Success: 38 Software Products & Services I Use to Make a 6-Figure Income Online

In my effort to share with you everything I have learnt in the last 10 years of making a living online, I share with you the 38 software products and services I use to run my internet business.

I have always used Dell computers running Microsoft Windows since I discovered the internet in 1997.

But then a couple of years ago my hard drive died and I decided it was time to switch to an Apple Mac. I am so glad I did.

The Mac operating system (OS) is much more user friendly and fun to use. Although the Mac OS X crashes every now and then, it crashes far less often than Windows OS.

The main reason I didn’t switch earlier was because I was worried about not being able to run Windows programs. I used to write reviews on internet marketing software for my Mike’s Marketing Tools site, and the majority of marketing software is created for Windows. But with the new Intel based Apple computers, I can have my Mac OS and also run Windows OS for running Windows software. In fact I can do both at the same time.

Because I use an Apple Mac, the majority of the software programs mentioned in this list are for the Mac. Where possible, I have include the Windows equivalent. Even if I don’t list a Windows equivalent, it will give you an idea as to why I use the program. You can go and find a Windows equivalent on software sites like Download.com.

Out of the 38 products and services, 30 are free. The products and services I pay for add up to $757.84, plus recurring payments of $262.95 per month. You can see it clearly doesn’t cost a great deal of money to set up a profitable business online.

I haven’t listed hardware equipment such as a computer, fax/printer, office desk and chair, etc. The cost of those really depend on your budget and taste.

Here are the 38 software programs and services I currently use to make a 6-figure income online:

Advertising Server: OpenX (Free)

For years I have been using an open source advertising server software to serve ads throughout my various web sites. It used to be called phpAdsNew but is now known as OpenX.

OpenX offers all the features you would want from an advertising server, including displaying all types and sizes of ads, targeting, and extensive reporting. The amazing thing about this amazing piece of software is that it’s free!

OpenX is open source, and therefore free, and runs on a server that supports PHP and MySQL or PostgreSQL-configured database.

AdWords Keyword Tool: JUMBO Keyword .com (Free)

Okay, this is a plug for my latest web site. But I do genuinely use it all the time so I think it’s fair that I include it in this list.

As a full time affiliate marketer and AdWords advertiser I build big lists of keywords using keyword databases such as the Google AdWords Keyword Tool and Wordtracker.

Large keyword lists require a lot of editing and cleaning which is tedious work. For years I have used regular expressions in a text editor to help me clean the keywords. Once the keywords were cleaned, I would use my AdWords Wrapper tool to convert keywords into the various AdWords keyword matching options.

The regular expression functions helped speed up the cleaning process, but I only knew a few functions so it still took too much time and effort. This is why I decided to create JUMBO Keyword .com. It is a free AdWords keyword tool offering 70+ 1-click Google AdWords keyword editing functions.

Now I can edit hundreds, even thousands, of AdWords keywords, as well as convert cleaned keywords into the various AdWords keyword matching options with just a click of the mouse.

Email: Google GMail (Free)

I switched over to Google’s GMail in January 2008 after using Eudora for 8 years. I wish I had switched earlier.

GMail is much easier to use than Eudora because it has a nicer user interface and an excellent spam filter. With Eudora, I had to set up all the spam filters and it was a constant struggle keeping up with new spam techniques. I used to have to manually delete hundreds of spam emails a week. With Gmail, only a handful of spam emails appear in my inbox each week.

I also like the fact that (assuming I am logged into GMail) my emails automatically appear in my account and GMail notifies me that I have a new email the moment it arrives. With Eudora, I had to download emails to my computer before I could even filter them. This meant Eudora would download all the spam emails as well, which was a complete waste of time and bandwidth.

Email Back-Up: Apple Mail (Free) / Outlook Express (Free)

In December 2006, GMail users reported mass email deletions. Rumors were that GMail was hacked using a hole exploit in Firefox 2 - the issues have since been resolved.

Google’s official policy is that once emails are deleted, they are gone forever. So, if you value your emails, I highly recommend you back-up your GMail emails by downloading it to your computer.

I own a Apple Mac and use the Apple Mail program that comes with it. Windows users can use Outlook Express. Google has easy to follow instructions on how to back up your email using your computer’s email software.

FTP: FileZilla (Free)

I use the open source FileZilla FTP software for uploading my web pages to my server. FileZilla is free and runs on Windows XP/Vista, Mac OS X 10.5+, and Linux.

