Every week, I approach new potential joint venture partners and every week I have many people wanting to partner with me.  Over time, I have developed definite preferences in the types of joint venture partners I deal with.

So I decided to write this article to give tips to others looking to do joint ventures as to what works.

Work With Compatible Audiences

My own list consists of people wanting to learn how to make money online.  So I would burn my list if I started sending them info on unrelated topics like weight loss, quitting smiling or credit score products.  So before you approach a potential partner, look at their web site addresses to see what would interest their subscribers.  This will keep you from wasting both your time and the partner’s time.

Build Your Own List First

To be brutally honest, I don’t need to promote your product to my list.  I earn 1,000s of dollars each month promoting affiliate products  but places like ClickBank have an unlimited supply of products for my niche.  So I am not looking for more products to promote to my list.

What I AM looking for is to get my products out to more people.  So if you have a list of people who are interested in products like mine, we can talk.

But be realistic.  If you tell me that your new “system” for making money online is fantastic but it has only managed to get you 100 subscribers, you have NO credibility with me.  Why would I tell my list of 75,000 subscribers about your product in return for you emailing your 100?

So build your own list first and work with smaller list owners while you build until you get a substantial list of your own.  I do understand what it is like to start out, so I will work with lists as small as 5,000.

Have A Good Alexa Ranking

I have many people claiming to have very large lists wanting to work with me.  But how do I know if it is true?  Well, I ask them for their list size and the url where their subscribers sign up.

Then I check their Alexa ranking.  Alexa rankings are based on the activity of people who have the Alexa toolbar installed.  It isn’t a perfect tool, but it is reasonably accurate in the Internet marketing field because of lot of people in the Internet marketing field have it installed.

The lower the Alexa ranking, the more popular the site is.  For example, at the time of this post, Google is #1, American Express is #585, Well-known Internet entrepreneur YanikSilver.com is 68,702 and my own FreeTrafficBar.com is 28,526.

Recently I heard from a person who claimed a list of 50,000 in the Internet marketing field, but his Alexa ranking on his subscriber signup page was over 1.3 million.  This didn’t seem to match, so I declined the ad swap.

So install the Alexa toolbar (I put mine at the bottom of my browser out of the way) so you can see your Alexa ranking and work on building your traffic.

Have A Unique Product

One of the annoying things to me lately is that a lot of the ad swap proposals are all for similar products.  Everyone seems to have a new “system” for making money online and they are all starting to blur together and sound alike.

My niche online has been to focus on creating unique products.  My Free Traffic Bar,Screen Swarm, Internet One System and Resale Rights  products have only 1-2 competitors each.  So they don’t compete with all the other systems out there.

Make your product approach unique and I am much more likely to want to offer it to my members.

Have An Affiliate Program

While I have an unlimited supply of Clickbank products I can earn money on, I would also like to earn money on the ad swap I do with you.  So you should have an affiliate program I can join so I earn commissions when I promote your product.  I pay a 50% commission to my ad swap partners, so it would be nice to make some money in return.  And if your product is a ClickBank product, that works tool.

Free Plus Upgrade

My audience is a lot of Internet marketing newcomers who are just learning how to make money online.  So they are very interested in valuable “free” reports, ebooks, videos and other tools.  Definitely add an upgrade or one time offer so we can both earn month, but adding something of value for free gets them into your list and gives them a great first impression.

Strong Landing And Offer Pages

Since part of the reason I am promoting your product is to earn money, I always look at the landing page where I am sending my subscribers.  Does it look professional?  Does it clearly explain the offer?  Is it compelling?  Do I think it will convert well?  If you have a free offer on the front end, I would also like to see your back end offer as this is the part where I make money.

Offer Bonuses But Automate Them

I really enjoy it when my partners can offer bonuses, BUT I need them as automated as possible.

I don’t want to have my staff getting support tickets and having to scramble to get our subscribers their bonuses from you.

On my first big ad swap, I spent 3 days adding the bonuses manually to my new members accounts!  I swore never again.

So, I had my programmer design an automated coupon system where I could give away blocks of free advertising credits.  This has worked very well for my partners.

