The best sites these days are the ones with the most interactive features. Taking cues from the larger sites, think of the interactive features that now bring in high numbers of customers. Using blogs, polls, forums, ratings, feedback, reviews, etc., a site can become more of a reflection of the people who use it, giving the users a reason to come back again and again to help shape the site.
Most of us have bought items from Amazon, that paragon of all affiliates. Think back to the first interactive features- the media reviews. Amazon lagged in the beginning, taking several years to even turn a profit. As they added more and more interactive features, the site became a community, and buyers stuck around both for content that they trusted and to leave content of their own. This includes not just the reviews, but now ranked review levels that reviewers try to attain. There are also now customer written lists of their favorite items, blogs, places for book authors to chime in about their books, interviews, and more. All of these features make the site feel less like a corporate sales machine and more like a hang out. Use a combination of features to achieve your own hang...