A Compendium customer, Lizan Brand, from Greenfield Liquors, was featured in the Saturday edition of the Indianapolis Star.
One of the things that Lizan is doing that is really interesting is mixing in video--highlighting drink recipes, talking about wine and the sorts of things that contextually engage a reader.
In my personal life, I’m well in tune with wine & spirits video blogging as a wine blogger (vlogger) is ascending to national attention. In fact, wine online darling Gary Vaynerchuk from WinelibraryTV continues to grab the wine world by its shirt lapels and give a good, healthy shake.
Gary continues to not only lead the charge in creating a brand online for himself and his business by proxy, but he also continues to give advice, good advice, to folks interested in growing their business, any business.
Vaynerchuk did an audio interview with an Internet-based business coach and he provided some additional insights that are not just applicable to technology marketing, but marketing in general. You can find the audio portion of the interview here.
Find the text transcript here.
A couple of the nuggets that I gleaned are:
* Vaynerchuk on putting content out on the web: “If you put out great content, you will be found.”
* Vaynerchuk on leveraging your expertise: “So, if you are the best guy in your law firm in contracts, instead of waiting eight to ten years to become a partner, start (using technology) about what you know. Give away that content for free. It will come back to you in spades 800 times over.”
* Vaynerchuk on tapping your passion: “So you may be good at three or four things, but please site down and analyze where you feel you’re most passionate about, even if that is the most competitive genre, do it because that is where you’re going to win when you really believe it, when it goes through your blood, you’re going to win every time because even if you’re not seeing the mythical success, your heart and soul is going to be happy. That is going to push through to the point when you will start seeing success."
* The Interviewer on setting lofty goals: “you have to have high ideals. You have to have something that you’re shooting for that’s absolutely spectacular. What you have to realize is that’s the ideal, that’s not the goal. When you achieve a certain level of success, the people that are super successful don’t compare where they get to--to their ideal. The ideal is just where they’re focused towards. To be happy and to be excited about what you’re accomplishing, you have to look backwards to where you were. As long as you make that leap and you look backwards to feel good about yourself then you can keep that excitement going. If you’re always comparing where you are to the perfect (ideal) then it’s very hard to stay excited …
The frenetic interview wraps up with Vaynerchuk’ “Five Steps to Mastering Social Media.” If you replace the “social media” with “blogging” the same values hold true. They are:
1) Make sure you want to engage/learn it.
2) Now that you know you want it, spend every living second that you possibly can on it.
3) Put your toe in the pool. Get involved.
4) Humble yourself. If you’re the best basketball player in the world, you’re playing hockey now. Put on your skates.
5) Know what you want to accomplish.
Good advice for all and something Lizan, a Compendium customer, is doing successfully and so can you. Business blogging is hardly hard, it just takes a little bit of the above five items.
Posted Friday, August 15, 2008 by
Eric Romer
A new survey from the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) shows that both advertisers and agencies are ramping up their spending in Search Marketing, particularly organic SEO. This shouldn't be shocking news, as Search Marketing has steadily grown, and will continue to grow as less and less people use destination websites.
It's not rocket science. If I am looking for a particular brand of jeans, or a specific tea pot my mom was talking about, I search. I Google "cast iron asian tea pot", and start my research.
As the survey shows, advertisers are increasing their organic SEO by 28%, and agencies by 73% (the highest increase of all the categories!). So what does this mean? It means companies are trying to optimize a traditional website to be found on many different keywords. The only problem is a website will only be able to capture a handful of keywords. There are hundreds, thousands of different ways I can search for that tea pot. As a business who sells that product, I need to cast a wide net and be found on as many of those terms as possible.
Don't believe me? If you have 5 minutes, check out this Whitepaper that discusses how traditional SEO efforts pale in comparison to a corporate blogging solution when it comes to organic search.
Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 by
Ali Sales
I've been trying to find a new briefcase for work. My intent was to purchase a really nice one -- like Tumi quality because I keep buying cheapos that look nice and then fall apart in a few months. Except I didn't want a Tumi because...well, I just don't like their styles all that much.So what did I do, given that I knew exactly what I wanted, just didn't know who to buy it from?
