Posted Thursday, November 13, 2008 by
Abby Rivera
Let me first say, I love this word... Uber... But really, what is the Uber Blog in Compendium Lingo?
The Uber Blog is the main company blog. It is also the start page for your blog network. Typically the Uber Blog is titled your company name. All blog posts with the exception of your sticky post will compend to the Uber Blog.
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Posted Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by
Kristen Raves
Day's of Our Lives and Biggest Loser star, Alison Sweeney, was the main attraction at the Tree House Social Club in Los Angeles. BabyPlus was a co-sponsor for this fantastic and exciting event. BabyPlus is all over the media these days with their prenatal fetal development system. Their BabyPlus curriculum is "a series of 16 naturally derived sounds that resemble a mother's heartbeat."
These auditory exercises strengthen the babies learning ability during the developmental period of the pregnacy. BabyPlus is used by so many moms, including Alison Sweeney. In their latest survey they found that 96% of babies are alert at brith and 72% were able to nurse. Additionally, 97% of BabyPlus parents would recommend it to a friend.
These results are opening eyes all around the world. The employees are blogging for their company and seeing results here as well. They are seeing quite a bit of PR including a spot on Access Hollywood this Friday evening (November 14, 2008) as well as mention in Life&Style Magazine. To view the company blog click here. Congrats BabyPlus, we love your product!
These auditory exercises strengthen the babies learning ability during the developmental period of the pregnacy. BabyPlus is used by so many moms, including Alison Sweeney. In their latest survey they found that 96% of babies are alert at brith and 72% were able to nurse. Additionally, 97% of BabyPlus parents would recommend it to a friend. These results are opening eyes all around the world. The employees are blogging for their company and seeing results here as well. They are seeing quite a bit of PR including a spot on Access Hollywood this Friday evening (November 14, 2008) as well as mention in Life&Style Magazine. To view the company blog click here. Congrats BabyPlus, we love your product!
Posted Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by
Abby Rivera
Sticky posts only appear at the top of individual user blogs, and typically share information about the author with readers. Sticky posts can be personal information about the author or it can provide readers with the purpose of the company blog.
Sticky posts do not appear at that the top of any other blogs in your network. Remember that a User Blog is not the start page for your blog network either. The start page is the Uber Blog or main company blog and sticky posts will not show there either because it is not focused to a specific User.
Sticky posts are typically a bio post and contain personal information about the author. Sometimes companies prefer that it provides readers with the purpose of the company blog.
Remember:
- A sticky post is only applicable to the User blog that it is created under.
- It will remain stuck at the top of that specific user blog.
- It will not compend to any other blogs.
- You can view my sticky post by clicking on the link for an example
Posted Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by
Jenni Edwards
Thought this was really cool and shows the power of search.
Google is now tracking the flu-bug by looking at relevant search terms and where they are coming from (fever, cough, etc.). This is a project of Google.org --- because, well Google has too much money that they need to do something good, right? You can check it out here: http://www.google.org/flutrends/.
What terms are important to your business? When people are sick, I would think that the drug companies of the world would want to show up on organic results? Or maybe an all natural remedy? By creating business blogs these companies could gain click throughs when people did have the flu and drive their own businesses!
Google is now tracking the flu-bug by looking at relevant search terms and where they are coming from (fever, cough, etc.). This is a project of Google.org --- because, well Google has too much money that they need to do something good, right? You can check it out here: http://www.google.org/flutrends/.
What terms are important to your business? When people are sick, I would think that the drug companies of the world would want to show up on organic results? Or maybe an all natural remedy? By creating business blogs these companies could gain click throughs when people did have the flu and drive their own businesses!
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008 by
meghan peters
Often times generating content isn't the problem when companies start to work on their business blog. The problem is making the content you are writing work to your advantage. To learn more information on how to implement simple tips to make blog content work for you, join our upcoming Webinar with Chris Baggott and Doug Karr on November 20th.
In this Webinar we'll be covering many relevant topics that companies really want to learn when writing their blog posts.
You'll Learn:
- Why should companies blog.
- How to create relevant blog content.
- How to measure blogging ROI.
There are a limited number of spots available.
