As I am learning my direction here in WA, I have read many, many helpful articles about niche choices, and product choices, both within the WA world and from an abundance of outside sources. Ultimately I decided on a campaign  within the Green Energy area, and got things rolling.
I have been relatively successful in getting clicks to my site, many responders to a free info package that is available, and a decent number that are clcking onto the Affiliate sites. However, although there are several daily clicks onto the merchants order forms, there have been no actual click-thrus to a sale.

SO  - I am left puzzled by the problem, and have been doing some analysis.    While doing some online reading, I discovered some interesting data.

A recent survey (May 2010) by a digital media research company, unearthed the fact that, while increasing numbers of companies are turning to social media methods for their advertising, well over 50% of them are flying by the seat of their pants, with NO ESTABLISHED GAME PLAN.

Those companies that ARE establishing game plans, include such actions as:
-     dedicated staff to maintain their online activities
-     registering usernames on social media sites
-     researching their competitors tactics
-     setting up tracking mechanisms
-     establishing corporate policies for employees  

But the other 50% +, are not so organized, and their programs and ads, banners etc show it.

Further studies have uncovered data, that I feel is worthwhile for those of us into Affiliate Marketing. They have determined the factors in a website that ad responders claim to be of  relative importance to them, in the order of priority that they indicated:

- pricing/shipping info clearly stated                                      96%
- site looks credible and trustworthy                                      76%
- product of interest is displayed on the homepage           71%
- page must be visually appealing                                         67%
- availability of total cost calculator (shipping,tax,etc)         60%
- site search function                                                                48%
- privacy statement available                                                   45%
- onsite customer testimonials                                               41%
- online customer service (live chat)                                      33%
- links to Facebook, Twitter etc                                                23%

After having digested this data, I went back and reviewed the websites for the companies with which I had affiliated, and reviewed the above factors.  Much to my dismay I found that both were sadly lacking in many of the above items.  Maybe it is a shot in the dark, but I have now changed my program and found another company and product that seems to be much more professional, and will be promoting them instead. It will be interesting in the next few days to see if there is any improvement in my CTR.  

Hopefully this can be of some help to any of you while trying to choose a company that you will be affiliated with, over and above the other factors such as commission rates etc etc.