I searched. I typed in "best women's black leather briefcase." Talk about being a dream prospect. I used a lot of descriptive keywords to indicate exactly what I was looking for.
Okay, so of course you're wondering what my briefcase dilemma has to do with you.
Well, as a marketer, I'm guessing this is the biggest problem on your hands.
You want people to find you. You want people to find you online. And you want people who don't know a bit about your company or brand to be able to find you online.
What you may not realize is that starting a business blogging program can help you solve this problem. Taking it a step further, a blogging solution like Compendium Blogware will help you target hundreds or even thousands of terms that have something to do with your company.
Believe it or not, people are going online and looking for the products and services you provide every day. They aren't necessarily looking for your company, your website, or your company blogs, but they are asking for something you can help them with.
Yet how satisfied and happy would they be if they did their search, found a result titled exactly what they were looking for, and clicked through to find a blog featuring friendly, educational content generated by several people within your company, and a way to act upon exactly what they are looking for, whether if be making the purchase directly from the blog or just requesting more info?
I'll end this with 2 things:
1. A really relevant quote from William Flatz of Avenue A/Razorfish
“People don't go to Web sites anymore. Web sites come to them. This is, perhaps, the best way to explain the impact of search on the online experience.”
2. My briefcase outcome. After picking through countless websites for places like LeatherTree.com, I decided that I'd had enough and went straight to Target, where I spent $30 on a new briefcase. Sigh. Briefcase retailers, are you out there? It's time to start blogging.
Posted Friday, August 8, 2008 by
Jenni Edwards
I admit, I have a slight Facebook addiction and through my self justification of this time waster --- I realized a few of the reasons I am so addicted to Facebook:- There is always something new to see, whether someone has added new pictures or updated their relationship status. I believe there is some certain interest in anything new --- most of these 'new things' I couldn't care less about in real life and would never seek out the information -- but its there right in front of my face and NEW so I look at it.
- It's real --- real people, that are also at their computers updating their status, adding pictures and adding friends. These people are LIKE ME.
- Pictures and videos -- I read all day...emails, the paper, notes...how nice is it to see engaging PICTURES and VIDEOS. The cheesy line of "a picture says a thousand words" isn't too far off when it comes to looking through someone's Facebook photos.
Posted Monday, August 4, 2008 by
Eric Romer
I had a great weekend at a friend's lake house, which consisted mostly of relaxing, boating and eating. However, I managed to sneak in some talk about business blogging as well.
One of my biggest struggles with being on the cutting edge of a new blog software is how to break it down to layman's terms. In any form of communication, you have to speak the language of your audience. If I'm talking to a business that is well-versed in SEO and Paid Search Advertising, my discussion will be more granular and technical. However, some people don't want to know how the engine works, they just want the car to run.
Our host for the weekend, Harry, was intrigued by Compendium's solutions for business, but needed a quick explanation. OK... so what's the best way for me to describe what we do, cocktail in hand on the boat, so it's relevant to Harry? I got it... his hip replacement surgery next week.
Me: So, before your surgery, did you do any research?
Harry: Well, yeah, of course.
Me: Did you use a search engine?
Harry: Like Google? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did.
Me: Well, what we do is provide software to businesses, and in this case it would be a doctor/surgeon/health care provider, to tell relevant stories about hip surgery and recovery. So, when you, the potential patient, goes to do research, you find a human being giving you up-to-date, relevant information. It looks similar to a website, but with more of a conversational, personal communication.
Harry: Sounds like it makes sense...
Eric: (pulls out iphone) Here, let me show you...
Then I went on to do a Google search of a Compendium client. If you want to hear how this process works from one of our clients, Tampa Bay Convention & Visitor's Association, click HERE to sign up for the Webinar Thursday, Aug. 14th.
