Hi there! My name is Allison Bowen and I work in the Client Success Department at Compendium Blogware as a Client Success Specialist. I'm a recent graduate of Butler University and am excited to dive into the world of blogging for business.
One thing I know for sure is that writing a post does not need to be nearly as complicated as many people make it seem. The purpose of my blog is to show you that blogging for business is actually quite basic. You don't have to be a journalist by trade or even a fantastic writer to create an awesome post that can win your company business. I'm here to give you the help you need as you too dig further into the vast world of blogging.
On a personal note, I'm orginally from the very northeast corner of Indiana and absolutely love any and all water activities!
Today I officially feel old. Okay, okay, I know 23 is not very old... But STILL! 23 is one of those ages that I've always considered to be "old." And now here it is, already! Wow does time fly by!
One thing I know for sure is that birthday wishes today are nothing like they used to be. When I was a kid, I might have a few friends at school tell me happy birthday if they happened to remember the right day. I might even get a birthday cake on our class calendar with my name on it.
But at age 23 I can officially say that I've received the most birthday wishes I have ever received. Is this because I now have so many more friends? Well, maybe in part. However, the more likely scenario is that there are now so many more social media avenues in which friends can offer me well wishes. Facebook provides everyone with my exact birth date; meaning it's just after 4pm and I've already received 56 wall posts. One friend Twitters "Happy Birthday @alliebb44" and all the sudden all my Twitter followers are retweeting the sentiments. Times have certainly changed!
Is your company up to date with this new world of social media? One great place to start is with a corporate blog. With Compendium's easy to use blog software you can quickly and easily write a post that relates to your clients and gives them an insight to your company, which can in turn lead to search engine optimization and sales.
So why not give it a try? Give us a call here at Compendium today!
Many people think that in order to write a blog post, you need to a be a subject matter expert. We at Compendium know that this is just not the case. In fact, in order to blog for business all you really need to do is blog! Using our powerful blogging software to write a post, you can get you the search results you are looking for.
We often get the question "Who should be blogging for my company?" Our answer? Any one you empower with an e-mail address you should also empower with a blog. Every person in your company has a story to tell and they should be given the opportunity to tell it!
Take for example students at M.I.T. According to an Oct. 1, 2009 article in the New York Times titledM.I.T. Taking Student Blogs to Nth Degree, these student bloggers are free to write about whatever they want. One blogger even writes that she was "bored out of her mind" in a class. While this may seem like bad publicty for the school, it's really not. It's a real thought from a real student. This is what your readers will be most interested in.
Your readers will appreciate the posts where your writers offer up their advice or suggestions and they'll enjoy posts of cute stories. But they'll really get into posts were your writers tell exactly what is going on within your company. A product recall? A down quarter? Blog about it! Explain the issue, how it occured and how your company is working to fix the problem. Blog posts should be an area in which you can "get real" with your readers.
So go ahead, let your employees blog about anything they want! Who knows - it could even end up in the New York Times!
I have always loved the fall season. Football, changing leaves, chilly fall days... and HALLOWEEN! What's better than that?! Despite the fact that I'm now an adult, I still find it fun to dress up and go out on the town. This year, my friends and I decided that our own little Halloween night was just what we needed. Of course this meant that we had to carve pumpkins.
I am one of the lucky individuals who is still best friends with their high school friends; last night's Halloween party was with girls that I have known since kindergarten. As we all sat around reminiscing about the past, our conversations quickly turned to what we are doing know. One friend is a hairdresser, one works for a local health company, two are in grad school.... and then there is me. How do I explain what my company does?
"Oh that's easy," I always say. "We provide the best blogging software for search engine optimization." That's the point at which I always get blank stares.
Compendium's product is really quite easy when you think about it. By writing blog posts, you are able to increase your company's position within Google's rankings for certain keywords. Does your company sell bicyles in Indianapolis? You would probaby want your company to appear first when someone searches for "Indianapolis Bicycles" within Google. Our product helps you do just that! Of course there is a bit more to it, but overall, Compendium helps your company rise to the top of search results through blogging.
Here at Compendium, we know that we provide our clients with the best blogging software available. Not only does our product allow you to easily write a blog post, it will also help you actually blog for search engine optimization. We know that our product is great, but there are always areas in which it could be better. This is where you come in.
We want to hear from you! Have an idea? A suggestion to improve our product? We are always open to ideas from our clients. Our main goal is provide our clients with the most powerful blogging software that will help them get the best results.
