Every day I fall deeper in love with my Mac computer (iMac 21.5″ to be exact). It’s just amazing how much this machine helps my Internet business.
To be fair, I’m not even sure if the features and capabilities I’m about to talk about are exclusive to Mac systems, so a more accurate statement might be this:
To this day, it’s still very surreal and exciting to me that I can run such a profitable online business with such minimal equipment, tools and expenses.
As an affiliate marketer, just hook me up with a free WordPress blog, a $10 domain, maybe $15 a month for hosting, a $99 copy of Camtasia for Mac and the ability to take screenshots, and I’ve got everything I need to start reeling in passive commissions on the Internet.
The fact that I can earn virtually unlimited income each month with only those tools is just mind-boggling.
Why anyone wouldn’t give this whole Internet marketing thing a sincere shot is beyond me. ;-)
Anyways, if you’re here reading this on CashReview.net (aka “planet cool,” where all of the SERIOUS online marketers come to learn my proven hype-free systems), then you’re already feeling my flow on that point.
So I’ll stop preaching to the choir and get to the point.
I had one of my Internet marketing coaching clients send me an email today that I figured I might as well use for a testimonial. In just a couple of weeks, he’s implemented the stepwise blueprint I laid out for him and the results have been remarkable.
But what’s new?
(… kidding — kind of… )
Anyways, he woke up to see that his main affiliate site had jumped to spot number seven on page one of Google for the primary keyword we were targeting. I should also mention that this site is in one of the most competitive niches there is…
Furthermore, he’s got two other sites that are now on page two of the search results, and climbing daily.
One more thing: this client had never even had a website before singing up for my mentoring program.
As you can imagine, he was pretty ecstatic to see such quick results. So he sends the email thanking me for all the support and guidance. Realizing this was yet another social proof gem that I should use to further build my credibility and expertise, I simply took a screenshot of the email (command + shift + 4 for all the Mac users).
The problem was, I didn’t want to do him a disservice and reveal his niche and keywords that were included in the email. On my Mac, I can annotate screenshots while I’m viewing them in “Preview,” but it’s fairly limited.
I needed the ability to blur out a couple words, or even place a dark line over them.
The solution?
A quick Google search led me to a free software called Seashore, which is an open source image editor for Mac OS X. After a brief install, I was able to open up the screenshot of his email and easily draw a black line through the competitive pieces I wanted to hide.
As miniscule as that seems, it really made my day. And it reminds me, like I said earlier, of just how lucky I am to be living in such a time where the opportunity to build a complete lifestyle business on the Internet exists — and not only that, but to be able to capitalize on that opportunity with such laughably low risks and expenses.
You have to remember, the reason I’m geeking out isn’t because I was able to take a screenshot of an email and make two little blackout marks on it…
… nope, it’s because in a couple minutes time, and without any investment, I was able to capture an invaluable marketing tool that will go on to help me in earning tens of thousands of dollars through my consulting services.
I didn’t have to go design a comprehensive offline advertising package of flyers and handouts, then fork over a thousand bucks, wait three weeks to get them developed and then go pound the pavement to distribute ‘em to a bunch of non-targeted people who will just throw ‘em in the trash.
The potential speed of implementation with Internet marketing is nuts. And if you’re working within the online marketing niche, I highly encourage you to make use of these free, simple tools to enhance your marketing.
If you’re selling affiliate marketing courses, your prospects will love seeing proof of your rankings, commissions, opt-ins and happy feedback from past customers.
Screenshots spiced up with Seashore make a great combo for Mac users, and I’m sure PC users can find similar photo editing software that’s free as well.
PS – that same client who sent the email regarding his first page rankings earlier today literally just emailed me again saying he got his first affiliate sale. Very cool, but not surprising, since that’s what happens when you invest in a legit Internet marketing coach.
