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Blogging, Search, and "All that Jazz"

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Ali Sales Roach
Here at Compendium, we are huge advocates of blogging for search. Simply by having multiple blogs titled with the keyword phrases that your company wants to get found for (versus having a single corporate blog), you are dramatically increases your opportunity for sea ch engine optimization.

But the great thing is that this is not in place of all of the other reasons (all that jazz) why individuals and businesses typically start blogs - to identify with others on a human level, to share information and knowledge, to connect with others - those things stay intact, too.

Take our own blogs here at Compendium as a great example. We have tens of thousands of new people every month who are searching on phrases like "blogging best practices" and finding one of our blogs. When they arrive, they get to see real, happy people who are passionate about what they do sharing helpful information.

At the heart of blogging is still the idea of connecting with people on a personal level and giving them the information that they need and want. Compendium allows companies of all sizes and kinds (over 400 of them!) accomplish this while at the same making it easy for their prospects to find them online.

To see for yourself how Compendium makes this possible, just go here to schedule a quick online demo.

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 Orr Fellowship Blog
  • 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!

Exciting new feature release this week!

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Abby Brosmer
This week, Compendium was excited to announce a new feature release for all standard users.  A keyword tab was added to the text editor screen you see upon login.  This tab now allows users the ability to see a full listing of their companies keywords.  It also allows for easy navigation and sorting of large and small keyword networks.  Want to know more...Check out the solution in our knowledge base.

As a blog contributor, it is important to know what topics are important to focus on.  And while the 20 suggested keywords are listed to the right, for general content ideas.  Often in a blog post, a user can rearrange a word or two of natural writing to accomplish the addition of a keyword, helping the SEO of their corporate blog.

As far as blogging best practices, I am of the belief that it is import to write naturally and to write about what you know.  My own practice is to write a post, keeping in mind a general topic about Compendium and corporate blogging as whole.  I write everything and then, I go back and revise to add in some keywords.  I never want my content to be stacked with keywords.  Not only does it look spammy to the search engines, but it looks spammy to readers as well.

I would love to hear how what you think of the new keyword tool.  Also, tell us about how you write...how do you add keywords to you posts, and what are some of your blogging tips?

Great Blog Template Re-Designs

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Kaila Woodside
Over the past few weeks I have been working with a few clients to re-design their blog. The re-designs are happening for a few different reasons - but the #1 reason is always to increase conversions. A blog for business that brings in 1500 visits a day - but doesn't convert a singlewiden blog on to a lead is problematic. Check out a few great new blog re-designs:

blog.widen.com

survey.cvent.com
blog.hhgregg.com


Blogging Best Practices push for a stand out Call to Action on your blog that will easily allow visitors to take the next step with your business. Take a look at the widen blog (pictured right) the nice eye-catching image with an easy to locate call to action to "TAKE THE TOUR" immediately grab the attention of the searchers.

These re-designs have been in place for only a short period of time and have already generated more leads and/or more qualified leads on average.

Know Your Audience - and the Difference Between an Oven and Range

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Tyler Bender
This morning, while I was editing some blog content, I ran across something I had never seen before.

(preface: before you make any judgments on me or my lack of knowledge, please understand that I am a 26 year-old guy who isn't that far removed from dormlife in college and has never done the following:
  1. bought a house
  2. bought an oven
  3. shopped for either a house or an oven
  4. used an oven for anything more than a place to see what time it is in the kitchen.
  5. been so intrigued by the names of various components on an oven that I felt the urge to ask the nearest person in my vicinity. )
This blog was about outfitting a new home with new appliances. Particularly a new oven. Only they didn't call it an oven anywhere in their text. Ever. They called it a "range." But I saw the picture in the post! It looks like an oven to me!

what is this thing???When I think "range," my mind immediately goes to golf or guns. Not ovens. Actually, there's only one oven-looking device on the first two google image search pages when you type in "range." So it's not at the top of other peoples' minds either.