Register today!
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008 by
Kristen Raves
I hear it everyday in my role as a Client Success Manager, "I can't", "I don't have enough time", "I am too busy". PJ, our Senior Software Engineer at Compendium, wote a fantastic blog post about a useful little site called Dr. Wicked's Writing Lab. It is a website designed to force you to write. No excuses can be had on this site, they will not have it.
When you get to the homepage, all you have to do is fill in the box with your goals. Your goals are: word goal, time goal, and what setting you would like it on. You can chose from a variety of intensity levels such as Gentle Mode, Normal Mode, Kamikaze Mode, and Electric Shock Mode. This site is not only amuzing, but it is extremely helpful.
Some of our Client Success Managers tested this out today and found out how usefull it is when creating a blog post. Even though we are a blogging company it can be difficult to find time to write. This is something my clients struggle with daily and this tool can be a fun way to manage your time. Next time you are writing, visit the site and see how it can work for you.
When you get to the homepage, all you have to do is fill in the box with your goals. Your goals are: word goal, time goal, and what setting you would like it on. You can chose from a variety of intensity levels such as Gentle Mode, Normal Mode, Kamikaze Mode, and Electric Shock Mode. This site is not only amuzing, but it is extremely helpful.
Some of our Client Success Managers tested this out today and found out how usefull it is when creating a blog post. Even though we are a blogging company it can be difficult to find time to write. This is something my clients struggle with daily and this tool can be a fun way to manage your time. Next time you are writing, visit the site and see how it can work for you.
Posted Friday, November 7, 2008 by
meghan peters
The marketing industry is much like technology, things are constantly changing and you can never feel ahead of the curve. I'm sure every company has felt the strain of keeping up with the newest marketing trends.
Blogging has been characterized as a fleeting trend in an effort to try new marketing efforts. And not only labeled a trend, but a trend that won't last. I find it hard to believe that blogging is just a trend, not only for the fact that I work at a blogging company, but for the simple fact that we have dozens of clients that see the great benefits that blogging has to offer every day. Many of which have the revelation that blogs can be more useful then an actual company website.
When you work for a blogging company and see new clients join the Compendium family daily you gain a renewed sense that blogging is here to stay for the long haul. I would suggest jumping on the bus before it's full!
If you need a little more research on the benefits that business blogging has to offer check out our Whitepaper: Considering Blogging?
Blogging has been characterized as a fleeting trend in an effort to try new marketing efforts. And not only labeled a trend, but a trend that won't last. I find it hard to believe that blogging is just a trend, not only for the fact that I work at a blogging company, but for the simple fact that we have dozens of clients that see the great benefits that blogging has to offer every day. Many of which have the revelation that blogs can be more useful then an actual company website.
When you work for a blogging company and see new clients join the Compendium family daily you gain a renewed sense that blogging is here to stay for the long haul. I would suggest jumping on the bus before it's full!
If you need a little more research on the benefits that business blogging has to offer check out our Whitepaper: Considering Blogging?
Posted Friday, November 7, 2008 by
Aaron Stanton
So what is a blogging platform, and why is it important?
Why pay for something when there are other things out there that are free? Or why not just do it in house?
For one thing, we have an amazing staff of people to help you through the setup process and keep you on track, but what I'm a part of, personally, is what goes on behind the scenes, so I can best speak to that. We have some awesome features you don't see in other blogging software systems, with more on the way. With our keyword strength meter and keyword cloud, it's easy to see what you should be blogging about. I'd love to talk about a couple things we have in the pipeline, but you'll just have to wait until they go live.
There are systems you could install yourself, but then you have to have someone on hand to maintain it. That's expensive. Our engineering team does work that maintains everyone's blogs, and adds features to all of them. A dedicated team like ours to work on a single company's blog system just wouldn't add up.
Remember the bit in Pulp Fiction when they're in a panic, and they call their boss, and he tells them to relax because "the Wolf is on it"?
That's us.
Why pay for something when there are other things out there that are free? Or why not just do it in house?
