Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008 by
Ellie Cummins
Compendium is a blogging software for businesses. Businesses are certainly focused on profit. By using Compendium they can achieve success on the search engines, get found on Google first, and dramatically increase the likelihood of a searcher clicking on their link. But then what? Every blog posted by our clients feature a clear call to action to do this, click here, talk to us, take the next step with us! But why should a searcher do that? Assuming they have landed on your Compendium blog that is very relevant to the "red vintage convertible Ford Mustang" they are searching for the content they find on that blog is vitally important. Are they learning something new about this car? Are they learning where they can find one and why that dealer is the best person to buy from? Are they engaged by a post on how a "red vintage convertible Ford Mustang" will make them feel young and free again, perhaps how their friends and family thought they were crazy to buy one but now they all love it? We all know marketing is about being ready with a relevant message when your customers are ready to receive it, not throwing your message out there and hoping it sticks... it is also becoming much more focused on human to human engagement and for a customer (searcher) to feel good about taking the next steps with your business
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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 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.
Posted Thursday, October 23, 2008 by
Jim Hyslop
Well, I would imagine that most of you reading this post are currently in the middle of figuring out how a corporate blog is going to help your company in 2009 with all of your new social media initiatives. Search no further, as the answers are all around you.
I daily talk to Marketing Directors who are researching corporate blogging software to gather more information on how the blog can help them create community to drive business. If you take anything from this post remember this. People can only JOIN your community if they can GET to your community. As a company you should let your blog work for both. You must be found for people to participate in interacting with you. So, your first order of priority with your blog is making sure to blog for search engine optimization. If you can leverage a blog to allow you to live at the top of the organic search rankings the community aspect will follow.
The benefits of blogging can trump many other types of on-line strategies because of their ability to aid a company with all of their main initiatives at once. We need to win search...done. We need to relate to customers on a personal level....done. We need to create community....done. We need to grow our search traffic.....done. We need to drive our bottom line...done. We need an affordable on-line marketing solution...DONE. All can be accomplished if the blogging architecture is correct.
Don't fear the blog, embrace it. Stop researching, stop worrying, stop thinking about "I hope this works". Embrace a blogging strategy and the desired results will follow. It is time to get to work on your business, it is time to concentrate on return..it is time to blog.
I daily talk to Marketing Directors who are researching corporate blogging software to gather more information on how the blog can help them create community to drive business. If you take anything from this post remember this. People can only JOIN your community if they can GET to your community. As a company you should let your blog work for both. You must be found for people to participate in interacting with you. So, your first order of priority with your blog is making sure to blog for search engine optimization. If you can leverage a blog to allow you to live at the top of the organic search rankings the community aspect will follow.
The benefits of blogging can trump many other types of on-line strategies because of their ability to aid a company with all of their main initiatives at once. We need to win search...done. We need to relate to customers on a personal level....done. We need to create community....done. We need to grow our search traffic.....done. We need to drive our bottom line...done. We need an affordable on-line marketing solution...DONE. All can be accomplished if the blogging architecture is correct.
Don't fear the blog, embrace it. Stop researching, stop worrying, stop thinking about "I hope this works". Embrace a blogging strategy and the desired results will follow. It is time to get to work on your business, it is time to concentrate on return..it is time to blog.
Posted Thursday, October 23, 2008 by
Doug Karr
Compendium has not simply designed our user administration interface with simplicity, we've extended that simplicity out to our standard template. During the sales and implementation cycles, we're often asked to mimic a complex web design, or customize the interface with lots of 'stuff' per other Blog CMS platforms.
We push back... hard.
The templating system we utilize is open and 100% CSS driven so that anything is possible. The problem is that anything is not the thing that will drive results to your business.
The value of blogging is simple from an SEO standpoint:
Here's an example from fellow blogger, John Chow:
We push back... hard.
The templating system we utilize is open and 100% CSS driven so that anything is possible. The problem is that anything is not the thing that will drive results to your business.
The value of blogging is simple from an SEO standpoint:
- People search.
- Search engines provide the relevant answer.
- People read the answer.
- Some people engage further.
- Show the relevant content that people were looking for.
- Provide a compelling call to action for the person to engage your business future.
Here's an example from fellow blogger, John Chow:
John's page has no less than 50 calls to action (text and image ads) on it. Why? John's page is not a corporate blog, it's a blog to make money off of corporate sponsorships and advertising revenue. Other than to buy ad space, the purpose of the site is to make money from folks hitting ads.
The way to ensure this happens is to place ads everywhere you can find real estate. It's a great blog and it works at driving advertising revenue to John. John also does NOT rely on search engine traffic for acquisition. In fact, I believe Google dropped him from the index a while ago.
Here's an example from Compendium Blogware's Business Blog:
Our focus is not that of a content management system nor of the off the shelf blogging software. We designed our system + our standard template + our call to action strategy to drive business results from search back to your company. It’s a proven force already in the industry. Extraneous features are a diversion and will significantly reduce the conversion rates of those people who land on your blog.
We absolutely want to cross-promote your site – where you can have all of the gadgets and widgets you'd like (and hopefully information in a neatly organized, easy to find, and attractive interface). However, on your blog, it’s going to hurt your investment.
A minimalist approach is the best approach – with distinctive call to action(s) that leave nothing to the imagination for organic searchers who land there. I would add that we’ve proven this methodology by drinking our own Kool Aid!
