OpenSky Platform Helps Bloggers Monetize Their Blogs
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There’s been a lot of buzz on the Internet these days about a fairly new, one-year old platform called OpenSky that is hoping to “re-imagine retail.” The company, which has a small team of about 20 working at their headquarters in New York, boasts some decent numbers in a fairly short amount of time. Currently, there are 248 people using the OpenSky platform to sell products, with over 500 suppliers distributing their goods through the platform. All in all, OpenSky reaches about 4 million shoppers each and every month; not too shabby.
According to OpenSky’s creators, shopping has lost the authenticity and the relationships that give it meaning. That’s because “in physical world shopping, everything is the same and online shopping is efficient, but isolating.” Apparently, what’s missing is the connection between people. “We want to know, care about, and connect with people who are the merchants we deal with. We want their honest opinion and unique perspective,” the company says. According to the company, the entire OpenSky platform was created with a single question in mind: “What if we lived in a world where the people we trusted had the ability and desire to seamlessly connect us to the products they use?”
In a nutshell, the platform enables bloggers and businesses to monetize their blogs through the sale of whatever they choose, and according to OpenSky’s founder, what makes it special is that the merchants care, they know their customer base well, and they want to develop a relationship with them. What’s impressive is that OpenSky bears the burden of guaranteeing each purchase and making sure that all purchases arrive on time. Let’s find out more about this program and how it’s helping bloggers in particular.
Making Ends Meet
Let’s face it: blogging doesn’t pay the bills and in most cases, it doesn’t even pay a bill. Even more disheartening, blogging sometimes even creates bills, especially for those who self-host and must face hosting bills each month. Sure, there are things that can be done to monetize your blog, like placing advertisements on your site. Truth be told, if you’re a small blog, the advertising route usually doesn’t bring in much money. Some bloggers have decided to begin reviewing products on their site, but unless your site is specifically geared towards reviewing products, you may run the risk of cheapening your message, and for what -- a free product?
This is where OpenSky comes into play. By helping bloggers make ends meet and proposing an alternative route to placing unattractive ads on their beloved blog home pages, the start-up enables fledgling writers to sell items -- homemade or otherwise -- that mean something to them and will hopefully resonate with their readers. If you have a food blog, you can now sell your favorite cooking utensils, cookbooks, and spice mixtures. If you’re a tech blogger, you can sell all the cool gadgets and gizmos your readers salivate over. If you’re a clothes horse with a passion for fashion, you can sell the hottest duds, the season’s trendiest makeup, and the must-have bag of the year. Essentially, these items will become an extension of the blog itself.
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