Blogging and Email Whitepaper


Sarah Sedberry - Client Success Manager
Hi!  My name is Sarah Sedberry, a Client Success Manager at Compendium Blogware.  My responsibilities include keeping our clients motivated, posting current/frequent content, and getting the ROI results they want to see out of their blogging efforts.

This blog will primarily talk about tips and tricks for a great blog post and blogging best practices in order to inform readers about the importance of blogging.

Personally, I graduated from Rollins College (Winter Park, Florida) in 2004, where I played collegiate softball.  I returned to my roots here in Indianapolis after graduation and enjoy sports, healthy competition, and of course the Colts!



We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Help and Support at Compendium
Posted Monday, November 17, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
Compendium Blogware now has a new help and support line in place for our customers, who are looking to update or add to their template.  This new function will allow the Client Success Team to focus more on strategic planning with our customers in order to drive success and ROI.  Plus, now that we have a dedicated team to this function, it allows for a much faster turn around time on requests!

We encourage our clients to reach out the the Help/Support line when they are experiencing problems or want to make a change to their template, such as adding a new CTA or adding a new header image.

The Client Success Manager's will still serve as a resource to our clients as it relates to their blogging program.  Such as "How do I motivate my bloggers?", "How can I increase my Keyword rankings?", "What is the best keyword to target for this industry?", etc. 

As always, your Client Success Manager is always willing to help out with any questions you may have.

To access Help/Support:

Web:   Http://www.compendiumblogware.com/help.html
Phone:  317-777-6255
Email:  help@compendiumblogware.com

Help is generally available between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm (EST).





We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

20th Annual Jingle Bell Run/Walk
Posted Thursday, November 13, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
For the past 20 years, Indianapolis has held a fundraiser event for the Arthritis Foundation called the Jingle Bell Run/Walk.  This year's event is on Saturday, December 13th and Compendium Blogware will be putting together a team.  We are looking to have a large showing, as well as, a good donation for the cause.

I am putting the invitation out there, that anyone is welcome to join our team  or if you are unable to, and would like to donate in honor of our team instead of participating, please visit here.

In preparation for the event we are spreading the word, and figuring out what prizes should be awarded.  Here are some of our thoughts so far:

  •     Fastest Time
  •     Slowest Time
  •     Best Costume
  •     Best Picture Taken Before, During, or After the Event.

I welcome any other ideas you can think of - the more creative the better!  I'll then post pictures with the results after the race.

I hope to see you join our team, or be there with us in spirit!




We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Get your Jingle on!
Posted Thursday, November 13, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
I'm just saying.....















We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Compendium's Next Webinar - Nov 20th
Posted Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
As a reminder to all clients and those interested in learning more about Compendium Blogware and our platform, we have an upcoming webinar next week. 

The webinar will feature Compendium's own Chris Baggott and Doug Karr, who will be discussing simple tips to make a blog work for your marketing strategy.

Here are the details:

When: November 20th at 1:00 pm (EST)
Where: Sign up here!




We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

First Post Jitters
Posted Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
Calvin and HobbsWhen a new client comes out of implementation with Compendium Blogware, one of the hardest things to do is write that first post! 

Common thoughts are:

  • How do I start the blog?
  • Who do I write to or what tense should I use?
  • What do I write about?

Think of it this way, typing out a blog post is just like writing a paragraph on a blank piece of paper.  You just need that first sentence to get you going - use those opposable thumbs!


Here are 10 tips to get you past that anxiety of writing the first post.

   1.  Writing is conversation:  A blog post should be conversational in tone, similar to an email you would send to your friend.

   2.  Appreciate your perspective: No one person experiences, reacts, or talks about experiences the same as everyone else.  Use your opinions to tell your story.

   3.  Allow what influences you to inspire your thoughts: In other words let your inspiration guide your post, not dictate it.

   4.  Ignore the rules: Don't get hung up on grammar or spelling.  These two pieces will not influence the message you are sending.  If a period is missing, or a comma is misplaced - it's ok!  (the grammar teacher in my mother is screaming at the top of its lungs right now...)
 
  5.  Write for someone specific: Do not be afraid to write a post specifically towards someone.  Humanizing an experience is what allows your readers to engage with you.
 
 6.   Write without pause: Get the thoughts down on paper, then come back later to check it.  You might be surprised at what you wrote!
 
 7.  Take pride: Its about self confidence - be proud about what you wrote.  Its  you and your opinions - trust it   :o)
 
 8.  Even great authors write with their doors closed...: Just start writing, it's OK  if it isn't perfect the first time.  Even if the world is going to be watching once its written - they aren't watching now, so go crazy!
 