Google AdWords: AdWords Editor (Free)

AdWords Editor is a free Google application for managing AdWords ad campaigns. I can download all my accounts (I have a few), mass update campaigns, and re-upload the changes to AdWords.

I still prefer to set up campaigns via the AdWords website. But I use AdWords Editor when I want to make bulk changes (such as updating bids or adding keywords), and also to copy or move a large number of items between ad groups and campaigns.

AdWords Editor is free and runs on Windows 2000/XP/Vista and Mac OS X 10.4+.

Image Editor: Picnik (Free) + Picturesque (Free) / Paint Shop Pro ($69.99)

Not being much of an artist, I do as little image editing as I have to. On occasions when I have to edit an image, I used to use Paint Shop Pro (PSP) on my Windows computer. Paint Shop Pro runs on Windows XP/Vista and costs $69.99.

The main reason for using PSP is because I’m cheap and didn’t want to spend $600-700 on Adobe PhotoShop or Illustrator.

I haven’t really found a replacement for PSP on my Mac. But the only graphics editing functions I really use are cropping and resizing thumbnail images. I have been able to replicate those functions using Picnik, a free online photo editing web app.

I also use Picturesque which allows me to quickly and effortlessly add 3D effects, reflections, corner curves, shadows, glows and strokes to any image. You can see of an example of an image created with Picturesque on the JUMBO Keyword .com homepage. Picturesque is free and runs on Mac OS X.

Instant Messenging: Skype (Free) / GMail Chat (Free)

I use Skype Chat to chat (via instant messaging) to freelancers. Russian and India freelancers are a bit shy about chatting with their voice.

Skype is free and runs on Windows 2000/XP/Vista, Mac OS X 10.3+, Linux, Windows Mobile, and iPhone.

I also use GMail Chat to instant message with my friends who also use GMail.

Internet Connection Monitor: Little Snitch ($29.95)

Windows users typically have Firewalls, like Norton or ZoneAlarm, installed on their computer. These programs typically monitor your internet connection and notify you if a program, such as spyware, tries to send data from your computer.

Most Mac users, like myself, don’t use firewall software because there is no need. So I use Little Snitch to monitor which programs are sending out data from my Apple Mac. Little Snitch costs $29.95 and runs on Mac OS X 10.4+.

Link Checker: Xenu’s Link Sleuth (Free)

I use Xenu’s Link Sleuth to check my web sites for broken links, images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and java applets.

The great thing about Link Sleuth is that it is free. Link Sleuth only works on Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista.

Local Data Back-Up: Time Machine (Free) + 1 TB Time Capsule ($499)

The Apple Mac OS X comes with Time Machine, a software program that automatically backs up everything on my Mac. I use Time Machine and a 1 Terabyte Time Capsule external hard drive to make local backups of everything.

My Dell computer’s hard drive literally died on me a couple of years ago. I took the hard drive to a data recovery specialist, but even after a week of intensive work they were unable to save the drive or recover any data from it.

Luckily I had backed up everything except for a few months of emails. Learn from my mistake. Back up your computer’s data on another hard drive! Don’t say I didn’t want you.

Long Distance Voice/Video Chat: Skype (Free) / iChat (Free)

I use Skype (and sometimes the Apple Mac’s iChat) to chat with freelancers and friends who live overseas. Skype voice chat requires both parties to have Skype installed on their respective computers. And if both parties have a web cam, we can see each other as we chat.

If you have never tried Skype, I highly recommend that you do. You will be pleasantly surprised by the sound quality. Skype gives you the feeling that the person on the other end is in the same room as you.

I have even had a 3 way chat with my cousins in Hong Kong and England. I was in Australia. The sound quality was excellent, but only if I switched off the video. I felt like they were in the same room as me.

The quality of video picture is excellent when the window is small. But as you expand the window, the quality deteriorates.

Long Distance VOIP Phone Calls: Skype (From ¢2.1/minute)

I use Skype to make cheap international VOIP calls if the person I want to talk to doesn’t have Skype installed or isn’t online. I can call landlines and mobiles from 2.1 cents per minute.

VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) calls are carried over the internet instead of phone lines. The sound quality varies but are generally as good as the sound quality of calls made from standard landline and mobile phones.

