Best blogging software - from Compendium Blogware

Blogging for Visibility

Friday, March 19, 2010 by Ford McAlexander

I cannot believe it is already slightly past the middle of March and I have learned so much during my internship here at Compendium Blogware. The company is growing fast and it seems like I have already been here for awhile because I am no longer one of the super new people here. Everybody has had a hand in teaching me about the corporate blogging solutions and how our software is one of the best ways to build a social media strategy around business blogging.

With that said, I know there is much more for me to learn about. Blogging is one of the simplest ways to build your online search visiblity which can be more valuable than taking a risk with paying to optimize your website. Check out a demonstration today of our software to view the best blogging software available!

"ROI, ROI, ROI" for Engineering!!!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010 by Maureen McNamara

Today is an exciting day here at Compendium for me. We meet with the Engineering Team who is responsible for making Compendium's powerful blogging software --- simple blogging software.

The Compendium Engineering Team, led by P.J. Hinton is responsible for the development, testing, deployment, and operation of Compendium Blogware. The group uses SCRUM (not an acronym - think rugby), an agile software development methodology to manage the planning, development and deployment life cycle. Emphasis is place on short development cycles and frequent releases. Progress on commitments are measured on a daily basis to ensure any obstacles are resolved asap.

I am a Business Development Manager. I sell the best blogging software on the planet and I am certainly not a techie --- but I love attending these meetings. The Engineering Team's vernacular includes exciting stuff like "sprint planning," "strategic sprint," "burndown chart," "agile,"disciplined transparency,"and of course the "scrum" and the powerful "scrum master".

Today, we learn how easy to use blogging software becomes even more robust when it comes to my favorite bottom line --- ROI analytics --- so I'll be sharing more in the days to come. Thanks engineering. Okay, okay, RAH, RAH, RAH!!!

Return On Time Investment... priceless

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 by Maureen McNamara

At Compendium we drink the Kool-Aid. We're all busy but we all are tasked to blog. I am in sales and blogging is a lead gen tool for us. That is a great motivator for me and that is why I appreciate the best blogging software, the only corporate blogging software on the planet. The user interface is so simple, so fast and the compending feature is priceless --- to coin an overused campaign sound bite.

If you can't take my word for it, and why should you, check out this internal email sent last week from Heather in the Compendium Marketing Dept. to see what I mean...

"Just wanted to share some inspiring information about our internal blogging program:

Since the start of our blogging efforts (November 2007) to today, Compendium employees have created 3,226 blog posts.

With the compending process, those 3,226 posts were multiplied a little over 117 times generating 377,683 total posts in our keyword blogs.

So, the 2 years and 3 months time to generate 377,683 combined keyword blog posts would have taken 263 years to create without the compending process!!

Have a great weekend!"

WOW! I can't tell you how many leads we generated from those posts but let's just say we're all EXTREMELY busy and leave it at that.

Should your organization be blogging? If you don't think you have the time to make an impact on your SEO, customer acquistion and lead gen goals, check out the Compendium blogging solution and let it do all the heavy lifting for you. Trust me on this one... it works!

Avoid Being Passed Over

Thursday, March 4, 2010 by Ford McAlexander

If people haven't heard of what ChatRoulette is yet, it is an online chat site that allows you to pair with a complete stranger and see where any conversation can take you. However, if you are not offering interesting information to a potential stranger, people move on. So is your business blog making people stay?

The author of ProBlogger developed an experiment in ChatRoulette. He first sits normally as himself and gets ignored, but then after putting on a clown suit, people started to pay attention to him since he was interesting by looking ridiculous. Check out his article here.

He was taught a few lessons about online people. They want to move fast and will only stop if it is something that intrigues them or is relevant to them. So the point is try to write compelling content with the best blogging software you can buy. The two of them together can keep people on your site and generate what your company is looking to get out of their social media strategy.

New Information about Compendium's Future!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 by Ford McAlexander

Compendium Blogware just had new press released yesterday
on Business Wire which has

revealed how successful Compendium has been in the last year. Compendium Blogware has grown 160% compared to 2008 by growing to over 400 clients currently. One of Compendium's current clients, BabyPlus, gave us high praise for how helpful we have been with their company about lead generation and online visibility. You can check out BabyPlus's case study here.

Compendium believes the reason for the success is the corporate blogging software which is much more reliable than typical SEO firms attempts to improve web pages. The blogs offer the most humanized marketing efforts for businesses and Compendium has created the best software for those efforts. The company is also looking to grow rapidly by adding over 50 new employees. Currently, Compendium has already hired 7 new team members including our new VP of Sales, Scott Bleczinski.

