Chris Baggott's Guide to Blogging

Is Corporate Blogging For Real?

My name is Chris Baggott & I'm CEO of Compendium Blogware.
Marketing is about relationships. Relationships happen between people, not brands & not institutions. In this blog we will discuss facets of corporate blogging trends and best practices to help organizations understand and succeed with this medium by giving searchers what they are looking for and putting human beings back into marketing.

Congratulations to Debbie Weil

Monday, February 8, 2010 by Chris Baggott

I wanted to point out with pride that Lee Oden named my friend and collegue Debbie Weil one of the top 25 women that rock social media.

Debbie Weil @debbieweil – Debbie “wrote the book” on corporate blogging (The Corporate Blogging Book) when most online marketing and communications professionals were still trying to figure out what a blog was. She runs a successful corporate blogging and social media consulting practice, works as a strategic advisor for Compendium software and continues to share her insights via blog and public speaking.

Debbie is a strategic advisor to us here at Compendium and I'm thrilled for her to be recognized in this great company.

Terrible Customer Service from Time Warner

Sunday, February 7, 2010 by Chris Baggott

If you are going to be online and offer online services or help, it's really important that you fulfill the implied promise. Web users are loyal but are also passionate when confronted with experiences both good and bad.

Check out this chat session I had two days after I signed up for Time Warner cable and internet service online and never heard anything back. I went to their site and found this great Chat feature....cool. Some kind of mixup surely....they will make it right for me......

We are experiencing higher than usual service times. Please wait and an analyst will be with you shortly.

analyst Francisco has entered room

Chris>

thanks

Francisco>

Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable. We are currently testing our live chat function and appreciate your patience. At the end of our chat you will be given the option of taking a brief survey. My name is Francisco. Please give me a moment while I access your account.

Francisco>

Hello. Iunderstand that you want to receive our services. Is that correct?

Chris>

yes please?  I signed up last week on line and have not heard from anyonne

Chris>

it's kind of time sensitive to us

Francisco>

I apologize for this inconvenience.

Chris>

thanks

Chris>

can you help?

Francisco>

I will be more than happy to assist you in this matter.

Chris>

great

Chris>

when can you come?

Francisco>

Please give a moment while Is search your installation order in the system.

Chris>

thank you

Francisco>

Can you provide me with your address please?

Chris>

the service address is 124 Whiterock Ave,  Crested Butte CO 81224

Chris>

I have a confirmation number: 59468

Francisco>

Thank you for the information. Please a moment while I search this address.

Chris>

thanks

Francisco>

Mr. Baggott, I did not find you address in the system. I will transfer you to our sales department, this department handle the online requests.

Francisco>

Please give a moment while I transfer you.

Chris>

Francisco>

Please wait while the problem is escalated to another analyst

analyst Alex has entered room

Alex>

Thank you for contacting Time Warner Cable Online Customer Service, my name is Alex. May I have your complete name please?

analyst Francisco has left room

Chris>

hello?

Chris>

My name is Chris Baggott

Alex>

Hello. Thank you for providing your name. How may I assist you with today?

Chris>

seriously?

Chris>

sorry

Chris>

don't want to be rude but I just spent 10 minutes giving data to another person

Chris>

that doesn't transfer to you?

Chris>

I'm trying to become a customer

Chris>

I have a confirmation number:  59468

Chris>

I signed up online and no one has ever contacted me

Alex>

I do apologies for your bad experience.

Chris>

can you help me?

Alex>

Sure, You would like to know about the information on installation, correct?

Chris>

yes please

Chris>

I have a bunch of stuff to coordinate this week and Have to have service before Friday

Chris>

but now one has contacted me?

Alex>

Thank you for the confirmation.

Alex>

I would like to inform you that you will need to contact the Time Warner Cable online customer service center for installation related infromation.

Alex>

Would you like me to provide the number?

Chris>

number for what?

Chris>

no I want them to contact me?

Chris>

who are you?

Alex>

You will need to contact the Time Warner Cable online customer service center for installation related infromation.

Chris>

are you not Time Warner?

Chris>

come on?

Alex>

I would like to inform you that this chat support center specializes in online offers. I will be more than happy to assist with questions about these offers.

