A joint venture can be one of the most profitable and fastest ways to make money on the Internet. It can also destroy your reputation, get you ignored, or worse, accused of spam if you if you don't take the proper care to create a valuable offer.

There are three things you should NEVER do when creating a joint venture proposal for a potential partner. Below are three things NOT to do, with several tips to help you do it right.

1. Fail to Plan.

Before you send out any emails to potential partners, you need to plan your offering, decide who you are going to send it to, and what you expect in return.

First, create your offer. Ask yourself these questions:

What am I going to give the potential partner to make him/her want to joint venture with me? i.e. Are you going to give the partner a copy of the product, do you have bonuses available, what's the commission you are paying, are you offering a large one time commission, or a recurring monthly commission?

My rule of thumb is to never offer less than 50 percent. What you want to do is make the partner an offer that is not only fair, but more beneficial up front for him/her than it is for you.

Once you know what your offer is, you want to create solo ads, a review, or something that the partner can plug his/her information into so that you have something to give him/her when you make the offer.

Include the affiliate sign up link, and make it as easy as possible to sign up. Also include the link to the product, as well as tell the partner how to get the download, the membership, or whatever you are selling.

The point is, make it easy. My joint venture partners are busy people. They don't have time to write ads for me, or spend a lot of time getting prepared. They need something they can set up in a few minutes, send it out, and move on. Remember, your potential partners are probably the same.

2. Forget to Target Your Market.

I get over 500 emails a day. Mind you, they aren't all joint ventures although I get a lot of those too.

The point is this: research your market. Find products, services, memberships, etc. that complement yours. Then you have a market.

3. Send Your Offer to the Wrong Person.

No one wants to read offers that say, "Dear Publisher", "Dear Friend", or anything like that.

The first, and most important thing about creating a joint venture is to make sure that you send it to the right person at the right email address.

Although I don't recommend it, you can send your joint venture proposal to someone you don't know provided you have properly targeted your market. This doesn't mean you can send your message to 100s who just happen to be in your target market.

What I recommend you do is this: build a relationship with the person. Build a lot of relationships with a lot of people. If you have something relevant to say about someone's newsletter, write him/her.

I get so many bogus offers that when I get something I appreciate, or I enjoy, I always write the publisher a complimentary email. If there's a survey, I answer it. If the publisher needs help, and I can, I answer.

This is how great business relationships are built online. You would be amazed at how much others are willing to help you when you take the time to get to know them.

Finally, unless you know one of the "gurus", and very well, I wouldn't advise sending them your offer. Most of them already have joint venture arrangements in place and aren't really willing to work with someone they don't know, or who hasn't made it to "guru" status.

There are plenty of potential partners out there with nice sized mailing lists who are hungry for more ways to make more money. With millions online, you have a wide range of potential partners to choose from.

Remember, it really doesn't matter if you sell gardening tools or ebooks, or anything else for that matter, a joint venture can quickly and easily add to your bottom line.