I thought to myself, "ok maybe this writer isn't writing to me. Maybe they're writing to a different demographic. Maybe since I've never seen the backend of a kitchen, I should ask someone else if "range" was appropriate and common appliance-speak among regulars."

I asked the people around me (all female coworkers). They told me that "range" is part of an oven, and commonly referred to as "oven range," but most people probably don't exclusively call it a "range" without the "oven" preceeding it - and they certainly don't go tell a salesman "I'm in the market to buy a new range...show me what you got!"

(note: And after doing a little research, I learned that a range is the combination of an oven and a stove-top. Who knew?)

So if I'm not their target audience, and these women aren't their target audience, who IS their target audience? Are they even writing to their target audience at all? If I'm confused by the content in question, who else will be?

Point is - we need to know who our audience is when we're trying to blog for business. Sometimes when we're blogging we're so focused on hitting target keywords, learning blogging best practices, repeatedly having something to write about each day, it can be easy to lose what might be most important - the connection with our audience.

When you're blogging for search, put yourself in your audience's shoes. Use the most common language ("oven" or "oven range" - not "range") that anyone can understand. Don't expect people to know everything you know.

The great thing about blogs is that people can find you even when they don't exactly know what they're searching for. So don't lose them because your content is unclear and not directed toward an audience.

The upside of this morning: at least now I know what a range is. Just wish I didn't have to spend this long learning it.

Click here to learn more about Compendium Blogware and how blogging can help your business.



Get Out of the Way

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Brian Graham
I was talking with a business owner on the phone yesterday and the conversation went south on both his account and mine.  We were getting in our own way.  He was not getting it and not listening to me and I was not getting it and not listening to him.  Traditional marketing, "push marketing", is a lot like the described conversation.  You are trying to push your product, service, or message until someone will get it instead of creating opportunities to listen and help.

Blogging best practices suggest telling stories of how you help people in your business.  By creating an inbound marketing strategy through a blogging solution you are letting your potential customers and clients find you on their terms.  You are getting out of your own way and letting the process happen.  You are letting the relationship grow.  This is the "social" aspect of blogging that lets your company be human.

Try listening and understanding and get out of your own way to let progress happen.  Start a blog for business.  It is a great place to begin.

Where's your call-to-action?

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Stephanie West
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-picture-frame-gold-path-included--image432413Picture this:  You have written a great blog post.  It is well-written and full of substantial content.  You may even have included relevant pictures in order to capture your reader's eye. 

But here is where the problem is: After the reader/viewer reads your post, there is nothing left to do.  Maybe they are really interested in what you had to say, but if you need to have something for them to click on to get more information.  That's where call-to-actions (CTAs) come into play. 

Having a link within your blog post allows the reader to seek further information if they are interested.  Having CTAs embedded in your blog is also a great way for readers to learn about your product or service. 

CTAs on the top and side bars of your blog that contain links to additional resources are very beneficial to the reader, as well as the marketer.  Marketers are able to track the effectiveness of blogs by these CTAs and the leads that are generated.

When you blog for search engine optimization - great!  But you need a way to convert those leads into prospects - which is where your CTAs come into play.  Incorporating these CTAs as a part of your blogging best practices will make your blog a better SEO tool.  Compendium provides a great blogging platform, and the Client Success team at Compendium will help incorporate your CTAs so that they provide the most benefit. 

Calls to action drive the success of AirFlow's blog

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Compendium Client Reviews
AirFlow's blogging success driven by its calls to action - which are great ways to drive traffic. Last month the company strove to develop stronger calls to action. By replacing their two original calls to action with three new specific calls to action, they saw a 987.5% increase in conversions by following Compendium's CTA best practices. Compendium is constantly providing feedback and insight on how to make your blog as successful as possible.

Name: Stephanie West
Company: Compendium Blogware
BlogURL:

Whose success are you measuring?

