Dropshipping

AliDropship Plugin vs AliDropship Woo: How Are These Dropshipping Tools Different?

When an entrepreneur looks for the best dropshipping tools on the market, a careful research is always necessary. The chosen software should simplify order fulfillment, work with product description and images and solve numerous other tasks that are necessary to sell products effectively. Let’s find out what’s the difference between two of the most popular solutions offered by our team!

AliDropship plugin gets chosen by thousands of people all over the globe. Both newcomers and experienced businessmen buy the plugin because they want to dropship products and manage their stores in a quick, easy and efficient way.

Sometimes our clients feel slightly confused: when we receive their order on the plugin purchase, we offer them to choose between two plugin versions which are AliDropship Plugin and AliDropship WooCommerce Plugin.

But how to choose the right one?

What’s the difference between these dropshipping tools?

Which one is better?

Today, we’re answering these questions once and for all!

1. What do you mean by AliDropship Woo plugin?

So, there exists AliDropship plugin that manages the majority of the dropshipping processes automatically.

For the convenience of its users, 2 versions of the plugin were developed by our team.

The first version is AliDropship Original Plugin: it works on any general WordPress website that has no WooCommerce plugin installed. It is important to note that this plugin is only compatible with webstore themes offered by AliDropship.

The second version is AliDropship Woo plugin: it will ONLY work on your website if you have the WooCommerce plugin installed on it.

In case if you don’t know what is WooCommerce exactly, please go to this article.

2. Okay, but which one dropshipping tool is better?

From the technical point of view, both dropshipping solutions are great, really🙂

Both of the plugin versions are carefully tested and regularly updated by our enthusiastic team of highly skilled developers.

From the point of view of the business performance, both of the versions also show equally impressive results. For example, our client, Kingpin from India, uses AliDropship Woo plugin which helped him achieve $28,000 in sales in the first 30 days of the business operation. Another client, Otto from the Baltic states, uses the original version of AliDropship plugin – this is how he made $13,000+ in a single month.

Still, it needs to be mentioned that from the point of view of their functionality, the plugin versions are quite different.

Initially, the plugin was created for one simple purpose: to automatically perform the most important tasks of dropshipping. This is why both of the plugin versions can:

Import products from AliExpress
Import product reviews from AliExpress
Update product info
Apply pricing markup formula
Process the orders placed in your store

So, as you can see, both of these dropshipping tools do the job that takes the majority of time in a daily drop shipping routine, and these processes are completed automatically.

BUT.

AliDropship original plugin has an extended range of additional features and dropshipping tools (for example, it has several built-in themes, a convenient dashboard showing the most important store stats, etc.), which makes it the perfect choice for people who don’t have much experience yet. In other words, it’s an all-inclusive solution that helps you create a turnkey-ready store without any additional development/installation works.

AliDropship WooCommerce plugin, in turn, has only the strictly necessary features: it only performs the core dropshipping functions listed above.

Why is that?

Well, because of the exceptional mechanism of WooCommerce itself. It was designed as a solution for full website customization, which is why there exist a specific plugin or tool for every specific management task. There isn’t such a thing as a universal plugin that would do ALL the desired job. Instead, a WooCommerce website owner is supposed to be skilled and inventive enough to independently source and install a separate plugin for every single one of his/her goals.

You can view the comparison of both versions’ features here.

3. I like the idea of full customization! Is it also true for the store design? I want a 100% unique dropshipping store, you know…

Yes, if you want a super exclusive store with one-of-a-kind design, WooCommerce dropshipping is a good solution.

The thing is, thousands of developers all over the globe develop and upload numerous plugins, tools, and themes for WooCommerce: by combining and choosing these elements at your own pleasure, you get a distinctive store that has no analogs.

But.

AliDropship has NO self-developed WooCommerce themes: we only have 3 store themes that are compatible with the original plugin, built on the example of the most successful stores in the global e-commerce practice, and fully optimised to bring the highest returns.

So, when you buy AliDropship Woo plugin, you don’t receive any built-in store themes along with it. It is totally up to you to find a suitable theme, upload it, and install on your website.

It’s worth mentioning that all the existing Woo themes are produced by people who live all over the world, use a very different professional background, and have really different design and development skills. This is why AliDropship, unfortunately, can’t guarantee that a Woo theme you choose will be good-looking on any device, highly convertible, and smoothly working.

Still, as we really want to help you with your business growth, we have tested a number of the most commonly used WooCommerce themes. Based on our developers’ feedback, we made a list of the most appealing Woo themes in terms of their flexibility, safety, and ability to generate sales. You can find the list of the recommended Woo themes here.