Skype also offer two unlimited landline call plans; (1) unlimited calls to a single country for $5.95/month, and (2) unlimited calls to 40 countries for $12.95 per month.

You can also get an online number for friends, family and business colleagues who don’t use Skype. Anyone can dial your online number from any phone or mobile and you take the call on Skype. Skype offers online numbers in over 20 countries so when people call your online number, they only pay the local rate - you don’t pay anything to answer the call.

Music: iTunes (Free)

I love listening to music while I work, especially when I’m doing tedious repetitive stuff like cleaning large numbers of keywords for AdWords campaigns.

I have Apple’s iTunes on my Mac and use it to manage my music collection. I listen to all kinds of music, including Pop, Chinese, Trance and R&B. My favorite album is probably Substance by New Order. It’s wicked!

Online Backup Service: Mozy ($4.95/month) / Carbonite ($54.95/year)

Local backup onto an external hard drive is good, but it’s not enough. I also have off-site backup in case something happens to my computer and local backup. I live under a flight path so a plane could land on my home - not likely, but possible! There’s also the threat of fire destroying the hard drives and someone breaking into my home and stealing my computer and backup drive.

It’s better to be safe than sorry, so I back up my data online using Mozy. The great thing thing about Mozy is that it automatically backs up the data in the background on a regular a basis - I don’t have to do anything.

After the initial backup (which can take a few days depending on the amount of data you have), Mozy only backs up files that have been added or changed. So far, I have 94.5 GB of data backed up on Mozy.

Mozy offer unlimited (yes, unlimited!) backup for just $4.95 per month and runs on Windows 2000/XP/Vista, and Mac OS X 10.4+.

A word of warning if you, like me and probably millions of Australian internet users, are on an internet plan with a bandwidth allowance that includes outgoing data. The initial backup can take you over the bandwidth limit allowed on your plan, so you might need to change your plan for a couple of months, or spread the backup over several months if you have a lot of data to back up.

When I had a Windows PC, I used Carbonite to back up my data. I switched to Mozy because Carbonite didn’t work on the Mac when I purchased my Mac. They have since added Mac support. Carbonite costs $54.95 per year and runs on Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X 10.4+.

Phone/Fax Number: JConnect ($15/month)

Pssst… this is one of my best kept secrets so don’t tell anyone: I have been able to work and live around the world with the help of a JConnect phone and fax number.

I used to live in Los Angeles (L.A.) but moved to Hong Kong and now Australia. Before I left L.A. I set up a JConnect phone and fax number with a local area code (you can choose from over 2,000 cities around the world). So the number looks just like a regular phone number. Whenever someone leaves a voicemail or sends me a fax, JConnect emails me the voicemail/fax.

This, along with my California registered company and mail forwarding address enable me to operate a business out of California, even though I haven’t lived in the United States since 2002. The phone and fax number only costs $15 per month, so it’s very cost effective.

Photo Management: iPhoto (Free) / Picasa (Free)

I use Apple’s iPhoto to organize all the photos on my computer. For Microsoft Windows users, I recommend Google’s Picasa - that’s what I used to use when I had a PC. Picasa is free and runs on XP/Vista, Mac OS X 10.4.9+, and Linux.

Screen Capture: Skitch (Free)

The Apple Mac has screen capture functions, but I prefer to use Skitch because it also include some basic functions to edit the screen capture without having to open another graphic editing program. Skitch is free and runs on Mac OS X 10.4.6+.

Server Uptime Monitor: Uptime (Free)

Web hosts typically promise something like 99.9% server uptime. But how can you be sure that your server is working 99.9% of the time? And what about the other 0.1% of the time? 0.1% is 8.76 hours of downtime a year.

This is why I use Uptime to monitor my server to ensure it is working properly. Uptime periodically requests a page from my server and emails me if the site is unreachable. If my server is unreachable, Uptime will continue checking my site until it becomes reachable again, at which point it will email me to let me know my server is back up again.

There have been occasions in the past when my server was inaccessible for long periods. Without Uptime monitoring I would not have known about it. Do you know when your server goes down?

Spreadsheet: Apple iWork Numbers ($79)

Apple iWork Numbers is Apple’s equivalent of Microsoft’s Office Excel. I can import Excel files into Numbers, and export Number files as Excel documents that can be opened and edited with Excel.