Additional Resources on Optimized Landing Pages and Maximizing Conversions:
The way to ensure this happens is to place ads everywhere you can find real estate. It's a great blog and it works at driving advertising revenue to John. John also does NOT rely on search engine traffic for acquisition. In fact, I believe Google dropped him from the index a while ago.
Here's an example from Compendium Blogware's Business Blog:
Our focus is not that of a content management system nor of the off the shelf blogging software. We designed our system + our standard template + our call to action strategy to drive business results from search back to your company. It’s a proven force already in the industry. Extraneous features are a diversion and will significantly reduce the conversion rates of those people who land on your blog.
We absolutely want to cross-promote your site – where you can have all of the gadgets and widgets you'd like (and hopefully information in a neatly organized, easy to find, and attractive interface). However, on your blog, it’s going to hurt your investment.
A minimalist approach is the best approach – with distinctive call to action(s) that leave nothing to the imagination for organic searchers who land there. I would add that we’ve proven this methodology by drinking our own Kool Aid!
Additional Resources on Optimized Landing Pages and Maximizing Conversions:
- SEOmoz - Simple Strategies for better conversion rates
- BtoB - Landing Page Optimization
- Jonathan Mendez - How Simplicity, Recognition&The "Perception of Ease" Impact Landing Page Optimization
- Search Marketing Standard - Five Factors for Landing Page Optimization
- Conversation Marketing - 14 Landing Page Upgrades
- Marketing Experiments Journal - Landing Page Optimization Tested
Posted Thursday, October 23, 2008 by
Brian McKay
Fast Company is my favorite magazine, and in the November 2008 issue there is a great article on MTV's Digital Makeover. How does this relate to earning customers through blogging? I'm getting there. Here is the excerpt that I want to discuss:
"Unfortunately for Toffler, a substantial portion of MTV fans watched Rogen and Franco's stunt online -- and many not at MTV.com. As he would discover the next day, this year's Movie Awards reached about 3 million viewers, an 18% decline from the previous year and about half the audience from a few years ago. Parent company Viacom's Media Networks Division -- which includes Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and BET as well as the MTV channels -- increased its revenue by 12% in 2007. But MTV has been under pressure, as the attention of its 12- to 24-year-old demographic wanders to online media and video games. The channel's overall ratings fell to an average of 920,000 prime-time viewers in the first half of this year, a 15% drop from 2004."
Believe it or not, MTV was not forwarding thinking enough to realize the power of the Internet to their brand. You are researching Blogging for SEO right now, and you are on the verge of being part of a smarter more direct way to position your brand online. Winning search is within your grasp with Compendium, and by using our affordable Blogging software you take control and reclaim control of your marketing budget.
MTV has traditionally been the forwarding thinking rebel of the TV world, now we read about how they missed the mark when it came to online strategy. That fact that you are reading this Blog proves that you are that close to making the smart decision to move forward.
"Unfortunately for Toffler, a substantial portion of MTV fans watched Rogen and Franco's stunt online -- and many not at MTV.com. As he would discover the next day, this year's Movie Awards reached about 3 million viewers, an 18% decline from the previous year and about half the audience from a few years ago. Parent company Viacom's Media Networks Division -- which includes Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and BET as well as the MTV channels -- increased its revenue by 12% in 2007. But MTV has been under pressure, as the attention of its 12- to 24-year-old demographic wanders to online media and video games. The channel's overall ratings fell to an average of 920,000 prime-time viewers in the first half of this year, a 15% drop from 2004."
Believe it or not, MTV was not forwarding thinking enough to realize the power of the Internet to their brand. You are researching Blogging for SEO right now, and you are on the verge of being part of a smarter more direct way to position your brand online. Winning search is within your grasp with Compendium, and by using our affordable Blogging software you take control and reclaim control of your marketing budget.
MTV has traditionally been the forwarding thinking rebel of the TV world, now we read about how they missed the mark when it came to online strategy. That fact that you are reading this Blog proves that you are that close to making the smart decision to move forward.
Posted Wednesday, October 22, 2008 by
Chris Baggott
Along with Seth, I'm a fan of SEOMoz as well. In this video, Rand talks a little about keyword research and how to apply it to a traditional website. Of course He's not talking about Compendium Blogware, but basically take everything he's saying and know that it will work way better using the corporate blogging software from Compendium.
SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday - Implementing Keyword Research from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.
SEOmoz Whiteboard Friday - Implementing Keyword Research from Scott Willoughby on Vimeo.
Posted Saturday, October 18, 2008 by
Doug Karr
Our client success managers do a fantastic job coaching our clients to successful business blogging with our platform. One common question for our sales and client staff is, "Where do we get the content?".
Content is all around you for your business blog. In an age where so many of us work in front of a laptop all day, we're creating or reading content all day! Learn to discipline yourself to have the next blog post in the back of your mind as you work throughout the day. You'll find the content, and if you don't -
Here are 200 ideas to inspire your next Corporate Blogging post:
Content is all around you for your business blog. In an age where so many of us work in front of a laptop all day, we're creating or reading content all day! Learn to discipline yourself to have the next blog post in the back of your mind as you work throughout the day. You'll find the content, and if you don't -
Here are 200 ideas to inspire your next Corporate Blogging post:
- What is your company?
- How large is your company?
- What are you selling?
- How are your products or services priced?
- What is your ideal client?
- How do people contact you?
- What are you giving away?
- How is the economy impacting your business?
- How is recent news impacting your business?
- How does the law impact your business?
