Dedicated to Athena Parthenos,
great Parthenon was designed by architects Ictinus and Callicrates and built over years 447-432 B.C. Basically it is a simple rectangular building, 237 feet long by 110« feet wide, with Doric columns around its four sides. A pediment on each end rises to a slanting roof. With exception of roof frame and parts of ceiling, entire temple is constructed in marble. To this day Parthenon remains masterpiece of consummate proportions.Do you notice a very important fact about this structure? It is this: heavy roof is supported by numerous pillars. Without those pillars, roof would collapse. My personal mentor and friend Jay Abraham calls this The Parthenon Principle.
The Parthenon Principle, simply explained, is this: Have multiple pillars generate revenue rather than one or two. Your business could collapse if it's only supported by one or two income streams. Too many business owners gamble everything on a single revenue source. They often get attached to one type of marketing - and overlook fact that there are at least a dozen income streams they could access!
Most companies in general, generate revenue - through one or two methods they depend on and use over and over and over. However, what happens when one of those "pillars" crashes? If just ONE pillar were to go down in this scenario, you would risk losing up to 50% of your business. Ouch!
What happens if one of pillars goes down? Do math! If one of these TEN pillars went down, it wouldn't be catastrophic - it may even represent up to 10% of your business.
I submit however, what if your business had 15, or 20, or even 30 DIFFERENT ways, or "pillars" for generating revenue? That would make a difference, wouldn't it?
What may not seem obvious is this: more "pillars" you have, larger and heavier roof that you can support. The more income-generating methods you have, larger revenue roof you will have. I will show you how to have more pillars by opening your eyes to what possibilities are, and what opportunities you might be missing.
In this article I am going to introduce you to a bakers dozen (yes, 13) different pillars your online business can use to generate revenue. Is that all there is, 13? No, but lets start here first and if you're bold enough, I may follow-up this article with a part 2 or even, part 3. As you go through these "pillars" think of ways that you can apply them for your business. DO NOT, at first glance, discard them and say they don't apply to you. Think of possibilities of how they COULD apply to you.
On to list:
Keywords Sit down and brainstorm as many keywords and phrases that someone might use to find a business like yours on Internet search engines. Be sure that you not only take into account not only keywords and phrases you might come up with, but also get fresh outside perspectives. Once you have list, refine it to about 20 keywords and have your webdesigner insert these at top of your webpages in section in this format: Include your URL on offline materials Put your website address onto every piece of marketing material you have, be it business cards, letterheads, invoices, brochures, everything. You don't have to include http:// just www.yourcompanydomain.com will do just fine.
Capture email addresses from site visitors BIG tip here. Design a box on your website where visitors can leave you their name and email address, minimally. Offer them something in exchange (see next tip) and include a checkbox where visitor gives you consent to e-mail them updates about products or services. This gives you "permission" to market to them and even remind them to revisit your website again. Keep these in a database for future and frequent use.
Publish an Ezine No bones about - producing an ezine (newsletter your email) on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis, is hard work. But it is one of best ways, once you've established a solid list of email addresses, to keep in touch with those who have visited your site, build loyalty, develop brand awareness, and build future business. Don't make it long and boring, but relevant, easy to read, and something your reader can make use of. You can distribute it via your email program or subscribe to a listserver.
Press releases If you have a newsworthy event, why not consider writing a brief, one-page release and send it to print periodicals and other ezines? You can do it by hand or use services of Internet News Bureau [www.internetnewsbureau.com], Eric Ward's URLwire [www.urlwire.com], and Netrageous PR Center found at [www.netrageousresults.com/PR/index.html]