Text Editor: Smultron (Free) / EditPlus ($35)

I used a text editor to write my HTML pages, make notes, brainstorming and plan my business. There are probably better programs for doing those tasks, but I prefer the simplicity of a text editor. It means I can access all those details from one program.

I used to use EditPlus when I had a Windows PC, but switched to Smultron when I moved to the Apple Mac.

Smultron is free and runs on Mac OS X 10.5+. EditPlus costs $35 and runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista.

Typing Shortcuts: TextExpander ($29.95) / Perfect Keyboard ($19.95)

I respond to a lot of emails, and hand type HTML code - I guess I’m old fashioned. The problem is that I am not trained in touch typing, so I’m relatively slow.

When I had a Windows PC, I used to use Perfect Keyboard to help me retype commonly used email responses and HTML code with just a few keystrokes. I also used it to automatically fix common typos, such as ‘teh’ and ‘can;t’. I switched over to TextExpander when I moved to the Mac.

TextExpander runs on Mac OS X 10.4+, and costs $29.95. Perfect Keyboard runs on Windows 98/Me/NT4/2000/XP/Vista, and costs $19.95.

Web Browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, Chrome (All free)

I use Firefox to surf the web because it offers many add-ons that allow me to customize my browser and help increase productivity.

I also create my own webpages and it is important to make sure they display properly on all popular web browsers. So I also have Internet Explorer, Apple Safari, Opera and Google’s Chrome installed on my computer. All the web browsers are free.

Web Browser (FireFox) Add-ons

There are thousands of add-ons you can install to customize your Firefox browser.

Here are 7 add-ons that I use:

• 1Password ($39.95) / Roboform ($29.95)

  As an affiliate marketer I have far too many login usernames and passwords that I care to remember.

  Hence, I use 1Password to manage my login usernames and passwords. Features include password generation and sharing data across web browsers.

  1Password costs $39.95 and runs on Mac OS X 10.4.11+ and Safari 3, Firefox 2/3, Camino 1.5, OmniWeb 5.7, DEVONagent 2.3, and NetNewsWire 3.1. 1Password is also available for iPhone/iPod touch and Palm.

  When I had a Windows PC, I used Roboform to manage my login usernames and passwords. Roboform costs $29.95 and runs on Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003/Vista (all 32-bit versions), IE 6/7/8 and Firefox 2/3.

• Better Gmail (Free)

  Better GMail lets me customize GMail with options such as show inbox count first, show unread message count in the Favicon tab, add row highlights, attachment icons, filter assistant, show message details, hide chat, hide invite boxes, and hide spam count.

• CustomizeGoogle (Free)

  CustomizeGoogle offers far too many options to list them all here.

  The main options I use include adding position counter to Google search results, rewrite links to point straight to images in image search results, stream search results, and always secure (https) GMail, Google Calendar, Docs and Spreadsheets.

• Firesizer (Free)

  Firesizer lets me resize my web browser window to 640×480, 800×600, or 1024×768 pixels. I can also add custom sizes or remove any of those default sizes.

• Google Gears (Free)

  Google Gears allows me to continue reading, writing (without losing anything GMail had not auto-saved) and editing emails in GMail even when I can’t access GMail or I am off-line.

  Google Gears is available on Mac OS X 10.4+ (Firefox 1.5+ or Safari 3.1.1+), Windows XP/Vista (Firefox 1.5+ or Internet Explorer 6.0+), Windows Mobile (IE Mobile 5+, Opera Mobile), Linux and Android.

• Tab Mix Plus (Free)

  Tab Mix Plus enhances the Firefox tabs with all manner of features. You can add duplicate tabs, control tab focus, undo closed tabs and windows, add tab options to the Tab Context Menu, and much more.

• TableTools (Free)

  TableTools adds options to copy, sort, or filter HTML tables you find on any web page. This helps retain the table structure when I copy and paste them from a web page to a spreadsheet.

Web Hosting: Softlayer (From $258/month)

I have used several web hosts in my 11 years of running an online business. Each has been better than the last. I switched to Softlayer a few years ago at the recommendation of my tech guru, Peter Cooper.

Like most people, I used virtual hosting for the first few years I was online. Virtual hosting is sharing a server with hundreds, even thousands, of other web sites.

As my business grew I decided it was wise to get my own server, otherwise known as a dedicated server. This way I have full control over the server and don’t have the possibility of unscrupulous sites on the same server using up an unfair share of resources and slowing down other sites on the server.

