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.
Although the Compendium blog software is very easy to use, many of our clients appreciate some sort of training just to learn all the in's and out's of the system. This is where I come in! I have been working to develop a training webinar for both users and administrators. So far I've compiled a PowerPoint, developed wording and even presented the webinar to our Client Success team and my parents. Everyone gave me a thumbs up!
However, the trust test came today. Early this afternoon I presented both the user and admin training webinars to a few clients who have just begun using our power blogging software.
I began with the user training session. I kicked off the webinar with an introduction and showed users how to complete the four-step set-up process. I then demonstrated how to create a sticky post and how to add pictures, hyperlinks and video. I also pointed out a few other little-known features of the Compendium software.
During the administrator session, I demonstrated how to add users and select target keywords. I then took the clients through the process of reviewing and approving/declining posts from their users as well as comments from readers. At the end of the webinar, I went over a few blogging best practices that admins should ensure their users follow.
Overall the trainings received awesome reviews! I am now working to develop a way to share these trainings with all of our clients. Watch for a link soon!
You can go ahead and mark your calendars now. The user trainings will take place Tuesdays at 2:00pm and Thursdays at 10:00am. Admin trainings will take place at 2:30pm on Tuesdays and at 10:30am on Thursdays. More details to come!
I know I've written about them before but I thought I would throw out a compliment for the Redbox customer service department. I believe my previous post revolved around their corporate blog for movie reviews and customer feedback and although their business blog has value, their service department is also doing well in my book.
The other night I wanted to reserve a movie online and while checking out, I encountered an error three times in a row with their booking system. It said that the movie had only been reserved once but upon my arrival at the actual Redbox (and getting the delayed confirmation emails), I was granted three copies of the same movie. Naturally I did not want to pay for the same movie three times so I sent over a quick email that night and to my surprise, the charges were reversed the next morning and I was given a free movie coupon.
Nice to see that automated systems are being backed by real service!
So here is a really interesting article from the New York Times on the popularity of sharing options that websites now use to take their content viral.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/business/27ping.htmlAt the end of the article, they make a comment on Google looking down on search engine optimizers. I think they're referring to the endless number of people out there looking for the best way to outsmart the search engine. But what is concerning to me is the comparison to social media optimizers. They make it sound like a dirty title by comparing it to black hat SEO strategies.
Compendium clients don't have to worry about being called social media optimizers, because they don't have to do anything beyond writing good content about their business. Our business blogging software takes care of the optimization; not by tricks and magical link building, but by simple organization of content. Our platform is an easy to use blog software that squeezes every bit of visibility out of our client's content by putting it where it belongs across a wide network of targeted blogs.
In fact, I am convinced that this is the next evolution of "social media optimizers". They won't have to beg for links or try to find a way to "sway the search engine algorithms". With Compendium, you work WITH the search engine algorithms and make social media content easier to crawl, more relevant to the searcher, and more up to date by frequent postings. And the only thing our client has to focus on is writing good content and writing it as often as possible. Now that's third generation corporate blogging!
Search is like the ocean. It's huge - it's endless - and it contains so much!
Organic search also contains a lot of
stuff. Some of it you need; most of it you don't.
So we search. Research shows that 80-90% of clicks occur through organic search results. We are
clearly searching.
We then come across another option in this vast ocean (of blogging!) - we can either SINK or SWIM. The ocean is rough, and we can only swim (or float) for so long - and then we start to sink.
Isn't this pretty similar to searching on the internet? We can only search for so long before we are overwhelmed with information and results.
So how do we swim in this internet search?
We use SEO tools. To complete my analogy: SEO tools = the floatation devices we use to
swim with in the ocean.
These SEO tools are your key to being found in organic search. Compendium's blog platform is powerful. It gives you leverage in search; You blog for search engine optimization and the ability to be FOUND. Check out Compendium's
ROI toolkit for more information!
Let's face it, we all know that the ocean is extensive and, in comparison, we are tiny. So we need a plan in order to be found - and that plan lies with the powerful blogging software that
Compendium offers.
I admit it. I am a super geek when it comes to data. I like the idea of taking complicated themes and boiling it down to tiny bits of information. In a way it's comforting to know what makes up the bigger picture. You can imagine how much data there is to review when you are talking about blogs. It's also very important to
capture and analyze this data to understand how your search marketing efforts are improving over time.
Knowing my love for data, you can imagine how excited I was when I first heard the Google Analytics API was recently released. Even better news came when i read about some easy to install Excel plug ins that connected directly to the Google Analytics API. Check out this
link from SEOmoz. It's a cool post about some of the newly developed tools that connect to the API.
(Side note: Go ahead...you can now mock me. I am a bit dorkish, and I'm OK with that. I even thing about blogging when I run - check out this
link)
Earlier this week I was testing the
Excellent Analytics tool and using it to query many of our client blogs. Way cool and very meaningful. It makes it much easier to consolidate data through set queries. I can then utilize that data to evaluate how specific blog sites are doing. This tool allows me to focus on the core components that I am using to define the success of the
Compendium blogging solution. It's a simple solution and a great addition to your list of SEO tools.