4. So, I got the AliDropship Woo plugin, but, when I log in, I don’t see a logically structured dashboard in my store! What the…?!

Yes, that’s exactly what we were talking about.

When you install the original AliDropship plugin and log in to view the admin panel, the first thing you see is a dashboard that shows the overview of your store stats (you can see the example below):

But, when you work with the AliDropship Woo plugin, it gets a little bit more complicated.

If you run a WooCommerce-based dropshipping store, you can view its stats in the internal admin panel, or use a different independent plugin for this purpose.

There should be a separate plugin for each separate task, remember?…

5. Oh. But your AliDropship Woo plugin still processes the orders, right?

Certainly!

Both our plugin versions can automatically redirect the order information to original AliExpress supplier.

If you use AliDropship Woo plugin, you need to go to the WooCommerce section, then choose the Orders tab, and click on the order you need to redirect. When the window with this order details opens, all you need to do is click on the ‘Place order automatically’ button.

After this, the plugin will do all the job: it will visit AliExpress, select the necessary product variation, add the chosen items to your shopping cart, and write your client’s delivery address on the checkout page.

The only one action you need to take after this is click the Confirm & Pay button at the bottom of your page.

That’s it!

And for the AliDropship plugin, the orders processing is even quicker: you can read the step-by-step guide and view the video instructions here.

6. Are the shipping options identical for both the plugin versions?

Generally, AliDropship plugin allows you to select, set up, and modify lots of shipping options – you can read more about it here.

Still, there are differences.

When you use the original AliDropship plugin, all of your settings are automatically applied to all the deliveries arranged to any country on the globe.

When you use AliDropship Woo plugin, you need to deal with the so-called Shipping Zones: it means that you need to individually assign these settings for every separate region.

7. How do the plugins work with tracking?

If you have the original AliDropship plugin, simply read this article in our knowledge base to find out how to track the order details and how to automatically send the right tracking IDs to your buyers.

If you have the AliDropship Woo plugin, you need to do the following:

Enable your Google Chrome extension
Log in to your AliExpress account
In a different browser tab, open the Orders section and hit the ‘Get tracking’ button

The plugin will synchronize your AliExpress account with your store and, if the original supplier has already provided the tracking ID, this number will automatically appear on the Order page.

8. What about payment gateways?

The original AliDropship plugin is compatible with the majority of the most popular payment gateways across the globe. Here you can view the list of payment gateways supported by AliDropship plugin.

With AliDropship Woo plugin, it’s a whole different story: WooCommerce itself supports almost every payment gateway that exists in the world. It means that you can go on the WooCommerce official website and download any plugin that attaches the necessary payment gateway to your store. Alternatively, you can look for the necessary plugins on the official websites of the desired payment gateways.

9. Can I install Woo plugin on a general WordPress site, or use the original plugin on a WooCommerce site?

Well…it’s not a really good idea in terms of compatibility and smooth working process, and here is why.

The original AliDropship plugin only runs effortlessly on general WordPress websites that have no WooCommerce plugin installed.

The AliDropship Woo plugin is specifically developed to be used on WooCommerce sites.

If you try to mix them up, your store simply won’t work as planned.

Please note: if you already have one of the plugin versions running, it will be quite time-consuming to switch to the alternative one as you will have to delete the current store contents and import all the products from scratch.

10. Is the Woo version a good choice for a beginner in dropshipping?

Hmm.

As you have noticed it from the previous parts of this article, WooCommerce itself is a platform that requires considerable technical knowledge and/or development skills.

If you don’t have any experience in building websites and running online stores, we strongly recommend sticking to the original AliDropship plugin. It has all the necessary drop shipping tools already integrated, which is why you won’t have to waste your time and nerves on the selection and installation of additional plugins.

11. Okay, but… I still can’t decide which of these dropshipping tools suits me better.

There’s nothing to worry about! Go through this tiny checklist and tick the statements you agree with.

I want a store with a totally unique layout that doesn’t look like anything else
I am a programmer / developer / IT person
This is NOT the first online store I’m going to have

I’ve tried all the basic dropshipping solutions on my previous stores, and now I want something a bit more interesting
I’m curious to assemble my store from lots of tiny details, like a Lego bricks dollhouse

Have you just ticked more than 4 statements? Go for AliDropship Woo plugin.

Have you just ticked less than 4 statements? Go for original version of AliDropship plugin.