Chris>

why did I just spend all this time online when you can't do anything but give me a phone number?

Alex>

Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Alex>

This chat support center specializes in online offers. I will be more than happy to assist with questions about these offers.

Alex>

The Time Warner Cable online customer service center number is 1-866-410-4446.

Chris>

I know this isn't your fault but you have to appreciate how this is terrible customer service right?

Chris>

I see why everyone told me to go with Direct TV

Alex(Sun Feb 07 2010 17:06:37 GMT-0500 (EST))>If you have just another moment, I would like to ask a question or two about your situation to see whether we can make your service even more enjoyable for your family. Will that be all right?
Alex(Sun Feb 07 2010 17:08:11 GMT-0500 (EST))>May I please confirm if you are still connected with this chat session?
Chris(Sun Feb 07 2010 17:14:22 GMT-0500 (EST))>i'm here
Chris(Sun Feb 07 2010 17:14:49 GMT-0500 (EST))>I'm blogging about this right now...so I'll be around for awhile
Chris(Sun Feb 07 2010 17:15:50 GMT-0500 (EST))>but you understand I'm sure that it is impossible for me to enjoy your service if I can't even buy your service.  You see the irony in that right?

I wish I was Jake Greenbaum!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010 by Chris Baggott

So...what does this have to do with Blogging Best Practices? Well not a whole lot.

Let me take that back. A big part of using Compendium as a content management system is the idea of humanization. What makes blogging and other social media such great tools for business is the ability to act like human beings instead of faceless Brands or Institutions.

So here is the human Chris Baggott green with envy because young Jake Greenbaum gets to spend this winter in Chile paddling his a-- off and running amazing waterfalls!

So now you know something more about me :-) I am one jealous Corporate Blogger!

IR Update in Chile from stephen forster on Vimeo.

Why you need an Enterprise Social Media Platform

Monday, February 1, 2010 by Chris Baggott

Do you use Corporate Blogging Software? Twitter, Facebook? It's been well reported here and pretty much everywhere else that spending by business on Social Media efforts are exploding. Are you keeping up with the best tools for business? What's shocking is the rapid adoption of free or consumer oriented Social Media tools by business with very little diligence into the very real risks posed by incorporating these tools.

Most hopefully remember the well publicized security breach exposed by Robert Scoble in his blog last September where he reported:

Anyway, this time (hackers) they also put some malicious code on my archive pages. Google sent me an email saying they had removed my blog from its index. That got a whole team to look into how they broke in. Now thanks to TechCrunch and Mashable you know there was a vulnerability in Wordpress which let them break in.

Today ZDNet reported on a new release of the annual Sophos Securtity Threat Report 2010 which outlines the results of their survey sharing the current thoughts on Social Media Security.

Here is a great observation by Sam Diaz, senior editor at ZDNet:

"Here’s something that struck me as interesting: 72 percent of the firms surveyed said they’re concerned that employee behavior on these sites puts their infrastructures and sensitive data at risk. Yet, 49 percent of these firms allow their staff unfettered access to Facebook..."

There is no question that there are amazing opportunities for businesses leveraging social media. But, like all other business software, we have to use the right tools that maximize the rewards, while minimizing the risks. Businesses can't afford the free-for-all that all this openess has bred.

The best blogging software is SaaS based, incorporates workflows for control and compliance and integrates sharing to other social networks.

Use your email to solicit blog content from your customers

Thursday, January 21, 2010 by Chris Baggott

This is one of the most overlooked opportunities in the entire Corporate Blogging / Search Marketing / Social Media Space. (These worlds are rapidly colliding if you haven't noticed)

Good old fashioned email.....

To be successful in leveraging your corporate blogging solution for maximum benefit to both you and your audience, you need to blog with search engine optimization in mind.   For most businesses, your goal is attracting new customers as well as engaging with people who already know you.

Backcountry.com is a fantastic example of what is among the most important of blogging best practices......asking your customers for stories.

The early generation of social media was based on "hope".   "I hope people will leave a comment" "I hope people will become a fan on Facebook" "I hope people will follow me on Twitter"

Now great marketers like Backcountry.com are recognizing that if you want people to be engaged, you need to ask them. That means including triggered emails as a key part of your Social Media efforts.

