In the second half of this blog, we will continue to make our way through the last six items on our Spring cleaning checklist. This list is targeted toward helping you efficiently clear out your affiliate clutter for spring, and in return, increase your profits!

#6 – Try a New Niche

New niche merchants are “hitting the streets” with affiliate programs every day. And with the right tools, like SEO Web Site Builder and Wordtracker, you can build a small niche site in a matter of a few days. So why not test out a few of these new niches this Spring?

Don’t get too ambitious. After all, you’re just testing the waters. But don’t waste your efforts by failing to track. Build a few niche sites around some lightly competitive keywords, get them online, and then forget about them. They’ll have all Spring and Summer to get indexed and emerge from Google’s Sandbox. Or purchase an inexpensive link or two from Text-Link-Ads.com to get the indexing process going. Then see how those

#7 – Revamp Your Site Design

Spring is a great time to review the code on every one of your sites. Check for obvious SEO-busters, like javascript menus, and make a plan to replace those with search engine friendly text links. Take a look at the design, too.

Many marketers report that by converting to tableless layouts created with CSS, their search engine rankings improve. That’s because with CSS you can get all your keyword optimized content to the TOP of your code and still have a great looking design. While it’s a big job to redesign with CSS, especially if you’re used to old-fashioned HTML coding, templates can make it easier. You can get inexpensive templates with clean CSS coding at Web Traffic Strategies.

#8 – Clean up Your Mailing Lists.

Are you getting a lot of bouncebacks? Is your open rate sagging? Does your mailing list seem to have more bad than good email addresses? Maybe it’s time to purge those bad email addresses from your list. If you find most of those bad addresses come from Hotmail or Yahoo, maybe it’s time to start blocking those “disposable” mailers from signing up in the first place.

Sure, it may look like you’re losing a lot of subscribers. But a worthless address won’t make you any money, so there’s no point in keeping it just to have a bloated list. After cleanup you’ll have fewer bounces to deal with. And your web host or autoresponder service will also be a lot happier.

#9 – Try a New Viral Strategy

Been using ebooks as your primary viral tool? How about writing a special report for a change? Or a white paper? How about interviewing an expert in your field for some viral audio? If you’re not writing articles yet and submitting them to article sites, remember that articles are just as viral as downloadable PDFs.

And if you haven’t done ANY kind of viral marketing, now’s the time to start. Develop a few special reports, write 10 articles, or interview three experts NOW, and by this Fall you’ll be reaping the rewards.

#10 – Hold a “Garage Sale”

Most online marketers have a whole collection of marketing odds and ends lying around. We’ve all got inexpensive resale rights products we’ll never promote, templates we’ve stopped using, domain names we’ll never develop, ideas we’ll never get around to, software we’ll never use, swipe files we rarely look at, sales copy that’s half-written, or content we can’t monetize. What’s to say you can’t hold a “garage sale,” and sell off all these goodies?

You can unload these bits and pieces on your web site, offer them to your mailing list, or even put them up for sale on EBay and find out how much a really GOOD idea is worth! Or you can create “surprise packages” and offer them to other marketers. Just be sure that if you’re selling other people’s intellectual property, you ask whether your purchase, resale, or reprint license permits selling this way.

#11 – Prepare for the Unexpected

None of us like to think about this, but welcome to reality. If something happened to you – an accident, an illness, being stranded on the other side of the globe – what would happen to your affiliate business? Would your family or a trusted friend know how to find your affiliate IDs and passwords, FTP to your server, login to your email account, and access your Paypal and bank accounts?
If you have subscribers, members, JV partners, or clients, who would take care of their needs?

Or consider your web sites and computer. What if your hosting company was wiped out by an earthquake, tornado, or hurricane? What if your PC’s hard drive suddenly died, or a flood destroyed your computer? Do you have backup copies of all your sites and IDs, both at home and in a safe place (like your safety deposit box)?

Now’s the time to plan for the undesirable and the unexpected – BEFORE it happens.

#12 – Make New Friends!

If you’re the shy type, the lifestyle and profit potential weren’t the only reasons you chose an online business. After all, where else can you make so much money without ever having to meet new people? But business is all about growth – personal as well as professional.

So this Spring, dig out of your hidey-hole and meet some new people online. Post to a few forums. Contact a few webmasters and introduce yourself.

Join a growing community of people who want to help each other, like The Affiliate Classroom. Each time, knock on the door with a gift in hand. Whether it’s a free product, an offer of help, or generous praise, remember – you don’t have to feel shy if you have something to GIVE.