For one thing, we have an amazing staff of people to help you through the setup process and keep you on track, but what I'm a part of, personally, is what goes on behind the scenes, so I can best speak to that. We have some awesome features you don't see in other blogging software systems, with more on the way. With our keyword strength meter and keyword cloud, it's easy to see what you should be blogging about. I'd love to talk about a couple things we have in the pipeline, but you'll just have to wait until they go live.
There are systems you could install yourself, but then you have to have someone on hand to maintain it. That's expensive. Our engineering team does work that maintains everyone's blogs, and adds features to all of them. A dedicated team like ours to work on a single company's blog system just wouldn't add up.
Remember the bit in Pulp Fiction when they're in a panic, and they call their boss, and he tells them to relax because "the Wolf is on it"?
That's us.
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!!
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!!
Posted Friday, November 7, 2008 by
Lindsey Young
Halloween is my favorite holiday. What's not to love? The leaves turning, the air turning crisp, the feel of the holiday season approaching! It's my favorite time of year. And who can resist the dressing up! And...being the animal lover that I am...dressing up my pets (see inserted photo). I know, I know, a fine line between cute and cruel, right?A blog can be so many different things, and today instead of being informational about blogging for business, I'm adding that "human" side to our marketing and making it personal! I have started reading all of my clients blogs on a pretty regular basis. I find that the ones I enjoy reading the most are the ones they add a personal touch to. I know that I can learn about their business, but I enjoy learning about them as well. Behind these company blogs are what really matter...the employees who write them.
So on that note, I hope everyone had a great Halloween - from everyone who stayed
home and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters, to people like me who go all out, dress up and still act like I'm a kid! Have a great autumn everyone!
Posted Wednesday, November 5, 2008 by
Jason Gergely
If your company isn't blogging yet, they are missing out. If your company has a website and want to really be noticed every time someone types in keywords that pertain to your business, your company needs to be blogging.
When people use a search engine such as Google, many times they are looking to solve a problem they have. If your company website, and is ranked high in that search you are more likely to find more business... right? By blogging, your company will increase its Search Engine Optimization and when someone is looking for an good or service that your company has to offer, they are more likely to find your company website, or at least your company blog at the top of the ranking. By having your employees blog for ranking, and talk about their work, their clients, and your product or service you are increasing your data to be more recent, frequent, relevant to the search. Hmmm... isn't it ironic that those are ALL the things that Google is looking for when they search through the internet to fulfill a search inquiry?
When people use a search engine such as Google, many times they are looking to solve a problem they have. If your company website, and is ranked high in that search you are more likely to find more business... right? By blogging, your company will increase its Search Engine Optimization and when someone is looking for an good or service that your company has to offer, they are more likely to find your company website, or at least your company blog at the top of the ranking. By having your employees blog for ranking, and talk about their work, their clients, and your product or service you are increasing your data to be more recent, frequent, relevant to the search. Hmmm... isn't it ironic that those are ALL the things that Google is looking for when they search through the internet to fulfill a search inquiry?
Posted Wednesday, October 29, 2008 by
Douglas Karr
Curious, if you owned a retail establishment what you would do if a customer stood up and started screaming, cussing and demeaning your company in front of your other patrons. You'd most likely ask him to keep his voice down and usher him some place where you can find out why they carried on and what you could do for it.Chris Brogan has a great post today on Corporate Blogs and Commenting Policies. I wholeheartedly agree with his post - a blog isn't a place to set up a stage for rude visitors to begin yelling. You must protect and preserve your company when blogging. Chris goes into the following details:
- It's not wrong to protect your living room
- Allow for dissent and discourse
- If you're going to moderate...
- There are off-topic and rude comments
It's okay to protect and preserve your business!
Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008 by
Brian McKay
Doug Karr is a Blogging Evangelist. I'm serious, he's actually our Vice President of Blogging Evangelism. As you work to earn customers through Blogging, we continually work with clients on best practices for content creation.
It is way easier than you think, and Doug has provided a list of over 200 Blog post ideas for your business. Check out his powerful post here:
200 Blog Post Ideas for your Company Blog!
When you Blog for SEO, having a Blogging platform that is built to be found on search engines is key. Once you've read Doug's post, click to the right to begin a conversation with Compendium and begin realizing the SEO and customer aquisition value of Blogging.
