Prime Publishing LLC

How To Generate Revenue Online: An Inside Look at Prime Publishing

December 12 , 2014

Northbrook, IL –  How does a business generate revenue while keeping the majority of its content free? That was the situation Prime Publishing LLC president, Stuart Hochwert, faced when launching his network of crafting and cooking websites five years ago. Hochwert recently discussed the strategies he used to grow the firm’s first two properties, FaveCrafts.com and RecipeLion.com, with social sharing platform, Po.st.

The original content found on Prime Publishing’s network of websites is 100% free to the consumers. Site editors aggregate a vast library of recipes and craft projects, and consumers get to enjoy them at their leisure. It sounds like the ideal situation, but it begs the question: how do you sustain that kind of business model?

“When I launched Prime Publishing LLC 5 years ago,” Hochwert told Po.st, “I saw more craft purchases being made at Wal-Mart, Michael’s Arts & Crafts, Hobby Lobby and others, yet I saw print magazine circulation dropping. The hypothesis was that ‘eyeballs’ who enjoy crafting were moving online, so we created a multi-platform series of cooking and crafting communities to inform, inspire, and engage consumers. Our communities span digital websites, e-mail newsletters, social media, and e-commerce and were originally supported exclusively by advertising.”

The multi-platform, advertising-supported model continues to thrive. In a period of about five years, Prime Publishing’s network of websites have grown to over 6 million subscribers with around 100,000 new subscribers being added each week and over 200,000 video views weekly on YouTube. Not only is Prime Publishing a potent player in the e-newsletter market, but they also have a marked presence on other platforms, including social media.

“Pinterest has been a home run and is perfect for cooking and crafting,” Hochwert explained. “Historically, Facebook has been our largest source of social media referrals, although now, Pinterest has surpassed it.”

While Prime Publishing’s network of websites was originally created for desktop consumption, the model has expanded to appeal to users on the go.

“Over the past 12 months, our mobile site has become a priority as we see more consumers using their smartphones to interact with us. We are starting to move to a fully responsive site design and rolled this out first on AllFreeCrochet.com,” Hochwert explained. “Now consumers on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone can enjoy our content. We have been experimenting with various smart phone ads and providers and just recently have a combination of ads that are generating a CPM that is getting closer to desktop CPMs.”

Prime Publishing is always looking for new ways to reach their audience and introduce themselves to those not yet in the loop. Their premium paid circulation digital magazine, I Like Crochet, launched in 2014, marks the company’s inaugural foray into the premium content model. Its sister publication, I Like Knitting, recently launched in December, 2014.