I Hate Prelaunches

Maybe it is just me, but I hate prelaunches.  Usually the page I am supposed to send people to has almost no information about what they will be getting.

It is ok to have joint venture partners sign up ahead of time to submit bonuses and get material ahead of time, but usually, I just wait for the actual launch to promote.

I Hate Short Notice

My solo ads are on a schedule and I have many projects on the go.  So I can’t drop everything to try to pull together bonuses and a solo ad for you when you give me only a couple of days notice.  If I am a valuable partner to you, let me know about your upcoming projects weeks ahead of time and I can work with you on them.

Conclusion

So these are my thoughts and rants about ad swaps and joint ventures.  I hope you will think of these as you build your own online income through ad swaps.

Garland Coulson, “The EBusiness Tutor”

“Resistance is futile.  You will be assimilated.”

I mean, come on.  This doesn’t sound very attractive at all.  No wonder races fight instead of surrendering.

Perhaps they should assimilate a  professional copywriter…anyone got one they want to suggest?

I can see the new headlines now:

• Never Be LonelyAgain!
• Gain Great Strength and Enhanced Vision Overnight!
• Join Today And See The Galaxy!
• Instantly Gain The Knowledge of 10,000 Races!
• Join Us In Our Quest For Perfection!
• Suffering From ANY Disease?  Free Nanoprobe Cure!
• Conquer Insomnia With Our Attractive Alcoves!
• Frustrated By Computers? Try Our Direct Interface!

And maybe a few bonus offers:

• Choice Of Appendage Color For The First 100 Signups
• Your Choice of Appendage Tool If You Signup By Midnight Tonight

And why not a totally awesome, “30 Day Free Trial.”  Of course, once their individuality is gone, you don’t have to worry about refunds, anyway. 

Garland Coulson, “The EBusiness Tutor”

But a funny thing happened.  Because the iPhone was always with me and ultra portable, I started using it a lot more than I expected.

1. “Good Enough” Camera: I have a Canon T1i DSLR camera which of course takes much better photos than the iPhone.  But I tend to take it only on vacations or hikes on nice sunny days because of weight.  But when I see good candid shots at other times I am out and about, the only camera always at hand is the iPhone.  So I take a surprising number of pictures on it.  With my luck, it will be the only camera at hand when I see Bigfoot, but at least I will have a camera…
2. Good Enough” Calendar: The Calendar and scheduling systems on my computer are much more robust than my iPhone.  But I use the iPhone for my personal schedule because it is always with me.  So when my son asks if I can go play Frisbee Golf with him (and get thoroughly trounced) I know right away if that time is open.
3. Good Enough” Web Browsing: Web sites look much better on a full size screen, but Safari on the iPhone lets me quickly find local businesses, stores, restaurants, parks and entertainment wherever I am.  And it is always ready to surf.
4. Good Enough” Video Watching: While the screen is small, I can catch YouTube and other videos no matter where I am.   Great for when I am stuck in airports or other waiting areas or when I want to share with someone I am meeting.
5. Good Enough eMail: I had NO intention of ever using the iPhone for email because of the small screen.  But on one trip, I had trouble connecting to the local hotel’s wireless Internet, so I used the iPhone and it’s cell provider Internet to do my email via Gmail.  It worked better than I expected.   I wouldn’t want to type a 3 page email on the little keyboard, but for short replies to my partners and team members to keep me on top of my business when I travel, it worked great.
6. Good Enough” Music: The iPod function of the iPhone easily holds enough music to keep me happy.
7. Good Enough” News: The iPhone is now my personal newspaper.  I choose RSS feeds that match my interests and read them on my iPhone.  If I have to wait for my wife for any reason, I just open the iPhone and catch up on the news.  I have stopped buying newspapers.
8. Good Enough” eBook Reader: I love to read and I am a voracious speed reader.   This is a problem when I travel because I would normally need to take 8-10 paperback books to travel for a week.  But my iPhone has over 100 ebooks on it.  As an added bonus, I can read them at night without turning a light on and disturbing my wife.  Yes a Kindle or other larger ebook reader may be nice, but once again the iPhone is always there, so why buy and carry another device?
9. Good Enough” Maps and GPS: I am good at reading paper maps, but having unlimited maps of nearly everywhere in my pocket is amazing.  I have used this feature while traveling and it saves me buying maps.
10. Good Enough” Astronomy: I am a backyard star gazer and I use iPhone astronomy apps to give me clear sky charts, tell me when the sun and moon moon rise and set and even to have entire star maps of the heavens in the palm of my hand.