From the video in our branded YouTube channel, you can learn more about the two types of dropshipping tools: the original AliDropship plugin and its WOO version.

That’s probably all you need to know about our dropshipping tools! So, which version of AliDropship plugindo you prefer?

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Dropshipping

Myth Busted: Is Dropshipping Dead?

Is dropshipping dead? Does dropshipping work? Is dropshipping worth it? The answers to these questions are obvious – still, for some reason, they continue to bug thousands of people all over the globe.

When you are standing at the doorstep of your first dropshipping journey ever, most likely, you don’t know much about this type of business and its prospects.

This is why you go online in hopes to see dropshipping explanation for beginners, or a checklist of must-have things at the beginning, or the advantages of the dropshipping business model, or the opportunities for your future growth, or something like this, encouraging and helpful.

Instead, on your search results page, you see some terrifying things:

Lol.

Sitting in one of the spacious downtown offices generously rented by our CEOs, and surfing the Web on my shiny Mac beside 50+ colleagues who develop, test and improve this business-related solutions, I personally giggle at all the hysteric Internet posts that pronounce dropshipping dead and claim it has no future.

And you know what? I strongly advise you to do the same and not to take any of these statements seriously.

Dropshipping will outlive us all, and here is why.

Why the answer to the ‘Is dropshipping dead?’ question is NO

Surely, there’s nothing funny about actual people’s worries and concerns: it’s natural to be anxious about the things you don’t fully understand or know yet.

People go online to learn more about the business they’re planning to launch, and obviously, they look for the advice of more experienced entrepreneurs.

This is why Quora and Reddit, the forums aimed on solving the most pressing everyday issues, are filled with questions like these:

There is absolutely nothing wrong about these questions: they simply show that dropshippers-to-be are genuinely interested in the financial prospects of this business, and (unfortunately) lack information on the topic.

The sad part, however, is that yellow press takes advantage of this public interest and speculates on it in the most misleading way possible.

So, let’s go through the most common arguments these ‘experts’ use while talking about the future of dropshipping.

‘Dropshipping is dead because its hype years are gone’

Oh, I beg your pardon.

Here’s a Google Trends graph showing the frequency of searching for the ‘dropshipping’ term in the last 5 years.

Can anyone seriously insist that the ‘golden era’ of dropshipping has already ended?

Is it even logical and sensible to say that ‘dropshipping was hot in 2010s, but it’s all over now’?

This graph clearly demonstrates that the number of business persons interested in dropshipping model is growing steadily no matter what – no political turmoils, wars, economic crises, etc. can stop people from pursuing their dream.

Plus, a considerable surge in public interest towards dropshipping has started less than a couple of years ago – it lets us assume that this whole business scheme is currently on its early growth stage, and the best is yet to come.

These assumptions are proven statistically: just take a look at this graph, and you’ll see that in 2017, the whole e-commerce industry accounted for only 10.1% of all retail sales worldwide.

It’s only 10%! And for drop shipping business in particular, the number is even lower because clearly, not all of the e-commerce transactions can be classified as dropshipping-related actions (and we will talk about it further).

To sum up, drop shipping business has an incredible room for growth: on global scale, its operations now account for a small yet promising percentage of all the acts of purchase and sale.

This, in turn, leads to the following speculation…

‘Dropshipping is dead because of extreme competition’

This is quite a common business fear: if something gets insanely popular in a short time period, all the related spheres instantly get overly saturated with entrepreneurs making profit from it.

In other words, the more demanded something becomes, the more intense the competition gets – so, if you’re not already in, you won’t have a chance to succeed.

Sounds slightly reasonable, but let’s take a quick look at the industry statistics.

As Statista researchers report, only in the United States, there will be 230.5 million digital shoppers by 2021.

Can you imagine the number of enterprises that is necessary to satisfy the needs of all these shoppers?

And don’t forget: it’s only the data for the United States! Take a look at other geographic markets, and you’ll see that it’s early impossible to create an ‘excessive’ online store – with due marketing efforts, there will be enough buyers for everyone. Southeast Asia’s Internet economy for example, is predicted to reach the $50 billion mark in 2018, and for 2025, the number is estimated to be around $200 billion.

So, it’s possible for a dropshipping store owner to successfully target any geographic market and reap the rewards of the business flexibility: its specific mechanism makes it easy for everyone to dropship from any country on the globe.

Still, the availability and affordability of launching a self-owned dropshipping store leads to the mass creation of the following myth…

‘Dropshipping is dead because you can make no money of it’

This is my favourite part.