If you would like to read the press release, check it out here. Or if you want to find out more about the amazing software Compendium developed, schedule a demo today.

Don't Miss Out; Refer Today

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 by Compendium Client Marketing

If you haven't already taken the time to submit a referral to Compendium for our February referral program - now is the time!

Don't forget - our current referral program is offering you a $25 Amazon Gift Card for every referral you send our way - limit 10 per person. Also, if that referral you send starts blogging with Compendium within 30 days - we'll send you a brand new Amazon Kindle!

It can't get much better than enjoying a FREE $25 Amazon gift card or Kindle AND introducing a friend to the best blogging software available! Send your referrals today - this offer is only valid until February 28th.

Business to Business People Can Blog Too!

Friday, February 5, 2010 by Ford McAlexander

I know so far in my blog I've only written about business to consumer case studies that Compendium Blogware offers as evidence of the reason why our software works. Compendium Blogware also serves business to business clients as well and they have used the best blogging software to drive organic search results which equate to more conversions.

One of Compendium's clients is Widen Enterprises, who sells premedia/prepress software, has seen huge results from their blogging efforts. They have purchased 15 more blogs from Compendium since the beginning of their blog in December of 2007 and now they rank in Google's top searches. If you're a business to business type, then you really should check out this case study here.

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.

The iPad and Social Media

Thursday, January 28, 2010 by Allison Bowen

Okay, so I'll admit it - I'm often very bad at turning on the evening news or even picking up a daily newspaper to see what is going on in the world. I used to feel bad about this and promised myself that when I got into the "real world" I would be better at staying connected with the world. Little did I know that the outside world would actually connect itself with me...

Take for example the new Apple iPad. I have an iPhone, but that's about the extent of my Apple knowledge. Unless there is a big, exciting update coming out for my phone, I really can't say I follow the products.

These days though, I can't get away from recent news. On the day of the big iPad release, I woke up, checked my Twitter and saw a number of tweets regarding the new product. On Facebook, people were talking about what it would be like. Blog posts on Mashable were all about the new item. So of course, what did I do? I did a Google search to see what all the hype was about. And what do you know -- without ever watching the news, suddenly I was up to date on the day's happenings!

The same thing can happen for your company. There are all sorts of way to drum up excitement for a new product release. First, start with the best blogging software - Compendium's of course! By writing a blog for search engine optimization, you already have a leg up on your competition. You can then highlight your blog posts on Twitter and Facebook and go from there. Start today -- who knows, your new product might be the next big thing I see on Twitter!

Blogging Gets Results

Thursday, January 28, 2010 by Allison Bowen

Quite a few months back I wrote a blog post about our new Orr Fellowship blog. In that post, I promised to keep you updated on the result of our efforts to blog for search engine optimization. Well unfortunately, I have failed miserably with the commitment. But trust me, it's not because we're not seeing results!

In fact, I have been blown away by the results that we have seen just by using Compendium's simple blogging software. Since I am a Compendium employee, I know how amazing our product is, but even I was surprised!

With just around twenty posts, we have already risen to the top of Google's search results for the following words:

Distinguished Post Grad Jobs
Entrepreneurial Jobs Indianapolis
High Growth Companies Hiring New Grads
Post Graduate Networking Indianapolis
Indiana Small Company Jobs

There are also a number of other keywords for which we are rising to the top. Amazing! Not only does our blog allow us Fellows to connect with each other, it also allows us to reach potential Fellows. As undergraduates begin searching online for jobs after graduation, they'll come across the Orr Fellowship blog.

Blogging is quickly becoming a powerful recruitment tool for the Fellowship. What could it do for your company? Every company is looking to recruit someone -- buyers, clients, you name it. Compendium provides the best blogging software that will allow you to engage with your clients while still obtaining the search results you are looking for. Give us a call today!

Ask an SEO Expert...Again.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 by Heather Benfield

Last week SEO Guru, Stephan Spencer, teamed up with Compendium Blogware CEO Chris Baggott on a highly successful webinar, "Ask an SEO Expert: Stephan Spencer" (Watch the Replay here).

While I was typing up some blog posts about the Best Blogging Software Ever (Okay, I might be a little biased), I tuned in to hear what Stephan had to say - and was extremely glad I did!