- How do taxes impact your business?
- Who is your latest client?
- Who was your first client?
- Who is your most loyal client?
- Who is your favorite vendor?
- Where are you located?
- What is your office space or building like?
- Where do your employees live?
- How does your company help the local economy?
- Is your company green?
- What is your company doing to conserve energy?
- Who was the last employee you hired?
- What was the latest unexpected thing your company did?
- What was the last company outing you had?
- What email did you send today that you should share?
- What phone call did you get today that you should share?
- How does your company help local universities?
- How does your company impact your region?
- What are your employees favorite eateries around town?
- What are your employees favorite eateries around work?
- What do your employees do in their spare time?
- What are your employees hobbies?
- What's the last business book you read?
- What's your favorite book?
- What are your employees' favorite books?
- What's your favorite movie?
- What's the last movie you saw?
- What's the last play you saw?
- What's the last concert you went to?
- What are your employees' favorite movies?
- What's the last article you read?
- What blogs do you follow?
- What bloggers do you know?
- What bloggers would you like to meet?
- What's the last blog post you read that you liked?
- What's the last blog post you read that you disagreed with?
- What's the last blog post you commented on?
- Where do you get your industry news?
- What's the latest breakthrough in your industry?
- What's the hottest thing in your industry right now?
- What's the next big thing in your industry?
- What's the last event you went to?
- What's the last party you went to?
- Who would you like to meet?
- How long have you been in business?
- What's your latest client success?
- What's your largest client success?
- What's your favorite client success?
- What's the last dumb thing you did? What did you learn?
- What's the latest mistake your company made? How did you recover?
- What's the next upcoming event?
- What's the last prospect you lost and why should it have been avoided?
- What do you hate doing every day?
- What do you love doing every day?
- How do you de-stress from work?
- What's your life/work balance?
- What charities does your company support?
- What charities do your employees support?
- What's happening in your company's neighborhood?
- How many miles do you put on your car to see clients?
- How many flights have you taken this year?
- What's the biggest misconception about your company?
- What's the biggest misconception about your product?
- What are the common misconceptions about your product?
- What differentiates you from your competition?
- Where was your last vacation?
- Which employees just got married?
- Which employees just had children?
- What beer do your employees like?
- What wine do your employees like?
- What food do your employees like?
- What music do your employees like?
- What recipes can your employees share?
- How are you celebrating the holidays?
- Which employee stood out this week?
- What's the coolest gadget you love?
- What's the gadget you can't live without?
- What's the latest gadget you bought?
- What's your favorite free tool that others can get?
- What rules do you follow on how to treat customers?
- What's the latest tip you can share with your customers?
- What humorous website can you share?
- What's the latest YouTube video you'd like to share?
- What's the latest YouTube video about your company?
- What are your pet peeves in working with vendors?
- How do you provide customers return on investment?
- What does your company invest in?
- Where do you see your company in a year?
- Where do you see your company in 5 years?
- Where do you see your company in 10 years?
- How is the industry evolving?
- What's your largest concern with your industry?
- What's your least concern with your industry?
- How does technology impact your business?
- What's the latest news and how does it impact your business?
- Introduce your customer of the week.
- Introduce your employee of the week or month.
- Who does your company partner with strategically?
- How has your business grown in the last year?
- What budgets are you increasing or reducing and why?
- List of the biggest benefits of your product or service to share?
- List of the tips you'd like to share about your product to share?
- What's the latest tip you heard that you'd like to share?
- What's the last press release that went out?
- What's in the latest newsletter?
- When's the last time you made the news?
- What's the last chart you saw that surprised you?
- What's the last whitepaper you released?
- What's the last case study you released?
- What other publications haven't you shared in your blog?
- What's the latest customer testimonial you received?
- What are the latest customer survey results?
- What's the most unique customer you have?
- How are you working with local education?
- What universities did your employees attend?
- What's the next big event to happen in your company?
- What are the events you want to attend in the next 12 months?
- Who would you want to meet if given the opportunity?
- What's the last major investment your company made?
- What's your largest expense as a company?
- If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be?
- What mistakes do you see made over and over in your industry?
- What are the legalities of your business or industry?
- Have any of your employees had a moment of fame?
- How can someone get in touch with you or your company?
- What's your disaster recovery plan?
- Who's invested in your business?
- How has your business evolved over the last year?
- How has your business evolved over the last 5 years?
- How has your business evolved over the last decade?
- What did you learn in high school that still matters?
- What did you learn in college that still matters?
- Which of your employees served in the military?
- What are your employees' pets?
- Where did you attend college?
- What sports do your employees play?
- What's the last presentation you gave?
- What's the last speech you gave?
- What business associations do you belong to?
- What certifications do your employees hold?
- What certifications does your company hold?
- Is your company compliant?
- What training does your company offer?
- What training are your employees attending?
- Who got promoted last in your company?
- What's the funniest business story you have?
- Who had the biggest impact on you as a person?
- Who had the biggest impact on you as a leader?
- What company would you want to be like and why?
- What do you do to treat your employees over and above?
- What do you do to treat your customers over and above?
- What's a typical day like in your office?
- What's a typical day like for you?
- Who are the employees that keep your business moving that people don't know?
- How do you acquire your customers?
- How do you acquire your employees?
- What's the last employee anniversary?
- What's great about the city your business is located in?
- What was the last award an employee of yours received?
- Have any employees that have had a 'moment of fame'?