Dropshipping opponents dare to say that a business which is so quick to start and so easy to run can’t bring the owner any considerable returns.

To clear these doubts and get a full picture of what’s happening, again, let’s consider the global e-commerce trend.

Judging by the Statista data, the expected volume of retail e-commerce sales in 2018 is due to be around $2,774 billion.

At the same time Lehigh, one of the leading research universities in the USA, figures it out that dropshipping sales and purchases constitute 25-30% of all the e-commerce transactions.

It lets us roughly estimate that by 2021, the volume of global dropshipping sales in 2021 will exceed $1,500 billion.

Isn’t this number impressive enough?

Doesn’t it showcase a thrilling opportunity to get a fair share of this jaw-dropping amount of money?

Surely, you might say – ‘nah, it’s all about large-scale businesses, it has nothing to do with me, a mere mortal”.

But how, in your opinion, have all these multibillion-dollar empires started?

The incredibly inspiring example of Zappos shows that it only takes a first step to embark on this breathtaking journey.

Zappos, in the same manner as Amazon, has started from humble beginnings – but look what both of them managed to achieve in the course of time.

Each and every person proudly sharing their first dropshipping achievements, whether it be $600 revenue in the first two months or $3,000+ in sales daily, has the chance to build a mind-blowing e-commerce venture – and you can do the same, too.

On a $1,500 billion market, there’s a place for everyone!

Maybe, the next dropshipping success story will be written by you?…

Dropshipping

Your Questions About EU GDPR: What Is It And How To Make Sure Your Webstore Is GDPR Compliant

Everyone is talking about EU GDPR and its effects. Let’s find out the definition of GDPR and talk about its impact on your dropshipping business!

Data protection is no joke.

Everyone needs privacy and safety while being online, and of course, everyone wants to shop online with confidence.

This is why there’s such a buzz around EU GDPR, the newest set of legal requirements that regulates the storage and use of online shoppers’ personal data.

Let’s try to figure out what it is, exactly!

What does EU GDPR stand for?

GDPR is an abbreviation that means General Data Protection Regulation.

Simply speaking, it is a regulation in the law system of the European Union. The main idea behind GDPR is to protect the personal data of EU citizens, and to guarantee their privacy.

What will happen to GDPR in May, 2018?

The basis for GDPR was introduced in 1995 – as you can guess, the world of informational technologies has changed radically over these years, and it’s now really necessary to edit the regulation.

This is why in April, 2016, the updated version of GDPR was adopted. It will come in effect on 25 May 2018.

What’s the GDPR 2018 summary?

A brief GDPR overview makes it clear that the new regulations oblige companies to be more careful while storing and processing the customers’ personal data.

What does it mean?

Let’s go over the most important aspects – you can find the full explanation of the updates here.

You must follow the regulation if your customers are EU citizens

It doesn’t really matter where your business physically exists, or where it is legally registered. Generally speaking, if your website visitors are EU citizens, you must ensure the full protection of their personal data, and modify all of your data policies in accordance with the GDPR requirements.

Any piece of the website visitor’s data can be considered personal

Interestingly enough, the updated version of GDPR doesn’t give the exact definition of personal data and the types of information details that must be protected under the new regulations.

Still, the European Commission’s official website explains that any pieces of information that can possibly be used to identify the personality of the website visitor can be classified as personal data.

It means that online store owners must be exceptionally careful about the following pieces of information provided by their clients:

Name and surname
Email address
Home address
Identification card number
Location
IP address
Cookie ID

These (and some else) personal details must be handled in full accordance with the GDPR.

The website must ask the visitors to give their consent on the data usage

Simply speaking, there must be some kind of a designated page, or a form, or a pop-up window that:

Explains what kind of personal data is collected on this website, who will get and use it, and for what purpose (in clear terms and a simple language)
Asks the visitors to confirm they agree to provide this kind of information
Makes it possible for a user to easily cancel this agreement and withdraw the consent

The website must notify the visitors about data breaches

If the website gets hacked, or something similarly dangerous happens to it, there is a chance that the visitors’ data might have gotten stolen.

The companies must notify their buyers and website visitors about such events within 72 hours of discovering the breach.

The website must provide its visitors the right to access the gathered information

So, the webstore visitors now have the right to ask what kinds of personal details this website collects, and how the data is used.

The website, in turn, must be able to provide the necessary explanation on an electronic format and tell what’s the purpose of collecting and using these details.