One of my biggest struggles with being on the cutting edge of a new blog software is how to break it down to layman's terms. In any form of communication, you have to speak the language of your audience. If I'm talking to a business that is well-versed in SEO and Paid Search Advertising, my discussion will be more granular and technical. However, some people don't want to know how the engine works, they just want the car to run.
Our host for the weekend, Harry, was intrigued by Compendium's solutions for business, but needed a quick explanation. OK... so what's the best way for me to describe what we do, cocktail in hand on the boat, so it's relevant to Harry? I got it... his hip replacement surgery next week.
Me: So, before your surgery, did you do any research?
Harry: Well, yeah, of course.
Me: Did you use a search engine?
Harry: Like Google? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did.
Me: Well, what we do is provide software to businesses, and in this case it would be a doctor/surgeon/health care provider, to tell relevant stories about hip surgery and recovery. So, when you, the potential patient, goes to do research, you find a human being giving you up-to-date, relevant information. It looks similar to a website, but with more of a conversational, personal communication.
Harry: Sounds like it makes sense...
Eric: (pulls out iphone) Here, let me show you...
Then I went on to do a Google search of a Compendium client. If you want to hear how this process works from one of our clients, Tampa Bay Convention & Visitor's Association, click HERE to sign up for the Webinar Thursday, Aug. 14th.
Posted Friday, August 1, 2008 by
Megan Glover
The SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) announced this week that corporate websites and other forms of online media such as blogs will be a permissible vehicle to disclose information for investors.
Here's a good article that gets to the heart of the ruling.
So why is this so important for enterprise blogging solutions, like Compendium? Couple reasons:
1. Need - the need for corporations to have blog software is only going to increase.
2. Legitimacy - occasionally we'll get the question, "is blogging a fad?" We know the answer is "no" but now we have the federal government promoting blogging for business as a "recognized channel for distribution."
And, for businesses - gosh what better time to embrace a blogging strategy, and save up a little cash that would otherwise go to releases! So now among other things business can blog to:
Here's a good article that gets to the heart of the ruling.
So why is this so important for enterprise blogging solutions, like Compendium? Couple reasons:
1. Need - the need for corporations to have blog software is only going to increase.
2. Legitimacy - occasionally we'll get the question, "is blogging a fad?" We know the answer is "no" but now we have the federal government promoting blogging for business as a "recognized channel for distribution."
And, for businesses - gosh what better time to embrace a blogging strategy, and save up a little cash that would otherwise go to releases! So now among other things business can blog to:
- disclose information
- get found in organic search
- humanize their marketing
- and, blog to acquire new business.
Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2008 by
Eric Romer
A recent article in eMarketer, a leading source for Internet market trends, highlights retail shopping statistics that show consumers hit the web first... before talking to family & friends.This is great data that really drives home the importance of a blogging solution for retailers.
I'd be interested to see the breakdown of how many people start with a search engine in that 58% . It's probably a conservative estimate to say it's at least half, which would be about the same amount that visit local stores. Think how much effort is dedicated to in-store displays and hiring smart, capable employees to service needs of shoppers. Based on this data, why would a retail business not provide that same experience online??
Blog for your business. Show consumers you are in tuned with your industry and the needs of your customers. You will be found in search engines more often... on a wider range of keywords. And, with a measurable blog strategy, you will convert those visitors into paying customers.
Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2008 by
Ali Sales
You're not alone. This article, 25 Tips for Marketing Your Blog, made me think of how daunting business blogging can be for any kind of organization.There are some good tips in this article, don't get me wrong.
It's just a lot to think about, and you're a busy person, right? I am a big fan of using subject matter experts (SMEs) as much as possible. I don't want to be an accounting pro or a legal pro -- I want to have a basic understanding and then pay and rely on people around me to help.
Okay, so you know where I'm heading with this:
- Wouldn't it be great if you could do the same thing with a corporate blogging program?
- Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a blogging partner who can worry about all the details so that you can focus on writing content for your company blogs?
- Oh, and wouldn't it be great to use a blogging solution that lets you log in, type your content, and then the blogging software itself structures that content in a way that helps you get found in the search engines?
Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2008 by
Chris Baggott
There was some feedback from my interview on Blog Squad Radio last week about the Compendium Approach to Business Blogging was too Corporate.
I posted this reply:
Advanced Business Blogging Strategy, requires that your employee and constituent content should be mostly about your business. Blog about your solutions, your customers, your aspirations as it relates to your products & services. This is what people are searching for...great blog information that helps them and builds trust
I posted this reply:
I wanted to thank you both for a great session last week. Your questions were insightful and I really appreciate your open-mindedness for some of these new concepts.
A successful relationship requires direct communication. To get the right to build a relationship with a customer or prospect you have to first be found, second build credibility that a relationship with you will add value to the prospect or customer.
Blogging is spectacular for this stage of the relationship. From that point however 99% of the time that relationship is going to evolve to leverage some other medium...which might include face-to-face, email, telephone or even paper based things like catalogs.
You guys are a perfect case to show that a successful blogging program shouldn't be measured by the number of comments...but from the amount of traffic and conversions.Thanks again,
Chris Baggott, CEO
Compendium Blogware
Advanced Business Blogging Strategy, requires that your employee and constituent content should be mostly about your business. Blog about your solutions, your customers, your aspirations as it relates to your products & services. This is what people are searching for...great blog information that helps them and builds trust
Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2008 by
Abby Rivera
I was on the phone yesterday with a client, we were discussing content for their blog posts. Specifically, what is appropriate to talk about on your blog? I mentioned that while it is important to talk specifically about the topics we will be focusing on with our blog package(i.e. Keywords), it is very import to also relate to your readers. Let your readers know that you are a real person. Talk about what you are doing, different things that are going on within your organization, or the community in general.One of the best examples of this, is Chris Baggott's Blog. He is always talking about both Compendium and what is going on in his world - an then ultimately pulling the two of these together. I am sure some of you have read Chris's recent blog post about our company trip to Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania or checked out Kaila's pictures on Flicker and seen this all work together.
In this fashion, here is my take on the weekend...
Absolutely amazingly ridiculous!!! Just some of the words I used to describe it in a text to my sister. We had a great weekend together as a team. For some of us, the weekend pushed us to the limits, others of us were olds pros, but not matter who we were, we had a blast!
We had the opportunity meet some of our clients! I also had an opportunity to try out one of our clients products, Gla Gla Shoes. (I'll be writing again very soon with my opinion about how great these shoes are!). Thank you Chris and Kaila for showing us around Ohiopyle. Check back a little later for some more fun stories:-)
Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008 by
Megan Glover
At Compendium Blogware, we drink the kool-aid. We blog to get found in organic search and our compending software helps us maximize the keywords we're targeting in search.
So -it's always fun to share some real-life examples of blogging success! We had a prospect (now potential client) find us through our blogs yesterday. Here's how it happened:
1. Prospect was looking for blogging software.
2. Prospects googled "Blogging Solution"
3. The Compendium Blog "Blogging Solution" appeared as the #1 search result.
4. Prospect browsed the blog to affirm the information was on point.
5. Prospect clicked on the Live Chat Call-to-Action, which triggered me!
6. Prospect and I chatted she was interested in a demo.
7. Prospect was forwarded on to Business Development
8. Prospect is now a Sales Ready Opportunity - and might close within the month!
Does this pattern of events sound familiar?
Personally, when I'm searching for something, my search starts and ends in the organic section of a search engine. That's why, as a marketer, it's your job to get found in organic search and blogging is a tool that will help you do so.
And, with the right calls- to- action on your blogs you will convert blog visitors into potential customers. In our case, a simple Live Chat feature appealed to this particular prospect. View it here.
Do you have Blogging ROI stories to share? If so, Compendium wants to know about them. Please send blogging ROI results to: megan@compendiumblogware.com.