- Any rumors with respect to your industry?
- What clients recently made the news that you can share?
- How is the Internet changing your business?
- How is social media changinge your business?
- What social networks do you belong to?
- Where can folks find you online?
- Where can folks find you after work?
- Where can folks find your employees after work?
- Who did your logo and how does it represent you?
- Who named your company and how does the name represent you?
- Does your company have a slogan?
- Does your company have a jingle?
- What's your next customer giveaway?
- What's your next promotion?
- How can a customer leverage your product or service for best results?
- What kind of referral or affiliate programs do you offer?
- What third party applications do you utilize?
- What tools does your company utilize?
- What is the best advice you've ever received?
- What's the lastest advice you've received that was good?
- How is your company changing the world?
- Who wrote about your blog last?
- How do you listen to your customers?
- What do your customers expect from you that you deliver?
- What's in your product roadmap?
- Who do you want to thank today?
- How do you get ideas?
- What inspires you?
- What did you learn today?
- How has Compendium Blogware improved your business results?
Posted Friday, October 17, 2008 by
PJ Hinton
Over at ReadWriteWeb, there is a post by Lidija Davis about the potential of the Semantic Web to improve advertising. Citing some points in a keynote address delivered by Peer39 CEO Amiad Solomon, Davis then goes on to write:
I think the real story of the Semantic Web is that it empowers search engines to provide more relevant results, because the pages the engines crawl have deeper meaning attached to them.
So if you're a business trying to make sense of what this Semantic Web stuff is all about, the takeaway should be not smarter ad delivery it should be that you are going to have to retool the way you get new customers.
You need to be there when they're looking for you, and software for natural search should be part of that equation. Setting up a corporate blog can help you achieve better search placement. Advanced business blogging software from Compendium Blogware helps you do the job well.
Successful advertising means showing the right product to the right person at the right time. The semantic Web puts data into semantic formats on the fly, and targets ads based on the meaning of data with a high degree of accuracy.One of the readers, identified as "DD" takes issue by writing in a comment (emphasis mine):
What it will actually bring is ever more sophisticated ad blocking software. The result will, in a weird way, be more effectively targeted advertising because those who just hate the ads anyway will be blocking the few (allegedly relevant) ones that they would be sent and those who are ad junkies and take any notice of that stuff will, perhaps, get ones they will react to. Face it, advertising is a continual battle for the advertiser to intrude into the attention of the target. One that advertisers are probably losing because modern media give the target the ability to fight back (ad blocking software, speeding through the ads in recorded TV programmes).I think DD is spot on here. The Semantic Web isn't going to help traditional advertising at all, because people don't go around looking for stuff to grab their attention. They go around looking for things they want. That's why search engines are way more popular than banner ads on the web, and that's why people put more credibility in organic search results than sponsored ad results.
I think the real story of the Semantic Web is that it empowers search engines to provide more relevant results, because the pages the engines crawl have deeper meaning attached to them.
So if you're a business trying to make sense of what this Semantic Web stuff is all about, the takeaway should be not smarter ad delivery it should be that you are going to have to retool the way you get new customers.
You need to be there when they're looking for you, and software for natural search should be part of that equation. Setting up a corporate blog can help you achieve better search placement. Advanced business blogging software from Compendium Blogware helps you do the job well.
Posted Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by
Jim Hyslop
So, over the past couple of weeks I have had the opportunity to talk to so many people who are beginning their strategic planning for 2009 and are considering blogging in that strategy AFTER they revamp their existing website. If you are thinking about starting a blog for your business it is important to really understand why and how, and to incorporate the strategy in at the proper time.
So many marketers consider a company blog to be an extension of what exists but the truth is your blog can actually function as a support system or an SEO cushion for the constant revamp that your website will be in a majority of the time. We have all been there. If you are a marketer I am sure these words or a version of these words have come out of your mouth at some time "Check back with the site in a week or two we are getting ready to launch some new stuff on Wednesday".
Where "new stuff" is great it doesn't really adhere to the rules of relevancy that the search engines set in place for us from an SEO perspective. They like recency, frequecy.....and AGE. Longevity helps determine validity so every time you pay someone to pull content down and put new content up you are actually taking steps backward from an SEO perspective. Allow your blogs to support this.
By using the proper blogging software to help you manage your organizations blog content you can be reassured that your company blog will carry your SEO effort through any type of revamp your organization may go through. By maintaining position in the organic rankings you can be sure you will continue to acquire new customers and drive bottom line.
So remember Blog for SEO first....revamp your site second!
So many marketers consider a company blog to be an extension of what exists but the truth is your blog can actually function as a support system or an SEO cushion for the constant revamp that your website will be in a majority of the time. We have all been there. If you are a marketer I am sure these words or a version of these words have come out of your mouth at some time "Check back with the site in a week or two we are getting ready to launch some new stuff on Wednesday".
Where "new stuff" is great it doesn't really adhere to the rules of relevancy that the search engines set in place for us from an SEO perspective. They like recency, frequecy.....and AGE. Longevity helps determine validity so every time you pay someone to pull content down and put new content up you are actually taking steps backward from an SEO perspective. Allow your blogs to support this.
By using the proper blogging software to help you manage your organizations blog content you can be reassured that your company blog will carry your SEO effort through any type of revamp your organization may go through. By maintaining position in the organic rankings you can be sure you will continue to acquire new customers and drive bottom line.
So remember Blog for SEO first....revamp your site second!