This is so simple and easy.   I bought a Cross Country Ski Package from them. They triggered an email about a month later asking me to review the bindings.    This is actually the second email I received from them asking for a review and frankly I ignored the first one.   So what? Am I offended that they sent this?

Of course not, I'm flattered! They care what I think!

Now think about your blog readers?   What do they want?   They want to see if you are a credible source to solve their problem....in this case a X-country ski binding problem. You do a search, you land on a page that's got terrific content generated by users telling you exactly what they think.   Other than perhaps employee content, this is the best kind of content you can possibly have.

My point is that if you "hope" to get this kind of content you will probably be disappointed. If you spent $ .003 on a triggered email you will drive the kind of engagement that adds real value to your customers and your prospects....and that's the best kind of search marketing there is.

Let me also say that I have no relationship with BC.com other than as a happy customer.   Do I think they would gain huge benefit using Compendium? You bet I do!

Social Media Helping Haiti

Monday, January 18, 2010 by Chris Baggott

This is a little out of context, but we have a unique opportuntiy:

What’s this about.

We all know of the unprecedented tragedy in Haiti. Often in situations like this we feel helpless to know what to do or who to trust when making donations. Will it go where it’s needed most? Who can we trust?

My longtime colleague from ExactTarget, Karen Jung, recently returned from a 15 month sabbatical from ET. During her time away, she lived and worked among the Haitians, gaining firsthand knowledge of the difficulties of simple, everyday life. She also developed deep relationships with people who live and work in Haiti full time and it’s these relationships we want to leverage to aid those in need.

Karen is an amazing person who has an unbelievably compassionate heart coupled with a brilliant business mind. There is no one I would trust more to know exactly how to deploy charitable aid to help those who have been orphaned or suffered personal loss as a result of the recent earthquake.

In that light, Karen and I got together the day after this disaster and established Haiti-Aid.org. With the support of ExactTarget, Karen is able to focus energy on working with the contacts she has on the ground in Haiti to assess the situation and keep this community appraised of the unfiltered realities of the situation. With her guidance, we have assembled a list of charities that need your help today! You will not hear about these groups in the news or see any fundraising programs on television; but believe me when I say these are legitimate groups doing good in Haiti long before the earthquake as well as long after.

Karen Jung is unique in being part of our email & social media family but also having had extensive, personal experience and knowledge in Haiti. I ask each and every one of you to please hit the Donate Now button and give whatever you are comfortable with to the charity that most appeals to you. This is a situation where dimes and quarters matter.

We also ask for the support of the entire social media community to pass this site on and leverage what we all do best….quickly building a network of concerned marketers supporting this incredible cause.

www.haiti-aid.org
Follow on Twitter: @Haiti_Aid

Sincerely,

Chris Baggott

Hiring Software Engineer/Product Development

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 by Chris Baggott

Software Engineering / Product Development
This individual will be working with a small, cohesive team to develop a web-based software-as-a service
application that is hosted in a cloud computing environment.

The development cycle is fast paced, with SCRUM project management and weekly releases.

Team members wear many hats, with responsibilities including:

• research
• algorithm design
• API documentation
• coding
• debugging
• software testing

Most of this position's time will be devoted to development of server-side functionality, but there will also be times where this individual will need to write code for the client side as well. Server side functionality is exposed via a RESTful web services API. It is developed using an MVC framework on a LAMP (P = PHP 5) stack. Client side is HTML and JavaScript.

Required Knowledge

• object oriented programming concepts

• computer science fundamentals in algorithms and data structures

• thorough knowledge of technology underlying the web

Desired Skills:

• can come up to speed quickly on subjects with minimal hand-holding

• finds challenging problems to be exciting rather than intimidating

• asks the right questions to clarify ambiguity

• makes realistic time estimates for work items

• takes commitments to getting things done on time
seriously

• intellectually curious and committed to continuously expanding and refining one's
skill set

• unfazed by working from the command line

• communicates effectively both with technical and non-technical staff

Specific Experience Pluses:

• developing in a strongly typed language like (e.g. C++, Java, etc.)

• developing in an object oriented dynamic language (e.g. PHP 5, Python, or Ruby)

• working with unit testing tools (e.g. PHPUnit, JUnit, YUITest etc.)