It is way easier than you think, and Doug has provided a list of over 200 Blog post ideas for your business. Check out his powerful post here:
200 Blog Post Ideas for your Company Blog!
When you Blog for SEO, having a Blogging platform that is built to be found on search engines is key. Once you've read Doug's post, click to the right to begin a conversation with Compendium and begin realizing the SEO and customer aquisition value of Blogging.
Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008 by
Lindsey Young
Our company needs to drink the Kool Aid when it comes to blogging, right? We need to practice what we preach. Even we fall off the blogging wagon sometimes, and need a little incentive from our marketing department to take the initiative. The Megan's from our marketing department have offered to bring in breakfast for everyone if we achieve our set number of company blogs today! That sounds great...but what really won me over and reminded me to blog today was a Fun Size Snickers bar they brought to my desk. It's as simple as that for motivating your employees to get involved. I hear that objection to a corporate or business blog at least once a week. In these economic times that are equating to less employees doing more or the same amount of work, adding one more task to their already overloaded job descriptions can seem like a bad management decision. However blogging for your business can give everyone added pride in your organization. Contributing to blog content leads to increased SEO, higher search engine rankings, and a sense of accomplishment from everyone who contributed to the blogs success. If this objection is keeping you from implementing a business blog, consider the benefits it will offfer your company.
Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008 by
Jess Wehner
Thanks to our marketing department and their commitment to our blog’s success, I recently won a “nifty gift” for getting the most posts up in one month (along with Kristen Raves and Sarah Sedberry). What’s most exciting about this award is that I’m not really a writer. I’ve always been more of a “math person” and usually take most opportunities in life that don’t involve writing. I say all that to prove that I didn’t win the award because of all of the enlightening things I said, or how poetic my words came out. (Trust me! Read my blog and you’ll see I’m not the greatest writer in the world.) No, I won the award purely on the number of posts that I put up. It was that simple! Number of posts is all that really counts and all that we ask of our clients to be accountable for. Sure, being an awesome writer might help you get a nice fan base and people who keep coming back to read your blog. But, that’s not what blogging for business is all about. Increased sales aren’t driven by people who enjoy your writing style. Increased sales are driven by sending new customers to your website. If your ultimate goal is to make more sales (which I haven’t found a marketing manager who doesn’t have that goal) then don’t stress about having the most well-written post. If your company is blogging two times per week, per user, you will see your keyword rankings improve, your traffic increase, and consequently your sales go up! Seems like a pretty simple three step process to me!
Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008 by
Douglas Karr
Tonight I had the pleasure of being on a blogging panel representing Compendium Blogware with the Indiana Chapter of the Society for Technical Communication. It was an honor to be selected for the panel and the folks there were quite engaged. The dialogue ranged but targeted all the hotspots - Why would a company blog? What are the pitfalls of being open? Is it for everyone? What are the risks for employees?
Click through to this post for the actual audio (if you're reading via RSS).
Posted Monday, October 27, 2008 by
meghan peters
For many the old saying may go, "blogs and business don't mix!" Fortunately for us this simply isn't true anymore. Business blogging has become more and more prevalent in the workplace today. There are many benefits of blogging from the marketing stand point, but what about from an internal stand point. A recent article in Business Week titled "The Inside Story of Company Blogs" outlines just this point. There are many companies that blog to gain SEO, improve their marketing efforts and possibly advance lead generation, but blogs can also be a great tool for internal information sharing as well.
According to Dave Weick CIO at McDonald's, "COO Michael Roberts, launched his internal blog last fall. He used it to spread information through the company's global operations and receive feedback. Now McDonald's is distributing blog access to thousands of employees, who will use them to report on operations at restaurants worldwide".
The main point to take away from this article is that blogging and business do go hand in hand no matter how a company is using it. So if you're blogging from an internal standpoint and gaining better communication from your employees or blogging externally to gain more customers and business, isn't every aspect a positive one? Just another thing to add to your list of reasons to love blogging!