Posted Tuesday, October 14, 2008 by
Ali Sales
Most of the time, it's too hard.
This weekend I was reminded how much we just expect technology to work for us, and how irritating it is when it doesn't.
I have a wireless card that usually connects me to one of three different wireless networks at home and in the office. I undock, I connect. Simple as that.
This weekend it stopped working all of a sudden-- and I was crippled. I tried to fiddle around with my computer myself (I hope our IT Manager isn't reading this) and finally gave up.
You are probably no stranger to general IT problems, and blogging problems are no different. Most blogging tools are too hard to use -- you have to configure this and that and there's a plugin over here and something that needs to be tweaked over there.
Yes, there are people like my mechanical engineer of a fiancee who like to fiddle with technology, but for most of us, it's a means to an end.
Compendium Blogware is different from other blogging software tools because we're built for people who "just want it to work."
I've been listening in on some sales calls lately and have heard our reps say that if you can write in a word doc, you can use Compendium's blogging platform. And content control is as easy as hitting a few buttons.
Our goal is to make things as easy as possible for organizations of all kinds who want to start a corporate blogging program.
Along those lines, if you want to learn more about how we can help you achieve blogging success, here's a quick and easy way to do so: Take our 60 second blogging challenge with a live employee who's ready to help!
This weekend I was reminded how much we just expect technology to work for us, and how irritating it is when it doesn't.
I have a wireless card that usually connects me to one of three different wireless networks at home and in the office. I undock, I connect. Simple as that.
This weekend it stopped working all of a sudden-- and I was crippled. I tried to fiddle around with my computer myself (I hope our IT Manager isn't reading this) and finally gave up.
You are probably no stranger to general IT problems, and blogging problems are no different. Most blogging tools are too hard to use -- you have to configure this and that and there's a plugin over here and something that needs to be tweaked over there.
Yes, there are people like my mechanical engineer of a fiancee who like to fiddle with technology, but for most of us, it's a means to an end.
Compendium Blogware is different from other blogging software tools because we're built for people who "just want it to work."
I've been listening in on some sales calls lately and have heard our reps say that if you can write in a word doc, you can use Compendium's blogging platform. And content control is as easy as hitting a few buttons.
Our goal is to make things as easy as possible for organizations of all kinds who want to start a corporate blogging program.
Along those lines, if you want to learn more about how we can help you achieve blogging success, here's a quick and easy way to do so: Take our 60 second blogging challenge with a live employee who's ready to help!
Posted Monday, October 13, 2008 by
Kaila Woodside
I am a self-proclaimed 'bad blogger'. Hypocritical at best. Day-in and day-out I see the benefits of corporate blogging and the successes our powerful blogging software lends to our clients - but for some reason I fall into the stereotypical excuses of bad blogging. My usual excuse - does my content really matter? Well heck yes it does!
Now - no one is out there searching for Kaila Woodside (except for myself - and I found that I am very search engine optimized). However, when I write content about why it is important to start a business blog and give away all of my blogging secrets, my blog post meshes with those of my colleagues to provide the reader an overall compendium (nice use of the word, huh?) of knowledge on that particular subject. This is exactly why blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger are not built for organizations - but built for individuals. If i was just out there blogging away about why its good to start a business blog - who would listen? It would be analogous of just standing on a soap box and banging my fork on the side of a glass begging for someone to listen and hope someone does.
However, I am fortunate enough to blog on Compendium's corporate blogging platform and focus on blogging for SEO. Here my blog post 'compends' together under relevant topics with my other colleagues' content to provide a harmonious compendium of knowledge like Beck banging on the sides of glasses and plates together - making an awesome sound.
Now - no one is out there searching for Kaila Woodside (except for myself - and I found that I am very search engine optimized). However, when I write content about why it is important to start a business blog and give away all of my blogging secrets, my blog post meshes with those of my colleagues to provide the reader an overall compendium (nice use of the word, huh?) of knowledge on that particular subject. This is exactly why blogging platforms such as Wordpress and Blogger are not built for organizations - but built for individuals. If i was just out there blogging away about why its good to start a business blog - who would listen? It would be analogous of just standing on a soap box and banging my fork on the side of a glass begging for someone to listen and hope someone does.
However, I am fortunate enough to blog on Compendium's corporate blogging platform and focus on blogging for SEO. Here my blog post 'compends' together under relevant topics with my other colleagues' content to provide a harmonious compendium of knowledge like Beck banging on the sides of glasses and plates together - making an awesome sound.
Posted Friday, October 10, 2008 by
Megan Glover
I've been talking to a lot of Compendium Blogware prospects who are starting to itemize marketing budgets for 2009. It's probably no surprise that budgets are getting pinched. I recently attended a Marketing Sherpa conference in Boston. Their reporting suggests:
Blogging software absolutely falls into online marketing as a measurable tool to put in your online toolkit. Like any initiative, our clients measure blogging success via contribution to revenue i.e. how many dollars did my blog contribute to our business.
With out an end metric in mind why even waste the dollars in this economy.Need further convincing to add blogging to your 2009 budget... check out our webinar recap: Track Measure and Adjust Corporate Blogs. Click here for the slides.
- Marketing budgets are moving offline i.e. print, radio and tv to online to include SEO and blogging strategies.
- Website is the #1 thing people are looking at - pay attention!