• using an MVC framework to develop web applications (e.g. Agavi, Struts, etc.)

• comfortable with XML processing technologies (e.g. DOM manipulation and XSLT)

• MySQL query optimization and ORM tools

• experience with NoSQL forms of data storage

• cloud computing services (e.g. Amazon EC2, S3, SQS, SimpleDB etc.)

• technologies used in highly scalable websites (e.g. NGINX, Memcache, Solr/Lucene,
Hadoop, etc.)

• using JavaScript libraries for cross-browser compatibility (e.g. YUI library, EXT-JS)

• debugging with browser-based tools (e.g. Firebug, Web Developer Toolbar, MS
Script Debugger)

How do Mature Marketers Measure Social Media ROI?

Tuesday, January 5, 2010 by Chris Baggott

With so much talk about the ROI of social media, I'm happy to report that all the confusion we've been reading out doesn't manifest in the real world. The reality is that according to this study by Marketing Sherpa, there is no ambiguity at all among the companies that have built effective Social Media strategies.

As you can clearly see by the graph above...the companies that have been involved know exactly what and how to measure their efforts. This is a clear explanation of the benefits of enterprise business blog software and it's power in search marketing and conversion.

The top four tell the story: Increased Traffic, Increased Lead Generation, Increased Sales Revenue and Improved Search Engine Rankings are all measurable benefits with Corporate Blogging, Twitter and other social media strategies.

This isn't meant to disparage some of the softer benefits like product awarness or PR, but let's face it....in today's marketing it's not hard to measure benefits.

Time to change the way we think about 'Websites'?

Monday, January 4, 2010 by Chris Baggott

“...the way we’ve built Web sites for the last 15 years hasn’t really been designed to deal with the amount of data we’re now seeing because of the real-time Web,” said David Pakman, a partner at Venrock in New York.

There was an interesting article today in the New York Times about where VC money will flow in 2010. Although we are not seeking any VC funding this year at Compendium, the above statement is really a compelling synopsis as to what we are doing here.

Since the beginning, 'websites' were designed to be like a Magazine or a Catalog....meaning like paper.   Of course the web isn't constrained by the limitations of paper and we interact with the web completely differently...but we still have the same website thinking that we did back in 1995. (homepage, navigation tabs, connecting paths and static content)

The design is based on a visitor "intending to come" and most web marketing has been designed to drive people to the site through branding methods and clever URL's.

The new web drives traffic through search and social media referrals. Direct navigation is rapidly shrinking as a traffic source.   Design based on URL navigation doesn't make a lot of sense any more and what we are seeing is a new model based on landing pages specific to the searchers intent along with the 'humanization' that comes from organizations leveraging social media.

This is what works so well when companies blog for search engine optimization.   Corporate Blogging Software with a focus on Search Marketing is becoming the hub of on line marketing strategy.    Do your prospects need a website or simply a page or two that is specifically targeted to meet their needs?

What David Pakman and I seem to agree on is that the web is about data and the new version is going to focus on organizing that data (content) to better meet the needs of the user.   More often than not, those users are searchers...another kind of known data right?

I was asked the other day by

Wednesday, December 23, 2009 by Chris Baggott

I was asked the other day by an interviewer if I could explain some Social Media and Search Marketing Trends I'm seeing. hmmmm.....

I used to do a lot of top ten lists but that's a little 2004 :-) Basically, this is what I wrote in an email to the interviewer:

From a trends standpoint, what I am focused on is a new study we are conducting to help bring some clarity around corporate blogging (http://compendium.com/survey/ )

Specifically we are looking to understand who the 'audience' really is.   Our hypothesis is, and the data support, that the vast majority of traffic coming into blogs is from first time visitors.

Saying that supports the reality that your 'audience' is made up of people who don't know you....not readers really, but searchers.

Following that, should business rethink their entire strategy for corporate blogging to address the needs of this audience? Is it about thought leadership, or solving immediate problems expressed by the searcher?

The biggest trend in corporate blogging is leveraging the medium as a database marketing strategy. Similar to how email marketing has evolved from 'batch & blast" to relevant messages based on data, search is evolving from a "get in front of traffic volume" strategy to one that is about delivering relevant content to specific searches. Blogging is the best tool to accomplish this.

