Blog Post Software

Engage your readers

Friday, November 20, 2009 by Michael Burton

We probably all remember that teacher (or teachers) we had growing up who taught classes that seemed to drag on forever. They stood in front of the class, talking in a monotone voice, and they never engaged the class during the hour-long lecture. What was it about those teachers that turned us off so much?

A lot of it probably has to do with the fact we prefer to take part in teaching. The audience likes getting information in a give and take format. It's not just a one-sided thing.

Enter the world of PowerPoint, Youtube clips and other forms of multimedia! Today, many students claim that they focus on a presentation much better if there is multimedia involved.

This same philosophy can carry over to blog posts. It is great if you have a ton of things you want to say in your blog, but it is important to make it easy on readers. Including things like pictures, videos, and links can make blogging for search more fun on the writers and more engaging on readers.

Compendium's business blogging philosophy makes blogging easy and effective for any kind of writer. The important thing to keep in mind for any blogger is to have a way to keep your reader reading. A 500 word paragraph can come across as intimidating and time consuming and cause readers to leave your page.

Uses of Genetic Algorithm

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by james litton

Here at Compendium in the product group we take the opportunity on a weekly basis to improve the base level of knowledge of our employees by getting together and discussing the world of computer software. We alternate weeks between code reviews of internally produced work and a reading group.

Last week we ran a reading group. This quarter our reading groups are structured such that we select a topic and everyone in the group presents some relevant information on a sub-topic. This give everyone the chance to delve a little deeper into something that are interested in while improving the knowledge for everyone.

Although the information we discuss doesn't always immediately apply to the task at hand with respect to blogging software, we do sometimes learn something that comes in handy later.

In a past reading group about algorithms, I found this post: http://brainz.org/15-real-world-applications-genetic-algorithms; and although blogging software isn't on the list of applications for genetic algorithms, marketing techniques are. Marketing techniques are at the core of what business blogging is all about. This demonstrates effectively the breadth of reach a seemingly irrelevant topic might have and why it's important to continue to think about ideas that might not necessarily seem relevant at first glance.

Local Search... on the backburner no longer.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Megan Glover

Local Search. Heard of it? If not, it's time to educate yourself.

Here's a simple example of local search. I wrote a blog post a while back about why my gym in Indianapolis should be blogging and how they need to be targeting keyword search terms like: Indianapolis gyms, gyms in Indianapolis, etc. These are all examples of local search phrases because they are contained within a specific region or area.

Not only are local terms easier to win in search but who really uses the print yellow pages anymore. Let's be honest. Is there anyone reading this blog right now who uses the yellow pages exclusively to find local businesses and organizations?

It's no surpise then that demand for local search results on the web are increasing and it's up to local businesses and organizations to add this to their top priority list of new marketing tactics for 2010.

For more information about Local Search take a look at these great resources:

1. eMarketer, November 3, 2009: Local to Take Lead on Online Ad Spend.

2. Whitepaper: Business Blogging, The Key to Local Search

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
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?

The power of the post for a business

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Julie Murphy

The power of the donut in the American office is amazing. We were given an opportunity to earn a free breakfast by each of us posting on our blog. The benefit for Compendium is we leverage our blogging for business to win organic search, if full participation is accomplished...everyone fills their tummy's Friday morning.

Personally, the donut is not a motivator for me personally but blogging for search with easy to use blog software is. Being the team player, I have been shamed in to blogging so that my comrades can stuff themselves in the morning.

You are welcome Clayton Blogware!

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:

bought a house
bought an oven
shopped for either a house or an oven
used an oven for anything more than a place to see what time it is in the kitchen.
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!

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.

Closing the Gap Between Company and Stakeholders

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Amber Mohling

Posted earlier today was an interesting article by Kevin Moss entitled Blogging Really Can Enhance Corporate Sustainability. In the article, he discusses the value of blogging to corporate responsibility.

This article got me thinking about the importance of companies not only using their blogs as a tool in stakeholder engagement but also using it as a tool in search marketing.... because you have to get people to find the blog before you can expect engagement to take place.