- Every marketing initiative needs to be tracked by contribution to revenue
Blogging software absolutely falls into online marketing as a measurable tool to put in your online toolkit. Like any initiative, our clients measure blogging success via contribution to revenue i.e. how many dollars did my blog contribute to our business.
With out an end metric in mind why even waste the dollars in this economy.Need further convincing to add blogging to your 2009 budget... check out our webinar recap: Track Measure and Adjust Corporate Blogs. Click here for the slides.
Posted Thursday, October 9, 2008 by
PJ Hinton
If I have learned anything in my current and previous jobs, it is that so much of our world is event driven. That is, most of what we do and choose is based heavily on our analysis of observations and sensations.
At a personal level, the human nervous system generates a multitude of signals, supplying the brain with a snapshot of our physical and chemical environment. Through our five senses, we interpret this information and respond, consciously based on past experience, and unconsciously through reflexes.
Timely and credible information is essential. If you need an example of this on a dramatic scale, think about the recent turmoil in the finance sector. Those with money to lend are refusing to do so because of uncertainty, rooted ultimately in large numbers of institutions holding complex securities. No one has a good idea of the securities' true value.
For as much as we feel overloaded by information, there is so much that transpires without our immediate awareness. If those events are of little consequence to our lives, that's not such a bad thing. But in the world of software engineering, ignorance is seldom bliss.
There are a good number of tools, both free and commercial, that will help you monitor your hardware and it's network environment. For several months, we have been using such tools to keep an eye not only on our servers, but external services upon which we rely.
Web applications run atop on server software, like the Apache web server, which provides a lot of raw information about what it's up to, such as who is requesting what at which time, but that's hardly the full picture of what's going on. Between the request and response , there is considerable activity which is not visible from the webserver's logging facilities..
Once you get into the body of a web application, especially one that you've developed from the ground up, the ability to detect and understand what's going on within falls upon the developers. Unfortunately, many application developers treat this as an afterthought, even though many web application frameworks give you some basic tools for collecting data.
I remember hearing some horror stories from a couple years ago, where another startup went live with a lot of publicity, and their servers got hammered by traffic. Most visitors were disappointed because the application was barely functional from their standpoint. On the server side, little effort had been put into providing facilities to diagnose problems with each application component. Even if they knew something was wrong, they didn't know where to start looking.
Because we're software-as-a-service, we're responsible for providing reliable, hosted blogging software to a large number of paying customers. Uptime and responsiveness are critical, and we've been putting a lot of design and development effort toward tools that will help us keep an eye on that.
Over the past couple of weeks, we have been adding to our application the infrastructure that enables event tracking at a very fine level. This week, we completed an extensive instrumentation of our code base to take advantage of that foundation.
This project has been exciting because it gives us a very high level of flexibility. Each consumer of this rich data stream can pull the level of granularity that is needed. The tracking exerts minimal overhead on the system and allows us to get a detailed view when we need it.
While this enhancement may not be immediately visible to our customers and visitors, they will certainly appreciate the rewards of an rock solid web application.
Posted Thursday, October 9, 2008 by
Eric Romer
That's my mom. ------------------------------->Hopefully she doesn't take offense to the title of this post. I doubt she will. She'll be the first to tell you how often we discuss new media and technology.
My mom teaches advanced Performing Arts to high school students in Ohio. She has a unique perspective, hearing about Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other new media from her students.
I get frustrated sometimes because she sees the pitfalls associated with new technology (students gossiping on each other's walls, text messaging in class, etc.) I remember when I was starting to work at Compendium, and trying to explain what it is we do.
"Ma, we're an easy to use blogging software company. Get it?"
Of course she didn't... at first. Her initial connotation associated with a blog was the "talk-back" function of an online news article. Blogging, to her, meant disgruntled people sounding off their opinions, most of the time without regard for accuracy or truth. This simple observation is SO important to how we approach blogging for businesses and organizations. Most "normal people" don't have time, or care for that matter, about RSS feeds, Friend Requests, or how many comments are on your blog. They may not even know what it means to blog.
Why should my mom care about blogging?
Chris Brogan had a great post today titled "People in the Real World" that focuses specifically on this topic. Brogan is an internet celebrity and expert in social media. In today's post, he addresses tech-savvy readers: "Believe in how these technologies make the world different, but always seek ways to tie it all back to the current world."
There couldn't be a better explanation of why someone like my mom can benefit from Compendium's blogging software. She doesn't need to commit time to learning blogging secrets, or best practices in blogging, nor does she have the time. With Compendium's turn-key solution, she can focus on what she knows best: playwriting, choreography, stage blocking, dialect training, and a million other things I know very little about.
For her, the benefit is educating parents and students in central Ohio that are looking for the best training in performing arts. She can tell those stories, projecting them in a way that people can easily find them. They can read about projects that prepare students for professional careers in theater. They can see pictures from performances. They can hear from a set designer about what they learned from opening night. More in-depth, human, recent and frequent than a website.
Anyone can acheive blogging success - not just the Chris Brogans and Gary Vaynerchuks of the world. With the help of a Software-as-a-Service provider, assisting with design, keyword research, and ongoing consulting, normal people like my mom can focus on what they know and are passionate about. Let us worry about the rest.
Posted Wednesday, October 8, 2008 by
Megan Glover
I just got home from the Marketing Sherpa BtoB Demand Generation summit in Boston. Lots of great applicable info for our blogging and marketing strategy.