 9.  The water's fine:  The first keystroke is the hardest, once you start you'll want to jump in feet first.
 
10. BELIEVE: You can do this!  If you don't believe yourself, no one else will.


If you believe and can confidently talk about your company and what value you can provide your customers, then writing a blog post is easy. 

Would you rather spend 2 hours on a phone trying to convince one potential client?  Or spend 10 minutes writing a blog post and get 100's or 1,000's more leads and conversions?

Seems like a pretty simple answer to me....






We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

What can Britney Spears teach you about blogging?
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
This might be the most hilarious blog post I've seen in awhile....OK the "Lazy Monday" video by Kristen and Jess was definitely more funny, but this is a close second.



   
Here is the short version of the article:

  1. Be Bold, Be Unique, Be Different
  2. Look After Your Baby
  3. Keep Good Relationships
  4. Be Careful Who You Associate With
  5. Keep Your Site Looking Good
  6. Always Wear Underwear
    • Perhaps the best advice of the entire article...




We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Build A Beard for Kiva
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
In the footsteps of our great leader, Chris Baggott, the girls of the Client Success team have decided to humiliate ourselves and apply beards to our pictures... all for a worthy cause right?!



To play around with your picture and have Kiva donate a $1.  Click here



We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Can't Write a Post in 10 minutes??
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
Now you can!   Check out Write or Die

Now, I know the title sounds a bit ominous, but it is a great little widget to help you stay on task and get your post written in the time you allotted for it on your calendar. I have spoken with many of Compendium's clients who all talk about the time management of fitting in best practices of 2 blog posts per week, per blogger.  This is the perfect tool to help you get this accomplished.

The widget allows you to set your goal of "X" number of words, the time you want to accomplish this, as well as set the settings of the widget strictness (Such as Forgiving, Strict, or Evil - again I promise this is all in good fun). 

Once you set your goals, it opens a text editor that allows you to write your thoughts down.  If you pause for too long the screen will turn from white to pink, to hot pink, eventually to red....then the screeching violins kick in... all a reminder to keep writing!  Once you've hit your goal, simply press done and it give you the text to copy into your blog. 

This is a great tool to keep you focused and on task to better time manage your schedule to assure that you are getting in your 2 blog posts per week.





We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Search & Why It's Vital
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

“Search is a larger, behavioral reality that impacts corporate strategy.”

Cattle
In a recent book called Branding Only Works on Cattle by Jonathan Salem Baskin, the author rightly points out that marketing strategies that don’t include a heavy element of search won’t work well for for a company. One of the reasons why social media is a great tool for content marketing, such as writing a compelling blog post, is that it’s an opportunity to build search equity.

This is where Compendium Blogware steps in and is able to enhance your efforts, and allow your company to be found in the organic search results of a searchers query.

Writing about things that people might search for is a great way to find some new people at your door who might want a look at your product. Consumers who might otherwise have never heard of your, or worse yet, found your competitor in search results and gave their business to them.

Think about your own  behavioral patterns...when you are looking for information in a search engine, who are you more likely to click on?  The sponsored ads on the side of the page, or in the top 5 organic search results?  What is your company doing to ensure its place on the first page of Google?




We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Compendium Culture
Posted Friday, November 7, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
One aspect of working in a start up company is that things are constantly changing, always moving, and absolutely never a dull moment.

Currently, the Client Success Team is going through some changes in our process that will streamline and shave time off of the account set up time.  They are all great changes that will allow us to better serve our clients and allow them to get up and posting content to their company blog much quicker.  Our team is excited to continue working to make Compendium the best blogging platform out there, and with bringing everything in house we will be able to scale our company easily with no effect to our current clients.

Another highlight of working here is the people, you will be hard pressed to find an atmosphere that has more good natured, energetic, driven, and dedicated employees (check out all their blogs here).  We love what we do and can't wait to talk to you about it! 

Oh and it does help that we have a friend to keep us smiling when we are having a tough day...meet the newest employee to Compendium - Willow!!


Willow



We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Compendium's Lazy Monday
Posted Wednesday, October 29, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
The girls of the Client Success team are at it again.....

One of the major topics heavily covered in Client Success with our customers is Content Development.  We talk about it on a daily basis here and are always stressing how important it is in driving search engine results, improving a blog's rankings, and driving traffic to your site.

As you can imagine, we need to come up with creative new ways to engage our customers on this topic in order to keep things "spicy".  Below you will find the latest video by the Client Success team, starring Kristen Raves and Jess Wehner, in the Compendium rendition of "Lazy Monday".   The video involves best practices in writing a blog post, and driving those SEO results!

