Blog for Ranking

Applying more SG to business blogging

Friday, November 6, 2009 by Brian Millis

Ok, so I try not to do double Seth Godin references but he seems to be so timely for what I'm doing. His most recent blog post begins with this quote:

"The problem with "everyone" is that in order to reach everyone or teach everyone or sell to everyone, you need to so water down what you've got you end up with almost nothing."

This is what I find so hilarious about most of the corporate blogs I read. Often time these busy business men and women spend time manually tagging or categorizing their freeware blog for things like: social media, agency, advice, technology, etc. etc.

These are such general topics for organization. Most of these people tell me that they spend time blogging for SEO and do this organization so they will be found in the search engine by qualified prospects. If you are a branding agency, why would someone search just "branding" or "agency"?! They wouldn't. They would search something like "branding agency in charlotte".

Seth's advice is great to heed when thinking about corporate blogging. If you try and make your blog about EVERYTHING or appealing to EVERYONE . . . . almost NO ONE will find you. Or you could look at it this way: A company that creates one blog and fills it with info ranging from industry news to product information simply waters down the blog, trying to make it about EVERYTHING. This means it will not be found by ANYONE or be a useful vehicle for getting found in search and driving traffic.

And this is why Compendium's structure is brilliant. Blog about EVERYTHING and let the software take care of the organization that actually makes it relevant to the searcher and the search engine.

Another Data Point In Why Search Leads Online Marketing

Friday, November 6, 2009 by Chris Baggott

People don't click on online display ads

Seth's Blog pointed me to some great data out this week from Jack Loechner of MediaPost. Read the story, but here is the punchline in the very first paragraph:

"The results of an update to the comScore highly publicized "Natural Born Clickers" research, conducted two years ago with Starcom USA and Tacoda, indicate that the number of people who click on display ads in a month has fallen from 32% of Internet users in July 2007 to only 16% in March 2009, with an even smaller core of people (representing 8% of the Internet user base) accounting for 85% of all clicks."

What does this have to do with blogging for search? Everything really. Online display ads are not that much different than offline display ads. Most of their value comes from branding, not from direct action. Search marketing on the other hand is almost entirely about intent. Searchers want to solve problems. You are in business to solve those problems. When you show up, everyone wins.

Blog software allows you to go directly to your audience. Display advertising online or off depends on some intermediary to deliver your message right? Typically that adds a cost and layer of friction that doesn't exist when you can simply get in front people who are expressing a need for your products or services.

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.

Empathy In Blogging & Search Is Natural

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 by Jenni Edwards

Empathy doesn't come to natural to most of us. Potentially it is a lacking quality across my seemingly selfish generation, but I have to make a conscious effort towards empathy in any given situation.

Our friend, Seth Godin, recently wrote about empathy in marketing noting that marketers and the fact that as marketers we can try as we might to be empathetic and we may think we understand the hopes and dreams along with the woes of any given demographic, but we really don't. And when we think we do, we are likely making broad, incorrect generalizations.

What can we do about this? And how does empathy really work? I consider empathy to be very close to the idea of a "similar situation" sales approach (i.e. - I'm just like you; let me solve your problem like I did for someone just like you, etc.). The truest form of empathy is truly being in the same situation...not faking it or making assumptions. How do you create this feeling of empathy through blogging? You enable multiple individuals throughout your organization to create content. It's amazing even within a small company the socioeconomic, life stage and other diversity that exists and opening this up can be a powerful marketing tool.

Another way in which empathy is natural from a search perspective is through known data. Although I can agree as Seth warns that mixing empathy in marketing is rather dangerous --- the fact that through search and tracking tools we are able to tie back the search terms that an eventual buyer or "conversion" came to our website or blog from, therefore, as we learn more about the individual we can begin to make these somewhat dangerous assumptions such as "Stay at home moms generally search with terms such as XYZ where as working mothers usually search on terms such as ABC" and using these data backed assumptions to create better custom landing pages, blog templates, calls to action within a blog and so forth.

It might be a stretch and empathy may never be a natural quality in many of our everyday lives, but I believe that some of the benefits of empathy in marketing can be found through blogging and search.

Alerding Castor Hewitt receives results

Monday, November 2, 2009 by Stephanie West

This firm is a great example of why a business should blog. They dedicate about 2 hours a week to blogging. That's right: 2 HOURS PER WEEK. Wrap your head around that. In addition to their two hour per week blogging dedication, they have seen 500% blogging ROI... 500%!

Those numbers (alone) should convince you that corporate blogging has something great going for it. But if those numbers don't convince you, consider this additional information about Alerding Castor Hewitt.