One of the best pieces of advice, I thought, came form Jaren Green - Director of eBusiness at IHS. He spoke in detail about landing page conversions and how important they are to your overall lead gen program. Specifically:
Think of your landing pages as "home pages"
Interesting and true. Think about it. When your prospect searches they are looking for information and it's up to you to provide that. As marketers we shouldn't jump to assume our landing pages need not follow best practices as our website i.e. who we are, how we can help, simple and multiple conversion points.
Working for a blogging software company in Indianapolis my mind immediately shifts to this idea we've thrown around for some time: using blogs as organic landing pages. And, what we've found is that when we apply the same best practices as we do with our home page our conversions go up. Specifically:
1. Clearly stated who we are and what we do.
2. Muiltple CTA's apealing to a variety of folks in their given sales cycle. i.e. educational, demo, newsletter. etc.
3. Test, track, measure.
Interesting stuff to digest and expand on. Most importantly how we can continue to push the bar and convert blog visitors into paying customers.
One of the best pieces of advice, I thought, came form Jaren Green - Director of eBusiness at IHS. He spoke in detail about landing page conversions and how important they are to your overall lead gen program. Specifically:
Think of your landing pages as "home pages"
Interesting and true. Think about it. When your prospect searches they are looking for information and it's up to you to provide that. As marketers we shouldn't jump to assume our landing pages need not follow best practices as our website i.e. who we are, how we can help, simple and multiple conversion points.
Working for a blogging software company in Indianapolis my mind immediately shifts to this idea we've thrown around for some time: using blogs as organic landing pages. And, what we've found is that when we apply the same best practices as we do with our home page our conversions go up. Specifically:
1. Clearly stated who we are and what we do.
2. Muiltple CTA's apealing to a variety of folks in their given sales cycle. i.e. educational, demo, newsletter. etc.
3. Test, track, measure.
Interesting stuff to digest and expand on. Most importantly how we can continue to push the bar and convert blog visitors into paying customers.
Posted Tuesday, October 7, 2008 by
Brian McKay
Driving home from work last week I passed a beat up inner city telephone pole that probably had as many staples in it as it did wood. There was a piece of cardboard crudely stapled to the pole with the following written in black marker:
New Stuff Everyday
This crude cardboard sign holds one of the keys to earning customers through blogging. If the offerings of your company remain fixed, and the stories that you tell are always the same, please disregard this message.
For most of us, working in a competitive marketplace, we must have New Stuff Everyday. It is vital that we market and promote that fact that we are constantly evolving and delivering new products/services with added value and fresh stories and case studies.
To earn customers through blogging you need to be something that you know how to be better than anyone who ever lived:
YOU
Being human, delivering a fresh and real perspective on your industry, and insights into the challenges that business and consumers face. Earning customers through blogging requires that you share your experiences, especially the ones that provide real value to the market you serve.
At Compendium we have simple blog software that not only empowers you and your employees to share your stories, but the architecture to have those same blog posts win you organic, or natural, search listings in Google. We can provide the platform that will position your message at the intersection between a qualified prospect and their search.
Strong blog post content look more like the cardboard sign above than a super glossy marketing brochure. It is real, authentic, and most importantly human. As you invest in earning customers through blogging remember the mantra:
New Stuff Everyday
New Stuff Everyday
This crude cardboard sign holds one of the keys to earning customers through blogging. If the offerings of your company remain fixed, and the stories that you tell are always the same, please disregard this message.For most of us, working in a competitive marketplace, we must have New Stuff Everyday. It is vital that we market and promote that fact that we are constantly evolving and delivering new products/services with added value and fresh stories and case studies.
To earn customers through blogging you need to be something that you know how to be better than anyone who ever lived:
YOU
Being human, delivering a fresh and real perspective on your industry, and insights into the challenges that business and consumers face. Earning customers through blogging requires that you share your experiences, especially the ones that provide real value to the market you serve.
At Compendium we have simple blog software that not only empowers you and your employees to share your stories, but the architecture to have those same blog posts win you organic, or natural, search listings in Google. We can provide the platform that will position your message at the intersection between a qualified prospect and their search.
Strong blog post content look more like the cardboard sign above than a super glossy marketing brochure. It is real, authentic, and most importantly human. As you invest in earning customers through blogging remember the mantra:
New Stuff Everyday
Posted Tuesday, October 7, 2008 by
Jess Wehner
I am pleased to announce that I have three new clients up and running in the blogosphere. These clients have been posting content and are sure to see results soon! Each of them have only been using the Compendium Blogging Software for about a month and already have several posts up!
PCA- PCA is a pharmaceutical distribution company. They provide pre-packaged pharmaceuticals to medical clinics across the country. They only have one blogger, but have gotten nine posts up in the past month!
1 Plus- 1 Plus is a women’s clothing retailer. They make plus size clothing for women of all ages under three brands- Addition Elle, MXM and Penningtons.
Driver Solutions- Driver Solutions is a company that helps people get started in the truck driving industry. They provide training programs and truck driving school for people interested in becoming professional truck drivers.
Check out their blogs for more information and to see how our blogging software has worked for these companies. Our affordable blogging software works for companies across a variety of industries and all around the globe!
PCA- PCA is a pharmaceutical distribution company. They provide pre-packaged pharmaceuticals to medical clinics across the country. They only have one blogger, but have gotten nine posts up in the past month!
1 Plus- 1 Plus is a women’s clothing retailer. They make plus size clothing for women of all ages under three brands- Addition Elle, MXM and Penningtons.