It must be possible to delete a person’s data upon request

The website must have a technical possibility to erase personal data of an individual, stop it from further spreading, and prevent it from being used by third parties if an individual asks for it.

Is it really necessary to make my store a GDPR-compliant site?

Absolutely!

Even if you’re not residing in the EU and aren’t specifically targeting the EU customers, the global nature of drop shipping means that anybody can stumble upon your website, and order something from you.

Across different countries in the European Union, there will be set special Supervisory Authorities (SA): their purpose is to perform websites audit, issue warnings for non-compliant websites, and suggesting improvement measures for every particular case.

According to the updated version of GDPR, non-compliant organizations will need to pay a penalty charge. It can be amounted up to 4% of the company’s annual global turnover, or €20 million (whichever is bigger).

What exactly do I need to make a GDPR-compliant store?

Follow this step-by-step guide, and it will be fine!

1. Revise the types of data you collect

Since you’re running a drop shipping store, most likely, the personal details you gather are names and surnames, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, payment details…anything else?

This analysis is a good reason to rethink your questionnaires and data forms (if you have any): both you and your customers will benefit from the renewed, ‘minimalistic’ forms.

As you probably remember from our conversions boost guide, the less details a shopper has to provide during checkout, the more likely he/she is to complete the purchase.

At the same time, a short personal details form fully matches your interests, too. Your goal is to gather only the strictly necessary personal info: if you don’t collect unimportant data that is not required for the order processing, you don’t have to protect it – and you don’t have to explain your visitors why you need to know their eye color or Zodiac sign.

2. Think who you share these details with

At this point, you can surely say what types of customers’ data you collect. Now, it’s time to think whom you provide with these personal details.

Typically, you share such info with mass mailing services (Aweber, MailChimp, etc.), with outer plugins and themes, and, obviously, with AliExpress sellers.

Mostly, you need this breakdown to give a clear data usage explanation to your clients – later, in your privacy agreement, you’ll list all your partners/technical solutions and clarify who uses the personal details, how exactly, and for what purposes.

Also, if you have a list of entities/tools that have some kind of access to your clients’ personal data, you can conveniently go through this list and find out whether each one of them is GDPR compliant. It’s a good idea to only do your business with those who stick to the new regulations.

3. Write a new privacy note

It’s wise to have a separate website page designated specifically for this purpose, but you can also write it all on your Terms and Conditions page.

First, write that your webstore is GDPR compliant.

Then, write the full list of personal details your webstore collects (IP address, the type of device used to browse the site, cookies, the visit duration, email, phone number, physical address, postal address, etc.)

Then, repeat the same list, and specify who exactly uses the collected personal details, and for what purposes (for example, Google gets the device information and visit duration within the sphere of Google Analytics goals tracking, Aweber uses email addresses to send mass emails, manufacturers/stock owners use the order product details to assemble the packages, delivery companies use the buyer’s physical address to send the orders, etc.).

Then, explain (in simple and understandable terms) that every store visitor has the right to demand a copy of his/hers personal details collected by you, and can even ask you to delete all these details permanently.

Then, write a specially created email address: it will be the emergency contact address for the people who have questions or requests about their data privacy. Don’t use this address for any other purposes, and don’t show it in your regular contact details – this way, you’ll be sure that every letter coming on this address is related to this particular issue.

Finally, write that if after reading this, the visitor keeps browsing the site, it means he/she fully agrees with these terms and gives full consent to use his/hers personal details for the legally approved and business-necessary purposes. If the visitor doesn’t agree to the terms, he/she must leave the site immediately. If the person has already given consent to use his/hers data, but now wants to withdraw it, he/she should contact you by email and ask to delete all the data.

Please note: since May, 25th, every new custom-made store developed by AliDropship team has a GDPR-compliant ‘Terms and Conditions’ page that covers these basic points. Clearly, the details (contact email, the list of third parties using the personal info, etc.) should be amended by the owners of these stores because every business is managed in its own unique way.

4. Set up a pop-up or a push notification on your landing page

This is a highly useful action if you want to prevent the cases of misunderstanding (for example, if your store visitor claims he/she has simply looked through the products in your store and hasn’t specifically visited the privacy note page, and therefore, hasn’t given the consent to collect his/hers data).

To ensure your own safety, you can set up a privacy notification that appears when someone visits your site. The message should say that:

The website collects some personal details of every visitor
It is recommended to read the full explanation of the webstore’s privacy policy (here, you provide the link to the page with your privacy note)
By clicking ‘OK’ on this notification, the visitor confirms he/she has read the privacy note and agrees with its terms

For this purpose, you can safely use the GDPR Banner plugin for WordPress: it helps you create a catchy banner that is linked to your privacy policy page.

