answer to your dumb question is in the site faq's, this is still good: an abrupt reply probably means the owner is busy or has got sick of answering the same stupid questions. The point is that he is human and bothered to respond. Don't even think of giving your money to someone who ignores you from day one.

Do an Internet search for forums concerned with making money online, make money at home, auto surfing, get paid to programmes etc. Read what the members are saying about the sites you are thinking of joining as this is usually a good indicator of whether the site is growing or declining. Don't, however, totally rely on the opinion of forum members because the posts often tend to be a bit hysterical and they are, of course, the voicing of personal opinions and not a handing down of the wisdom of gurus.

Check out get paid to auto surf review sites. I don't mean the one page free websites that have been built simply to advertise one person's choice of programmes and build a downline. Look for serious reviews which are regularly updated, these are more likely to be written by dedicated surfers. There are some very good ones around now: I came across one just this week, where you can sign up for a course of get paid to auto surf lessons and a weekly newsletter. This sort of service takes real energy and commitment. If you read a few of these get paid to auto surf review sites, you will get a feeling for which of them belong to dedicated surfers and which are the work of sloppy amateurs who half the time don't even notice when their recommended programmes have closed down.

Another thing you can do to make life as an auto surfer for cash safer is to tread the path which has already been smoothed out, tiptoe in the footsteps of the people who are already making money from auto surfing. If it is working for them, copy what they do and listen to their advice. The foremost piece of advice any decent auto surfer for cash will give you is "don't ever use cash you could not afford to lose", the second most valuable piece of advice is probably "spread your investments". If you are prepared to be patient, you can build up a decent income from small investments spread over several get paid to auto surf programmes. This way you can enjoy the get paid to auto surf experience and make some money without living in fear of your life savings being carried out to sea on the virtual surf.

Copyright 2005 Elaine Currie

Elaine Currie has a Work From Home Directory and Auto Surf Review at her Plug In Profit Site: http://www.Huntingvenus.com for people who want to make money at home.