Got an email from a client wanting to optimize their blog marketing efforts today. They
asked if we have any recommended strategies for ensuring content is efficiently and effectively created. Of course, having done this for over a year, I had lots to say!
Effective Content Creation: Every organization is different, and I’ve found the same strategy does not work across the board. Here are some various methods our clients have used: - Incentives/contests (this seems to work the best, but requires the admin to be creative and put the effort in): bloggers do not just blog on their own, they usually need an incentive (i.e. food, gift cards, vacation days, etc.) . We do tons of contests here – so if you ever want help brainstorming, let me know. You can also check out my other post on motivating your bloggers.
- Scheduling: Set a goal for how many posts you want up per week (more is always better) and then divide and conquer. For example, if you want 5 posts up a week, and have 5 bloggers, schedule one to write Monday, one to write Tuesday, etc.
- Send reminder/motivational emails: remember, while the blog may be on your mind all the time, it is not on your bloggers, send them an email every Monday with a reminder to blog, and what to blog about. It’s ok if every single person in your company wrote about the same thing because they are all giving their unique perspective, so share ideas.
- Enforce it: Make it a part of someone’s job, i.e. they will be reviewed based on how many posts they are able to get up (this usually works if someone is in a communications/marketing dept and it fits with their job function)
In terms of making sure the content is efficient, here are some things you should try to do in your blog posts to make sure they are doing the most for your search traffic: - Use your exact keywords phrases as much as possible
- Use keywords in your post titles
- Use videos/pictures to engage visitors
- If you copy and paste from another location, put it in Notepad first – this will strip the text of any outside formatting and make sure everything looks consistent
- Use bolding and lists to organize your content in a way that is engaging to readers
Hope this helps! If you'd like more information, contact a client success manager to learn how to optimize your blog marketing efforts, or if you're new to Compendium contact our sales team by clicking on the view demo link in teh sidebar.
Did you know that along with working at
Compendium in the marketing department I'm also a part time food critic? Well not really, but close! In the marketing department we also manage a blog called
Indianapolis Restaurant Reviews.
As a department we go out every Friday to a new location somewhere in downtown Indianapolis. Then we come back to the office and critique the restaurant and the lunch we had on our restaurant blog.
This might sound like a lot of work, but actually it's quite fun and we understand the benefit of blogging with Compendium (we drink the Kool-Aid) so naturally we want to use our software to promote our thoughts on area restaurants so we can insure that we're getting the most out of our blogging efforts.
Check out our blog
here and tell us where we should go to lunch next!
And for more information on how Compendium can help you make the most of your blogging efforts - click
here to schedule a demo today!
Most people don't realize that search engines prefer
fresh quality content over old content. Writing content every day will position your company to be found every day! We've helped you to build a targeted strategy that will attract search traffic, but you must provide the content that will engage readers.
How often should I write on my blog? Writing to your blog on a daily basis will also help you become a better blogger! Sooner, rather than later, you'll be thinking about topics or customer experiences and planning your next blog post as part of your daily routine!
Recency is also important because it will re-engage the search engines with your blog. It's key to your blogging strategy that new content brings back the search engines every day - building up your reputation as a great source of information.
Post Idea: What's the last conversation you had with a customer or prospect that can be shared for other searchers who are looking for the same answer? Write a blog post about it! Each day, review the interactions you've had with customers and prospects and begin writing!
Related Posts:
It could be my late morning hunger; but this
article from Nicki Hicks on Flyte's site struck a nerve.
I love when great comparisons are made from everyday life and applied to more complicated concepts. Simple analogies are a great strategy for any blogger trying to get through to an audience.
Nicki goes into detail about your "Web Marketing Pie"....I won't rehash her entire post because you should really go read it! However, a few points...
- Lemon Meringue Pie - "Your Blog is the HUB of your web marketing efforts." AMEN Nicki! This i
s a great point, however, Nicki does seem to focs a bit on making your blog a destination within your industry, while this can be a great side effect of quality content, I would recommend for most companies to use a more search marketing mindset when beginning their blogging strategy.
- Cherry Pie - Nicki compares social media to a cherry pie in a looser way, but I agree with the potential for top line profit, however, would be cautious in her statement of "You probably also know businesses are starting to leverage them in a way that is gaining a ton of business." I actually don't' know a lot of businesses that are gaining a "ton" of business from social media; I would place social media in the same bucket that Nicki places PPC in "not right for everyone" or in other terms, Sweet Potato Pie...the acquired taste that some may never understand.
I figure a few months has passed since Bing's well hyped launched and it might be a good time to review some things we (search marketing folks) can learn from Bing so far...
- Content is king. Bing has an increased emphasis on content versus Google's emphasis on backlinks which has come to be one of the easier scammed areas of search. And as Doug Karr says "distorting relevance".
