A joint venture (often abbreviated to JV) is a strategic alliance between two or more webmasters to undertake the promotion of products or services for mutual gains especially in profit sharing. The parties agree to create a new entity together by contributing their assets and they then share in the profits and control of the enterprise.

So how exactly does this help you promote your products to thousands of target customers?

If you are starting a web site solely for the purpose of developing an online business, you need to keep your costs low, at least until you start getting a steady income. Depending on a variety of reasons including the type of product or service you are promoting, the demand for these, your advertising strategies etc, it may take a while for you to see a good return on the time, money and energy you have expended. Even if you are happy with the way your online business is running, you may find that after sometime it has reached a plateau. The best way to overcome this is to have an ever expanding list of new and targeted visitors coming to your site, to whom you can promote your products/services.

One of the easiest ways of achieving this is through Joint Ventures. Although the joint venture process is simple, it is a powerful marketing strategy because once your online business website strikes up a partnership with another website, you can begin to leverage the web assets of your partner's site.

If your partner has Opt-in Lists or high traffic capability, then you also stand to benefit from these features. Leverage is a powerful marketing concept. Joint ventures utilize this to create a strong bonded relationship and goodwill among other companies, especially those with established clientele that are your potential customers/buyers. Joint venture's main draw is that it is a total win-win solution. You and your joint venture partner leverage each other's assets and resources for mutual benefits. You and your joint venture partner gain new customers and your subscribers get access to new and diverse products. You do not have to spend too much or even risk failure. Moreover, you get a chance to have your products marketed by using other people's resources. If your joint venture partner has an already established website , you gain a very fast way of marketing your products and services and establish a credible reputation.

Joint venture can also bring you new subscribers and customers without your having to spend anything. You get to leverage your partner's web traffic and let your products and services be exposed to their existing subscribers and customers. If you have a new website that is struggling to increase traffic, joint ventures help you to get the necessary traffic and to attract potential customers by the thousands.

What you should do in order to profit from JVs:-

1. Have a plan - Choose those websites related to your online business website. Take the time to locate those that sell to your target market. Consider also what products or services they are selling. Be clear about the attributes you seek in a partner. Make sure however, that they are indexed in Google. Also, in negotiating with your potential partners, always be prepared for some give and take.

2. Have clear goals and expectations - As a new comer to joint venturing and especially if you are not well known in the field, you might find it hard to link with the better known marketers. Sweeten the deal for them by offering them something they don't have - perhaps a new and good product or service that complements theirs, a list of loyal and targeted subscribers, even if the list is not very big or offer your knowledge and expertise in the form of a free eBook or report in exchange for the free exposure and publicity your business needs.

3. Publicize your Joint Venture - Make sure that your subscribers know well in advance that there is a joint venture coming up. Encourage them to inform other interested marketers whom they know, of the event, so that they can also join up. You can increase your subscriber base this way even before the joint venture starts. Make sure that the JV promotion emails have passed through the spam filter checks to avoid having them deleted.

Joint venture partnership not only helps in driving traffic to both your sites, you can also help each other to increase your respective search engine rankings. A profitable joint venture can mean a good amount of money in a short period of time; it can bring your products and services to the right market without spending a cent of your own money. You can increase your customer base and use this experience to strike up other mutually advantageous joint venture deals.