So -it's always fun to share some real-life examples of blogging success! We had a prospect (now potential client) find us through our blogs yesterday. Here's how it happened:
1. Prospect was looking for blogging software.
2. Prospects googled "Blogging Solution"
3. The Compendium Blog "Blogging Solution" appeared as the #1 search result.
4. Prospect browsed the blog to affirm the information was on point.
5. Prospect clicked on the Live Chat Call-to-Action, which triggered me!
6. Prospect and I chatted she was interested in a demo.
7. Prospect was forwarded on to Business Development
8. Prospect is now a Sales Ready Opportunity - and might close within the month!
Does this pattern of events sound familiar? Personally, when I'm searching for something, my search starts and ends in the organic section of a search engine. That's why, as a marketer, it's your job to get found in organic search and blogging is a tool that will help you do so.
And, with the right calls- to- action on your blogs you will convert blog visitors into potential customers. In our case, a simple Live Chat feature appealed to this particular prospect. View it here.
Do you have Blogging ROI stories to share? If so, Compendium wants to know about them. Please send blogging ROI results to: megan@compendiumblogware.com.
Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008 by
Ali Sales
I don't care what kind of business you are, or what industry you're in. Your acquisition dream is probably pretty similar to mine. And it goes something like this:
1. A prospect that knows nothing about your company "Googles" a problem or a need that you can solve.
2. The prospect sees your result on the first page of Google in the organic results, and the title of the result matches the phrase, which causes them to click on it
3. The prospect lands on your webpage, does around 60 seconds of credibility checking, reading, light research, and likes what he/ she sees.
4. The prospect notices that there is a way to engage with you immediately and contacts you to start a conversation.
My dreams come true on a daily basis because of our corporate blogging program, and today was no different. Here's what happened:
1. A prospect with no knowledge of Compendium or our blogging platform "Googled" what the needed -- "Blogging Solution”
2. Prospect found Compendium’s “Blogging Solution” blog as the #1 organic result. Prospect clicked on blog, did brief research
3. Prospect clicked on "Instant Chat" available in the sidebar of the blog and immediately engaged with someone from our staff.
How can you make this happen for you? Well, funny you should ask...see that little "Instant Chat" ad on the side of my blog? Go ahead and click to talk to us. We're ready to share our blogging secrets anytime.
1. A prospect that knows nothing about your company "Googles" a problem or a need that you can solve.
2. The prospect sees your result on the first page of Google in the organic results, and the title of the result matches the phrase, which causes them to click on it
3. The prospect lands on your webpage, does around 60 seconds of credibility checking, reading, light research, and likes what he/ she sees.
4. The prospect notices that there is a way to engage with you immediately and contacts you to start a conversation.
My dreams come true on a daily basis because of our corporate blogging program, and today was no different. Here's what happened:
1. A prospect with no knowledge of Compendium or our blogging platform "Googled" what the needed -- "Blogging Solution”
2. Prospect found Compendium’s “Blogging Solution” blog as the #1 organic result. Prospect clicked on blog, did brief research
3. Prospect clicked on "Instant Chat" available in the sidebar of the blog and immediately engaged with someone from our staff.
How can you make this happen for you? Well, funny you should ask...see that little "Instant Chat" ad on the side of my blog? Go ahead and click to talk to us. We're ready to share our blogging secrets anytime.
Posted Tuesday, July 22, 2008 by
Eric Romer
Seth Godin has a great blog.. despite my disagreeing with his "Limits of Meta" post from last week. He's published various books on marketing, and has an amazing knack for simplifying concepts.His recent post titled "Are they ready to listen?" talks about the concept that most marketers forget:"is my audience ready to listen to what I'm telling them?"
I really like this concept, and totally agree that it's vital to a business's communication with potential customers.
This can be related to all facets of life. For example, I went to a concert on a Sunday night in Indianapolis recently. The bands were all talented, and the promoter worked hard to flyer the city and get the word out. But, people don't want to go out on a Sunday night... regardless of how good the act is.
The same thing applies to business, as Seth points out: "The tragic mistake of demographics and media planning is that they overlook the single most important issue: is the person you're talking to ready to listen?"