Compendium's blog software enables our clients to get found on a variety of keywords related to their business in organic search. Next, as discussed in Kevin Moss's article, the company can further use the blog as a tool in stakeholder engagement & communication.

To learn more, check out the Compendium website.

Where's your call-to-action?

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Stephanie West

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-picture-frame-gold-path-included--image432413

Picture 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.

Versatility in blogging

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Michael Burton

One of my favorite things about blogging is its versatility. Here at Compendium, we firmly believe that blogging for business fits directly into the marketing campaign of any organization. Blogs are such a powerful tool because they can be tailored to be about anything you feel like writing about.

Whether you have a huge company providing business world-wide or own a small Mom & Pop store in your small town, there is a place for blogging in your business. Blog posts can focus on anything from your products and services to special promotions and upcoming events.

Any of your employees can find a place in blogging as well. Hearing from a wide variety of employees, such as marketing, sales, support, etc. can give readers a look at different aspects of what your company does and how it operates.

If you would like more information on how Compendium might fit in best with your company, contact a Compendium blogging expert today!

Corporate blog security

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Brian Millis

Are you one of the thousands of businesses trying to force a freeware blog platform to operate as a marketing tool? Yes?

The most obvious question then is; How is that working out for the company? Is it driving lots of organic search traffic? Converting that traffic into qualified inbound leads? How much revenue have you generated directly from blog leads?

Well, those are all great business questions to consider. But what about an even more basic consideration than measurable results . . . what about:

Is your business blog more of corporate RISK rather than a useful marketing TOOL?

Just check out this recent post from Kyle Brady about a hack-in through a Wordpress blog. In case you don't want to read the entire article, here is what happened:

a list of hundreds of URLs to assorted pages, mostly porn, appeared after the </html> tag on all pages of the site
for content created after the attack, it somehow embedded itself inside the Wordpress content, and all links redirected to a malware site – in addition to breaking the entire page

Now thankfully, the post details out the lengths that were taken to discover the issue and how to fix it. I consider myself pretty technologically savvy, and even I thought it was confusing.

Doesn't that seem like a lot of work to fix a tool that most likely produces very few results? This is the second time just THIS WEEK that I've heard about similar security issues. I think that all businesses out there should be considering third generation corporate blogging. The differences are pretty simple:

Security
Automation
Measurable Results

The Perils of Monkeypatching and Inappropriate Flow Control in JavaScript

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by P.J. Hinton

Yesterday, I spent some time helping a Product Support Manager debug a headscratcher of a problem. A designer was having trouble getting a JavaScript-powered widget working on a client's blog template, and there was no obvious reason that it shouldn't have worked. Indeed, we use this widget on our own blog template. So what was the issue?

The problem turned out to be caused by a conflict between to widgets on the page. One widget was altering the behavior of a built-in JavaScript object, and the other was using an inappropriate flow control mechanism to iterate over that built-in object. Let's take a closer look at what was happening...

JavaScript developers should be very aware of the array object because it is used frequently to store collections of data. Sometimes, it becomes necessary to locate the index of an item sitting in a given array. Consider the following example:

var hayStack = ["hay", "hay", "needle", "hay"];

The language standard, ECMA-262, does not specify any methods on the Array object that will do this for you. In its implementation of JavaScript 1.6, the Mozilla project introduced an extension, called indexOf(), that returns an integer index indicating the search item's location in the array. In the example above, hayStack.indexOf("needle") would return a value of 2, since arrays index off of zero. If the search item is not present, then a value of -1 is returned.

This is an incredibly useful method, and the Mozilla project's documentation of this method includes a compatibility note warning the reader that this method may not be implemented on other JavaScript interpreters. As a workaround, they provide a JavaScript implementation of the method's functionality. In essence, it is a monkeypatch.

