Once it became known that my subscriber database was approaching 800,000 (across numerous niches – some fairly obscure), I started getting dozens of joint venture proposals every day. These “JV proposals” are generally just requests to become an affiliate for their product, or to help with an impending product launch.
Most of the proposals I get are in the internet marketing niche, while less than 1/4th of my database is in that niche. If a product isn’t a perfect match for a niche, I don’t consider offering it to that niche. Experience has taught me that offering inappropriate products is one of the quickest ways to lose your list!
I thought that it might be useful to share some of how I decide which products to promote and why those criteria matter. This should prove useful to both product owners looking for joint venture partners, and to those also trying to decide which products they will promote.
https://www.aloeveraproductsshop.eu/
Here are some of the questions that I consciously ask myself:
1) What does it do, and is this something that my subscribers both need and already want? If they want it but I don’t feel that they need it, then offering it to them may cause an ethical dilemma. I don’t compromise my ethics! If they don’t want it, and aren’t already looking for it, then making sales can also be an uphill climb.
If it’s too difficult to explain what it does, then the sales process will have to be protracted. If it’s just “the next shiny thing,” then telling my subscribers about it is probably more of a distraction than a service.
2) Does it really work if my customers will just use it? A skilled copywriter can make burnt toast soaked in hemlock sound appealing! What value does the product actually add to the stream of life?
3) Do I know the product owner and feel that they are reputable and someone I want to trust with customers whom I care about and nurture? I work very hard at building a relationship with my customers and trying to actually help those willing to be helped. I won’t do anything to un-do years of hard work.
4) Has the product owner ever promoted one of my products and how much effort did they put into it. Many people have been trained to point out that they are a subscriber or customer in a joint venture proposal. My question then becomes did you become a subscriber, or buy my $5 product, just so that you could stick that in your joint venture proposal. Did you register as an affiliate, and then promote no harder than making one blog post… which barely generated 10 clicks?
5) Are they a member of The Internet Marketing Inner Circle, my membership site, where they are both exposed to the culture of my online operations, and I get to interact with them… and get a feel for them and their business accumen and standards?