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Stephanie West
When it comes to stories of success, Compendium wants to make sure you know how its corporate blog software will fit into your daily routine.

There are numerous case studies available from various companies' success stories.  They are all real stories from real companies that have seen success from Compendium's corporate blogging software.

For more of these success stories and more information on them, sign up for Compendium's free Webinar: Finding Business Blogging Success: Real-Life Stories.  The Webinar will be hosted by marketer Chris Baggott, CEO and CoFounder of Compendium Blogware. 

The Webinar will take place on November 18th, from 2-3pm EST and it will share the successes of several companies, including an eCommerce Gymnastics Apparel Company, SaaS Event Management and Web Survey Company, and Concrete and Services Company in Minneapolis.

In addition, the Webinar will cover:

  • Best Practices for ROI driven business blogging.
  • Real-life examples of successful blogging strategies.
  • How to set up a blogging strategy built for success.


Don't hesitate, sign up today

Beyond the "One Blog" Strategy

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Chris Baggott
Think about moving beyond the concept of "A" blog.   At it's most simplistic, a search engine is looking for a page that is focused on one thing....the one that relates most to the keyword or specific topic.   I love this statement by Vanessa Fox:

"Relevance means keeping to a topic, helping the search engine understand what your site is about and, ideally, about one thing in particular."

Often,  a blog can be confusing to search engines because they can cover so many different aspects of a topic.   

Make your Corporate Blogs SEO friendlyFor example, I had a blog in my email marketing days called "Email Marketing Best Practices" and I think I still win that search most of the time today.

Now in that blog I talk about "list building" almost 200 times.   List building was an important keyword for our business...along with about 5000 others.

You will never find this blog on a search for "list building" or any of the other terms we were targeting.   That's when it hit me.  

My content wasn't organized properly.
  

If I had a blog titled List Building and put all my List Building content on that blog, I would have a significantly better chance of ranking on that term.  Because I talked about all aspects of email marketing, the search engine is naturally going to look for an easier page targeting the right keyword and offering more perceived relevance.

Powerful blogging software can solve this problem for you. Think of blogging software that empowers lots of content creation, and organizes that content around the topics....Think of blogging as a target marketing strategy.

Improving a Call to Action

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by Sarah Sedberry
Compelling Calls to ActionOne of the most important pieces of information to have when measuring the success of any marketing or SEO tools is the number of conversions, leads generated, or data captured to put into nurturing campaigns.  All of this data will eventually lead to a larger pipeline and more sales!

A corporate blogging software, such as Compendium Blogware, allows a company to increase their online marketing efforts, as it is a platform built for search engine optimization.  Our powerful blogging software takes on all of the heavy lifting and allows the user to focus solely on creating content.

Another piece that makes our our blogging solution so easy is that we incorporate CTA's (Calls To Action) on every blog network with us, to help track visitors that come to the blog then click through to the company wanting more information or to take that next step towards conversion.

Recently Compendium held a Client Only webinar focused on understanding and improving the calls to action (CTA's) on your corporate blogging network.  This webinar allows you to get a better understanding of what makes a great CTA, and how to incorporate best practices to draw more leads into your sales pipeline.

For a replay of this webinar, contact your dedicated Client Success Manager or our Product Support Team at help@compendium.com.





Common Mistakes in Blogging (#5)

Monday, November 9, 2009 by Sarah Sedberry
(5th in a series of 5)

Common Mistake #5:

Expectations.  The majority of marketers are used to immediate reactions to their efforts, where winning organic search takes time.  Therefore it is typically a resetting of expectations when it comes to a blog program or search marketing effort. 

Blogs are not overnight successes and will some times take a few months before really gaining traction.  It takes time for the search engines to find your network and deem  it an authoritative resource for their search queries. 