The iPhone isn’t the best at anything I use it for, but it is the tool I use the most because it is the one always at hand.  Sort of like a Swiss Army Knife compared to a skinning or hunting knife.  Not as good, but when it is the only knife you have, it is good enough.  For short trips, I don’t even take my laptop anymore, I just use the iPhone instead.

Could I run my entire business from my iPhone?  Since I have taken my business totally virtual by using Zoho and other online tools, I probably could.  Typing is still a lot slower than on a standard computer, it is a shame that Apple hasn’t made an external keyboard to plug into it.   With this, I could probably leave the laptop home when I travel.

Garland Coulson, “The EBusiness Tutor”

Tragically the laptop held about a year’s worth of family pictures including irreplaceable pictures of her newborn.

I just wanted to advise everyone to make sure you do regular backups of your computer. An external had drive is about $80 to $100 and can back up all your data, pictures and music.

If you run an online business, this will get you up and running again right away.   If you just use your computer for home use, backups will protect precious family photos and other information.

It is CRITICAL that you keep the backups off site. A backup on a spare hard drive does no good if they take that too or if you house burns down. Keep the hard drive in a safety deposit box or at a friend’s or relative’s home

Also a good idea to videotape or take pictures of your possessions and keep a list of your possessions and serial numbers. You can also put stickers in hidden areas or otherwise engrave or label your stuff.

This will help with your insurance and also help police trace stolen goods.

Garland Coulson. “The EBusiness Tutor”

Enjoy!

Garland Coulson, “The E-Business Tutor”

Garland Coulson, “The EBusiness Tutor”

But the iPhone is much more useful than that!  Try setting up an iPhone for your favorite hobby and you will be very pleasantly surprised.

Here are some of the fun things I use it for.

1. iPhone Hiking on the beach

I love walking on the ocean beach near where I live. At low tide, I can find tidal pools with star fish, anemones and other sea creatures. My iPhone makes it a snap to find out when the low tides are with the Day Tides application and the weather app tells me how to dress for my hike.

2. iPhone Cooking

Like to cook? the iPhone Big Oven app has 160,000 recipes you can search along with ratings from other users.

3. iPhone For eBooks

I am a diehard science fiction and fantasy reader. Stanza has 1,000s of great free ebooks you can download to the iPhone along with the ability to buy current books. And when I am browsing offline book stores, I keep a copy of my book library list on my iPhone in pdf format so I can find books I am missing from my collection.

4. iPhone Astronomy

I recently got bitten by the stargazing bug. The iPhone has a wealth of helpful aps and resources for astronomy, including:

I was very pleasantly surprised that the iPhone made my hobbies and recreation much richer – not just my business life!

So how I grow it this big this fast?  Just one method – AD SWAPS.

Ad swaps are simply swapping advertising with other marketers who reach a similar audience.  I promote their products to my subscriber list and they recommend my products to their list.  If I swap with 10 other marketers with 10,000 on their list, then my product can reach 100,000 people for free.

But where do you find other marketers to ad swap with?  This has been one of my struggles and my web empire would be much larger now if I was to reach more marketers to swap with.

Recently I was invited to jvME,  a joint venture social network for people wanting to joint venture and ad swap with others.  Think of it as Facebook for Internet marketers.  I am always interested in finding ways to connect with other Internet markers so I signed up and set up a profile.

The system is easy to use, and like Facebook, you can establish friendships, upload photos and join groups.  The membership is small yet, but the powerful thing is that nearly every member is an Internet marketer with either an email or Twitter subscriber list you can do ad swaps with!

Remember, you may not be able to swap with the biggest Internet marketers right away.  If your list is only 1,000, you should start by swapping with other beginners with small lists.  As your list grows, you will be able to swap with larger and larger Internet marketers.

