I often get e-mails from new affiliates telling me that they’re going to give a try to our affiliate program by putting a link or banner up and that if it they don’t make any sale, they will take them down. The issue here is to know what’s a valid test of an affiliate program. Most affiliates wrongly assume that it’s a question of time, usually thinking that running a test for a couple of weeks is enough to figure out if a program works or not. However, what matters most is not the time but rather the quantity and quality of traffic your site is getting.
Taking these criteria into consideration, the best method is to secure a relevant number of clicks, which will allow you to assess the conversion rate of an affiliate program. According to industry standards, you will need at least a few thousand clicks to get a solid approximation. Once you reach that level of clicks, calculate the number of Sales per Click & Earning per Click (EPC) ratios — to give you an idea, in November, one of our affiliates had an EPC as high as $2.56/click.
If your site doesn’t have enough traffic to generate a few thousand clicks, it is recommended to keep affiliate links up — there is nothing to loose and you might end up making a sale on the long run.