This case study is an excellent reason of why you should blog for business. Compendium's blogging platform structures SEO tools that help maximize your search engine optimization results. Blogging for search, just as Alerding Castor Hewitt does, is a way for potential customers to find you on the internet. Online marketing is a means of reaching those potential customers that are searching for something on the internet. By blogging (for as little as 2 hours per week!), you are helping position your company to get found in search.

Click here to view this Alerding Castor Hewitt case study and read about their blogging success!

Compendium's Newest Client

Sunday, November 1, 2009 by Kaila Woodside

Just yesterday Julie Murphy signed on Compendium's newest client, Western River Expedition.

I for one am super excited about our newest client and am lucky enough to become their client success manager. As a kayaker, mountain biker, rock climber and former river guide myself I love that an outdoor company is taking advantage of powerful blogging software.

Western River Expeditions has a dedicated blog program administrator (which we all know is the one of the biggest success factors for a great blog for search engine optimization), a very forward thinking owner and exciting subject matter to blog about!

Stay tuned for some of Western River Expedition's success stories in the coming months!

A trip to visit GK Elite

Saturday, October 31, 2009 by Kaila Woodside

This coming Tuesday I will be heading out to visit one of my favorite clients at GK Elite, Andrew Foss. GK Elite, who sells competitive gymnastics leotards, is about to celebrate their one year

anniversary as a Compendium client so I figured that I would head out to Reading, Pennsylvania (my home state) to meet up with Andrew in person.

The GK Elite blog has paid for itself a few times over and continues to grow every day. One week the blog even produces over $10,000 in sales - in ONE WEEK! A few weeks back we even added a second blog to the network - cheer.gkelite.com.

During this trip I hope to really dive into the GK Elite statistics, ROI, and overall sauces of the program. We know that GK Elite is a very successful client and I cant wait to hear more stories of how a blog for search engine optimization has turned the up the amount of search traffic and what the sales have been over the past year. I will follow up after my trip with great numbers of how easy to use blog software has impacted the company.

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.

DEFINE: Click Through Rate

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Compendium Client Marketing

How can you measure the level of your corporate blog visitors engagement?

One of the best measurements of engagement is looking at the number of visitors who interact with your Calls To Action. But how can you measure engagement with your CTAs?

Click Through Rate: The number of visitors who click on your CTAs / Total Visitors to the site.

What is a good CTR? There is no ‘magic’ CTR, all industries and companies can have wide variance. We advice our clients to:

Understand the ROI of your program. In other words, for the effort you are putting in and the investment that you’ve made, are you getting the value out?

Watch the trend. Comparing CTR trends to see if they are increasing or decreasing when changes are made.

When blogging for search remember to continuously measure and test the CTAs that you use on your corporate blog. Need help with your CTA strategy - reach out to your Compendium Client Success Manager.

We Want Your Ideas!

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Allison Bowen

Here at Compendium, we know that we provide our clients with the best blogging software available. Not only does our product allow you to easily write a blog post, it will also help you actually blog for search engine optimization. We know that our product is great, but there are always areas in which it could be better. This is where you come in.

We want to hear from you! Have an idea? A suggestion to improve our product? We are always open to ideas from our clients. Our main goal is provide our clients with the most powerful blogging software that will help them get the best results.

If you have a suggestion for something we could improve within our system, please let us know! Send you ideas and enhancement requests to help@compendium.com. We take all the ideas submitted and enter them into a database. Each idea is prioritized by demand, so the more clients that ask for a feature, the more we want to make it happen! Every week, our engineering team takes a look at the enhancement requests submitted and tries their best to upgrade our software accordingly.

Keep an eye out for more new features that you, our clients, have requested coming soon!

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!

Blogging and Halloween

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Sarah Sedberry

Part of the fun of having a corporate blog is that it allows the personality of the employees to shine, and allow potential and existing customers to engage with your staff.

So along that note, I wanted to share a bit of Compendium's personality during this festive weekend! Ladies and Gentleman....feast your eyes on one of our Business Development Managers - Brian Graham:

(Kudos to Brian for creating and sewing this Two-Face outfit together on his own - I'm sorry I missed the leopard print boot though...)

The best part about this picture is that Brian was on a demo with a client while allowing me to take advantage and publish his picture web-wide (Brian - any publicity deals you land from this, I get 15%).

Some might think this is a crazy office, but that's whats fantastic about working here. We are all passionate about what we do, and we have fun with it! That personality allows our customers to have fun too. The other thing that happens now, is that you probably feel a little closer to Brian, right? Feel like you might know him, would enjoy talking with him, etc - you've engaged with him!!

