Dropshipping Vs. Affiliate Marketing:

 (What The 'Gurus' Don't Tell You) About Starting Successfully Online

You want to know what's ironic about writing this article? I was in your EXACT shoes not that long ago! 

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I was reading and researching online business models like Dropshipping and Affiliate Marketing, in the hopes to uncover how the heck I could start earning a legitimate income online as a beginner.…

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I've written you below the exact article I WISH I had to read and gain knowledge from before I started down this path. 

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Both Dropshipping and Affiliate Marketing can be ways to earn a fantastic income and give you unparalleled freedom and flexibility in your life – but like all great opportunities, there are secrets and shortcuts to finding success that aren’t always easy to uncover in the beginning. 

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So just imagine me as the future YOU, traveling back in time to fill you in! 

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I'll share with you the pros and cons and all the things I wish I understood at the start – in hopes it will save you so much TIME reading, researching and questioning the right path to take and the right mentors to listen to (like I did!). 

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Lets get started! 

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(Short on time to read? No problem - just click the button below and I'll send you some complimentary intro training videos to help get you started!)

Okay, let's start with the basics...

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Affiliate marketing is where instead of selling physical products that you don't have to stock, you instead promote other businesses products online, and earn a commission for every sale or lead that you generate. ​

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According to Statista, the industry is worth an est. $8.2 billion in 2023 - where in 2017 it was worth $5.4 billion so it has been significantly increasing, which means lots of opportunity.

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How it works: 

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  • You sign up as an affiliate for a product or service.
  • You get a unique affiliate link that tracks all the sales or leads you generate.
  • You promote the product or service using your affiliate link through various marketing channels.
  • When someone clicks on your affiliate link and makes a purchase or signs up for a service, you earn a commission. 

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When I started online in 2023 after weighing up the options, I made the choice to start an affiliate marketing business. I made this choice mostly due to the low profit margins involved with the dropshipping model. I loved the idea of not having to buy my own inventory with dropshipping, but with affiliate marketing the profit potential was much higher, I didn't have the inventory issue AND I didn't have to deal with the customer service side of things (winning!). 

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If you build your business around 'High-Ticket' Affiliate Marketing like I did, then the profit potential far outweighs the dropshipping model going in as a newbie. 

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Affiliate marketers build a loyal audience by creating valuable content through platforms such as blogs, websites, social media, podcasts, YouTube channels, or email marketing lists. 

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You want to focus on providing high-quality information, solving problems, and building trust with your audience. With your affiliate links in hand, you can strategically incorporate them into your content. 

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Being transparent with your audience about the affiliate nature of your promotions maintains trust. Personally, I only ever recommend products I have used and love myself. I think it's important to keep that integrity, so you are sure if someone purchases something you recommend - they will get value from it too. 

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Commission rates vary from company to company, but you can expect somewhere between 30%-50% for digital products and 5-10% for physical products.

The Pros...

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Passive Income Potential - one of the biggest advantages of affiliate marketing, and one of the things that drew me towards this business model the most, is the potential to earn nearly passive income. 

​Once you have got yourself set up, created the content, and established a loyal audience - if you use strategies like Authority Marketing (which is highly recommended) your affiliate business can be set up on nearly auto-pilot to continue generating income even while you’re sleeping, or on vacation, (or folding you're laundry!). 

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No Requirement for Previous Experience or Special Skills - in comparison to traditional businesses, affiliate marketing doesn't require a lot of previous experience or special skills, especially if you start with a good training program or mentor. I was worried in the beginning I had to be some sort of tech wizard or really smart with computers and websites to build an online business - but rest assured! I did all this with none of these skills. 

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You may be surprised to learn too, that you don't need to have a large social media following or be posting on social media platforms constantly to do well in Affiliate Marketing. You don't even need to be on video if you don't want to! Of course you can use these strategies - but personally I didn't have any prior social media following, and I didn't want to have be on there posting all day either. 

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Flexibility and Freedom - affiliate marketing offers unparalleled flexibility and freedom. You can work from anywhere, set your own schedule, and choose the products/services you want to promote based on your personal interests. 

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It's an ideal option for those who are seeking out a way to earn income that gives them time freedom, financial freedom, and uncapped income potential.

The Cons...​

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Competition - affiliate marketing is another popular online business model, meaning you'll face competition from other affiliates. It requires innovation, staying up to date with industry trends, and finding unique ways to differentiate yourself from the competition. 

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​Learning and using proven strategies like Authority Marketing will show you how to effectively sell online, which makes it much easier to overcome this hurdle. 

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Initial Effort and Financial Investment - while affiliate marketing can have a relatively low barrier to entry, it still requires some work in the beginning to get your systems up and running. Those that end up being successful are usually the go-getter types that understand they will need to put in the effort and investment when they start, to then reap the benefits later on. 

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There is a learning curve involved at first, especially when it comes to finding a niche, content creation, and effective marketing techniques. I personally wanted to build a profitable online business to replace a full-time income, not just make a couple commissions here and there. I wasn't an influencer with a social media following, and I wanted to get it set up where it could operate mostly on autopilot, so I could work from anywhere on my laptop. 