**Note: If you haven't seen the Saturday Night Live spoof of this, check it out here, as it will give you the basis to our version.





We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Top 3 things NOT to do in a blog post
Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
Black Hat - The Wrong WayCompendium's platform is engineered to help a company with search engine optimization, and we all know that the driving factor behind a blogs rankings/success is content development. 

As a Client Success Manager at Compendium, it is my responsibility to inform our clients of best practices when it comes to content development so that they can start seeing results as quickly as possible.  On the same hand, it is also my responsibility to make sure they aren't practicing what search engines call "Black Hat Techniques" to try and "trick" them, thinking they are helping their chances of their corporate blog rank higher.

"Black Hat Techniques" are designed to trick search engines and are extremely bad in blogging etiquette as well as, they can have disastrous results on your blog site. The search engine can deem you a spam site and remove your indexing from their system - ultimately meaning, that they will never list your site in the organic results, regardless of your efforts.

I have listed some of the worst "Black Hat Techniques" currently out there below.

  • Link Farms: A group of Web sites is created for the primary purpose of delivering a high number of links to a given Web site.
  • Automated Content Generation/Duplication: To get search engine spiders to index more pages from them, some sites auto-generate content or scrape Web content from other sites.
  • Keyword Stuffing: This involves over-populating certain portions of a Web page with repeated occurrences of a given keyword.



We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Where are searchers clicking?
Posted Friday, October 24, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
Take a look at the picture below.....Recognize what you see?  It is a heat map  that reveals where searchers are clicking when results are returned to them in a search query.   You can probably relate to this image, as it is highly likely that it mimics your own behavior.... 





Now ask yourself the following questions -

  • Where would you want your company's site to show?
  • If you were ranking in the first 5 spots, would you erase your PPC (Pay Per Click) campaign and save your marketing budget hundreds or even thousands of dollars?
  • How about in the top 10 spots?
  • Now what if you were ranking in the top 10 on mulitple keywords?


These are all questions we at Compendium Blogware answer on a daily basis, because it's what we do.  We provide a solution to companies marketing strategy via a Corporate Blog.  Our platform utilizies the way search engines work in order to maximize your efforts and provide huge return on both ROI and conversions.

The secret sauce behind it all?  Actually, it's no secret at all - Content Development.  Remember that frequent and relevant content on a regular basis is what drives traffic and therefore results to your site. 





We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Kudos to MediaTile
Posted Tuesday, October 21, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
One of the best aspects of my job is the interactions and relationships I have the opportunity to build with Compendium clients.  It makes the moments that much sweeter when we get to celebrate successes together, as well as, "Makes Momma Proud!"

Recently, during a conversation with Chuck Gose at MediaTile, I had the chance to praise his ongoing efforts with the MediaTile blog and what a FANTASTIC job he as done utilizing social media to promote and drive traffic to his blog.


Here are some of the ways he accomplishes this:

  • Utilizing the ShareThis application on his blog network.  This allows his readers to "digg", "tweet", post, email, etc his blog posts.  Thus the readers are able to virally spread the word about his blog.  In essence doing his marketing for him!
  • Chuck has an account on Facebook, that he reguarly posts his post to for his social network on this site to be aware.  As well as, he frequently comments in his status about his latest blog post. 
  • Chuck has also put a link on to his blog in his LinkedIn profile.

These are just a few ways that Chuck has been able to increase visiblity to his blog, drive traffic, therefore increasing his number of visitors and ultimately increasing his odds of converting readers to customers.  Social media is a great marketing tool, and blogs are just one peice of the puzzle, when you add them all together you have a knock out marketing strategy.

For more information on how to make your corporate blog work to your advantage, contact your Client Success Manager and I'm sure they would be more than willing to talk to you about all the options out there!!






We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Blog Action Day 2008 - October 15th
Posted Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
On October 15th blogger's everywhere will publish posts that discuss poverty in some way. By all posting on the same day we aim to change the conversation that day, to raise awareness, start a global discussion and add momentum to an important cause. 

To learn more, check out the website here





We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Skydiving Part 2
Posted Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
A few posts back I had mentioned that a group of us had gotten together to go skydiving at Skydive Greensburg.  Due to the photographer in our group not knowing everyone, we were missing photos of one individual that certainly needs her name in lights as well :)

Compendium's own Randy Cox, of our Development team, let his wife Jen go with us and here are some of her pictures.   P.S.  I think Randy has a shot at Photography as a second gig....


(Jen posing with the signage)


(Randy and Jen, before going in the plane)


(Jen coming in for a landing)

Again, a big thanks to Randy for letting her come with us, but we better see him jumping next time!