Guess what?? The web has changed marketing. Search engines give you (a company) the power to LISTEN, instead of shout at prospects with traditional forms of media... hoping they are ready to hear you. Business blogs allow you to be found easier in Google, engage readers with relevant, conversational content, and convert them. Simple as that.
Easy blogging software allows this process to happen with little effort. Start creating content today, and spread those two ears out over the internet. Now, you can sit back and listen... When people WANT you to talk to them, you'll be there.
To see this in action, Google "blogging solution", and see what the top 1 or 2 result (out of 11 million) is in the organic results.
Posted Thursday, July 17, 2008 by
Eric Romer
It's summer, which means wedding season. And a lot of my friends are getting married. In these past few weeks, I've accepted that I'm definitely the guy who sends a gift in the mail after the date of the wedding.
Come to think of it, I have also purchased more belated birthday cards than regular ones. But... in either scenario, the thought is still there, just delivered a few days late.
So, hopefully you will forgive me for being a day late on "Blog Post Day". As a clever way to promote the upcoming conference on blogging solutions and social media, Blog Indiana asked sponsors, participants and interested bloggers to post about the conference exactly 30 days out from Indiana's first blogging conference....
Well... here's your reminder 29 days out!
This will be an amazing event. Obviously, we at Compendium are advocates of corporate blogs and showing how blogs can change your business. But it's really encouraging to see the IU School of Informatics showcase this progressive community across all of Indiana.
Here's the basics on the conference, with links to the Blog Indiana website for more information. Make sure you don't miss our CEO, Chris Baggott, lead the session on Organizational Blogging.
Who Should Attend?
Students, hobbyists and professionals are encouraged to attend to
network and learn. Experience with blogging or social media are not
requirements to participate; anyone with an interest in technology and
new media is welcome to attend.
Attendees
Seating is limited to 200 attendees.
Location
The IUPUI Campus Center on the IUPUI Campus in Indianapolis, IN
Cost
$49 for both days -- Register Today!
Posted Tuesday, July 15, 2008 by
Chris Baggott
I'm generally a fan of Forrester and their research, and they have done some terrific work on blogging in general. But in the newest paper which is mis-named: Derive Value From B2B Blogging comes off as really negative generally with regard to the state of B2B Blogging Solutions & implementations.
There are some terrific points in this paper for B2B marketers as it relates to Corporate Blogging and Blogging Best Practices. For example:
...many B2B marketers are failing to realize that good blogging style should resemble a coffee shop conversation, not a whitepaper.
But the sentence below really describes the overall tone of the paper:
What is broken in the Forrester study is the overall "goal". They keep talking about conversation, community, comments, and repeat visitors as the main objective of corporate blogging. These are metrics that are doomed to fail.
Successful business blogs have two characteristics.
First, rather than top down from the "C" level, they open up by having widespread employee participation. Prospects and Customers are not the ones to write frequently about your business....but you hire smart, passionate people who like their jobs, like the customer, are proud of your products....let them blog about it.
Secondly, ROI need to be measured based on search & conversion. Blogging is a content and engagement strategy. Widespread employee blogging generates lots of great topic specific, keyword, frequently updated and authentic content. The more content you generate like this, the more traffic you generate. Most successful Corporate Blogging programs in our system drive three times or more traffic than their traditional sites.
When the searcher lands on a page with a post that specifically matches their search intent...written by a real human being and addressing a similar situation...they convert. They take the next step in the relationship.
The business blog is basically a one shot encounter. They search, they find the blog, they convert to either email, phone or a sales relationship (if we are talking about B2B)
Blogging for search is legitmate, valued by the searcher and highly effective if executed properly.
There are some terrific points in this paper for B2B marketers as it relates to Corporate Blogging and Blogging Best Practices. For example:
...many B2B marketers are failing to realize that good blogging style should resemble a coffee shop conversation, not a whitepaper.
But the sentence below really describes the overall tone of the paper:
Corporate bloggers are apparently struggling to sustain a conversation...