If you have a suggestion for something we could improve within our system, please let us know! Send you ideas and enhancement requests to help@compendium.com. We take all the ideas submitted and enter them into a database. Each idea is prioritized by demand, so the more clients that ask for a feature, the more we want to make it happen! Every week, our engineering team takes a look at the enhancement requests submitted and tries their best to upgrade our software accordingly.
Keep an eye out for more new features that you, our clients, have requested coming soon!
Have you noticed the many new features that are now a part of our Compendium blog software? Our engineering team has been hard at work making our simple blogging software even more user-friendly.
One recent new feature has been the ability for administrators to now add users to their accounts. But did you know that admins also now have the ability to change a user's name and e-mail?
Did someone in your company recently get married? Did you change the e-mails of everyone in your company? No problem!
It's simple to make these changes! Once you add a user (for instructions, click here) you can make any changes by simply clicking on the user's name or e-mail. A box will appear; type in the appropriate changes and hit update!
That's right, the best blogging software just got better.
As the main manager of our help@compendium.com e-mail, I often see many different cases come in to our queue. Sometimes clients are requesting blogging best practice tips. Other times clients are looking to have a call-to-action changed or have a question about how to best blog for search results. No two cases are ever the same; it keeps my life exciting!
I've had the opportunity to learn so much about our simple blogging software and every day I'm more and more amazed at how complex it is. Only our amazing engineering team can figure out how to make everything work together! Maybe they should take a break from our software and try their hand at an invention like the one in the video below!
Clients often come to us at Compendium and question how in the world they are supposed to come up with content to write about for their blog page. We try to do our part by offering content ides within our template editor, blogging ourselves in order to generate ideas and by offering all sorts of suggestions. However, sometimes it just comes down to the fact that with our easy to use blog software, you really can write about almost anything!
For example, take one of our clients, Green Engery TV. Their guest blogger recently wrote about how he is losing weight by pedaling a bicyle in order to power his television. Rather than sit on the couch eating muncies and watching the tube, the guest blogger is now getting a workout while still enjoying his favorite shows!
How in the world does that story turn into a blog post? Easy! With Compendium's product you can still blog for search engine optimization simply by being sure to use keyword phrases within each post, no matter what it is about. You'd be surprised how easy it is to do!
Keep generating those posts and be sure to check out this crazy television invention here.
While being a Client Success Specialist here at Compendium, I also have the role of being an Orr Fellow. This means that I am a part of the two-year Governor Bob Orr Entreprenurial Fellowship Program and have had many opportunities within Compendium and Indianapolis because of my position. As a part of the Orr Fellowship, I have recently travelled to many colleges throughout the state to recruit for our program.
Last night I went to a networking fair at Butler University and quickly discovered one thing about recruiting - it only works if you have passion for what you are doing! Isn't this the way it is with everything in life? As I stood at our Orr Fellowship table and looked around, it was easy to tell which employees were passionate about their companies. Students instantly gravitated towards those that seemed excited about what they were discussing.
The same goes for blogging. It's all about passion. If you're a client of Compendium's, you know you're using the best blogging software available. So, shouldn't you be passionate about it? How amazing is it that you can tell your story to the entire blogsphere every day? So c'mon! Write some posts! If you're passionate about what you're doing, your company's corporate blog is sure to succeed.
I've always been one of those people that abolutely loves birthdays. My friends' birthdays, my parents' birthdays, but especially my OWN birthday! And wouldn't you know it, my birthday is very soon! This upcoming Tuesday, November 3rd, I will be turning yet another year older.
As I began thinking about what I want for my birthday, my mind automatically drifted to something that I've wanted since I was a small child - a dog. Unfortunately I was never able to have any pets growing up because my mother was so allergic. Now that I am a grown adult and living on my own, I really want to get my own dog! Since I've never had a dog before, I have no idea what breed I would even begin to want, so every day I spend some time on Google searching for dogs. I would really like to get one from somewhere local, so I tend to search for "Indianapolis dogs" or something of the sort. Amazingly enough, there are not many local places that rise to the top of the search results.
This has left me thinking. Why are there not more humane societies, etc. out there using Compendium's blog software? With our simple blogging software, companies can choose to focus on geographically targeted keywords. Therefore, when someone would search "Indianapolis dogs", the company's Compendium blog would rise to the top! And why stop there? If you're located in Indianapolis, you might also want to target "Greenfield dogs", "Carmel dogs", "Fishers dogs"... The possibilites are endless!
