A concern many people have when starting a home based business is finding one that is legitimate. This article gives you a few things you can check out when searching for a legitimate home based business.Take a close look at these four things.1. Longevity of the opportunity. There are plenty of opportunities to get started in a business of your own with companies that have a proven track record.There are direct sales companies such as Avon or Amway that have been around for many years. There are Internet business opportunities that have been around for 10 years or more.Amazon is a good example of this. Amazon is an affiliate marketing program that has been around for over 15 years now.2. A product people need and want. The last thing you want to do is waste time and money trying to sell a product that nobody has a need for.More importantly it needs to be a product that people actually want. Good businesses to be in are those that sell basic commodity items that people use and reuse.Online business tools such as training, auto-responders and website hosting are always going to be in demand. Another example of this is domain names.3. Marketing materials. You will need to promote the products and business opportunities that you are in.The majority of internet marketers are not good at designing their own marketing materials. Legitimate home based business opportunities will give you materials to help you promote your business.Today there are many excellent tools such as banner ads, You Tube videos, email marketing messages and blog articles.4. Can you make enough money? After all the making money is the whole point of getting into business.You need to have a very clear idea of how you are going to make money with the business you're joining. When you sell their products legitimate opportunities are going to allow you to make plenty of money.Other opportunities such as residual income businesses will let you make money when you recruit new distributors into your downline. You can even make money when people underneath you purchase and sell products.You want to do your due diligence when researching any home business opportunity. Legitimate home based business opportunities can provide a proven track record and even testimonials from satisfied members and are not going to scam you. Take your time and thoroughly check out any opportunity before you decide to get involved with it.