We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Election 2008
Posted Friday, October 10, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
I am by no means a political person but like most of America, I have certainly been caught up in the Presidential election this year.  Every where I turn, every channel I tune to on the TV, every radio station I listen to, its doesn't take long before there is either a ad by a candidate or someone giving their two cents on it.

I find it interesting as well that the media has become so involved in this election, as well as the fact that this is how most voters seem to be getting their information.  A classic example is Saturday Night Live's Tina Fey, and her impression of Sarah Palin.




As I absorb all of the information flooding my mind in the last days before the election I find it hard to find the truth in all of it.  I haven't followed Obama's career, nor McCain's.  Most articles written are of someone's opinion, and certainly the candidate's own political sites are going to try to paint the other guy as the "bad guy". 

What I would love to be able to find, read, and follow is a blog written by each candidate.  Can you image the information that would be found there?  The ability to actually learn on a more personal level the thoughts and opinions of each candidate.  To get the truth on how they feel about major topics and issues.  A blog would be the ideal way to "spread the word" about each candidate, and allow anyone that ability to view it at their leisure and actually become informed on who they are voting to put into the Presidential Office. 

Currently, each candidate does have a blog on their site but it is managed by their staff and individuals who write in about their stories in today's economy. 


This is all good stuff - but I want to know what the candidate is thinking and what they are truly like.  Allow the American public to be able to relate to the candidate they prefer on a personal level. 

Compendium's platform allows any size company to do this; however, its use stretches far beyond the scope of corporations.  Both parties talk about how they want to cut costs and trim back spending - utilize your marketing strategies through more cost effective solutions, such as a blog!




We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (0)

Implementation Graduates
Posted Friday, October 10, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
We would like to welcome the following Agencies to Compendium Blogware's platform!  They have recently graduated from Implementation and I look forward to working with them and their clients corporate blogs.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



(Blog)  http://blog.mltcreative.com

MLT Creative originated in 1980 as an Atlanta-based graphic design studio, The Art works, Inc. They provided creative services to some of Atlanta's largest ad agencies and corporate marketing departments - working on a project-by-project basis on local, regional, and national accounts.

In 1984, the studio grew into a full-service agency renamed Mitchell Lindberg and Taylor (MLT Creative). MLT Creative is an agency built for streamlined performance, providing a level of service few conventional advertising agencies can match.

They are Atlanta’s leading idea launch pad for B2B marketers. Helping B2B marketers perfect their positioning, build their brands, customize key account promotions and sell more to their end users. 


(Blog)  http://blog.midmarketer.com

MidMarketer gives marketers in mid-sized businesses insight and real world practices for achieving success in the most challenging and changing markets. They provide focused content, inspiration, resources and tools; all tailored specifically towards marketing in mid-sized organizations.

MidMarketer is an online resource dedicated to helping marketers gain knowledge and insight on how to successfully market and manage the marketing operations of their mid-sized organizations.



We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (1)

Brandon's Comment...
Posted Friday, October 3, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry
I received the following comment from Brandon in response to my recent blog post about Skydiving:

Posted by: Brandon McGhan on Tuesday, September 30, 2008

"I’ll have to agree with Sarah’s comment about her personal blog post. What a great way to get to know the author and their corresponding company! I can honestly say, much of my business with companies, both personal and professional, has come from reading their blogs. When it comes time to spend that hard earned dollar it’s much easier when you feel like you have a growing bond with the company and their employees. You can actually see behind the canned silver lining of professionalism that can be found at almost any company out for the buck. That is what is so great about blogging. You can see the real people that run the business. It’s not static, it’s fresh and it makes me, the consumer, sleep just a little better at night knowing I’ve made the right choice. Good job Compendium!
Easy Bake Oven
However, I felt that I must rebuttal a portion of Sarah’s post about some people being overly nervous and not getting out of the plane had an instructor not been tied to them. I just wanted to inform everyone that I was only nervous because I thought I left the oven on at home and was afraid that I was going to burn the place down. Please re-watch my video in Sarah’s post with that in mind. P.S. It’s not scary at all! It’s just like swimming underwater with a little less resistance. Make sure you turn off that oven!"

Brandon, I can not agree with you more that allowing a customer to see "behind the scenes" of a company and see who they are really dealing with, allows them the opportunity to relate to that company and therefore build a more engaging relationship.  If a customer trusts a company they are more likely to convert into a buying customer.  A corporate blog is a great way to allow this transparency to happen.

However, the whole bit about leaving the oven on.......whatever makes you sleep better at night buddy.





We Know Business Blogging.
Take our 60 Second Blogging Challenge, and you will too. Start here

Comments (1)
    Next