5. Think how to handle every procedure

Under the new regulations, you must be able to:

On a visitor’s request, show what kind of this visitor’s data you’re collecting
If necessary, delete a user’s personal details
If required, withdraw a user’s consent to further use his/hers personal data

Do a little research and pick the relevant plugins that would perform these tasks if necessary: developers all over the globe are currently offering various GDPR-friendly solutions for WordPress that can make your webstore more compliant with new regulations.

Our team has tested several options, so we can recommend GDPR plugin that covers a wide variety of the necessary tasks, and Delete Me plugin that specifically allows users to delete their data from a particular website.

6. Improve the store security

If your store is well-protected from malware and hackers’ attacks, most likely, you won’t have to deal with security breaches.

Read this article to learn how to make your website secure.

7. Think what to do if a data breach still happens

According to the new regulations, as soon as you learn about a data breach, you need to do the following within the next 72 hours:

Write down its details and keep a record of every incident
Report the incident to the local Data Commissioner (supervisory authority)
Notify your clients about the breach in case it threats their personal rights and freedoms

8. Consult your local lawyer

We strongly recommend you to get legal advice concerning the GDPR: many of the statements in the new regulation are quite ambiguous, and if you want to interpret them in the most favorable way for you, it’s necessary to discuss it with a professional lawyer.

Now you have a general idea about EU GDPR and its influence on your business. Don’t worry – with the due preparation, you’ll keep enjoying your thriving drop shipping store without any troubles!

Dropshipping

All Entrepreneurs Do It: 9 Ways to be Successful in Business

Have you ever found yourself looking up the internet in search of some cookie-cutter solutions how to be a successful entrepreneur? And does it really make any sense? Everybody knows that there’s no magic pill, and it’s not enough to read a pair of books on business to become Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg. Still, there are some things that most prosperous businessmen have in common. Let’s see what distinguishes a good entrepreneur from a second-rate one.

Of course, no one can learn to swim just sitting on the shore and reading the articles like “10 Influential Books You Need to Read to Become a Great Swimmer”. There is no other way to learn to swim than to jump into the water; to become a good entrepreneur, you should first of all run your own business. Anyway, there are some points that you should bear in mind and some guidelines to follow. Study our tips and think over the points that you should master.

How to be a successful entrepreneur

Don’t be afraid of mistakes

Maybe you are a unique prototype of a leading-edge robot created by a brilliant scientist. You are programmed to make perfect decisions and always choose the best option of all the possible. And you never make mistakes. So, you can miss this point and pass to the next one.

All the other people make wrong decisions from time to time, and there is nothing terrible about that. This is business, not mathematics or physics – there are no ironclad guarantees. If you have chosen wrong products for your store, oversaturated your landing page with pop-ups, met disreputable supplier or was cheated by a credit card fraudster – it’s not the end of the world. You’ll know better next time. Keep calm, fix it and move along.

Seek ways to work smarter

Try to minimize manual routine actions that are your main time robbers. You’ll be surprised how many of them can be automated.

For example, if you run your dropshipping business with AliDropship plugin, you’ll be relieved from the problems with pricing, placing and tracking orders, updating products, etc. The plugin does all these and many other things for you.

Promotion also can be automated with the help of special tools. Such great SMM solutions as Social Rabbit plugin can save you up to 40 hours a week!

Don’t try to keep every tiny detail in your head – use planners, calendars, sticky notes and other things that were invented to make our life easier.

Learn from the others’ experience

A smart entrepreneur knows how to combine business with pleasure. Reading success stories is a good way to spend your free time profitably.

There is always someone who is smarter, richer, more experienced and prosperous. Such guys have a lot to learn from. Luckily, many successful ecommerce entrepreneurs are glad to share their practice and knowledge with newcomers. So, reading their pieces of advice in blogs or on thematic forums is really helpful and inspiring.

Their valuable experience – both positive and negative – can give you the cue to some problem or save you from making a mistake.

How to run a winning business

Evaluate and manage risks

Taking risks is an integral part of any eCommerce venture since a calculated risk means a good opportunity.

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg

Anyway, pay attention that taking risks doesn’t mean going nap blindly. Any risky step requires a thorough analysis. Weigh all pros and cons, and if the risk is justified, get moving. This is the only way to develop your business and leave the competitors far behind.