Give Compendium a call today to learn more about our afforadable blogging software and how your company could benefit from focusing on geographical keywords.
In my job at Compendium, I wear many hats. Not only have I recently begun hosting training webinars for our clients, I've also been offering some training to one of our very own!
Miss Amber Mohling has recently moved from her position in Lead Qualification to join us on the Client Success team. As even more businesses discover our powerful blogging software and our company grows, we have even more client questions and requests come in to our help@compendium.com e-mail on a daily basis. Hence why we brought Amber over to join our team!
Amber is going to be doing a job very similar to my own. She'll also be answering all of your questions about our blog software and fulfilling all client requests! This is a position that I really enjoy because no two days are ever the same. One day I'll be discussing SEO tools with clients and the next I'll be uploading new Calls-to-Action.
If you happen to call into our hotline (317-777-6255) or e-mail our help@compendium.com e-mail with a question or request and get Amber on the other end, be sure to welcome her to the team. She's done a great job learning the ropes so far and I'm looking forward to being able to help her learn even more. Who knows, I'm sure one of these days she'll be teaching me a thing or two!
Today I had the opportunity to host my first Compendium Client Training Webinar! Amazingly enough, it seemed to go off without a hitch!
Compendium's software as a service product provides an affordable blogging solution for our clients. However, we don't stop there. We want to provide our clients with the whole blogging package, including training for our software! A month ago I was asked to develop this client training and it's been a long process, but today I was able to give my first live, scheduled webinar.
As I began, I was a little nervous about how it would go over. After receiving feedback from the Client Success team, my family and a few clients, I knew the webinar contained all the information necessary. But would our clients find it worthwhile? Would they feel fully ready to use our system after completing the training?
Overall it seemed to prove invaluable for all those that attended! The comments and feedback I received really conveyed the excitement our clients felt; they're ready to begin blogging for their companies!
Luckily for me, I'll be repeating these training webinars every week so they are sure to get better as time goes on. Feel free to join me any Tuesday or Thursday as I provide both user and administrator training. If you're a Compendim client, talk to you Client Success Manager for further information on these webinars.
Well folks, it's here! That's right... I'm proud to announce the release of Compendium User and Administrator Live Training Webinars! Your best blogging software just got better! The trainings will be coming to you live from 55 Monument Circle and will take place every Tuesday and Thursday.
On Tuesdays, user training will take place at 2:00pm, followed by administrator training at 2:30pm. The live webinars on Thursdays will take place at 10:00am for users and 10:30am for administrators.
Accessing the live webinars is very easy. You'll simply need to join the "Go-To-Meeting" session by clicking on the following link at the time given above.
Who should attend these trainings? Anyone! If you are writing a blog for your business through Compendium's blogging software, we would love to have you attend. Please note, you will be asked to tell us your company name, so you must be a client of Compendium's.
If you would like to learn how to operate our system or would simply like to learn some new tips and tricks, please feel free to join in on the fun! I look forward to training you soon!
Although the Compendium blog software is very easy to use, many of our clients appreciate some sort of training just to learn all the in's and out's of the system. This is where I come in! I have been working to develop a training webinar for both users and administrators. So far I've compiled a PowerPoint, developed wording and even presented the webinar to our Client Success team and my parents. Everyone gave me a thumbs up!
However, the trust test came today. Early this afternoon I presented both the user and admin training webinars to a few clients who have just begun using our power blogging software.
I began with the user training session. I kicked off the webinar with an introduction and showed users how to complete the four-step set-up process. I then demonstrated how to create a sticky post and how to add pictures, hyperlinks and video. I also pointed out a few other little-known features of the Compendium software.
During the administrator session, I demonstrated how to add users and select target keywords. I then took the clients through the process of reviewing and approving/declining posts from their users as well as comments from readers. At the end of the webinar, I went over a few blogging best practices that admins should ensure their users follow.
Overall the trainings received awesome reviews! I am now working to develop a way to share these trainings with all of our clients. Watch for a link soon!
You can go ahead and mark your calendars now. The user trainings will take place Tuesdays at 2:00pm and Thursdays at 10:00am. Admin trainings will take place at 2:30pm on Tuesdays and at 10:30am on Thursdays. More details to come!
