Every day people encounter new organizations that they want to do business with. Unfortunately, with so many scams on the rise, it’s important to determine if they’re legitimate before continuing.
By doing an online search, It’s very easy to find out if a business is legitimate. Don’t forget to also do a free people search on the employees.
Let’s take a closer look at how to do this effectively.
Check Them Out Online
How many legitimate businesses exist that don’t have a website? Surprisingly 28% of small businesses have no online presence. Just because they’re not online doesn’t mean they’re not legit. However, it does make it slightly more difficult to have confidence in them.
Their Website
On the other hand, just because they have a website doesn’t mean they’re above board. This is the opportunity to find out as much as possible.
First, look at the contact details, and confirm it’s real. If a physical location is displayed, ensure that it exists. If it’s convenient, a quick drive-by will confirm that.
Other ways to confirm legitimacy are by reading its ‘about us terms and conditions, privacy policy, and any disclaimers. A business that spends time creating all these is likely to demonstrate more transparency than others.
When scouring those pages, look for anything untoward that may be buried. Any clauses or loopholes in their conditions, in particular, could be warning signs.
Dig Deeper
Even if the business entity itself is legitimate, not all of the employees may be. Investigate the employees themselves, especially the senior management team.
Social media is an excellent indicator of the morality of people. CEOs and other managers will unlikely have inappropriate pictures or posts uploaded. If they do, this could indicate a lack of professionalism at the company.
Look at their LinkedIn profile. Does it match the about us page on the company website? Any glaringly contradictory information should be investigated further.
Authority Websites
If they don’t have a website, there are several government sites to go to. The chamber of commerce can confirm a business address and phone number at the very least. In the US, the Better Business Bureau can also provide a ton of information about an organization. If they’re not listed with either, they’re quite likely, not legitimate.
Another step would be to check the company’s credit report. The information gleaned from such a report includes:
All this information is public domain and is sourced from financial institutions and credit rating agencies.
Reviews and Testimonials
Don’t just take the reviews and testimonials from the business’ website as gospel. They’re more likely to only include the positive ones, or at least balance them in their favor.
Be on the lookout for fake reviews. Any that have similar names or come from the same IP address are likely to be friends or family of the business owners. These types of reviews are an unfair representation of the organization.
Sites like Yelp or Trustpilot have thousands of honest reviews and can be an excellent indicator of a company’s legitimacy. If they have no reviews on any site, this is also an indicator that something is awry.
Legitimacy is Easy to Prove
The internet makes confirming whether a business is legitimate or not a straightforward task.
First, look for a company website, and spend time reading terms and disclaimers to ensure everything is above board.
It’s not enough to just confirm the entity itself is legitimate. Spend time investigating the primary players in the organization; this action can be extremely beneficial.
If no website exists, use authority sites to find out more, these pages can also be used to reconfirm what’s been discovered.
Finally, look at reviews, and try to find unbiased ones to get a true feeling for the company.