Problems arise when you have code elsewhere that iterate over the contents of an Array object. The Mozilla Project's online document A Reintroduction to JavaScript provides some guidance on looping over Arrays. The most appropriate and efficient being:

for (var i = 0, len = a.length; i < len; i++) {
    // Do something with a[i]
}

As a side note, it is worth mentioning that care should be exercised in accessing a[i], checking to make sure that it is not of type undefined. This can happen if the array is sparse, meaning not all integer index values from 0 to the length value may be present.

Some JavaScript developers have a bad habit of using the for...in looping construct, which is intended to iterate over the properties of an object. The guide cited above makes the following warning:

Note that if someone added new properties to Array.prototype, they will also be iterated over by [for...in] loop...

A few years back, Andrew Dupont wrote a blog post warning of this kind of danger. I've considered it useful enough to use it as a basis for User Interface Engineer candidate interview questions.

Let's now see how this affected the client's template...

The first widget was the Twitter widget developed by Dustin Diaz, which can be found at http://widgets.twimg.com/j/2/widget.js. If you look at the source and sift through the minification, you'll find this definition, which is applied only if the Array object does not have a forEach() method defined (a sideways way of detecting whether Mozilla's JavaScript 1.6 extensions are implemented):

Array.prototype.indexOf = function(B, C){
var C = C || 0;
for(var A = 0; A < this.length; ++A){
    if(this[A] === B){
      return A;
    }
}
return -1;
}

The second widget was idTabs, which can be found in unminified form at http://www.sunsean.com/idTabs/jquery.idTabs.js. In the setup code that hides DOM elements, there is this code:

76       //Setup Tabs
              ...
82       var idList = []; //save possible elements
              ...
92       for(i in idList) $(idList[i]).hide();

By the time execution hits line 92, idList is an array of strings that correspond to HTML id attributes. The syntax $(idList[i]) is the jQuery way of doing a DOM getElementById() method call.

If Array has been monkeypatched with indexOf() as described earlier, then you'll get something like idList["indexOf"], which will return a JavaScript Function object rather than another string. Down in the hide() method, the JavaScript interpreter will give you an error because it will try to modify attributes on something that is assumed to be an HTMLElement.

The bottom line is that the idTabs widget could not function properly on a page where the Twitter widget was also present, provided that the host JavaScript interpreter did not meet the Twitter widget's sniff test for whether the Mozilla Array extensions were defined. In other words, this was broken in Internet Explorer and versions of Firefox prior to version 1.5.

This kind of problem can be difficult to debug because prior to version 8, JavaScript error reporting was awful in Internet Explorer. You'd get a line number with no information about what file was being processed. To get meaningful information, you'd have to install Microsoft's deprecated Script Debugger or use Visual Studio. Moreover, both files are typically used in minified form. I was fortunate in that idTabs provides an unminified version, so I was able to use it in debugging.

Put Your Blog on Steroids...

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Meghan Manning

That's right - you read my title correctly! If you aren't currently using business blogging as your search marketing startegy, now is the time to get started. If you are currently using blogs to help you get found in search, now is the time to step it up and put your blogs on steroids!

To learn how - attend the upcoming Webinar presented by Target Marketing featuring Chris Baggott CEO/CoFounder of Compendium Blogware.

During this informative Webinar, you'll learn:

Develop SEO-friendly content
Determine the optimal posting frequency
Measure the value of your investment
Engage customers and prospects

Be sure to register now to attend - the Webinar is getting close and you'll want to reserve your spot today!

Be Valuable

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by Lee Jorgenson

There's a lot of chatter out there these days. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogs, etc., they all fill the lines with tons of thoughts and opinions. It's suggested that in order to have people re-post your content, you should re-post theirs. It's a great "Do unto others as you would have done unto you" concept, but is it really as virtuitous as it sounds?

If a person doesn't provide value, then they are not worth repeating. Simply pushing someone's content just to get them to do the same in return lessens your value to your readers/followers. You're simply filling the air with noise and diluting your credibility, diong everyone a disservice.

This is especially true of business blogs. Businesses need to leverage corporate blogging as a way to establish credibility in the minds of their markets, and pushing worthless content will only frustrate their readers.