Supporting trends include widespread employee blogging. Edelman calls employee bloggers 5 times more credible than CEO's and of course by spreading the content creation load among many you get obvious benefits of quality and quantity.    Who better to tell the stories of the problems you solve, the customers you serve and the benefits of your products and services.

Another growing content strategy involves customer or constituent feedback through direct solicitations via triggered email and specific landing pages as demonstrated by these examples.

A final supporting trend focuses on conversion.   One of my favorite sayings is that "Conversion is a better conversation".    Traditional blogging theory talks a lot about conversation...using blogs to engage in a dialog.   What's often forgotten is that there are many many ways to have a dialog with someone.    Most blogs historically have not focused on any conversion beyond "subscribe to my RSS" or leave a comment.

This has been disappointing to most Business Bloggers and to their audience of mostly first time visitors.   These visitors are trying to solve a problem.   That's how they arrived at the blog in the first place.   Marketers are beginning to recognize that the best way to serve this audience is to convert them.

Hope this helps.

New Report Ties Social Media Marketing to ROI

Tuesday, December 22, 2009 by Chris Baggott

I thought you might not have seen this yesterday from eMarketer.

As the social media channel matures it becomes much more tied to the metrics that drive the business like increased traffic, lead generation and of course sales revenue and less about PR and support. We've talked about this in the past when we discussed the difference between first generation corporate blogging and what Gartner refers to as third generation.

Also of note in this report has to do with budgets being increased for corporate blogging & content development.

Does Personalized Search Change Everything...again?

Thursday, December 17, 2009 by Chris Baggott

Danny Sullivan has a great post talking about one of the most dramatic changes to strike search marketing in a long time. The sudden and kind of quiet launch of personalized search last Friday. Danny does such a great job of explaining it, that it's better to just go see what he's teaching.

I want to discuss how this might effect Corporate Blogging as an SEO Tool, but first here is a key paragraph from Search Engine Land:

"Does this mean SEO is dead? No. I’ve warned for years that search results would be getting more personalized. Still, for many queries, there will continue to be “normal” results until Google harvests enough information to start personalizing them. SEO remains important to ensure that you’ve got that first shot at being considered. And the best tip in this new world of personalization remains the same. Make a good impression. Titles and descriptions are important, as is having outstanding content."

I believe that this changes also reinforces that marketers need to be casting an even wider net. Personalization takes the Long Tail to a whole new level.   Titles, descriptions and content are critical. SEO is becoming more of a One to One marketing tactic, beyond just ranking high on a few high volume keywords.

SEO strategy has got to focus on having many many pages, all specifically targeting as many scenarios as possible.   Content strategies need to go broad...meaning lots of contributors. This is equivalant to the introducion of dynamic content to email marketing.   Organize your content in such a way that you are delivering a highly relevant communication to the right person at the right time. If I live in Columbus Ohio and am searching for a digital camera, you better have a page specifically targeting me that's different than the page targeting the person in Kansas City or San Francisco.

Geotargeting is the most obvious place to start for personalization.   If Google learns I live in Greenfield Indiana, you can bet when I search for a digital camera it's going to do it's best to deliver one based on my location.   What else can they learn?   My spending? Favorite retailers? Size of my family?

I'm actually really excited about these developments and am looking forward to seeing how they play out. I honestly think this is going to be great for the searcher. Anyone who's followed me knows that I've basically been somewhat anti-mass-marketing my entire career.   I spent many years in catalogs and direct mail, co-founded ExactTarget to get closer to what Peppers & Rodgers called "The One To One Future" and the ideas around Compendium are squarely aimed at data-driven SEO.

As my good friend Joel Book is fond of saying: "Hang on people we are in for a wild ride" :-)

Who's got the momentum in online marketing?

Thursday, December 17, 2009 by Chris Baggott

Forrester Social Media and SEO spending in 2010

Forrester Research asks a great question about Marketing over the next three years. Which tools are going to be most effective?

As you can see two of the top three relate to social media and SEO Tools. As you know, we are strong advocates of using your blog for search engine optimization so basically Compendium covers both of these nicely. Add in blog video and you can see why corporate blogging acts as the hub of your social media strategy.

