Our team of engineers deserve a lot of credit for their hard work making this new text editor interface more awesome than ever. They are always busy making our business blogging platform more powerful and easier to use.

I am using this post as a test to see if they actually did anything or if they're just saying they did, because nobody really knows what goes on back in that room. They sometimes grow beards and some of them don't wear shoes, so I don't know if I fully trust what they say. But here I go.

I will now attempt to upload a picture.

Hey, that was pretty easy. I really enjoyed doing that.

As I type my thoughts onto this editor, I am noticing how fast it is. I mean, it's a lot faster than I remember.

What about linkage? I will now place a link to a client blog, Christy Sports, because I just noticed they're a client, and I have rented skis and boots and boards from them since I was a tyke.

Wow, that was also really easy.

The work of our Dev team reminds me of a song by postitive rock legend Stan Bush. In his words, "Never surrender, never say die. You got the will to survive."

I will now attempt to embed a Youtube video into our newly enhanced text editor, and if it works, I shall dedicate the video to our Dev Team.

Gosh dang that was easy!

Well after some serious testing, I would like to give props, whatever those are, to the dev team on this one. The new features look really slick, plus they make adding content to our corporate blog much much easier. It's also noticably faster. The awesomeness is beyond words.

I think I just fell back in love with blogging. Thank you dev team for helping me rekindle this flame.

 


I have always love learning and reading about web usability - it's amazing how certain ecommerce sites have increased their sales dramatically by adding a button or changing the number of screens to check out; so I am naturally stoked to be using a brand spanking new UI for Compendium today...and not to mention, it motivated me to post! :)

Why does the User Interface matter you ask?  Well, first back to the ecommerce example, the easier we can make things on our business blogging clients - the more they will blog.  So what changes did we make?  Mainly, basics - aligned icons more with Microsoft Word standards and some HTML clean up, to even further search engine optimize the blogs.  It's one of the beautiful parts of a Saas solution, like Compendium -- always improving our product!  


For those marketers  involved in search marketing, we know that search is the one bright spot in the marketing landscape.  As you can see from the eMarketer forecast, search will continue to accelerate against other online advertising…and of course we all know that traditional non-online advertising is in a long and protracted decline.

Corporate blgging strategy for search trends



Why is search winning?  Because it is the only mass marketing tool in history where you are responding to a prospects intent.   No longer do we have to analyze data and hope that certain segments might be interested in our offer. 

With Search, our prospects simply tell us when they have a need or problem they could use our help with.  Condo, Austin?   Variable Printing Services?  Chrome 4 slice toaster?  New Tires, Buffalo?  All of these and millions more indicate the needs and desires of the searcher.   Do you sell tires in Buffalo?

80% of all web interactions begin with searches.

So why, in a recent Microsoft adCenter survey, did 73% of the small business owners say they would rather DO THEIR TAXES than start a paid search marketing campaign.   

It’s not a lack of desire or a lack of intelligence, what most web folks fail to recognize about small business marketing is that they are constrained by both time and money.   This is what  makes and internet business blog such a compelling option.   

With a business blogging solution designed for business, they get two things.  The first is a managed solution.  One of the beauties of SaaS is help.  Unlike “free” blogging tools where you are completely on your own,  hosted business blogging tools have actual people that work to make their clients successful.  

At the end of the day, all the business needs to do is tell stories…as Sienfield’s Kramer says…talk about your day.  The more they talk, the more search traffic they drive.   Easy to use blogging software makes search marketing a LOT easier than doing taxes…. Blog for SEO...and win.

 


We are proud to announce a successful lauch of a couple of new pieces to Compendium Software and Compendium Product Support today! 

 

Our first item is and most exciting piece is the launching of an updated and enhanced text editor.  Thank you to our engineering team for all of their hard work and dedication to the product.  As a part of the Product Support Team at Compendium we strive to hear and communicate with Product Planning what our clients are wanting, what sort of dfficulties they are having and move to enhance those pieces of the software. This new text editor, is exactly that.  Our clients asked and we listened!   

 

Our second item we are excited to announce, is the self service portion of the help page.  In the past, clients have had the abiltiy to submit support requests via email - help@compendiumblogware.com, phone - (317)777-6255, or by completing the webform.  Product Support quickly responded to all requests. 