Answer:

Understanding that a blogging strategy is a marathon, not a sprint.  Set attainable goals for your program and realize that its for the long haul.  Canceling blogging efforts after 3 months is the worst thing - as that's about the time frame when you will start to see traction (obviously depending on the amount of effort that's been put in).  A rule of thumb for content generation in order to see results, according to Ian Lurie, is as follows:

When looking at the competitiveness of the term, use this scale for how much content you should be producing based on the number of competing pages showing up when you search for that term in Google:

    * <10,000 competing pages: Write once a week.
    * 10,001-100,000 competing pages: Write twice a week.
    * 100,001-200,000 competing pages: Write three times a week.
    * 200,001-2,000,000 competing pages: Write every day.

Keep in mind, these theory applies to each keyword - so if you are targeting 100 keywords, you need to write a lot of content! (You can see why we just tell people to write as much as possible).

Setting expectations appropriately with your blog strategy will both set it and your team up for success.  For more best practices or if you have further questions, contact us today at help@compendiumblogware.com




Common Mistake #1

Common Mistake #2
Common Mistake #3
Common Mistake #4

Finding Business Blogging Success

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 by Amber Mohling
Are you considering starting a blog program at your company? 
Or are you looking for ways to improve your current blog's ROI?


If you answered Yes to either of these questions then you'll want to tune into Compendium's upcoming free webinar:  
Chris Baggott

Finding Business Blogging Success:  Real-Life Stories
Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 from 2-3pm EST
Hosted by award winning marketer, Chris Baggott
 


During the webinar, Chris will discuss the best practices for ROI driven business blogging, real-life examples of successful blogging strategies, and how to set up a blogging strategy built for success.

Register today!

November Webinar: Finding Business Blogging Success, Real-Life Stories

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 by Jess Wehner
We have a webinar coming up this month that is sure to be interesting for clients and prospective clients alike. 

If you are a current client, this will be a great time to learn about what some of Compendium's most successful customers are doing on their business blog, how they incorporate blogging best practices, and what success really means to them.  Come see how you can make improvements to your current blog program.

If you are new to Compendium, come learn about how blogging for search can lead to an increase in traffic to your site, generate leads, and increase sales from people that have actually experienced these results. 

As a snapshot, you'll hear from the following types of companies who blog for business:

eCommerce Gymnastics Apparel Company:
  • Over $100,000 closed business within a year, directly from blog traffic.
  • $10,000 in sales within the first two months of blogging with cheer uniform network.
SaaS Event Management and Web Survey Company:
  • 500% increase in keyword reach, compared to the number of paid keywords targeted.
  • Receive over 50,000 keyword referrals each month.
Concrete and Services Company in Minneapolis:
  • Customer was searching for “spancrete”.
  • Found the company’s blog and called.
  • $3000 job complete within 48 hours of search.
Register for the Business Blogging Success webinar today!

Success Stories are the Best Stories

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 by Meghan Manning
No matter what stage you're at with researching Compendium and deciding if we're the best solution for your search marketing strategy - client success stories are always a great way to get the inside story on a company! That's why our November Webinar is focused on just that...


We want you to hear about our clients and learn how Compendium has helped them to successfully achieve their blogging goals.  During this informative Webinar, you'll learn:

  • Best Practices for ROI driven business blogging.
  • Real-life examples of successful blogging strategies.
  • How to set up a blogging strategy built for success.

Don't hesitate to register for this Webinar - there are only 250 spots available and they are filling up very quickly! Also, after you register, email Chris Baggott at chrisb@compendium.com to send him your questions for the Webinar.

We'll see you there!

Happy Halloween from Compendium!

Sunday, November 1, 2009 by Kaila Woodside
Happy Halloween from Compendium! That cutie over there is my sweet little cousin Carter dressed up in his astronaut costume. He is my motivation for my Halloween post of the day. 5 spooky ideas for your next 5 blog posts that follow blogging best practices: 

1. Tell a spooky story. Testimonials are a great way to allow your prospects to hear from your current clients.

2. Creepy Statistics - Your prospects want numbers. Numbers showing clear ROI from your product are great ideas for blog posts.