I really learned a lot about SEO such as:

-How to use keyword research tools to see which search terms are more important than others and targeting those keywords into the content I write.

-How to get Google, Yahoo and Bing to consider my blog as important, trustworthy and authoritative material.

-The difference between anchor text and metadata and their role in SEO.

Webinar attendees were able to submit their SEO questions to Stephan before and during the Webinar for him to answer. Since there were so many questions, Stephan didn't have time to answer them all so he agreed to come back and hold another Q&A session!

Becuase I learned so much during the first one, I'm definitely planning on attending the second one...and you should too!

To register, click on the GoToWebinar Link below:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/808383930

the best blogging software for business

Thursday, December 10, 2009 by mikey mioduski

Many companies have realized by now that corporate blogging offers many benefits, namely improved search presence. Our cofounders realized this a long time ago, and saw that through blogging, a company can create a huge net of keyword rich blog pages that serve as landing pages for a range of targeted keywords-- ones helpful to potential searchers.

In other words, business blogging helps you get found. Compendium, I feel, is the best blogging software for businesses because our software as a service enables them to get up and writing on a fully scalable level devoid of the hassles, plugins, downloads and security issues that come along with most popular freeware blogging platforms. Because of this, companies using Compendium to drive their search marketing efforts will find measurable success with tangible return on their investment.

Another reason to go with Compendium? Because we are a software-as-a-service blogging platform, that means we have a vested interest in our clients' success. We consult with SEO experts to constantly improve our product, we continue to develop new features and improvements, and advise our clients on how to best incorporate them.

That's what makes Compendium Blogware such a great option to get organizations of any size up and blogging, worry free and fully focused on driving keyword results.

Big Compendium Blogware News

Tuesday, December 8, 2009 by Chris Baggott

I'm really excited to announce today that Corporate Blogging expert Debbie Weil will become a Strategic Advisor to Compendium Blogware. As many of you know, Debbie has been a leader in corporate blogging and social media since 2003 and is the definitive pioneer in the space. I've known Debbie for about 10 years and really excited to be officially working with her.

For those of you who are not familiar with Debbie Weil, she is the author of the original and definitive book about corporate blogging, Author of The Corporate Blogging Book (Portfolio 2006). Debbie is also a corporate social media strategist who has helped clients as diverse as GlaxoSmithKline and the American College of Radiology embrace and execute social media marketing.

Debbie is in huge demand as a speaker and consultant, educating clients on how to use corporate blogs, Twitter and Facebook to market with content, and we are honored that she is dedicating her time to us. Debbie has parsed the implications of Web 2.0 for thousands of marketing, communications and PR executives at conferences and events in the U.S., Canada, the UK, Europe, the Middle East and China. Finally,(whew!) she has been quoted on the topic of corporate and CEO blogging in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Fortune, Business Week, CNN.com, The Guardian and numerous other publications.

  So what's going on with Debbie and Compendium? Corporate Blogging Software and Strategy is rapidly evolving. We are on a mission to provide the best software and insight to businesses of all sizes. With Debbie’s experience and finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the real world of corporate blogging, we are grateful to have her strategic guidance to continually improve the products and services we offer.   Please join me in welcoming Debbie as a significant addition to our strategic advisory team.

Tips & Tricks - #4 "Setting Your Timezone"

Monday, November 30, 2009 by Allison Bowen

As you sit down to use the world's best blogging software (Compendium's of course!), you may wonder what in the world the red bar at the top of your template editor is telling you to do. Set your timezone? Where? Why would you want to do that?

Setting your timezone is actually an important step to complete when preparing to write your posts. If you would ever choose to schedule a post for a future release, it would be crucial that your timezone is set correctly.

The process of setting your timezone is extremely simple! When logged in to your user or admin account, simply click on the "Account" button in the upper right hand corner of your screen. From there, you have the option to set your timezone. Select "US" and then choose your region. From within this account screen you can also choose to modify your name, e-mail, blog title, description and more. Click at the bottom to "Save Changes" and your timezone will be set! The red bar will no longer appear at the top of your template editor.

ADMINS - From within the admin moderation panel, you may notice that all times show up in the "UTC" timezone. UTC is an international time scale which is commonly used in astronomical and aviation publications and more. Local timezones can be expressed as an offset from UTC, e.g. Indianapolis is UTC-5 that is, 5 hours behind UTC. Our blog software uses servers that run on this timezone, hence why this time appears in your admin screen.

