It is no secret that JVs (joint ventures) and cross promotions are one of the most productive ways to make high volumes of sales on the Internet. I want to talk about why they work so well, and how you can make the most of them to explode your online income.

Traditionally, JVs are most common between two people who have created a product and are selling it online. But that need not be the case and I will tell you shortly of a way in which you can get all the benefits, traffic and sales of a JV without even having a product of your own.

But first lets look at the principals of it:

What actually happens in a JV cross-promotion?Websites promote other websites for two main reasons:

1. To earn income from commission sales; and

2. To pay, or earn, favours.

The first of these you might expect, the second is more intricate. You see, when you are running an online business, your options and your growth are restricted if you try doing it all on your own.

Sure, there is pay-per-click advertising, article marketing, traffic exchanges, and a variety of ways you can draw traffic to your site by paying for it. But nothing beats personal recommendation.

Its human nature: We all prefer to buy through personal recommendation than by enticing advertisements. And JVs, or cross-promotions are all about personal recommendation.

The only thing is - as every super-affiliate knows - even if you are offering attractive commission rates, the site that is getting promoted always gets more out of the deal than the JV partner who is doing the promoting. Look at this comparison:

The JV partner doing the promotion gets:

1. A notional favour from the site it promotes; and

2. Commission payments, hopefully paid in good time but always at the discretion of the site owner.

The site being promoted gets:

1. Lots of new list members;

2. Lots of Sales; and

3. Lots of recognition

Which would you rather?

Can you see now why the benefit is not split evenly in a JV deal? This is one of the reasons why it is more difficult than many people think to get JV partners promoting for you.

No matter how attractive your commission percentages are, you will always be getting more out of the deal than your JV partner. Especially the landing page is a list-building squeeze page.

But there is an option available. Especially if your aim is to build a list. You could run your very own site that has a web server script that gives you a complete solution for building a list and a business online.

The main feature of a website like this one is that it turns the above JV example on its head to provide more of win-win for both parties. Here is what you could do with it:

As a list builder and website owner, you can offer a squeeze page for your JV partner to promote. He then sends his list to the squeeze page, where they sign up to your list. Then, this is when it gets interesting. Your JV partner can decide which offer page his signups are directed to after signup.

Gone is the traditional method whereby once his leads have signed up to you they are ours, to direct wherever you like. With your site, your JV partner can choose what to do with them after they have joined your list.

It might be to his own product, or an affiliate link somewhere else - or he may choose to use his affiliate link for your product (in keeping with the normal method). The point is, your JV partner has more say about who benefits from his promotion and how. And that kind of power makes all the difference when it comes to getting others to promote for you, and build your list.

This is one of many characteristics of a Viral System that make it well worth a good look if you want to start building JV relationships. Viral marketing is the key to getting people to work for you.

It is like having your very own army of affiliates building your list for you. Unless what your doing has some sort of viral component to it you will expend huge amounts of energy, and probably cash trying to make it work.

Your money will dry up long before you see a result and you will chuck it all in and say that it doesnt work and its too hard. Leveraging off others that also want to build a list is the key to this system. They build their list while building yours. They win and you win. How good is that!

Stop wasting time promoting against millions of other affiliates that are doing the same thing as you. Start concentrating on building your list and promote your products that way. There is nothing better than a personal recommendation.