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So for me - that meant investing in an educational program to give me step-by-step guidance and training, so I didn’t waste time and money setting it all up to fail.    

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Dependence on Affiliate Programs - as an affiliate marketer, your success is tied to the company’s success and the affiliate program's policies. Changes in their business could directly impact your affiliate earnings. 

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The good news is there are millions of companies with affiliate programs online to promote so you can partner with multiple companies in your target market/niche to reduce this risk and have multiple streams of income coming in.  

Both Dropshipping and Affiliate marketing can provide an excellent opportunity to earn income online without the need for lots of previous experience or special skills.

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If you’re anything like I was - waking up day after day with that knot in your stomach dreading the pressure and workload of the day ahead - then this could be the perfect opportunity to build your way out of the stress hamster wheel and get to a place where you have the time freedom AND the financial freedom to live a life you love and enjoy. 

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So what’s the easiest and most effective way to get started in either Affiliate Marketing or in Dropshipping successfully? It's having the right training, strategies, and resources . 

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Like I said at the start, my hope in writing this was to save you all the time and headaches reading, researching, and questioning the different paths (like I did!). 

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So, I would love to share with you (for free) the same video workshop series that I finally got started with. Full transparency - these free video trainings are an intro only. I doubt anyone will learn the complete process of building a profitable online business from scratch (or any business for that matter) from a free training series – but what the free videos will do is give you a chance to see how the online business models can work, and make sure it all lines up with your goals and aspirations BEFORE putting any financial investment or time investment into a paid program. That’s what I loved about it. 

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The starter program on offer in the free video series will give you an even more complete introduction to the online business models, and how the Authority Marketing strategy works. It will also introduce you to a world-class education program that walks you through step by step from having NO IDEA what to do, No digital skills, and No experience - to the opportunity to build a 6 or even 7 figure online businesses like many of our members have (myself now included!).

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The education and training they offer is extensive too, anything from Dropshipping, selling just about anything on Amazon or your own Ecommerce store, or of course just simply selling other companies' products via Affiliate Marketing and High-Ticket Affiliate Marketing (this one's my favorite!). 

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For me, this life-changing venture all started with a FREE video workshop training - and it can do the same for you too. Just click below to sign up. 

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When you get the free series you'll get my contact details too (yep, I am a real person! Lol), so if you have any questions after watching the videos – feel free to get in touch! 

There are thousands of different companies that offer affiliate marketing programs. You may have heard about Amazon, Target, Adiddas, or Walmart affiliate programs? (The list goes on...) 

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Sure, they're awesome being large corporations with lots of product options to fit all kinds of different niches – but what I found, is for the most part they deal in small ticket affiliate commissions. When you’re dealing in small commissions it can take lots of time, sales, and effort to earn enough to replace an income. 

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By finding and partnering with companies that offer reputable High Ticket Affiliate marketing programs, it's no more pocket change – we're talking about commissions ranging from hundreds to thousands of dollars per sale. 

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Also, by focusing on high-ticket products, you're targeting a specific audience where you can become a trusted authority creating long-term relationships - making them more likely to convert. 

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High Ticket Affiliate Marketing is all about quality over quantity.

Authority Marketing – The Essential Skillset to Learn if you Want to be a Successful Online

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What I learned very fast is the difference between success and failure in affiliate marketing or dropshipping is learning the skills to effectively generate sales on the internet. 

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Authority Marketing is a cutting-edge strategy enabling you to make more money in less time, by working smarter not harder. 

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It’s about embracing today's digital world by leveraging the power of online marketing systems to automate selling any product or service to any target audience anywhere in the world.

Authority Marketing is a Shortcut

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Most people in online business these days use the same outdated and saturated money-making strategies everyone else is attempting to use. But this makes you blend in with the rest of the noise online.

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If you use Authority Marketing, you can build multiple income streams from scratch in record time. 

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That's because Authority Marketing enables you to generate leads and sales online, 24/7, 365 days a year, without ever having to chase or convince anyone - or spend your time posting all day on social media. It even works when you’re not. 

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Here's What it Does For You…

Everybody knows the internet is where people prefer to research and buy products and services. 

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When you learn how to use Authority Marketing, you will gain a skill set to tap into this multi-billion dollar opportunity and know precisely how to get in front of targeted buyers and convert them into customers - on complete autopilot.

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As a result of the above, you’ll bring money into your bank account every day, like clockwork. 

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You can do this with your own products or services. Or tap into newbie-friendly business models like Affiliate Marketing and Dropshipping to earn generous commissions. 

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All this can be done from scratch and starting today!

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To Learn How, Sign Up Below: 

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About The Author 

Why I Walked Away From a Six-Figure Income to Change My Life and Start an Online Business

Hi there! I'm Mel Robinson and this is my husband Bernie (and our wild wee dog Lucky!). 

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We didn’t venture out to start an online business to make millions. I was actually already earning a good living as a mortgage broker, and had even went out with a business partner to start our own mortgage and insurance business. When we started the business, it was just the two of us with one admin staff - but by the time I exited seven years later, the business was doing 7 figures and we had multiple staff working for us. 