In my first week, I was able to reach an extra 40,000 people from ad swaps I arranged with other list members.

A great service, and it’s free.  Pro members can even run their own groups within the site.

If you are interested in ad swapping at all, this is a must have membership.  You can sign up for free at this link.

Garland Coulson, “The EBusiness Tutor”

I love being able to check my email from anywhere and the spam control is excellent.

But Gmail isn’t perfect.

Previously while using Thunderbird and Outlook Express, I used to like keeping my emails in nested folders.   So if I had a partner named Bob Smith, I would create a folder for Partners and then within my Partner Folder to have another folder for Bob Smith.  This made it very easy to find all the emails I exchanged with Bob.

Gmail works with labels instead.  I like the label system, but I now have over 185 labels.  So it is hard to find Bob’s emails when I need them because Gmail doesn’t let you nest your labels by putting them into categories.

Then I came across a product called Better Gmail.

Better Gmail is a free add on for FireFox that provides a bunch of very useful add on tools for Gmail including nested labels, unread message icon on your browser tab, file attachment icons, and more.

I installed the add ons and now I can easily created nested labels by using this format for naming or renaming Category/Label.  So, for the example above, I would rename my Bob Smith label to Partners/Bob Smith and the add on will show the label as Partners with a plus sign next to it.  When I click on the plus sign, the Partner category label opens up and shows me all the partner labels underneath.

One tip – make sure you change your settings in Gmail to show ALL your labels.  Better Gmail needs all the labels showing to properly move them into their categories.

Better Gmail makes it much easier to organize my hundreds of labels and really increases the usability of Gmail for me.  I highly recommend it.

I am not affiliated with Better Gmail – it just works great for me!  And t has over 3.3 million downloads so many others agree.

Garland Coulson, “The E-Business Tutor”

I didn’t want to spend weeks writing each ebook or creating a video and then waste even more time learning all the difficult, technical aspects of how to design a web site to sell it, deliver it and track results.

So I cheated…

Instead of going through all that work and ending up with just 1 product and web site to sell, I put together over 200 products all with stunning, professionally designed web sites all packaged together in one easy to use system called Resale Rights Hosting.
http://resalerightshosting.com

Resale Rights Hosting gives you over 200 prewritten ebooks, videos and software tools and lets you sell them at whatever price you want for 100% profit.  And EVERY product comes with its own professionally designed web site preuploaded for you – you just add your PayPal email address to get paid.
http://resalerightshosting.com

But that’s not all the system does.  You can also create packages of products with any mix of products you choose.  You could offer an “Ultimate [insert your topic here] Package” where you choose a theme, like marketing, health or pets and offer a group of products together for a higher price.

In addition to making it incredibly simple to sell products Resale Rights Hosting is chock full of other features such as:

- built in unlimited auto responder so you can automate your marketing (a feature large list owners pay over $149 per month for elsewhere)
- ad tracking system to tell you where each sale comes from
- return on investment calculator so you can tell what advertising/marketing works and which is just wasting you money
- email broadcasting to your customers so you can offer them 1,000s of other products via affiliate links

And it keeps getting better!  We add fresh, new products every month.  Our library includes products on niches like marketing, health, beauty,mlm, travel, house/home, pets, relationships and more.
http://resalerightshosting.com

And help is close at hand.  The system includes video tutorials not only on how to use the system, but also on a wide range of other products.  And our support team gets back to you within one business day if not sooner.

Finally, a service that lets you make money today AND reports to you on what advertising is working so you get more bang for your buck and time.

How much, you ask?  How about your own 200+ product web empire for about the cost of an extra large pizza every month.  So instead of filling your tummy, you can fill your bank account – and then afford all the pizzas you want.

And if that isn’t enough, we let you test drive it for month for no charge to make sure it works for you!  You can’t get a better deal than that.
http://resalerightshosting.com

Even if you are an expert Internet marketer, this is the fastest system to sell 200+ products to your lists.  And, if you are new to making money online, this is a powerful tool that lets you make money now without worrying about product creation and all the technical stuff.

Grab your free trial today.
http://resalerightshosting.com

Garland Coulson, The EBusiness Tutor