OpenTable was acquired for $2.6 billion in 2014, and they don’t own or operate any restaurant! How can this happen?
How does OpenaTable make money?
And most important, if you don’t have money to invest in starting a restaurant or any hospitality facility, can you make money with the same business model of OpenTable.com?
If yes, then how to start doing so without prior experience?
And if no, then what is the alternative for making money without a big investment?
These questions and more, I will be answering for you in this short article.
And in 5 minutes from now, you will learn about the same place that allowed me to take advantage of the OpenTable business model in order to create the most of my income online, even though I started with a little investment and without prior experience!
So, without further ado, let’s begin!
How Does OpenTable Make Money?
OpenTable makes money mainly with the affiliate marketing model, as they refer people who are looking for specific kind of restaurants in certain locations to what fits their search, and then OpenTable would get a commission from those restaurants for every completed reservation.
And this model, affiliate marketing, is a completely legitimate model that many online booking services and websites make money through.
For example, this is how Trivago makes money online by finding the best offers on hotels and stays and referring people to them for a commission on every completed reservation.
And this is the way that Booking.com makes money by referring travelers to the best deals on hotels, apartments, rental cars, flights, and more, even though they don’t own or operate any of these services.
And now, to the most important question:
Can You Make Money with The OpenTable Business Model?
Sure!
I personally make most of my income with the same business model of OpenTable website and app.
Just like OpenTable.com, you don’t need to own or operate a facility or a product, or provide a service in order to make money with affiliate marketing.
Your role is to find what serves people at the best cost and quality, and recommend it to them in exchange of a commission that you get from whoever sells those products or services for every customer that you bring.
This is why starting and affiliate marketing business can be done with a very little investment and low risk.
And another advantage, is that you don’t have to make it about reservations for hotels and restaurants only in order to earn money with the OpenTable business model.
For example, you can make money with the same model by referring people looking for certain kind of lawyers, or by referring people to mortgage and loan companies, or to the best credit card providers, …etc.
You can do affiliate marketing in almost any industry, which could be related to a hobby, a sport, a passion or cause, a profession, and so on.
To give you an example, I have an affiliate business that makes me money by referring people to software that creates a customized diet plan based on their gender, age, body, activity, and more. And I would get a commission everytime someone uses that software to get a custom diet plan.
And you too can do the same and create a business that makes you money like OpenTable.com in almost any industry you choose, and you can do it related to booking restaurants, hotels and flights, like how the OpenTable app and website makes money.
Interested in learning how YOU can do this without technical experience? Then the next section is for you!
Start Your Own Mini-OpenTable Business in 3 Steps
1 – Choose What Audience You Want to Work with
This is an important step to take as you need to focus on a specific group of people in order to succeed, like OpenTable did.
OpenTable, for example, focused on people who are looking for restaurants to dine in.
This is their prime focus and that’s why they have become trusted and people book through them.
And you need to focus on a specific audience as well, and as I mentioned earlier, this doesn’t have to be about restaurants and hotels, but about anything like: yoga, tennis, soccer, cooking, home repairs, credit repair, loans, …etc.
But you can also make it about restaurants, and you can make it at a smaller scale than OpenTable.
For example, you can create a website about restaurants in a certain country or city.
Or, you can create a business about a certain kind of restaurant like: vegan, vegetarian, organic, Italian, Mexican, ….etc.
And when you choose a specific audience (niche) to serve, you will be seen as an authority and as the place to go to when people are looking for what you recommend.
2 – Start a Simple Affiliate Site Like OpenTable.com
After you have decided on your niche, now you need to pick a suitable domain name and start a simple WordPress website that doesn’t require any technical experience or coding.
And don’t worry if you haven’t started any website earlier, I will tell you in the following section about the place that helped me create many affiliate sites that make me money with the same business model of OpenTable.com, even though I still don’t know anything technical about websites (and I don’t need to learn).
But the most important thing is that you need to have a website for your business, in order to bring your audience and show them the promotions that you want to offer and make money if they take by them.
3 – Help Your Audience Like OpenTable Does to Earn Money
Making money online, and offline, is all about helping others achieve the results they want or solve the problems they have.
OpenTable makes money by helping their users find the best restaurants in any place based on their budget and preferences.
And that’s why people trust OpenTable and reserve through their website and app, which leads to OpenTable making money.
And you need to do the same by helping your audience in finding what serves them best.
For example, if you have a website that is all about restaurants in Los Angeles, then people might ask on Google stuff like:
- Best seafood restaurants in Los Angeles
- Best Italian restaurants in Los Angeles
- Best Mexican restaurants in Los Angeles
- Best Japanese restaurants in Los Angeles
- Best rooftop restaurants in Los Angeles
And so on.
And your job here is that for each of these queries, you would find the best choices available and list them in one article that is title like the search query.
And when you list any restaurant, you link to them through an affiliate link in order to track who goes from your website to any of these restaurants and books a table, so that you get a commission.
And that, my friend, is how you can create a business that makes you money like OpenTable.com makes money to their owners.
And if you are interested in starting a business that earns you income with the business model of OpenTable, but you don’t know where to start from, then the following section is for you!
Someone to Take You by Hand to Make Money Like OpenTable.com?
Sure!
I’m going to recommend to you the same place that helped me what I was starting with making money through the OpenTable model, affiliate marketing, without a prior experience and at a very low cost.
And this place is an online platform that is called Wealthy Affiliate.
This is really the place to go in order to get started with making money through affiliate marketing as they provide you with all of what you need in order to learn, start and grow your affiliate business at one place, such as:
- The step-by-step training program to help you learn the affiliate marketing steps.
- The premium web hosting and support so that you don’t have to care about the technical stuff.
- The tools to use when researching and looking for opportunities for making money OpenTable.com.
- And above all, the amazing community of more than 2 million online entrepreneurs and experts who are willing to help you whenever you ask.
And much more.
And all of this for a very affordable monthly fee without hidden fees or upsells.
Want more?
You can join this platform TODAY for FREE in order to try it and get good access to the training, tools, and community before you pay any money.
If you really want to start a business that earns money like OpenTable, then feel free to check out this updated review of Wealthy Affiliate in order to know more about this platform and how to get started with the free plan at the beginning.
This is the right place to go if you want to learn the OpenTable business model, even if you were a total beginner.
Conclusion
I hope that my article was helpful in explaining how OpenTable makes money online without owning or running any restaurant, and how you can make money with the same business model.
This is the best way for beginners in order to make money online, and I encourage you to learn it and start building your business.
If you are interested in doing so, and you don’t have a prior experience or lots of money, then I recommend that you join the place I mentioned in the previous section.
And if you still have any question about OpenTable’s business model, or about anything I spoke about in this short article, then please, leave me a comment below and I will be happy to help you out asap 🙂