3. Show a Scary Video! Videos embedded right into your blog post will give your readers a different way to connect with your product.

4. Report on an evil story. Sharing a story where your company is highlighted is a great way to talk about your company's success from another angle.

5. Happy Halloween - blogging about timely holidays and events are great for search. Show your personal side and share how your company celebrates holidays and events.

Great Blogging Templates

Sunday, November 1, 2009 by Kaila Woodside
New clients coming on board with Compendium are always wondering if they can see some of our best-looking templates . Obviously, "best" is a relative term - and when I say best I mean a template that has great calls-to-action, high conversion rates and high read times. Here are some of the templates that I send new clients to: 

CVENT Web Survey Software
CVENT Event Management
Lydia's Uniforms
Roto Rooter
ExactTarget
Widen

Each of these blogs has a great design that follows blogging best practice and makes it easy for the searcher to take the next step with the company. A blog for business should highlight the company's' brand and give the searcher in each stage of the buying process a possible next step. If you'd like to learn more about how to update your blog software template, email us at help@compendium.com!

The Backbone to a Corporate Blogging Strategy

Saturday, October 31, 2009 by Kaila Woodside
If there is one thing that makes a powerful blogging software even more powerful its a great blogging administrator. The main job of a blogging administrator is to approve and decline the blog content submitted by the company bloggers. But a great blogging administrator does much more. A great blogging administrator typically does the following as well:

1.) motivates the team of bloggers daily with new ideas
2.) develops incentive programs for the bloggers
3.) understands exactly how to track the success of the blog program back to a clear ROI
4.) is also a blogger and contributes daily to the blog
5.) is personally excited and motivated by the blog program
6.) understands blogging best practices and enforces those with the bloggers.

A great blogging administrator can be the difference between a good and a great blog for search engine optimization.

Compendium's Complexity

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Allison Bowen
As the main manager of our help@compendium.com e-mail, I often see many different cases come in to our queue.  Sometimes clients are requesting blogging best practice tips.  Other times clients are looking to have a call-to-action changed or have a question about how to best blog for search results.  No two cases are ever the same; it keeps my life exciting!

I've had the opportunity to learn so much about our simple blogging software and every day I'm more and more amazed at how complex it is.  Only our amazing engineering team can figure out how to make everything work together!  Maybe they should take a break from our software and try their hand at an invention like the one in the video below!



Webinar: Understanding & Improving Your CTAs

Monday, October 19, 2009 by Compendium Client Marketing
Make the most of your sidebar real estate by incorporating quality Calls To Action.

Remember that something your visitors were searching for brought them to your blog content.  It is your goal to engage the readers and get them to take the next step with you.  Writing keyword rich content and providing quality Calls To Action will help you reach this goal.

AirFlow Technology saw a 987.5% increase in conversions by following Compendium's CTA best practices.

Learn how you too can maximize your traffic's engagement using quality Calls To Action by attending this month's client only webinar.

Understanding & Improving Your Calls To Action
Date: Thursday, October 29th
Time: 2pm EST      

Register Now


Do you have Calls To Action that are performing well?  Go here to tell us about your CTAs and we'll highlight your organization's success during next week's webinar!

Free Webinar

Using Blogs to Generate and Nurture Demand into Closed Business.

Hosted by Richard Cunningham, VP Marketing of Right On Interactive and Chris Baggott Co-founder, CEO of Compendium Blogware. Thursday, December 3rd 2009.
Sign up here »

Meet Our Team

Abby Brosmer-Rivera Ali Sales Brian Millis Chris Baggott Chantelle Flannery The Client Corner Dereck Martin James Litton Jennifer Buscher Jenni Edwards Jim Hyslop Jess Wehner Krystal Featherston Kaila Woodside Megan Glover Meghan Peters mikey mioduski P.J. Hinton Randy Cox Sarah Sedberry Chandra Chavez Julie Murphy

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