Use complaints for further development

What is the main task of any business, including eCommerce? It must satisfy consumers’ needs. Retail enterprises must be client-oriented, and online trade is not an exception.

Your customer’s complaints help to find out the weaknesses of your business. Each time you have an unsatisfied customer, you face a wonderful opportunity to master your skills of customer service, to identify the weak point in the process and to fix it.

How do entrepreneurs become successful

Create long-term strategy

Actions without a plan and control are chaotic and unorganized. Even if they lead to the result, it will be difficult to track what algorithm worked there. Therefore, planning is your first priority.

You should have a clear view where you want to find yourself in a month, in a year and five years later. Formulating your main goal is the first step of planning process. Your long-term strategy will determine your everyday tactics. The more effective and accurate it is, the faster the goal will be achieved.

Establish clear goals

The previous point is impossible without this one. There is a great purpose you set your sights on. To achieve it, you should clearly understand where to and how to move. Split your long way into small steps.

Needless to say that your goals must be real, attainable and tangible. Unfortunately, quite often companies either do not formulate goals at all, or operate with such non-specific things as “increase profits” or “work faster “. This will lead you to nothing. A detailed step by step plan with specific numbers is much more realizable than a vague idea “I want to be a millionaire”, isn’t it?

Ways to be a successful entrepreneur

Delegate tasks

Even if your business is young and small, and you think that can manage all by yourself, there may be some things that are better to be passed to someone else. You cannot be equally good at everything – graphic design, web development, copywriting, SEO, multimedia production, and what not. This is why you’d better hire specialists to solve some tasks.

If you are not an expert in some field, it’s logical to delegate it. For example, a professionally designed website is more attractive and user-friendly, and you will have a chance to concentrate on other things which you are good enough at.

Never rest on laurels

Keep on challenging yourself. Running a successful business is impossible without ambitions. A good entrepreneur always wants to keep growing, to provide a better service, to run more effective promotion campaigns. You shouldn’t simply want to be better than your competitors – you should aim to be better than you were yesterday. Look for new growing points, soar for new heights, and one day we’ll be glad to read your success story!

Factors of success are many and various, and one can hardly explain how to be a successful entrepreneur in several simple words. But if you start your own dropshipping business with a ready-to-go custom store, you’ve got excellent chances to go far in the world of eCommerce!

Dropshipping

Fantastic Affiliate Marketing Success Story: Eartha Shares Her Life-Changing Experience

Affiliate marketing success is often viewed as something unrealistic: traditional affiliate programs don’t give the participants the opportunity to earn their living, and sometimes, cause more trouble than benefits. Still, there is an exception to every rule.

The volume of profit you receive from participating in any program of this kind (and therefore, your affiliate marketing success) heavily depends on the terms and conditions dictated by the merchant.

This is why various affiliate programs offered by AliExpress, Amazon, etc., don’t really have a future: commission fees are so humble and payment restrictions are so abundant that hardly anybody would rely on these programs in search of a stable source of income.

But, there still is something valuable that you can get out of these programs: I’m talking about knowledge, experience, and, most importantly, courage.

For thousands of people around the globe, the world of online business is unfamiliar and somewhat scary. For them, getting registered in an affiliate program means making their first steps in the ecommerce field – and later on, these steps can turn into a full-scale online business journey.

Understanding this, our team has developed its very own, independent affiliate program that both serves our interest and introduces entrepreneurs worldwide to the concept of dropshipping.

The best part? It’s more generous that you would expect!

How AliDropship supports your affiliate marketing success

To begin with, AliDropship affiliate program is free to join: even if you’ve never been the client of AliDropship before, or if you have absolutely no idea about the dropshipping mechanism at all, you can still register in the program – it will cost you nothing to participate.

After you get registered, you get your special affiliate link – you can freely put it in any type of the content you’re creating online (for example, the posts in your social media accounts, or the articles you’re writing in your blog, or the videos you’re adding to your YouTube channel, etc.).

What is more, you also receive a ready package of professionally crafted advertising materials from AliDropship marketing specialists: if you don’t have enough experience in promotion yet, you can safely use the ready-made banners, texts, etc.

So, your aim is to raise awareness about AliDropship solutions, and motivate your followers/readers/viewers on purchasing something from the company. Every purchase that was made through your affiliate link is tracked by a dedicated specialist, and, as the result, you receive a lucrative commission for every order that was placed with your help.

Yes, you’ve read it right.

You receive 50% commission for every purchase of AliDropship plugin that has originated from your affiliate link.