Driver Solutions- Driver Solutions is a company that helps people get started in the truck driving industry. They provide training programs and truck driving school for people interested in becoming professional truck drivers.
Check out their blogs for more information and to see how our blogging software has worked for these companies. Our affordable blogging software works for companies across a variety of industries and all around the globe!
Posted Friday, October 3, 2008 by
Ali Sales
Yesterday Compendium exhibited at the 
TechPoint Summit here in Indianapolis, and I had the pleasure of taking part in an "early stage marketing" panel since Chris is out of town.
The panel was one of the best I've been on, and I think it's because all of the participants (ExactTarget, Canteloupe, and Compendium) were equally unprepared. We didn't have slides, we didn't have agendas, and we let the audience gear us toward topics they cared about rather than us spouting off a bunch of gibberish that no one pays attention to.
In other words, we let the session evolve. We didn't plan. We jumped in and adjusted as needed.
And guess what? That same approach can be taken with any kind of online marketing initiative, including business blogging.
You can do all of the research in the world and spend thousands of dollars on a new website, but as most of us have learned the hard way, the message that we think is going to strike a chord when we start a business ends up being drastically different a few months later.
Sure, corporate blogs are a way to help get found in organic search and humanize your marketing, but story telling is still a fundamental part. Good stories engage us and make us want to learn more. And good stories get better over time. They become funnier and more interesting...ever played the game telephone? Try to think of a time that you haven't laughed at the end of it, or at least been mildy entertained.
So before you spend too much time writing and rewriting a company blog policy, or investigating every blog software review available, consider the fact that a corporate blogging program can grow and evolve with you over time, as the most interesting things in life tend to do.
TechPoint Summit here in Indianapolis, and I had the pleasure of taking part in an "early stage marketing" panel since Chris is out of town.The panel was one of the best I've been on, and I think it's because all of the participants (ExactTarget, Canteloupe, and Compendium) were equally unprepared. We didn't have slides, we didn't have agendas, and we let the audience gear us toward topics they cared about rather than us spouting off a bunch of gibberish that no one pays attention to.
In other words, we let the session evolve. We didn't plan. We jumped in and adjusted as needed.
And guess what? That same approach can be taken with any kind of online marketing initiative, including business blogging.
You can do all of the research in the world and spend thousands of dollars on a new website, but as most of us have learned the hard way, the message that we think is going to strike a chord when we start a business ends up being drastically different a few months later.
Sure, corporate blogs are a way to help get found in organic search and humanize your marketing, but story telling is still a fundamental part. Good stories engage us and make us want to learn more. And good stories get better over time. They become funnier and more interesting...ever played the game telephone? Try to think of a time that you haven't laughed at the end of it, or at least been mildy entertained.
So before you spend too much time writing and rewriting a company blog policy, or investigating every blog software review available, consider the fact that a corporate blogging program can grow and evolve with you over time, as the most interesting things in life tend to do.
Posted Thursday, October 2, 2008 by
Chris Baggott
I had a person I respect asked me a question yesterday and thought I would share my thoughts here:
I'm including this graph to try and keep you focused on what's important. It show what people are doing online. From a relationship introduction standpoint, focus on search! and business blogs are one of the strongest tactics you can embrace.
Both Technorati and Google Blog search are going to happen, but the reality is that they are less necessary now that Google has introduced ‘blended’ or ‘universal’ search. Basically what this means is that what used to be separate: Google for traditional sites, blog search for blogs, video search for video...is now blended, meaning that everything is going to show up on the main search page...if it deserves to. This makes a good enterprise blog marketing strategy is critical to any organic search efforts. It used to be that you competed with ten sites on that serp, now there may only be a couple of actual traditional websites show up and if you want to really compete you need a comprehensive blog strategy.
The SMR thing is valuable tool...heck it’s all worthwhile...but it’s a fringe strategy. Take a look at the attached chart...what people do online. There is a lot of noise about the fringes when most of us are not yet even doing a good job on the things that drive 80-90% of what internet users want. Making any sense? :-) I would put it in the category of “it can’t hurt” and closely measure the results vs. the effort. It’s an incremental strategy at best.
We attended a webinar yesterday on Social Media Releases for PR and the growth and power of SMRs .
...the presenter spoke about the need to be on Technorati and Google Blog Search. How does your approach and blog software integrate with these? What is your take on SMR for PR as tools to win search and influence / create a dialogue with potential consumers?
I'm including this graph to try and keep you focused on what's important. It show what people are doing online. From a relationship introduction standpoint, focus on search! and business blogs are one of the strongest tactics you can embrace.Both Technorati and Google Blog search are going to happen, but the reality is that they are less necessary now that Google has introduced ‘blended’ or ‘universal’ search. Basically what this means is that what used to be separate: Google for traditional sites, blog search for blogs, video search for video...is now blended, meaning that everything is going to show up on the main search page...if it deserves to. This makes a good enterprise blog marketing strategy is critical to any organic search efforts. It used to be that you competed with ten sites on that serp, now there may only be a couple of actual traditional websites show up and if you want to really compete you need a comprehensive blog strategy.
The SMR thing is valuable tool...heck it’s all worthwhile...but it’s a fringe strategy. Take a look at the attached chart...what people do online. There is a lot of noise about the fringes when most of us are not yet even doing a good job on the things that drive 80-90% of what internet users want. Making any sense? :-) I would put it in the category of “it can’t hurt” and closely measure the results vs. the effort. It’s an incremental strategy at best.
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