Obviously, a blog for search engine optimization is key, but don't forget to allow your human side to show too!

Here's hoping everyone has a safe and spooky Halloween!

You Really Can Blog About Anything

Friday, October 30, 2009 by Allison Bowen

Clients often come to us at Comp

endium and question how in the world they are supposed to come up with content to write about for their blog page. We try to do our part by offering content ides within our template editor, blogging ourselves in order to generate ideas and by offering all sorts of suggestions. However, sometimes it just comes down to the fact that with our easy to use blog software, you really can write about almost anything!

For example, take one of our clients, Green Engery TV. Their guest blogger recently wrote about how he is losing weight by pedaling a bicyle in order to power his television. Rather than sit on the couch eating muncies and watching the tube, the guest blogger is now getting a workout while still enjoying his favorite shows!

How in the world does that story turn into a blog post? Easy! With Compendium's product you can still blog for search engine optimization simply by being sure to use keyword phrases within each post, no matter what it is about. You'd be surprised how easy it is to do!

Keep generating those posts and be sure to check out this crazy television invention here.

Two different methods; One common goal

Thursday, October 29, 2009 by Stephanie West

When you give two different people the task of preparing dinner - they will (most likely) come up with two different meals.

For example: Say you give two people a can of crescent rolls each. They are each told to prepare a meal that incorporates the can of crescent rolls.

http://auntypolknowsitall.blogspot.com/2009/07/hungry-hungry-hippo.html

The first person makes a meal that we'll call: Chicken Crescents. It involves about an hour and a half of preparation, a lot of slicing, dicing, stirring and stuffing. The meal then has to cook for another 30 minutes. So, after 2 hours the meal is ready to be eaten.

http://saucytart.typepad.com/eat_drink_memory/2009/04/pigs-in-a-blanket-day-contest-kicks-off.html

Then there's the second person who makes a meal we'll call: Pigs in a Blanket. It involves about 10 minutes of preparation, i.e. stuffing a hotdog with cheese, then rolling it in a crescent roll. This meal has to cook for 20 minutes. So, after 30 minutes the meal is ready to be eaten.

Let me tie this all together for you. Two different methods; One common goal. The goal? To eat.

Just like eating, there are two different methods for preparing a blog.

One method involves a platform that allows you to set up multiple blogs. After you write a blog post, there are multiple steps and actions that you have to take for search engine optimization. This method requires a lot of manual work.

The next method involves writing a blog post (which takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes), then clicking "Submit." Because of the platform, the blog post is automatically optimized. You blog for search engine optimization - but the blog platform optimizes it for you!

Two different methods; One common goal. The goal is for your blog to be maximized in search engine optimization.

If you were blogging, which method would you choose? I would go with the second method, because all I have to do is blog. The platform does the rest.

Want to know more about this platform? Schedule a demo with a blogging expert at Compendium to learn more about how your blog can maximize its search engine optimization.

Go with the Pigs in a Blanket approach - you'll reach your goal more quickly!

Corporate Blogging drives search better than social networking

Wednesday, October 28, 2009 by Chris Baggott

HOORAY!!!! The truth is finally starting to come out! Last month we talked a lot about the most recent Gartner study talking about social media darlings like micro-blogging plunging down the trough of disillusionment. Corporate Blogging is rapidly moving up the slope of enlightenment. Why?

Simple ROI. Corporate blogging is a search marketing strategy that leverages social media...not a social media strategy for the sake of being "in" social media.

Today eMarketer gave me a huge gift with reporting on a fantastic study by the firm Chitika that is highlighted in the graph above, and more importantly in the following statement:

.....Still, social media sites are only sending a tiny fraction of traffic. An earlier Chitika Study concluded that “the overwhelming dominance of search engines is facing little, if any, threat from social networks.”

The company looked at the top sites sending traffic to the publishers in its network and found that Google alone accounted for 76.13% of referrals.

Taken together, search engines made almost 98% of all referrals, while social networking sites made up just 0.55%.

What else can I add? Most Corporate blogging traffic doesn't come from repeat 'readers' it comes from first time visitors. And most of those first time visitors come from search.

Why should your business blog? To target searchers and solve their problems.

Generate leads for a larger fan base

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 by Stephanie West

Many great TV shows go un-noticed - or without a large fan base. They may have a very loyal fan base, but it's small. If you're one of those loyal fans, don't you wish that everyone know about it?! Don't you wish there was a way to generate leads to this awesome TV show?! I sure do!

http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/2006/11/a-brilliant-gaythemed-episode.html

Over the past few months, I've gotten hooked on the TV series: How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM - for short). It is in its 5th season and is incredibly funny, witty and entertaining. It's on Monday nights on CBS @ 8pm EST. (I'm finished with my HIMYM shout-out for the day.)

