The Commonwealth Alliance Program (CAP), businesses reported that strategic alliances (Joint Ventures) accounted for 25% of all revenues in 2005, $40 trillion dollars. “This figure has been steadily growing over the past years as more solopreneurs and Work At Home Parents (WAHPs) decide to unite to augment their revenue in the highly competitive global environment.

Joint Venture

A Joint Venture is defined differently by various online business communities. A small business owner can engage in a Joint venture to build their opt-in list, increase profits, increase hits, and expand exposure.

An example is a venture where a content rich, 10 000 page pet web site affiliating for a company selling products to pet owners. The content rich site ranks high, is optimized, is listed on thousands of search engines, and has its own list of repeat users. All they need is a product to sell.

Good Joint Ventures have created fortunes. They bring together products and services, media, and resources to reduce the time needed to promote and market a product or service.

There are four players in the JV world, each must work with the others, each is of equal importance.

The Customer List

It can take a long time to find a list owner who will sell a new product. Most list owners sell products that offer a proven value for their members.

The product owner cannot join commission junction and hope they will make millions. The product owner need to find lists with a narrow niche who really needs their product.

This can be hard, as many list owners mistakenly try to be everything to everyone. This increases their audience but reduces. These list owners often brag about their hits and their newsletter mailing list size. Instead, they should be talking about ROI, return on investment, click through vs buy rates, and demographics.

A product can be a home training course, a book, or even a PODcast coaching seminar series. It does not need to be something someone would

The Product

There are millions of products available on the web. Some are fantastic, unfortunately, they will never make their creator rich because they are difficult to market.

No list owner wants another ebook or e-course, unless it will guarantee success. No list owner wants a product from a company so small that they may provide poor customer service, or go out of business. This reflects badly on the niche list and community.

This is why many small business owners work with click bank, commission junction, Pro Stores, and other sites that offer credibility as well as affiliate marketing.

WHY IT WORKS

One of the most profitable Joint Ventures is seen in the blogging sphere. The blogger owns 20 blogs which receive thousands of hits a month. They ping daily, write free articles to build inbound links, and build subscriber lists. They use Google or affiliate codes to generate income, and help sell products.

The main reason why more people are not earning a profit from Joint Ventures is fear. Small business owners think ‘scam’ when someone talks about Joint Ventures.

JVs are not a get rich quick scheme. It takes time and work to make $1000 a week. The list owner can send people to the product owner’s web site, but unless there is something to do, or samples, and forums, and ‘contact us’ features, the visitor will probably leave.

It is a symbiotic relationship, but no one part can sit back and rake in money without investing time and effort into improving their conversion rates. The list owner and the product owner both work to convert visitors into buyers.

The beauty of a Joint Venture is that you do not need to sign away ownership of your business. Everyone is watching The Dragons on television. This group of successful millionaires buys into inventor’s schemes, taking up to 100% ownership of the patens. Joint ventures are different.

The Joint Venture is not a merger. It is a relationship between two business entities that will use each other’s strengths improve profits.