What is broken in the Forrester study is the overall "goal". They keep talking about conversation, community, comments, and repeat visitors as the main objective of corporate blogging. These are metrics that are doomed to fail.
Successful business blogs have two characteristics.
First, rather than top down from the "C" level, they open up by having widespread employee participation. Prospects and Customers are not the ones to write frequently about your business....but you hire smart, passionate people who like their jobs, like the customer, are proud of your products....let them blog about it.
Secondly, ROI need to be measured based on search & conversion. Blogging is a content and engagement strategy. Widespread employee blogging generates lots of great topic specific, keyword, frequently updated and authentic content. The more content you generate like this, the more traffic you generate. Most successful Corporate Blogging programs in our system drive three times or more traffic than their traditional sites.
When the searcher lands on a page with a post that specifically matches their search intent...written by a real human being and addressing a similar situation...they convert. They take the next step in the relationship.
The business blog is basically a one shot encounter. They search, they find the blog, they convert to either email, phone or a sales relationship (if we are talking about B2B)
Blogging for search is legitmate, valued by the searcher and highly effective if executed properly.
Posted Wednesday, July 9, 2008 by
Kristen Hanschu
Many people think that when it comes to blogging, one size fits all. In other words, they think that one platform will work for every type of business out there. This is not true in today's fast moving technological world.
In the book, Break From the Pack by Oren Harari, he explains why one size does not fit all. When people are looking to blog and they come to Compendium for solutions, we get asked why we are better than the rest. That is because we are different from every other blog creation software company out there.
If you want to blog for your business then you need the right tools. This includes an affordable blogging software that you can customize to your website and business. It also means that you are able to have many individual bloggers contributing to one site. In return you are utilizing the blog site to gain new clients, sell more product, and market your product or service.
In the book, Break From the Pack by Oren Harari, he explains why one size does not fit all. When people are looking to blog and they come to Compendium for solutions, we get asked why we are better than the rest. That is because we are different from every other blog creation software company out there. If you want to blog for your business then you need the right tools. This includes an affordable blogging software that you can customize to your website and business. It also means that you are able to have many individual bloggers contributing to one site. In return you are utilizing the blog site to gain new clients, sell more product, and market your product or service.
Posted Friday, June 27, 2008 by
Chris Baggott
I am pleased to announce that we were quickly oversubscribed on our most recent funding round. Seeking $1.5mm we quickly had commitments from angel investors for $1.6 at which point we closed the round.
Whats significant about Compendium Blogware's Corporate Blogging software is we are able to get by on much smaller investments than a traditional software startup. This may not always be the case, but at this point because our client base is growing so quickly we are able to fund a great deal of the company out of operations......kind of old fashioned I know :-)
But obviously, we are really excited and proud to have the support of our investors and proud of the fact that that so many Organizations (from large enterprises to small businesses) are finding tremendous value in our blog management software.
Blogging for business is just beginning a rapid adpotion and organizations are recognizing the need for an easy to deploy SaaS solution with a solid ROI.
Follow this link to a nice article today on the announcement....Compendium Blogware Funding Announcement
Posted Friday, June 27, 2008 by
PJ Hinton
The big buzzword in the computer trade press these days is cloud computing, the idea of hosting an application, or key components thereof, on a third party service in a way that is easy to set-up and scale.
Amazon has been the trailblazer in this area, with internet services for computing, message queues, file storage, and databases. There are a growing number of startups with plans either to challenge Amazon or develop solutions that make leveraging Amazon's services easier. Google has been making inroads with the limited beta of its App Engine. Microsoft is still trying to figure it out.
Yesterday, CNet blogger Dave Rosenberg wrote a post on his blog Negative Approach, asking just how far will the move to cloud computing reach. Quoting from the post: (emphasis mine)
Given that there are burps and glitches, it'll be some time before businesses can move critical functions to hosted services like Amazon's. With time for the technology to reach maturity, I suspect that the burden of proof will shift, and the default question will become, "Why should we buy this software and host it ourselves?"
