As an affiliate promoting affiliate programs you need to know
the conversion ratio of each program you belong to.

It is something you have control over.

But what exactly is a conversion ratio?

For affiliate programs, the conversion ratio (or CR) is the
number of visitors that click through your affiliate link
compared to the number of sales you make.

For instance if you had 100 visitors to one of your affiliate
programs you were promoting and got 1 sale then your CR would
be 1%.

One sale for every 50 visitors would be a CR of 2% and one sale
for every 200 visitors would be a CR of 0.5%.

So what would be a good conversion ratio for an affiliate
program?

Well after much research I have seen that a 1% CR is quite
acceptable. A CR of 0.5% would be a little low and if you have
a CR of 3% then you are on to a winning affiliate program.

Depending on what you are promoting your goal should be to
achieve a CR of 1% to 2%. But how?

To get a higher CR you need to concentrate on the following
factors:

1. Join quality affiliate programs that have products or
services that are proven sellers on the internet.

2. Become an affiliate of a HOT selling product or service
including marketing, travel, health & fitness and e-books.

3. The more focused your web site the better your conversion
ratio. If you are promoting 100 different products or services
your CR's will be low. If you promote 1 product or service at
your site your CR will be MUCH higher. With affiliate programs
the less the better.

4. How often you promote your affiliate programs. The more often
you promote each program the higher your CR will be.

5. How many links on your site. The more affiliate links the
higher your CR will be. But do not get carried away here. Do
not let your web site look like a flea market because your CR
will be bound to go down.

By concentrating on these factors you should be able to achieve
a CR of 1%. By doing these things even better you may be able
to get it to 2%.

But do not expect the CR to rise overnight. A visitor today may
only turn into a sale in 6 months time. So make sure you have
12 months of data before properly assessing the conversion
ratio.

The most important thing is marketing your affiliate programs.
More marketing means a higher CR which means more money for you.

So monitor your conversion ratio and make it your goal to
improve it.

About the Author

David McKenzie is the author of a new e-book titled "The Facts
You Should Know About Affiliate Programs"
Get a Free 5 Day Email Course
http://www.1sthomebasedbusiness.com