The solution is simple. Be valuable to your readers and provide valuable content. Valuable content is just that, valuable. It should and will be re-posted and promoted because it provides value to the ones who read it AND to the ones who re-post it.

Ready for what?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by Brian Millis

I sent an email to a prospect that showed a compendium client who increased online revenue by 40% in less than 6 months and has tracked over 100k in online sales back to blog traffic. This was the response that I got back(kept anonymous, of course):

. . . She was interested in the software and we would love to take on blogging in the future, but we are not quite ready at this time. Thank you for the information on Compendium- I will keep your emails and discuss again with my manager when our time comes to enter the blogosphere.

Ready for what? What business is not ready to increase revenue by better search marketing? I feel that it should be every businesses' time to enter the world of corporate blogging. Why? Because it is an easy and efficient way to communicate with target markets online and convert online traffic to paying customers.

Our platform takes most of the fear out of getting started with blogging for business. I think tha

t these responses come from companies that see this strategy as a HUGE time commitment. That really is not the case. You can log into Compendium, get prompted with your most valuable key phrases, have endless content ideas delivered right to you, and get real-time feedback on how you're doing as you write your post.

So what is keeping you from being ready?

Does Blind Forwarding of Information Count as Real Promotion?

Monday, November 16, 2009 by P.J. Hinton

Do you have a friend or relative who is a compulsive forwarder of e-mails? Yeah, I thought so. Every message you receive from them has at least three or four "Fwd" prefixes in the subject line and just as many levels of indented quotation. Usually the content is a chain letter, a hoax, some promotion for a freebie, or an attempt at humor. I've become so jaded that I don't even bother opening them, sending them straight to the trash.

The forward-without-forethought dynamic of e-mail is amplified in newer forms of social media. Case in point -- take a look at the post titled "Twitter is Useless: Simple Case Study" over at WhyDoWork's corporate blog (hat tip to Hacker News). They announced a promotion via Twitter and encouraged retweeting. They found that people kept retweeting and entering long after the promotion wrapped up. As one of the lessons they took away from the experience:

If you’re a marketer, think about running a contest on twitter. Thousands of people will promote your contest for you even after it’s over.

This may well be true, but it also raises the question of whether the recipients and retweeters include large numbers of high quality leads. The promise of a popular freebie with a low barrier to entry is likely to draw in people who have no interest in what you are offering, but they are more than happy to take whatever you might be offering.

I'm just speculating at this point, but I suspect that this type of campaign might be like one of those TV commercials which winds up being too funny or entertaining for its own good. You can't help but tell others about it, but at the same time, you can't remember what product they were promoting in the first place.

You tell me: Is this good business blog content?

Monday, November 16, 2009 by Chris Baggott

You Tell Me...is this really a blog post?

I saw this post on an ecommerce blog the other day and had to give pause. The powerful blogging software we offer has a complete API, so it's easy to integrate into other content sources, but I had not seen anyone use it to feed in relevant live chat transcripts.

At first I had to ask the question that I'm sure you are asking: is this legitimate content in a blog for business?

I really quickly came to the conclusion that yes, this is not only a really clever way to leverage existing content, it's actually quite valuable for the audience.

Here's the thing: Lot's of people have the same problem.   As a result, lots of blog traffic comes from organic search.   Those people ask questions...they want to find answers.    These live chat transcripts are direct answers to direct questions.   What's great is the simplicity.

You are already having these conversations. Doug Karr once suggested looking at all the emails you send out each day as a source for blog content.   I thought that was brilliant and I think this is too.

Every day people in your company have interactions with customers and prospects.   They help people, provide information and solve problems. This content is nothing more than a reflection of that value...you have already invested in it, so why not share it with others who can benefit?

Will Speed Kill Your Website?

Saturday, November 14, 2009 by P.J. Hinton

Over at Marketing Technology Blog, Doug Karr has written a post about a proposed change in Google's ranking algorithm that would take into account page load times. Under the new system, sites whose pages load faster would get a boost.

