Prime Publishing LLC

How to Successfully Generate Online Revenue

Stuart Hochwert, President and Founder of Prime Publishing, LLC, recently sat down with Niche Media to discuss strategies and tips for successfully generating revenue online. Prime Publishing has grown rapidly over the past five years, currently reaching over 5.7 million subscribers and generating over 15 million page views per week.

Hochwert navigates the ever-changing field of web publishing by focusing on core pillars of consumer engagement—e-mail newsletters, web sites, and community/social media—and allowing for flexibility in other aspects of the company.

“Online media is changing so quickly, we need to keep the model simple so we can be nimble,” Hochwert stated. “We also focus on quality, knowing that quantity will come from the quality.”

One high-quality program implemented for our advertisers at Prime Publishing is its innovative sponsorship program, most recently hosted by Prime Publishing’s web site, FaveCrafts.com. To celebrate National Craft Month, FaveCrafts.com partnered with twenty different craft companies for daily giveaways, promoted throughout the blog, via social media, and in e-mail newsletters. At the conclusion of the promotion, the sponsors’ craft projects were compiled into a free eBook, available on the FaveCrafts web site, Amazon, and Apple.

“Measurement was easy—how many advertisers did we sell, how many entries did we receive, how many page views were generated, and how many downloaded the free eBook. We shared all of this with every sponsor, typically on their day of sponsorship and an end-of-program recap,” Hochwert added.

In addition to large scale projects, Prime Publishing generates revenue through a multi-platform strategy, including banner ads—specifically through Google AdSense—, pre-roll video, e-mail newsletter registration, and direct response offers. Hochwert foresees programmatic ad buying, using software to purchase digital advertising, as becoming a more prominent force for revenue generation.

“Programmatic ad buying has changed the face of online advertising. It allows smaller websites to be included with large advertising buys,” Hochwert said. “While we have over 60 million page views per month, we are still ‘too small’ to get a ‘seat at the table’ with most ad agencies that represent large brands. However, the banner networks we work with represent us and have access to our site statistics and tens of thousands of other web sites. So, collectively we now ‘have a seat at the table.'”