 

But as we grow and expand this Support functionality to our business blogging software, we want to make getting support for our clients as easy as possible. Our solution, we introduced a self service portal to the help page.  Clients can now

  • search answers for Frequently Asked Questions
  • find out how to accomplish different items with in the software
  • Ask question and look for support easily on their own

 

We still love feedback, so if there is anything we can do, let us know!


Happy 2009!! Wow it's hard to believe that is actually already 2009 - I can't seem to figure out where 2008 went! Oh well, what can you do. Every year I make a some kind of silly resolution that by the end of January I've usually given up on - well this year is different.I've decided to actually make commitments that I know I can keep - both professionally at Compendium and in my personal life.

At Compendium ...
I've been a complete blogging slacker - writing a blog post has not been a very high priority. Well this year I've I have made it my goal to write  at least 2 blog posts per week.

Being a Support Manager here at Compendium - we get a lot of blogging software questions that I could easily write a post on - because chances are more than 1 person has the same question.

Personally
I've have signed myself up for a mini marathon (which if you know me I'm not really a runner), but this is something I've always wanted to do. So I made the commitment to do it.

So what is your "New Year" commitment (not resolution)? Make one that your have to be accountable for ...


face melting riffs, creative hombres, cpb shred school
CP+B's shred school is rad. Ney. CPB Shred School is way rad. These pushers of interactivity have done it again with the launch of this b.a. new website.

What it is.

A gathering of easy to play songs on guitar, from soft and sweet serenades to mind numbing punch dancing ballods.

I might even call cpb Shred School a "compendium" of guitar how-to videos.

Why it is rad.

The site is really simple, which is great from a usability aspect. You can search through tons and tons of guitar lesson videos.You can search through all the videos, and sort a few different ways.

Remember, these are the people that did Subservient Chicken. They know how to get people, a LOT of people, to interact with a website. Right up top there is a simple "upload" button that allows users to upload lessons of their own.

While YouTube has tons and tons of "how to play _______" videos, CP+B has brought them together in an awesome way. The good sites and the good blogs have something to offer the user or the reader. This is what keeps us interacting, because we see value in it. There is a benefit to watching and digging.

Look, a lot of things make this site rad. Mostly, it's really helpful, and it's really easy. Plus, the agency vidoes are really funny. The only thing that I could see improving the site is to get RZA, GZA and Bill Murray back together to teach an exclusive new accoustic version of, say, Triumph. But I guess I'm just a dreamer.

This one below is by far the best. While this Andrew Keller fellow may appear soft on the outside, his ability to blast tasty riffs right through the back of your skull is something that nobody saw coming. I think it's computer generated.

keller shredding computer generated

How does this relate to me, a creative designer for blog software company? Well, CPB school is telling evidence that content that is funny, entertaining, valuable, easy, sharable, and just awesome in general will get people to your site and keep them there. The better it is, and the easier it is to stay involved, the lower your bounce rate, and the more time you have to say something about your company.

Apply directly to your business blog.


There has been a lot of talk about the Forrester report highlighting the horrific lack of trust in Corporate blogs.  To me, the key strategy for success outlined by the author Josh Bernoff was the use of employee bloggers....and lot's of them.

Employee Blogging Post
My case today focuses on an experience just two days ago skiing with the family in Colorado.  This was a spontaneous road trip based on access to a free house and the fact that Jimmo's (with beard) son and daughter were out there this winter. (I am actually blogging as we drive home through Kansas)

The weather was great and the snow was perfect.   Sunny and around 28 during the day.  But what made the difference between this being a really good trip and a fantastic experience was Alex.

Employee BloggerAlex here is a friend of Jimmo's son and happens to work as a Host at one of the big resorts.  Talk about your dream job...ski around all day and make sure everyone is safe and most importantly having a good time.   There are maybe hundreds of these folks in Summit County.   And this is just one position.  Vail by itself employees over 3500 people.  

Through our hookup, we were able to ski all day with Alex on his day off.   Alex is smart, he's 24 and a graduate of a good school.  He's doing this because he loves it.   He loves the customers and he loves the resort.  He was able to show us places that were appropriate for the skill variances of our entire group...nooks and cranny's we never would have found on our own...He even took my 8 year old off for a while.  Why?  Because I TRUSTED him.

Vail blogs just like any other Corporation (at least Heavenly does)....self promoting PR.   Why not offer up the opportunity for all 3500 employees to get on multi user blog software and tell their stories?

That's how Corporate Blogging will gain trust...telling real stories from real people who love what they do. 