You earn 30% commission for every sale of a custom store, any add-on, or any service that happened thanks to you. In fact, it means than you can get up to $284 from a single sale: it happens if a person orders the ultimate custom store package together with 1-year hosting via your affiliate link.

This way, AliDropship affiliate program gives you the following:

An online business with zero startup costs

Many people just can’t afford launching their own ecommerce business as they literally have no financial savings for this purpose. For them, this program is an affordable way to source the money for the venture of their dreams.

Extended knowledge in dropshipping

While creating promo materials to put the affiliate links in, the program participants eventually learn more about the essence of dropshipping, and, as they gain both the knowledge and the financial backup, they gain the opportunity to go further.

Motivation to get a self-owned business

When the affiliates feel confident and knowledgeable about the niche they’re taking, they naturally get interested in building their own, independent businesses. For them, AliDropship affiliate program becomes the first step on the ladder to success.

And, speaking of affiliate marketing success, I must surely mention Eartha – one of the most prominent participants of AliDropship affiliate program. She does an incredible amount of work to spread the word about our solutions (and her earnings are quite impressive, too).

So, let’s listen to her first-hand experience!

How to be a successful affiliate marketer: Eartha’s story

Hi, please introduce yourself!

My name is Eartha and I’m from sunny San Diego, California. I have a background in web developing. My previous job involved creating WordPress websites for attorneys.

Did you have any previous experience in e-commerce/affiliate marketing?

My only experience with eCommerce was when I did freelance web work. I installed and helped manage an eCommerce store for a former client. I had a tiny bit of experience with affiliate marketing from learning about it many years ago.

Why did you choose affiliate marketing, after all? How did it all begin?

Years ago when I got my very first web job, I decided to search for a new job that was closer to home. I was commuting two hours a day (to and from work) and was tired of it.

I went on a job interview in which the owner made millions selling an eBook teaching people how to make money online.

I didn’t get the job but it was my first exposure to affiliate marketing. Once I learned about affiliate marketing, I was hooked. I immersed myself in the topic and I knew that I wanted to pursue it full-time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t take affiliate marketing seriously until I was laid off from one of my previous jobs. It was then that I decided to pursue my dream of being an affiliate marketer.

I had to get another job in the meantime. However, I also found an online course that I liked, followed the training, and worked hard on my websites. I was able to transition into working for myself fifteen months after starting that job.

How did you learn about AliDropship products and AliDropship Affiliate Program?

I am always on the lookout for different types of online business models. I was interested in dropshipping but I wanted to find a WordPress solution. I read about the AliDropship plugin online and visited the website. I immediately liked what I found and purchased the plugin right away. I wrote an article about the plugin in my blogand began to get traffic to the article. I searched to find out if AliDropship had an affiliate program and it did! I signed up and have been promoting it ever since.

Do you participate in other affiliate programs?

Yes, I promote other affiliate programs. Primarily, it’s products and services that I use in my own online business.

What are the most difficult challenges of being an affiliate? How do you deal with them?

One of the biggest challenges is being self-disciplined. When you work for yourself, it is easy to slack off. I could easily spend my days wasting a lot of time hanging out, browsing social media, etc. I deal with this challenge by creating a work schedule for myself. I wake up at the same time each morning and follow a routine. I know that the work I do today will pay off 6 months down the line. However, I still enjoy the flexibility of working for myself. It is nice being able to go to my appointments without asking permission from an employer. It is also great to take days off when I want.

How much time does it take you every day to manage your blog/Youtube channel? Which task(s) demand more time than others?

I probably spend an unhealthy amount of time on my computer. Some days I can work all day and into the night. However, on most days I work between 4 and 6 hours. That includes writing content for my blog and creating YouTube videos.

How has your life changed? What do your friends and family think about your business?

I am a lot happier as I get to spend my time working on projects that I love. I am able to be creative and it is a lot of fun to see the work I’ve done create income. My family and friends have always been supportive. They don’t necessarily understand what it is that I do but they are happy because I’m doing what I love.

What are your plans for future?

I want to create a large portfolio of websites in various niches as well as create an online course of my own.

What can you advise our readers – those who already work as affiliates and those who didn’t become an affiliate yet?

My best advice for new and experienced affiliate marketers is to stay consistent. I wasted a lot of time jumping from one thing to the next. I didn’t find success until I focused on one thing and put in consistent effort.

We are sincerely grateful to Eartha for such an honest and extended feedback, and we hope it will inspire you to join our program: your affiliate marketing success will open the door to new opportunities in your professional and personal life!