Joint Ventures - a definition

On its most basic level a joint venture is simply an agreement to pay someone else for selling your product, This can take the form of an agreement between you and a webmaster to sell your products on his/her website, an affiliate program which is open to everyone or a limited agreement for a few others to sell products for you. Any one of these is called a joint venture.

Here is a step-by-step plan for locating and recruiting Joint Venture partners

1. Identify Complementary Sites in your Target Market
   
   This is the first step in creating solid joint ventures--finding people who can actually move your products. Ask any affiliate program manager and he will tell you that 90% of his affiliates make little if any sales. The vast majority of the sales each month are generated by a small number of very effective webmasters.
   
   When looking for these possible partners to offer your products, you are looking for several characteristics:
   • High traffic or large newsletter list
   • Respect in their chosen niche
   • Non-competative with your own product or service
   
   
   Here are a few ways to quickly identify these partners:
   
   
   1. Search for keywords related to your product on major search engines, taking note of the top five or ten non-competing sites in each category.
   2. Run these sites through Alexa to determine their relative traffic ranking.
   3. Collect all of the contact information using a WHO IS search at a place like Direct NIC.
      
      
      Once you have identified possible joint venture partners, you are ready for step two:
      
2. Recruit Joint Venture Partners
   
   This can be the hardest part for many people, the easiest for others. If you are a "people person," this will be a breese.
   
   The best way to contact JV partners is via phone, though postal mail and email also can be used. You want to make sure to give them a complementary copy of your product, tell them they are under no obligation to promote it, ask them for their honest opinion, and finally offer them a higher commission for their sales than others receive.
   
   This combination is powerful in helping recruit top-notch joint vetnure partners.
   
   Once you have gotten a couple partners under your belt, you are then ready to:
   
   
3. Give them Tools and Trainging to Help Them Be Effective
   
   Make sure they have all the tools they need to make as much money as possible through you. If they need a custom solo ad, write it for them. A new banner, create one. Just these little touches will not only make you sales, they will build your trust and credibility with your affiliate.