How to Evaluate Your Website to Know What Affiliate Products to Sell

Every web site has a focus and a reason it exists. It attracts visitors interested in or about that focus. Understanding why people visit your website is important to knowing what affiliate products and services you can market on that site.

For instance, if your website has a "Lord of the Rings" focus, then your site attracts visitors interested in the "LOTR trilogy." These visitors are also likely into all things fantasy, dragons etc. – perhaps even other occult or horror and science fiction. This also tells you these visitors are most likely NOT interested in talk shows or Britney Spears music lyrics. Selling eBooks on music on a site without the correct focus is not only futile, but you could also drive away visitors who might feel it takes away from the feel of the site. This is a common mistake many website owners make: they can't see the underlying reason for the success of their site.

It's not always easy to identify how your website adds value to your visitors; sometimes it is clear, but often what creates excitement and attracts visitors is not what you think. Perhaps the graphics and compelling stories excite and delight visitors; maybe it's your website's online discussions or the chance to network with other like-minded members. Perhaps visitors find your "for sale" section popular because you offer discounted products or services. Maybe your visitors don't know why they like to visit and can only say they think your website is "cool." If you are not aware of why your website is successful, it's to easy to make changes that devalue it and causes you to promote the wrong affiliate products.

A simple approach to find out what visitors enjoy most about your website is to ask. Use an online feedback form or set up a script to poll your visitors directly. Set up a simple e-mail link requesting contact information "for those who are fans of the site" or who may wish to participate in improving your site. Maintaining an up-to-date e-mail list of visitors is a major value to you, the web site owner. It allows you to conduct polls about current site features, interests and trends. The types of questions you might want to ask include:

1) Why do you visit my website?
2) What is the most useful feature on the site?
3) If you could change two things what would they be?
4) Do you like the layout and look of the site
5) Do you feel other sites are doing a better job, if so which ones?

Obtaining this information will allow you to understand why visitors favor your website. You can now decide what you can add or change to your website without losing its focus or detracting from the inherent usability.

You can use tools and software methods to track visitors who access your webpage, as well track where and what page(s) or areas they visit. Using these tools to review that data regularly is important to any successful web site optimization. Let's assume you have polled your members, reviewed which of your site's features are the most popular and decided what affiliate products and services would interest your visitors. The next step is to sign up with an affiliate network, such as ClickBank or Commission Junction, which can provide you with marketable products aimed at your visitors' interests.