My Blast from the Past & Gymnastics Apparal SEM

Wednesday, November 25, 2009 by Amber Mohling

Today I realized that I'm a little jealous of teenage gymnasts. Yes, that sounds a little weird for me to say... but hang with me for a moment and I'll get to my point.

One of Compendium's clients is GK Elite, the most recognized manufacturer of gymnastics apparel. They started blogging with Compendium in December of 2008 and have seen a 976% ROI as of October of 2009. In addition, they've seen a 39% lift in sales and 30% traced back directly to the blogs. Ultimately, this means more gymnasts are finding GK Elite's blogs through search engine marketing and buying apparel after landing on the blog.

Now... back to my jealousy of teenage gymnasts. When I was a gymnast quite a few years back, buying leotards was not this easy. I'd have to go store to store and spend hours looking for the exact leotard I wanted. However, now a gymnast can simply hop onto Google, type in a key phrase of what they want, and be served up numerous options.

To learn more about how your business can use the best blogging software to be found organically in search, visit Compendium's website here and request a demo today.

I'm a Blog Admin! Now What?!

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Allison Bowen

As an employee for Compendium Blogware, my job every day is to help our clients with our blog software. This often means that I find myself updating calls-to-action, explaining how clients can add users and answering other various questions that our users and admins might have.

But recently, the tables have turned. I have now become a blog admin myself! Now what do I do?!

Both Amber Mohling and I are fellows with the Orr Fellowship program. The Orr Fellowship program provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate students searching for their first salaried, full-time position following graduation. It's been a great opportunity for both of us!

Well wouldn't you know it, we recently were able to set up an Orr Fellowship blog. And I'm the new blog admin! Check it out -- http://blog.orrfellowship.org. I now find myself actually performing some of the duties that we discuss with clients each day. So as a new blog admin, what have I done? Followed Compendium's blogging best practice tips, of course!

Updated our calls-to-action
Added ShareThis to our blog (visit here and send the code to help@compendium.com)
Encouraged my bloggers to blog frequently and consistently
Made sure each blogger has a sticky post set up
Monitored my Google Analytics statistics (admins should get them each Monday by e-mail)

It has definitely been an adventure, but I'm really enjoying being a blog admin. When I saw the number of click-throughs from our blog and our most recent search results, I was thrilled. Compendium really does provide the best blogging software!

Gen Y women. What influences their brand discovery?

Friday, November 13, 2009 by Chris Baggott

Can I buy stock in eMarketer?   Every day they send me this great email with relevant content to my business....and yours.

Like this report for example.   Clearly this blog is about education, and persuasion that we offer best blogging software for Business.   Our firm belief is that that Social Media helps a company serve two masters. One is the search engine, and two is the need to humanize your business.

When you see a chart like this, it really helps make the case that if you just look at the responses related to search, online profile, and the two blog mentions (blog written by someone like me and professional or subject experts), you can clearly see that Corporate blogging is the critical hub of todays marketing strategy.

Blogs drive search traffic better than almost anything else...and it's a lot easier and legitmate to simply write often about how you help customers and solve problems than a lot of other SEO tools you might be tempted with.

I also love the phrase: "someone like me".   Obviously, you have people in your organization who fit the professional/subject expert catagory.    But think about it.   Among your employees and your current customers you also have lots of people who can be classified as "someone like me".

Now either Gen X or Gen Y women represents an extremely large catagory.   If you had to make a persona around everyone who could be slotted into these groups you would struggle.   But tactics like triggered emails to existing customers are amazing ways to solicit relevant blog content and engage the long tail of this diverse yet consistant audience.

Exciting Product Release to Preview your Blog Post within Your Template

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 by Abby Warner

This morning, Compendium proudly released the ability to preview your blog post within your live blog template. Prior to today,when creating post as a user the options available were to save as a draft, submit my post to the administrator for moderation or preview the post in new window to ensure video worked properly.

Today, when a user selects preview post, they will now view their content as it would appear live on the web. A nice enhancement to our easy to use blogging software which allows users an extra reassurance that their content will represent the company well on the corporate blog.

As a member of the product support team, we are always working to request enhancements to the product that will enhance each users experience and provide the best blogging software to our clients.

If you have a suggestion, fill our the web form and we will add it to our product log for enhancements. Yes, these enhancements are prioritized by customer request, so every vote matters.

Explaining Compendium to Friends

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Allison Bowen

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.

We Want Your Ideas!

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Allison Bowen

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!