In the WebProNews interview cited by Doug, Google engineer Matt Cutts says that the change is backed by several Google engineers who believe speed should be a differentiating factor. Doug says that he is skeptical of Cutts' claims, arguing that it is spin, and the more likely reason is that Google is not wanting to make the investments in bandwidth and computational infrastructure to do more sophisticated forms of crawling.

I have to disagree respecfully with Doug's hypothesis because the assumptions don't match Google's operational profile. If you look back on the trajectory of Google's path to success in search, it is tied largely to their devotion to a couple of simple principles:

be better than anyone else at delivering timely and relevant search results
if state-of-the art tech isn't up to the task, build something new that does the job

This is why things like MapReduce and BigTable came into existence. No off-the-shelf software was good enough, so they built it themselves.

It's also the motivation behind the Caffeine indexer, which is being slowly rolled out to its data centers. By their own admission, rankings don't shuffle that much, but the algorthms behind the indexer get their results more quickly, which has real value both to Google and searchers.

Although Google is arguably the 800 lb gorilla of search, and it has been remarkably adept at leaving its competition in the dust over the past decade or so, it also has to compete in a volatile marketplace.

The cost of migrating to a different search engine is miniscule compared to similar migrations in automobile makes or operating systems. Change a bookmark or download a new browser toolbar, and you're done. Google won't have the luxury of marketplace inertia like the Big Three automakers or Microsoft.

To me, Doug's theory would make a lot more sense if Google was a company that was counting on market inertia for survival. A company that has a lot of cash and is hellbent on staying ahead of the competition isn't about to sit on its laurels and let it's crawling algorithms stagnate. Google has an engineer's mindset, not a the mindset of a miserly accountant.

I think the more appropriate interpretation is this. If your job is to develop a system of algorithms that determine how useful a page is for someone who is interested in a set of concepts, one has to take into account the question, "In what ways does a site suck?"

Google has attacked the content problem relentlessly, trying its best to weed out sites which attempt to weasel in higher rankings without providing real usefulness to the user. Now Google is turning its eye toward presentation. In other words, is the payload for the content being delivered to the user in a way that doesn't require relatively large amounts of time? This approach is innovative because it places value on the web searcher's time.

Another place where I disagree with Doug is the question of cost improving speed. Achieving faster page load times doesn't necessarily require that you invest in high end technologies that are used by the big sites. The tools for measurement and remediation are out there, and in many cases they are free (as in beer).

For the case of measurement, Yahoo provides YSlow, and Google offers PageSpeed. These tools give you quickly produced report cards that can help you decide where to channel your efforts.

Some low hanging fruit include turning on HTTP compression on your web server and slimming down the content of a page to what's really necessary. Minfying JavaScript with tools from Yahoo or Google is easy to do and helps with load times as well.

The next steps usually involve reducing the number of HTTP requests by doing things like asset rollups, where JavaScript and CSS files are bundled together, and using CSS sprites, which combine several frequently used graphics into a single image that are then displayed via CSS properties.

Moving your static assets to a content delivery network isn't all that astronomical anymore. You can use low cost CDNs like SimpleCDN or Amazon's CloudFront. If you have fine-grained control over your web server, take a look at how your server uses HTTP caching headers to ensure browsers are making the best use of their caches.

My advice to worried webmasters would be this:

Don't panic now! This is something that hasn't been made official yet. It's not going to kill your site right away, but it should give you pause as to whether your site is the best it could be.
Don't panic later! By its own admission, Google takes into account hundreds of factors. Your page's speed is just one of them. You don't have to be the fastest page out there. You just have to be faster than pages of similar content and quality.
Use the free profile tools to find out where your site's bandwidth usage is suboptimal.
Use common sense to make sure that the bad metrics truly are relevant to your site. For more information on this, take a look at Jeff Atwood's critique of YSlow from a couple years ago.
Spend some time looking over your page templates to identify what can be fixed.
Fix the things you can.

With this advice, not only will you weather the change, if it does come along, your visitors will have a much better experience with your site.