Has anyone ever partnered with another website.  Let me tell you the deal.
This woman of a parenting site emailed me and asked if I would partner
with her.  I talked with her on the phone and we discussed it.  She asked if I
would write work at home articles and be featured on her main  page.  The
obvious exchange would be I would get publicity for one of my sites.  There is no money involved.  Plus I would only be able to write for her and no one else.  I have not signed the contract yet or even received it to review yet.

What should I expect when I partner with someone?  Should I be receiving
money for my articles and hard work?  How much do I tell her I want?  I
have no idea since this is my first partner opportunity.  Please help if you know anything about this.  Thanks so much for your help--Stacy

Here are some of the responses:

Hi Stacy and Everyone!

I have started doing several joint ventures with other websites.  There are two pieces to your post that concern me and make me go "hmmmmmmmm".......

1.  There is no money involved.
2.  Plus I would only be able to write for her and no one else.

If she were paying you big bucks in #1, then I could see some validity for #2. 
Much of my traffic is generated through infiltration of my writing all over the Net.
I can not imagine writing for only one website, ezine, etc. I mostly write first for my own content, and then offer it to the world.  One measuring stick I have made in the Joint Ventures I have started participating in is this: Is this a mutually beneficial arrangement where the benefit is equitable?  My thought is to go wider with your reach instead of only with one website, unless there is a reason to stick with only one.  There could be that reason!  I hope this is helpful, Stacy.  It is simply my humble opinion! With Purpose and Passion--Julie

I highly advise (1) contracts that are sent to be brought immediately to your own personal attorney, (2) then sit on it at least a week before executing it, (3) if it sounds too good to be true, it always is! and (4) what's in it for you?  NEVER, EVER give away your copyright or intellectual property permanently.  Syndicated women's content has value.  I prefer "alliance" vs. "partnership" anyway.... as well as a "get out clause" that can be used as a "poison pill" if you feel you are being financially hurt in some way.  Always come to the group with questions like this.  Find someone within the group to cuss and discuss any offer to "control" your growth for someone else's benefit.

With all the dot com money that was being thrown out here and there, only 2% of the women business owners actually received any of that investor dollar.  However, many of those dot com business start-ups who got their hands on that money went from rags to riches overnight.  The other women's networks called  us to their sites with promises of reward and benefit and what happened is our visits to their websites gave them commercial advertisers.  They used the commercial advertisers and now, advertising companies are still licking their wounds in advertising on women's websites.  If you check their publicly traded stocks, most have dropped to unbelievable lows.

Recently, a new women's network who claimed to be the up and coming blessing in disguise to women closed down several of their so called "winning tv productions for women" and went back to their "investors" claiming a need for yet more money.  However, in their message boards, the community of women who went and interacted, if they left a link to their business websites, their staff deleted it as a "conflict in interest."

"Conflict in interest?"  So, what I am saying is, beware.  If we are to build a women's online network it must be a win-win for the women who invest their time and websites.  It must value women's work!  We must stand strong against get rich quick schemes as most of these schemes attack women first.

I've been involved in building the women's community for over 9 years.  There are a lot of wonderful "new beginnings" and opportunities for us to grow our businesses.  What we need to do is always have a core "advisory group" to help us all benefit from our hard work and build value in the work of women.

According to the National Foundation for Women Business Owners (NFWBO), as of 1999, 38 percent of all U.S. firms were owned by women. These operations employed close to 28 million people and generated more than $3.6 trillion in
sales. Best of all, financial institutions are beginning to pay attention. 

To your success,

Deb Nyberg

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