There are over 10,000,000 monthly searches this time of year that Vail would want to rank highly on.  Post a couple hundred times a week with a variety of relevant stories and watch how many of those start coming their way...

And don't tell me Vail is different than your plumbing supply business or whatever.  Most all company employees are smart, they like their jobs and care about the customer.   Let them help you build trust.

P.S.  While you're at it, Vail has a great database.  They have my email and know exactly when and where I skiied.   What's stopping them from triggering an email to me next week asking me to tell them about my trip....maybe submit a picture or two...wouldn't that be trusted content?  You bet it would.  Vail skiis about 25,000 people a day.   That's 175,000 emails a week that could be triggered telling your customer you appreciate them...Does anyone doubt that Vail would get at least a couple of hundred usable stories a week to fill their blogs?  Imagine the benefit.

Why am I so weak that it takes me 300 words to attempt to say what Seth says in one sentence:

"While the rest of your world huddles and holds back, here's a golden chance to use cheap media, available attention and great talent to make something that matters."

Multi User Blog Software is affordable (cheap), targeted search is how you get in front of available attention when they want to hear from you and your employees are the great talent that both Richard Edelman and Josh Bernoff of Forrester are telling business to leverage to create trusted content. 

What could be simpler?  Embrace a Corporate Blogging Strategy as one of your primary 2009 resolutions.

Thanks for pointing out this quote Debbie Weil.

In the early December SES meeting in Park City there was a lot of talk about 2009 being the year of getting back to "Blocking and Tackling" for online marketers.  Dayna Moon, product sales director at Platform A. "As search marketers, we will be asked to improve efficiencies and maximize ROI,"

Dayna hits it right on the head.   Nothing new here....Vince Lombardi said this:

"Some people try to find things in this game that don't exist but football is only two things - blocking and tackling".

During this conference there was still some beating the drum for integrating video into display ads and mobile, but to the Vince-lovers this was more akin to a Terrell Owens strategy.


Blocking and tackling is just what Dayna said, efficiencies and ROI.   In other words, how easy and how effective.

this is why there is so much momentum for investment in a Corporate Blogging Strategy.   Both B2B as well as Retail Marketers are learning that it's content that drives search results and prospect engagement.   Whoever has more content thats both recent and frequently updated wins.  

Blocking and Tackling simply means empowering your employees to talk about what they are doing...the products, the customers, the service....as Cramer said:  "You talk about your day".

Business blogging passes both of Dayna's blocking and tackling tests;  It's highly efficient because the blog content is frequent and free.   The ROI is easily measurable when compared to pay per click or any of your other traffic generating strategies.  
 

It may surprise you that blogging is recession proof.  It is the easiest, low cost form of marketing for your business.  A blog can be just what your company needs during this slow economy.  Writing content on your blog everyday is much more effective then putting thousands upon thousands of dollars into Pay Per Click campaigns, or print and radio advertisements for that matter. 

Believe me blogging is the most cost effective online business if done with passion!  All it takes is a little bit of time.  In just 10 minutes a day, you and your employees can share what it is that you do on a daily basis, the products and services that you sell, and other areas of your business with millions of readers on the web. 

Compendium Blogware has the best blog software for this day in age.  We focus on leveraging the content you write with the keywords that your organization is trying to win in the search engines.  A recent article by eTechBuzz further explains how to make money on your blog in times like these.  Click here to view their article on "More Ways to Make Money During a Recession." 

People often wonder why blogs are so easily searched.  The answer is clear and simple, Google likes the frequency and relevancy of blog content.  What most people get hung up on is the act of blogging itself. 

Most days I use our easy to use blogging software to communicate what Compendium Blogware does to the world wide web.  Most days the content I write is extremely relevant content that gives readers insight as to what blogging is all about.  However, there are times where writing a blog that is lacking some perspective is necessary.  To stay consistent with content will get your blog and keywords ranked higher in Google.  Therefore, today I am going to add some fun blog jokes I found on the web.  A big thanks goes out to CatchThePosts.com for entertaining us with these jokes.






RSS Feed IconSince we're a Software as a Service corporate blogging solution, we make it very easy for our clients to start blogging almost immediately.  Part of our process is for a client to delegate a subdomain to us.