As I continue in my efforts to develop the perfect training webinar for Compendium clients, I've enlisted the help of a few friendly folks that agreed to be my guinea pigs. The amazing Client Success team here at Compendium agreed to be my first subjects. Every person on the team is an expert when it comes to our powerful blogging software and knows all the blogging best pratices out there. Needless to say, I had a feeling they were going to be my toughest critics.
After a few technical difficulties I was finally able to deliver my first webinar to our team. They loved it! I received some very helpful comments back and a few suggestions, but overall my first attempt at the future webinar went very well.
Since I needed some more practice rehersing the wording, I presented my webinar a few more times this past weekend to some less harsh critics - my parents. Despite the fact that they aren't always the most computer savvy people, they seemed to understand our software entirely. Great!
What's the next step in my quest to create the perfect Compendium Client Training webinars? Real clients! Today I'm enlisting the help of a few clients that are willing to listen to my webinar and will provide some feedback and suggestions on what else they are looking for. Watch for another post soon regarding how it went... I'm so close! Training webinars should be out early next week!!
As we continue to grow here at Compendium we are constantly seeing the need for new programs, product features and more. Once such thing we've seen a huge demand for has been Administrator and User Training! Well, guess who they decided should be responsible for developing this program?! That's right... ME!
Although our system is a software as a service product and fairly self-explanatory, we do want to give our clients every opportunity to learn as much about our blogging solution as possible. If you don't know how to user the system, how will you even begin to write the best blog for search engine optimization?
I began thinking about exactly what this training should include and how it should be presented to our clients. The final verdict? A webinar! I'll be bringing live admin and user training to you each and every Tuesday and Thursday. Anyone can attend!
I've been working hard to develop the best content for this training program. I'll be demonstrating our simple blogging software and will even offer some blogging best practice tips at the end of the webinar. For now, I'm working to practice presenting this webinar so it will be a success. Watch for future posts from me regarding how the program is coming along and when you can sign up to be a part of the webinar!
There is nothing quite as exciting as that first time you get an e-mail saying that you are now officially a Compendium blogger. Okay, maybe there are a few things more exciting, but not many! Who doesn't want to blog with the best blogging software available? Once you log in to the Compendium system with your new username and a temporary password you may think you're all set to start writing. But what's that? Information to fill out?
Don't worry, just like many software programs, Compendium needs to know a little bit about you before you can start creating those magnificent posts. To begin, you will need to create a new password. We don't want you to have to remember that temporary password forever!
After completing that step, you'll then be asked to create a blog title and blog description. Many people will quickly title their blog "Allison's blog" or something of the sort. However, did you know that your blog title is also included in your post URL? When someone views your post specifically it will also appear in the header. Just like the rest of your posts, search engines pick up keywords used within your title as well. So think wisely before naming your blog! For example, my blog title is "Basic Blogging for Business." The next box asks you to develop a blog description. Just a few short sentences regarding what your posts will generally be about is perfect!
And looky there, you're all ready to begin writing your first post! That wasn't so hard, was it?
Many people today still think that blogging is simply a way to write down thoughts and share them with others in the blogosphere. Mothers blog to share cute things their children do. Executives blog to discuss ideas they have for their companies. But hopefully, if you're reading this, you know that blogging is about so much more.
At Compendium, we often talk about "blogging for business." But what if your organization isn't a typical business? Can you still benefit from having a Compendium blog? Of course! Not only do I have the title of Client Success Specialist at work, I'm also a 2009 Orr Fellow. This is a pretty cool title in itself! Orr Fellows serve a two-year commitment with their host companies (mine being Compendium) and engage in innovative projects. They also get to work with top company executives in various roles and recruit top talent from around the state of Indiana to be future Fellows. To learn more about the Fellowship, check out our website.
As we begin to recruit 2010 Fellows, we came to the realization that we need to have more of an online presence in order to get our name out there. My solution? A blog through Compendium! Although we're not trying to specifically sell anything, we still want people to know our name. We'd like to collect as many resumes as possible in order to choose the most qualified candidates we can. So why not start a Fellowship blog? Not only does blogging provide an excellent opportunity for us to talk about what we do on a daily basis, through Compendium, it can also increase our search engine optimization. How great would it be if a college senior Googled "Indianapolis Job Opportunities" and an Orr Fellow's blog appeared first in the list? Obviously this would go a long way in getting our name out to students.
So despite the fact that your organization may be not be the traditional business to business or business to consumer company, you can still benefit from having a blog! What organization would not want to draw attention to their site?