Fortunately for us, corporate blogging just happens to be a "green field situation" for many businesses. With our ever growing list of features and a firm technological foundation that's built to be reliable, it's easier for us to make a compelling case that instead of building and maintaining a blog with consumer grade software, a business should instead adopt our hosted blog software as a part of their corporate blogging strategy.
When higher organic search results and better customer engagement become the norm, the last thing Compendium customers of will be accused of is "walking around with their heads in the clouds."
Amazon has been the trailblazer in this area, with internet services for computing, message queues, file storage, and databases. There are a growing number of startups with plans either to challenge Amazon or develop solutions that make leveraging Amazon's services easier. Google has been making inroads with the limited beta of its App Engine. Microsoft is still trying to figure it out.
Yesterday, CNet blogger Dave Rosenberg wrote a post on his blog Negative Approach, asking just how far will the move to cloud computing reach. Quoting from the post: (emphasis mine)
I started to wonder whether everything really will go to the cloud and all of our open-source musing will go away, as software becomes consumed versus installed.
Realistically, there is a vast array of software that really can't move outside the enterprise in the foreseeable future. Consider, for example, banking and stock-trading systems, or telecommunications infrastructure. On the other hand, consider pretty much everything else. Even when you take into account the complexities of back-office systems, odds are that in a green-field situation, you could find a software-as-a-service application to solve your problems.
So here's the paradox that I think about: Let's consider a company like Google, which writes, buys, and installs a lot of software. Some is unique to its business and isn't available as an online service. Other products are packaged applications. Yet it wants the rest of the world to stop buying software, instead just consuming it from Google.
I'm not seeing a way that on-premise software disappears forever...He's probably right about on-premise software retaining some degree of presence, but I think we'll see a transition of viewpoints. Right now, the default (and prudent) stance is to take a wait-and-see approach to putting apps completely in the cloud.
Given that there are burps and glitches, it'll be some time before businesses can move critical functions to hosted services like Amazon's. With time for the technology to reach maturity, I suspect that the burden of proof will shift, and the default question will become, "Why should we buy this software and host it ourselves?"
Fortunately for us, corporate blogging just happens to be a "green field situation" for many businesses. With our ever growing list of features and a firm technological foundation that's built to be reliable, it's easier for us to make a compelling case that instead of building and maintaining a blog with consumer grade software, a business should instead adopt our hosted blog software as a part of their corporate blogging strategy.
When higher organic search results and better customer engagement become the norm, the last thing Compendium customers of will be accused of is "walking around with their heads in the clouds."
Posted Wednesday, June 25, 2008 by
Kaila Woodside
Who has the best clients? We do. This past week I have been working with Hilary and Travis @ Fairytale Brownies on a blogging for business strategy. Fairytale Brownies is an Arizona based company that was started in 1992 by Eileen Spitalny and David Kravetz (friends who met in Kindergarten) using a family brownie recipe!Hilary, the web designer @ Fairytale Brownies needed a strategy to help enhance their web presence and blog for Search Engine Optimization. Being a privately owned and operated company, they needed an affordable blogging software package that would allow them to leverage thoughts from multiple individuals within the company, monitor the message for spelling and grammatical errors and create GREAT content! Also working in a hosted solution allows their strategy to be web based and easily accessible by all.
So congrats to Fairytale Brownies and coming on board with the best blogging software - from Compendium Blogware!
Did I mention that Hilary and Travis sent me BROWNIES?
Posted Monday, June 23, 2008 by
terri tolson
O.K, no bells, no whistles, no lights flashing and I'm still going to be found. Someone out there is looking for you too, do you have the best blogging solution? I'm using an affordable blogging software to raise my hand when someone wants a professional blogging platform. Its as simple as that, I want to be found. What are you doing to let customers know your out there and ready to do business with them? Are you winning the organic search? Is it important to you to Blog for SEO? Let me know when your ready to begin blogging for your business and your future. My hand is high in the air and I'm looking to help you.
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