Your brochure website may get traffic as well, though, so be sure to promote your blog to folks that have landed at your website.  You can do this 3 different ways:
  1. You can utilize an RSS Aggregator to actually promote the feeds directly into your website.  We do!
  2. You can add the RSS icon somewhere prominent on your website so that folks who use RSS Readers will identify and subscribe to it.  To find your RSS link, you can go to your blog's page and copy the link from the feed link in your sidebar.
  3. Perhaps the best way is to take advantage of a feature built into all modern browsers.  If you view the Page Source on your blog's page, you'll find a link tag in the header of your page:

    <link href="[YOUR RSS LINK]" type="application/rss+xml" title="[YOUR TITLE]" rel="alternate">

    Copy that line of code and insert it into the header of each of your brosure website pages.  Now folks that visit your website can also subscribe to your blog via the website:
    RSS Link in Website
Having people subscribe to your blog via your feed is powerful because these people have opted-in to you and may be more receptive to making a purchase or utilizing your services in the future.  Promoting the ability for them to subscribe to your feed everywhere you can is extremely helpful!

I have recently been reading some Marketing Profs and Marketo B2B articles dating back as far as 2006.  It is particularly interesting how well blogging integrates with the "tried and true" marketing strategies they recommend.
  • Provide research tools for buyers early in the sales cycle:  We know that a key component of research is the web 2.0 world is search.  A topically focused blog page dedicated to the search term is an excellent way for businesses to provide focused, relevant information to someone early in the sales cycle and enhance their experience by offering whitepapers, webinars, etc... while gaining permission to bring them into your database
  • Use landing pages:  It makes total sense to bring a searcher to the most relevant page on your site to buy, learn, etc... based on their search term.  Blogging with Compendium enables you to do just that by having relevant calls to action to "buy now", "learn more", etc... while also presenting the real live voices from within that company to help that search be engaged and feel great about working with your firm
  • Use automated systems and processes:  If there is one thing we don't need on our plates its another system to keep track of and monitor.  Our business blogging software enables keyword rich, topically focused landing pages to be automatically udpated each time a blog post is written.  Weekly and monthly reporting delivered to your inbox also takes out the hassle of figuring out how its all working for your business.
As you evaluate tried and true strategies for your e-marketing plans in the new year take a closer look at blogging for your business.  It may just be the best new years resolution your organization has ever made. 

As somebody who discusses the differences between Compendium Blogware and all of the free blogging platforms out there on a daily basis I decided it might do me some good to actually set up a free blog to really be able to discuss the differences in depth.

I find myself in hours worth of conversation every week revolving around "what makes Compendium SOOOOOOOOO different than some of the free platforms" Well from here on out I am going to be answering that question in depth. I will be keeping you "posted" on my progress and speed bumps throughout all of my set up with the blog and the way it relates and differs from what we do here at Compendium.

Free is one thing......easy to use, easy to set up, easy to manage is another thing. I know a lot of those I talk to have already invested a lot of time into learning about how to blog effectively for your business or may even be spending time on a free blog  right now that is ineffective. Remember that invested time equates to lost money as well.

Hopefully this series of posts will not only educate but also help those that are thinking about setting up a blog understand the ins and outs of what really needs to be done to leverage the blog as an effective tool for your business to grow through on line customer acquisition and lead generation.

Stay tuned....we have only just begun...............

I know this is all a matter of opinion, but here is mine. When talking about the best software for blogging, there are several things to consider. You have to consider ease of use, organization of website, user-friendliness, and feedback (along with any other personal preferences that you might be looking for).

Ease of use is important for any interactive website. If you can’t understand what the website is showing you, there is no way that you would want to go back to that site… right?

On the same page, if the organization and setup of the blogging platform is essential too. If the look is off, if the color is weird, even if the font of the website is not to your likely, you will find that there might be animosity towards your blog spot.

User-friendliness is an absolute must, no matter what kind of interactive site you have... but especially so in a blog website. No one in their right mind wants to find it difficult to answer questions or solve issues you might have with your blog.

Finally, feedback is essential. Wouldn't it be great to have instant feedback while you are typing your post? To see how effective it is going to be? Giving you a kind of number, showing you how strong your post is in relationship to your keywords?

If these points are something that you are looking for, I have a suggestion for you. Compendium Blogware. It offers all of the listed above for your company weblog along with other helpful pointers that will make your company's marketing strategies much more effective. So go out and check out the website, get more information, and get started with Compendium.


It is no secret that the current state of our economy is far from ideal.  With so many companies losing their advertising budgets, it is all the more reason to start blogging.  People do not respond to traditional media in the ways that they used to.  Print and tv advertising are the most expensive forms of media out there. 