The server I have with Softlayer is an Intel Xeon 3220-Quad Core 2.4GHz processor and 2 GB of RAM, and bandwidth allowance of 2,000 GB. Remember that I got this a few years ago, so you can probably get a faster processor now for the same price.

As soon as I switched to the quad-core (4 core) processor, I immediately noticed a big difference in the response time of my websites. The Marketing Forum Watch page in my Mike’s Marketing Tools site is quite resource intensive and used to take as long as 20 seconds to download on the old server. On the new quad-core server, it only takes a second or two. That’s a huge difference!

The one major downside with having your own server is that you need to know how to set up and maintain the server. I am not a techie so I don’t. Luckily Peter takes care of that side of the business for me.

I pay $258 per month which is a lot of money. I can skimp and save on other parts of my business, but web hosting is not one of them. After all, if my server is down, then I’m not open for business. If I had a real store, I would probably pay tens of thousands per year in rent. If I compare that to what I’m paying for web hosting, I think web hosting is a bargain.

If you have multiple web sites or your site is slow, I recommend looking at upgrading to your own dedicated server, especially one with a multiple-core processor.

Windows Operating System: VMWare Fusion ($79.99) / Parallels ($79.99)

The latest Intel-based Macs allow you to run Windows and Mac applications side-by-side, without rebooting. You can even drag files between the two operating systems.

You accomplish this by creating a virtual machine running Microsoft Windows operating system (OS) inside of your Mac OS.

There are basically two main programs for doing this; VMware Fusion and Parallels. I did a lot of research to find out which is better, but I couldn’t find any conclusive evidence to support one version over the other. Users like both Parallels and VMware Fusion. So I chose VMWare Fusion although I can’t recall why.

Both VMware Fusion and Parallels cost $79.99 and require an Intel Mac, 1GB of RAM, Mac OS X 10.4.11+, and a copy of Microsoft Windows.

Word Processor: Apple iWork Pages ($79)

Apple iWork Pages is Apple’s equivalent of Microsoft’s Office Word

I can import Word files into Pages, and export Pages files as Word documents that can be opened and edited with Word.

So there you have the 38 software products & services I currently use to make a 6-figure income online.

Here is a recap of all the software products and services:

• Advertising Server: OpenX (free)
• AdWords Keyword Tool: JUMBO Keyword .com (Free)
• Email: Google’s GMail (Free)
• Email Back-up: Apple Mail (Free) / Outlook Express (Free)
• FTP: FileZilla (Free)
• Google AdWords: AdWords Editor (Free)
• Image Editor: Picnik (Free) + Picturesque (Free) / Paint Shop Pro ($69.99)
• Instant Messaging: Skype (Free) / GMail Chat (Free)
• Internet Connection Monitor: Little Snitch ($29.95)
• Link Checker: Xenu’s Link Sleuth (Free)
• Local Data Back-Up: Time Machine (Free) + 1 TB Time Capsule ($499)
• Long Distance Voice/Video Chat: Skype (Free) / iChat (Free)
• Long Distance VOIP Phone Calls: Skype (From ¢2.1/minute)
• Music: iTunes (Free)
• Online Backup Service: Mozy ($4.95/month) / Carbonite ($54.95/year)
• Phone/Fax Number: JConnect ($15/month)
• Photo Management: iPhoto (Free) / Picasa (Free)
• Screen Capture: Skitch (Free)
• Server Uptime Monitor: Uptime (Free)
• Spreadsheet: Apple iWork Numbers ($79)
• Text Editor: Smultron (Free) / EditPlus ($35)
• Typing Shortcuts: TextExpander ($29.95) / Perfect Keyboard ($19.95)
• Web Browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera, Chrome (All free)
• Web Browser (Firefox) Add-ons:
  • 1Password ($39.95) / Roboform ($29.95)
  • Better GMail (Free)
  • CustomizeGoogle (Free)
  • Firesizer (Free)
  • Google Gears (Free)
  • Tab Mix Plus (Free)
  • TableTools (Free)
• Web Hosting: Softlayer (From $258/month)
• Windows Operating System: VMware Fusion ($79.99) / Parallels ($79.99)
• Word Processor: Apple iWork Pages ($79)

If you have any comments, tweet me at @Michael_Wong. Thanks!

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