Posted Monday, October 27, 2008 by
Jim Hyslop
I was fortunate enough last week to have a really good meeting with a potential client who has been exploring blogging for her company. Over the past 60 days she has been doing research on basic blog software trying to determine which solution may be the easiest to use and manage from a blogging perspective and from an SEO perspective.
She had done her homework but was very discouraged about all of the time and energy she was going to have to spend in an area where she really knew very little. Needless to say when she asked the question..."so, how can Compendium help me" she was very pleased with what she heard.
We were the breath of fresh air she had been looking for simply because we took all of the blog management responsibilities off her shoulders and carried that burden for her. Not only that but our interface made it simple for her to get in create content and get out.
A one stop shop solution for everything she needed right here in one easy solution. So don't fear the things you don't know about. Employ someone who does and allow your business succeed.
She had done her homework but was very discouraged about all of the time and energy she was going to have to spend in an area where she really knew very little. Needless to say when she asked the question..."so, how can Compendium help me" she was very pleased with what she heard.
We were the breath of fresh air she had been looking for simply because we took all of the blog management responsibilities off her shoulders and carried that burden for her. Not only that but our interface made it simple for her to get in create content and get out.
A one stop shop solution for everything she needed right here in one easy solution. So don't fear the things you don't know about. Employ someone who does and allow your business succeed.
Posted Friday, October 24, 2008 by
Douglas Karr
When folks are blogging for business, many of them are excited and watch over their analytics application. They post their first few blog posts and then send out the company wide-newsletter to announce the new blog to their 200 employees! The horns blare and everyone in the company clicks through to see it.
The blogger comes returns the next day, checks their analytics, and they see this incredible spike in traffic! Woohoo! Corporate blogging really does work, we have 200 visitors already! Amazing stuff!
Not so amazing. Those visitors weren't from Search Engines, they were your staff checking out the new company blog! Booooo!
In the first phase of your implementation and in setting up your Analytics application, be sure to exclude traffic from your own company. With Google Analytics, this is quite simple:
The blogger comes returns the next day, checks their analytics, and they see this incredible spike in traffic! Woohoo! Corporate blogging really does work, we have 200 visitors already! Amazing stuff!
Not so amazing. Those visitors weren't from Search Engines, they were your staff checking out the new company blog! Booooo!
In the first phase of your implementation and in setting up your Analytics application, be sure to exclude traffic from your own company. With Google Analytics, this is quite simple:
- Edit your analytics settings and you'll find a Filter section:
- Add a filter for your company's IP address or addresses. The syntax is a little funky because Google allows for regular expressions (which are cool). If you have a single IP address, simply enter it with a slash before each dot:
Posted Thursday, October 23, 2008 by
jennifer buscher
I just got off the phone with a prospect who is an Online Marketing Manager for a 
large e-retail company. She recently read a few of our whitepapers and attended our last webinar about making your business blog profitable. I asked what her thoughts were on what she's learned about our blog software. Her response was "I thought I knew what blogging was all about, but I really had no idea." My ears perked up because this is exactly what I struggle with every day... challenging people to rethink blogging. I talk to different companies that know they should be blogging, but don't really know why or understand the quantifiable benefits of a corporate blogging solution. More than anything, a company blog can and should be an effective online acquisition and lead generation tool. Our blog software automatically organizes blog content in such a way that makes it easy for search engines to find you. Whether searching on Google is step #1 of someone's buying decision or step #5, they ARE searching online at some point. A blog can not only compliment your website, but will often outperform your website from a search perspective if done correctly.
large e-retail company. She recently read a few of our whitepapers and attended our last webinar about making your business blog profitable. I asked what her thoughts were on what she's learned about our blog software. Her response was "I thought I knew what blogging was all about, but I really had no idea." My ears perked up because this is exactly what I struggle with every day... challenging people to rethink blogging. I talk to different companies that know they should be blogging, but don't really know why or understand the quantifiable benefits of a corporate blogging solution. More than anything, a company blog can and should be an effective online acquisition and lead generation tool. Our blog software automatically organizes blog content in such a way that makes it easy for search engines to find you. Whether searching on Google is step #1 of someone's buying decision or step #5, they ARE searching online at some point. A blog can not only compliment your website, but will often outperform your website from a search perspective if done correctly.
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