This is where blogging comes into play.  Compendium Blogware offers an easy to use blogging platform.  Our system allows organizations to let their employees blog and get found easily within the search engines.  By leveraging content that your employees are writing it reduces the cost of Pay Per Click advertising.  In return, you get found on a wide variety of terms in the search engines.  We see that almost 95% of people click on the organic results.  This is where you want to be found and blogging can help.

DISCLAIMER: I do not support Tucker Max or his views.  However, I was surfing around on social media and blogging entries on YouTube and this clip popped up. Check out this short Fox News coverage about Tucker Max at this link.  They have not allowed for embedding it for some reason, so you'll just have to click the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk_p3-4jM-Q

 I think his story, however distasteful it may be, is a testament to the power of social media marketing strategies and blogging.  Basically, Tucker Max was a jokester who started a blog-like website to tell his tales that his friends thought were so funny.  His site became very popular and Tucker Max is now a best selling author. 

Make Fans for your business with a blogWhat does this have to do with business blogging? Well, if you start a business blog that helps you build a fan base for your company, brand, product, or service, marketing becomes much easier.  It's like having an army of marketing or sales people who sell your company on a daily basis simply because the like it.  Compendium Blogware is an easy blog software that allows a business to open the blogging up to a wide range of content contributors within an organization.  This conversation and increased visibility on search engines and within social media help turn prospects into full blown fans. 


When I hear the phrase "Online Business Blog" I think of a kind of journal that business professionals use to accomplish several different things. First, they do this to get the word out better about their company, what it has to offer, and how it can benefit you. Secondly, these business professionals are trying to express their feelings on your company. It can be a kind of like a journal but can be seen by anyone that wants to see. By allowing these employees to write posts, they can express themselves about the company and their job, and of course, since there is a content manager, the information put on your company website, will for sure be within your (or your administrator's) control.

Because an it is online, your blog MUST be attached to your company website. What good would a it do if it were not even attached to your website? It is completely ineffective if you don't. By attaching your blog to your website, you are helping with an easy transition from information search to sale of product or service. Basically what I am saying is LINK YOUR BLOG AND YOUR WEBSITE TOGETHER!

If you want to get more information on blogs for employees, look at Compendium's website. You can get information on the service as well as examples of how to set it up!


So I just noticed on the Content Ideas feed in my Compendium Blogware platform a great article about a corporate blog;  http://blog.seniorcaremarketer.com/business_of_aging/

This is a great blog for many reasons.  It uses time relevant information and is kept up to date very frequently.  In fact, Wellsphere has named it one of the Top Health blogs online.  http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/12/prweb1782194.htmcompany blogger

It took me about 10 min. to figure out that this blog is one of the corporate blogs for a company called Fisher Vista LLC.  I couldn't help but think, Wow!, why is it so hard for me to figure out who is responsible for such an engaging blog.  I sure wish I could easily find a company that promotes this great blog, because I would be very likely to recommend them to some of the other health organizations that could benefit from their PR and marketing tactics that seem to work so well on this blog. 

One thing that would make this great blog better is if I could easily navigate my way to the company associated with it.  With Compendium, this same blog could come up in the search engines under phrases like, geriatric nursing, assisted living market research, etc.  It's great to find strong blogs online that give me the information I am searching for.  I wish the SeniorCareMarketer blog was done on Compendium so more searchers could find this fabulous page!

I did a post a week or so ago to distinguish your blog posts with images

Chantelle, (Successful Blogging),  and I followed up with an in-depth webinar with our clients on how to "Spice up your Blogs" this week and images were a key part of the presentation.

Images can be used a number of ways with your corporate blogging strategy, including:
  1. To distinguish the blog or post (helps a lot with RSS).
  2. To explain data through a chart.
  3. To provide a call to action for folks to click-through to another site.
  4. To provide photos of the people from your business.
  5. To provide a photo that's representative of the content.  This is very important, since studies have been done where cognitive recognition is actually done through images, and very rarely through remembering text.
I try hard to incorporate some kind of photos or images into every single one of my posts.  If you're using easy blog software such as compendium, designing a blog post and including an image is quite simple. 

If you don't have any advanced photo manipulation experience and are locked up behind an IT force that won't install any image desktop applications, there are a few great online tools out there:
  • Aviary - a powerful photo imaging and design application.  There is a free and a professional version.
  • Picnik - a simple online photo editing tool with all the basics plus some cool enhancements.
  • Pixenate - a basic image manipulation tool, great for blogging.