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The business was successful and I had a great relationship with my business partner and my staff. I loved helping my clients reach their property ownership goals, and I was really proud of what we had built and achieved. Sounds pretty good, right? 

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The cost of all this unfortunately, was my health and well-being...  

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Word got around that we were doing a great job, so our business grew really fast. I was working long hours and weekends, taking on responsibilities as a business owner and a boss that were very much outside my wheelhouse of previous knowledge as an employee lender - while also trying to be available to my clients at all hours. I ended up severely stressed and burnt out. I just kept going and going trying to ignore it until I found myself not sleeping at night and feeling so anxious that I was nearly having panic attacks in everyday client meetings that I had done thousands of times before. 

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Needless to say, it was an intense time - and eventually I realized the path that I was working and building towards wasn’t leading to a future that I actually wanted. It wasn't an easy decision, but something had to change. It's true what they say, money and success unfortunately can’t buy you health or time - and without your health or the time to enjoy it, money is actually pretty useless. 

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We also live overseas from our families. I'm originally from Minnesota and my husband is from Brazil (and we live in Australia!). So as our parents continued to age and fall ill, and our nieces and nephews got older - we always felt we were missing out on spending that real quality time with them. There were many times too when I was home visiting that I didn't feel like I was actually 'present'. I was too busy thinking and worrying about something back at work. 

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So during a covid lockdown I was sitting at home on the couch and had some time to really reflect on my life. I had this dream to create a life AND a business that I could actually enjoy, but I didn’t have any idea at that stage how I would achieve it. All we knew is we wanted to spend more time with the people we love, and do more of the things we enjoy - for us that's travelling, surfing, and beach walks with our dog Lucky. 

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After going through all the ‘what’s next?’ options like, should we look to start or purchase a simple easy to run business (like vending machines or laundromats), purchase a franchise, or go back to university to learn a new skill – we quickly realized that not one of these options would allow us the time freedom, location freedom, and financial freedom of an online business. Not to mention the upfront cost of the other options would be far more.

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 We had initial concerns that we would need to have lots of technical skills to build an online business (which we didn't have), or be on social media all day posting (which we didn't want to be doing!) - but then we were introduced to a program for complete beginners that showed us that we didn't need any of this to get started from scratch. 

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So we went for it. We put in the effort to learn the skills to build a successful online business and change our lives. And, you know what? It ended up being the best decision we ever made. 

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The only real regret we have now looking back, is that we didn't start sooner....

So What is Affiliate Marketing, Anyway?

'High Ticket' Affiliate Marketing – The Insiders Success Secret

The Easiest and Most Effective Way to Get Started Today....

So What Is Dropshipping? (And How Do You Get Started?)

Put really simply - Dropshipping is a way to sell other people's products online without having to keep any inventory yourself.  You make a profit by selling the product at a higher price than what you pay the supplier to purchase the product. 

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How To Get Started:

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Research Suppliers - first you find reliable suppliers who offer dropshipping services. You can check out websites like AliExpress, Oberlo, or SaleHoo to help you find suppliers. Make sure to check their reviews, shipping times, and product quality.

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Create an Online Store - then you use platforms like Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, or BigCommerce to set up your store. You'll want to design your store to be user-friendly and appealing. Add the products you want to sell, including good descriptions and high-quality images.

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Set Your Prices - determine your pricing strategy. Remember to factor in the cost from the supplier, shipping fees, and your profit margin. You'll want to be competitive but also ensure you’re making a profit.

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Market Your Store - Arguably the most important step is learning how to effectively market your products online to stand out from your competition. You'll need to learn cutting edge strategies like Authority Marketing to stand out from your competition online and attract customers to your products. 

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Handle Orders and Customer Service - When you receive an order, you'll then buy the product from your supplier and provide them with the customer’s shipping details. You'll then communicate with your customers about their order status and handle any issues or returns.

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The Pros...

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Low Startup Costs - you don’t need to buy products upfront or maintain inventory, and without the need for a physical store or warehouse, your operational costs remain low.

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Simple Setup - with platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce, you can quickly set up an online store without needing extensive technical knowledge.

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Flexible Location - you can run your dropshipping business from pretty much anywhere with an internet connection.

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Wide Product Selection - since you don’t need to stock products, you can offer a wide variety of items in your store to fit your niche. 

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The Cons...

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Low Profit Margins & High Competition - since it's easy to start with such a low cost to entry many people get into dropshipping, which can drive prices down and reduce your profit margins. Some suppliers also charge fees for dropshipping, cutting into your profits yet again. It will be very important to learn how to stand out effectively online. If you learn and implement strategies like Authority Marketing, it can help this hurdle immensely. 

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Inventory and Shipping Issues - since you rely on suppliers, you can face stock availability issues, leading to backorders and unhappy customers.

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Lack of Control & Quality - you have little control over product quality, packaging, and shipping times, which can affect customer satisfaction and leave you to deal with the unsatisfied customers. Handling returns, exchanges, or complaints can also be difficult when you don’t physically handle the products.

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