My whole point is this: Your company has something great to offer. It's probably not a TV series, but it is something that you want more people to know about, right?

A great way to generate leads for your company is through corporate blogging. Compendium offers a blogging software platform that all lows you to blog for search engine optimization.

Why keep your company a secret? It's great to keep a small and loyal client base, but don't you want to share your company with everyone?

Schedule a demo with a blog expert at Compendium and they'll help explain the benefits of blogging for your business. So start generating more leads today - I'm going to suggest that my favorite TV show does the same...

Appearance isn’t everything, but it helps

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 by Michael Burton

Think for a second about things you read. Magazines? Newspapers? Billboards?
What draws you to these things? What is more intriguing about one as opposed to another? Most of the time it’s appearance. If something looks like an easy read, you’ll be more inclined to read it. If it looks boring and time consuming, you’re probably not going to spend too much energy trying to read it.

Picture the success of your new blogging solution.

The same problem can appear in a blog post. It is important to include things like pictures, links, and white space in mind when writing.

Pictures and video can help draw a reader to a post. If a video says something better than your own words can, use it! If a picture is relevant and makes the post look interesting, feel free to include it.

Links can also add a lot to your post. If you mention a stat, link to the site. If you are referencing an article, use a link to allow the reader to find it quickly.
Finally, white space can help to break your post up into smaller segments for the readers to comprehend easier.

Making your post multiple, smaller paragraphs will help a reader Length shouldn’t be ignored, it’s important to make your posts manageable. A reader shouldn’t feel overwhelmed reading.

Blogging for search can be a fun and creative outlet for any business looking to market themselves online. These are just a few tips to help your blog software be the most effective it can be!

Gilberts Guns, Google Adwords and Great Blogging Software

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 by Kaila Woodside

"The promotion of weapons is restricted" according to Google Adwords. Want to advertise your inventory of firearms, ammunition and switchblades? Not in Google adwords you won't. So how can a sophisticated, forward thinking business that sells guns win search for hundreds or thousands of keywords? A blog for search engine optimization, t

hat's how. And that is just what Gilbert's Guns did.

Last month, Gilbert's Guns signed on with Compendium to create a blog for search. They started off with a "test" and are targeting about 50 various keywords covering ammunition, firearms and binoculars. Understanding that corporate blog software is a strategy that takes a good amount of content to be successful, the plan is to contribute 6-8 posts a day on the various product lines. Also, because Compendium is a scalable, easy to use blog software, Gilberts Guns will continue to expand their targeted keyword list with success from the first round of targeted keywords.

Stay tuned for follow up on the success Gilberts Guns will surely see in the coming months by leveraging corporate blogging software to targeted "prohibited" Google Adwords keywords.

New Client's Success in Blogging for Search

Friday, October 23, 2009 by Amber Mohling

In the past week, I've had the opportunity to change roles at Compendium. I moved from the marketing department into client success, and it's great to now have the opportunity to talk more in-depth with current clients.

In the past two days, I've had a couple conversations with Metrocrete, and I've loved hearing about the success the company is already seeing through Compendium's blogging solution. Their blogs are already being indexed by the search engines and the company is currently seeing the results of moving up in organic search rankings. Metrocrete started using Compendium's blog software less than 2 weeks ago!

If you'd like to learn more, check out the Compendium website!

Top 10 Google Analytics Resources for Corporate Bloggers

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 by Compendium Client Marketing

You can leverage your corporate blog analytics to gain insight into your blog including:

Where your business blog traffic is coming from
What visitors are most engaged with
The search keywords your traffic is finding you for
Guiding your visitors to take the next step

It is important that you listen to your analytics closely when your blogging for search. Don't worry everyone has questions about Google Analytics.

Here are the top ten resources I use to find answers to my Google Analytics questions.

Official Google Analytics Blog

Google Analytics Official YouTube Channel

Google Analytics Support Page

Occam’s Razor by Avinash Kaushik

A Guide to Google Analytics and Useful Tools

50 Resources for Getting the Most Out of Google Analytics

AnalyticsSearch: Search dozens of Google Analytics support websites with 1 click

EpikOne: Analytics Talk

Follow & Tweet with @Google Analytics on Twitter

Software as a Service Compendium Blogware's Product Support Team

I hope that these resources help you with your analytics questions. Do you use a resource not listed here? Please just add it to my list via comments.