By empowering your employees and constituents (customers) to help tell the stories of your business, products, services and problems you solve your blog software acts as a hub for both social media marketing (twitter/facebook/linkedin) as well as a powerful SEO tool.

Help Me...speak my language

Wednesday, December 16, 2009 by Chris Baggott

Two of my favorites quotes:

Matt Cutts: "Think about what people are going to type....and talk about that".

And this one which is anonymous (at least to me)

"If I sell I have to speak your language If I buy tu devi parlare la mia lingua"

I love these both as simple search marketing guidelines. If you want to be successful as a marketer you have to 'speak the language of the customer'. (feel free to quote me lol)

Blogging Best Practices tell us that we have to speak to our readers. If our readers are first time visitors (check your analytics, they are) then you have great insight into what they want you to talk about....they are telling you with their query. Do your keyword research that's going to guide you to success.

Please take the first Corporate Blogging Survey

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Chris Baggott

Today, we are excited to launch what we believe is the first Corporate Blogging Survey to examine the traffic and analytics side of blogs produced and maintained by business.

Working in collaboration with blogging experts, Debbie Weil, Jason Falls & Jay Baer we are exploring some realities around 'readers' & 'traffic' as it relates to Corporate Blogging.

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. Just as importantly, please pass it on to as many business bloggers as you can. We are hoping to wrap this up in a week and have results published before the New Year.

So what’s Facebook Good For?

Tuesday, December 15, 2009 by Chris Baggott

I hear a lot of people who try to ‘protect’ their Facebook. “I don’t mix my business & personal life”

I’m thinking of what’s been wrong with marketing for about 60 years. The whole idea that we are not people. All business used to be about people. It’s only a relatively recent phenomenon that we as companies hide behind “Brand” and thinking of our relationships as anonymous “consumers”.

The fact is that business is about people. If you are dealing with real human beings you actually care about them as people. In the old days “how’s the kids?” was a genuine interest in the other persons personal life and well being. As relationships scale into the hundreds or beyond it became impossible to maintain and the world converted to Mass Marketing.

Until now….

Now we have Facebook and have the ability to actually know the people we deal with.

For example: I have a colleague who just celebrated her grandmothers 90^th birthday…makes dozens of holiday cookies and does amazing work with children....all in addition to being brilliant.

How do I use this information? Well…sometimes it’s not so obvious. But I just like having a human connection. Social networking is nothing new…it’s been part of our lives forever. We live in a small town where my wife grew up. We see her old friends almost daily…..people who have been part of her life since she was a kid…including old boyfriends. Do we leverage these relationships for business? Of course we do! Who do you think put in our pool?? LOL

So now think of the breakthrough with facebook. We never need to lose a relationship. We can have much more engagement with everyone we ever met….and people we would like to meet or feel like we connect even if we never get to meet in person.

FB has some problems for sure. “Hooking up” with old friends has become a sit-com cliché. Most marketers are trying to apply old media tactics of reach and frequency and advertising. ( was in a meeting of a large retailer talking about the millions spent on TV and “we have 2,900 fans on facebook”. )

But like all things new….we will soon learn that Facebook is an amazing tool….not to be abused, but to improve our relationships.

Real Time Search and It's effect on Corporate Blogging

Monday, December 14, 2009 by Chris Baggott

So an interesting change of events last week with the introduction of Real Time Search. If you are just hearing about this now, I'll steer you somewhere else to get an explanation. My mission here is to help us understand the opportunity this presents to the Corporate Blogging Community.

The quick answer here is that the introduction of Real Time Search is yet another major signal that Social Media is an SEO tool more than anything else. At the end of the day, something we have been saying since we started Compendium is becoming even more true. The 'readers and followers' are always going to be over-shadowed by the 'searchers'. For every 1,000 followers you might have in whatever social network you are using, there are 10's of thousands of people that are out there searching for a solution to a problem that your business probably solves. Search has been moving towards a 'Recency' model ever since Google delivered to us blended results and now it seems we are moving another step further away from PageRank as the primary criteria.

