Blue Global

Technorati recently published “How Much Traffic Until Affiliate Marketing Monetizes?” which discusses how there is no set-in-stone number for how much traffic you need before the money starts coming in through performance marketing. This is completely true, and depending on your industry and niche, you may be profitable with 1,000 visitors a month, while larger niches may need 5,000 or more monthly visitors to see profit.

But this only touches on half of the equation. Yes, traffic is important and if you aren’t receiving consistent traffic, you’ll have a difficult time making money with affiliate marketing. But there is another aspect of the problem that needs just as much attention, and that’s conversions.

It’s simple – without a well-optimized website that’s focused on converting visitors into customers, the amount of traffic you receive is irrelevant. A website that receives 1,000 visitors and converts well will do much better than a larger site with 5,000 visitors and poor conversion rates.

So how do you make sure your doing the most with your traffic? Focus on usability, clear call-to-actions and making it as easy as possible for your visitors to understand what they are supposed to do on your site.

How do you monetize your site? Do you directly sell products, or do you only need to receive a visitor’s personal information? Whatever the goal of your site is, make sure it’s reflected in the design, format and content of your website.

If you’re an affiliate marketer looking to learn more about conversions, usability and making it easier to convert your visitors, I’d recommend reading Steve Krug’s Don’t Make Me Think, one of the best guides on usability and focusing on the customer experience.

Getting traffic is vital, but knowing how to retain and convert visitors is just as important to making money in performance marketing.