I'm trying to decide whether to put my energy into marketing and advertising to drive traffic to my site, or into improving the site and adding products to improve the conversion ratio (browsers to buyers). What is the range of conversion ratios around the Internet? Is there any place I could read more about this?

Our conversion ratio for 2BigFeet is about 50 unique visitors / 1 sale. It varies a little but averages around there...

Cool, thanks for the info.

Remember, his statistics are from his site alone/possibly a different product/service than you're offering. In order to really measure, ask a competitor

I read somewhere, can't find the article righ now, that the average web conversion ratio is 1-2%. Not sure how they came by that number though. My opinion would be to focus on getting the best conversion ratio before you spend lots on your advertising. Doesnt do much good to drive lots of traffic if something in your site is hurting your CR. What seems like a small change in CR could mean a big difference in your profit sometimes. I do know of a cool site with some interesting calculators to help you figure your cr and bid cap for your ppc advertising. Not sure if it is appropriate to post it here though. You can pm me if you would like it. Also, though I am no expert, I would think that while you product mix is important that a bigger change in your CR would come by streamlining your checkout process and being sure your site functions smoothly. I would also be sure you are using a quality web metric package to gather your info, not the cheesy crap my current host uses. If you cant accurately track your CR its hard to tell if your improvements help it.