Why not give it a try today? We're beginning our Orr Fellowship blog here shortly and you can bet that I'll let you know how our results turn out!
As Client Success Specialist here at Compendium, I often see many different types of questions come in to our company on a daily basis. Some questions are very technical; some clients want more advice. Whatever the question, I always enjoy answering it because it means that our clients are out there blogging and increasing their search engine optimization! And that's a good thing!
There are a few common questions that people always seem to ask about Compendium Blogware:
Q) How do I add users to my account? A) It's simple! Just e-mail help@compendiumblogware.com the user's full name and e-mail address.
Q) I want to create a new Call to Action (CTA). What size does it need to be to fit on my sidebar? A) 225 px wide
Q) A user blog post is not appearing at all/incorrectly. Why? A) First, is it a sticky post? If so, sticky posts will only appear under the user's blog. You can find this if you click on the username from the main blog page. Another problem could be that someone copied/pasted from Word. Word contains hidden formatting that often does not work with our system. Use Notepad if you'd like to copy/paste.
Q) What should I include in my blogging content? A) Whatever you'd like! Just be sure to write to your keywords and you can talk about anything!
As many similar questions as I see a day, I also see many that are very specific. It's cliche, but there really are no stupid questions! If there is anything at all we here at Compendium can help you with, please don't hesitate to ask. We want to see your blog program succeed! And besides... I like to have something to do. Your questions keep me busy!
Today, in my search to learn everything there is to know about Compendium Blogware and all of our processes, I began researching Google Analytics. Wow, was I blown away! I've used this program briefly before, but have really only skimmed the surface as far as what it does. If your company is a client of Compendium's you receive your Google Analytics report once a week.
Upon looking at the report, you may have the same reaction I did at first. I just want to concentrate on blogging for business... What in the world do all of these graphs and numbers mean?! Google Analytics is an amazing system, but really for the most general of uses, you could spend a minute looking at your report and get the general idea of how your blog is doing.
I'd like to point out two main areas: average time on site and bounce rates. Average time on site can vary depending on what your posts are about, how interesting they are, etc. Between one to two minutes is a good average time on site. To increase this number, you can add graphics, videos and more to entice readers. Bounce rates are, on average, around 50 to 75 percent. Of course, every company is unique and these are just average numbers but they are great to strive for.
If you need help improving your bounce rates or average time on site, let us know! We'd be happy to help at clientsuccess@compendiumblogware.com
Hosted by Richard Cunningham, VP Marketing of Right On Interactive and Chris Baggott Co-founder, CEO of Compendium Blogware. Thursday, December 3rd 2009. Sign up here »
My name is Allison Bowen and I work in the Client Success Department at Compendium Blogware as a Client Success Specialist. I'm a recent graduate of Butler University and am excited to dive into the world of blogging for business. 
L! 23 is one of those ages that I've always considered to be "old." And now here it is, already! Wow does time fly by!
I have always loved the fall season. Football, changing leaves, chilly fall days... and HALLOWEEN! What's better than that?! Despite the fact that I'm now an adult, I still find it fun to dress up and go out on the town. This year, my friends and I decided that our own little Halloween night was just what we needed. Of course this meant that we had to carve pumpkins.
We want to hear from you! Have an idea? A suggestion to improve our product? We are always open to ideas from our clients. Our main goal is provide our clients with the most powerful blogging software that will help them get the best results.
accounts. But did you know that admins also now have the ability to change a user's name and e-mail? 
ys, my parents' birthdays, but especially my OWN birthday! And wouldn't you know it, my birthday is very soon! This upcoming Tuesday, November 3rd, I will be turning yet another year older.
Miss Amber Mohling has recently moved from her position in Lead Qualification to join us on the Client Success team. As even more businesses discover our powerful blogging software and our company grows, we have even more client questions and requests come in to our help@compendium.com e-mail on a daily basis. Hence why we brought Amber over to join our team!
Well folks, it's here! That's right... I'm proud to announce the release of Compendium User and Administrator Live Training Webinars! Your best blogging software just got better! The trainings will be coming to you live from 55 Monument Circle and will take place every Tuesday and Thursday. 
As I continue in my efforts to develop the perfect training webinar for 
questions come in to our company on a daily basis. Some questions are very technical; some clients want more advice. Whatever the question, I always enjoy answering it because it means that our clients are out there blogging and increasing their search engine optimization! And that's a good thing!