But first a quick history or Real Time Search:

Cris Crum related this story last week: "Google has been working on real-time search for years," as Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb points out. "In the spring of 2006, the story goes, Google launched Google Finance onto the Web and was promptly dismayed to find that the service didn't appear in a Google search for its own name later that day. It was after that, and a few other similar experiences, that Google engineers created an algorithm called QDF, or Query Deserves Freshness. QDF determines when results for a query need to be augmented with the newest content available, in addition to the content with the highest PageRank."

Dave Snyder (also) makes a good point about spam. "Seriously, any new feature that Google rolls out is a playground for SPAM," he says. "My head is spinning thinking of all the cool/evil implications of the service. I am sure lots of people are going to be testing how Google is choosing the results coming in the box. Some people might ask the importance of coming up for a mere moment in that position, but the sheer amount of traffic generated for a trending term can make even a 30 second window profitable."

Google's Vice President of Search Products & User Experience, Marissa Mayer told TechCrunch when asked if she could trust real time results: "Hard to say. We can't simply apply the PageRank algorithm to content shared in real time, but we look at the ecosystem and detect signals we can use to reveal authority, for instance. It's difficult, but there are data points out there that can be used for filtering."

"In any regard, real-time search results in SERPs means you can't ignore social media. The more you engage in social media, the better shot you have at hitting high placement on Google SERPs that display real-time results."

Does real-time search affect my industry?

From Tom C @ SEOMoz Blog: For search terms that have hardly any tweet-volume I've already seen examples where literally one or two tweets can generate a real-time one-box. Sometimes even for the brand name term. That means that more or less any breaking news in your industry will generate some level of real-time results.

So this is an interesting statement: "more or less any breaking news in your industry...."

Is the price of a flat screen Television breaking news?

I'm going to say yes. Here is the thing....in the world of The Long Tail and the idea of targeting hundreds or thousands of keywords....anything can be breaking news to someone.

And this gets us back to Corporate Blogging. Paula Berg (late of Southwest Airlines) said this beautifully when she taught us that; "Blogs are the hub of your social media strategy". Blogs are your number one way to generate the relevant content and organize that content in ways that legitimately target meaningful search traffic. There simply is no better way than empowering as many employees and customers as possible to tell the stories of your products and services...along with the late breaking news...like your TV's are on sale today in Cleveland. The more content and the more blogs leveraging that content, the more you get to solve the problems that searchers are seeking....this is good. If someone is looking for a deal on a TV now (around a million searches a month on cheap TV and it's dirivitives) it makes sense that you..the seller of TV's...would want to and deserve to show up...you are an authority. If you are the most recent authority all the better.

Now add the component of Real Time Search. Blogs by definition are 'recent'. Twitter is even more "recent". Therefore, using sharing tools to leverage your blog content has to become a mandatory tactic in your social media strategy. As Marissa is telling us, PageRank is a lot less relevant search criteria in a real time world.

If you have more content, more recently produced....AND are legitimate...you stand a very strong chance of doing well in this new environment.

Joe Pulizzi: 10 Corporate Blogging Tips & Strategies

Saturday, December 12, 2009 by Chris Baggott

Joe Pulizzi had a good post on 10 Corporate Blogging Tips & Strategies that I thought was worth sharing.

I also wanted to share my comment because I think the idea of employee and constituent blogging isn't talked about enough:

"Great tips Joe.

Also, we suggest frequently to open the floodgates for content creation. Good business blogs tell the stories about how you solve problems. The similar situation story has been the greatest sales tactic of all time for eternity. "Tell me how you have solved a problem like mine in the past and I'm likely to trust you to solve my problem"

This is true whether you sell cars or high end legal consulting.

The best people to tell those similar situation stories are either your employees or your existing customers. Empower them...solicit them. Free them."

Accept that your most important audience is the first time visitor. You best traffic source is coming from search marketing. These people are looking for help. The more frequently you post stories about how you help, the more people you get to help. a virtuous circle :-)

Rand has a great overview of Duplicate Content today

Friday, December 11, 2009 by Chris Baggott

Rand has a great overview of Duplicate Content today for those who don't fully understand the concept. The good news is that Compendium Blogware takes care of all the technical aspects of business blogging software so you only have to worry about blogging, not technology.