- Usability still matters. Bing has done some great things in regards to viewing pictures, videos, etc. Ryan Fitzgibbon has a great post outlining this.
- Offline marketing can compliment online marketing - especially for the masses. As hardened internet marketers, this can be hard to admit and I feel somewhat immune to Yahoo!, Bing, Apple and Microsoft commercials - but let's give some credit to a good hype campaign both on and offline.
- Default integration helps...I always use my mom as the example here; she's not a super user --- but she uses Bing because she has a PC and that's the default. We've also noticed bigger gains from Bing traffic in our B2B markets - one could draw the conclusion that this is from similar reasons (PC's are the way of Corporate America and Bing is likely the default here).
One convenient site is
Google vs. Bing if you are interested in looking at some of your own searches for your company and how the results differ in the two engines.
Side note: I actually originally forgot this post by my friend, Doug Karr, referenced above; but when doing some searches around "what has bing taught us?" I came across the post. Just another point to prove how important search traffic is for blogs and that a majority of blog visitors are first timers out there searching.
It's official, blogs are everywhere.
And no, I'm not just saying that because it's my job to say that. I was reading up on some
NFL news and before I knew it... I end up on a blog. I decided later to rent a movie and while sifting through reviews... I'm on another blog. And finally, I was reading the online news about my "happenings in my community" and wouldn't you know... Hello "community blog."
The thing that strikes me as interesting is the fact that I never went looking for blogs, but they always directed me to where I needed to go. If they didn't directly have the information I was looking for, they linked to a main page that did.
Whether you recognize it or not, there's no denying that blog marketing is everywhere and you cannot hide from it. So what is the strongest alternative? Join it!
Blogs are the strongest way to get information and news about your products and services out to your customers, while at the same time building a strong search marketing campaign.
If you are interested in learning more about how you can start building your business through blogs,
contact Compendium today or check out one of our
upcoming webinars!
In honor of Labor Day weekend and all of the "White" parties happening in the next few days, it only seems appropriate to reiterate the appropriate use and utilization of white space in a blog post. I know that
I've talked about this topic before but I think it is an important enough practice to reiterate the finer points below.
Pictures: Use of pictures will grab a readers attention, and give them an idea of what your blog post is going to be about. This will also help give a visual to your point and make your post more aesthetically pleasing.
Lists: Providing lists (either numbered or bulleted) allows a reader to glean information quickly. They can scan your post, get the information they want, and make that decision whether to take the next step with you. Make it easy for them by pulling out the important information, versus leaving it buried in the text.
Font Formatting: Similar to the effects a list has - it brings attention and focus to the important message of your post. Allowing someone the ability to scan for information quickly.
Paragraphs: Let's all be honest, nobody likes to read a computer screen full of text. So break up your text with paragraph breaks, or one of the above mentioned ways!
Its important to note that most visitors to a blog are new visitors, that you've never been introduced to before. They are going to evaluate your ability to solve their problem in less than 15 seconds - make sure you do everything you can to capture that potential customer quickly before they move on to the next guy!
For more blog best practices, contact the
Client Success Team and we'd be happy to set up a time to review your current content.
Having recently moved our blog hosting infrastructure onto Amazon's EC2 cloud system, I have been debating reviewing our monitoring solution. We have been using Zenoss for about a year to serve both as a graphical system that is used for identifying potential problems as well as an alerting mechanism.
When I last looked into potential solutions I was most familiar with nagios having set it up a couple of times in the past, but I was lured into Zenoss due to the built-in graphical interface and the promise of a web API that I could use to automate addition and removal of nodes. As it turns out the API is not particularly easy to use and Zenoss has had several bugs over the past year some of which have cost me a significant amount of time.
Now that I've moved from a traditional co-lo to EC2 I am intrigued by CloudWatch, but not enough to switch. The reasons for this are primarily cost and flexibility. Running CloudWatch at ~$10/server/month quickly becomes a large expense when compared to $74/month for a single m1.small instance that can be used to monitor many servers at a fixed cost. Further, with that small instance running Zenoss, I can trigger alerts on anything thing that I like. I am not limited to the datapoints that CloudWatch monitors.
In conclusion, if I were to be running only a couple of instances or I felt access to EC2 auto-scaling was a requirement, it might be worth the cost to run CloudWatch, but if you're running a large number of servers and are willing to give up auto-scaling(or build out a solution yourself or a 3rd party tool like rightscale), then CloudWatch just doesn't make sense right now.
In a recent survey put out by Forrester Research, it was found that 4 out of 5 Americans are using social media, while half report participating in social networking sites. Now that more online users are taking part in activities like posting reviews and commenting on blogs, fewer now contribute to online forums.
Why?
Because consumers and your potential customers are taking their discussions to more interactive platforms - social media. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc are all tools that individuals are using to get answers to their problems, or using them as ways to voice their opinions.
As the Y Generation (those born between the late 70's and mid 90's) are entering and moving up in the work force it is important to know their habits and to make sure your company is marketing the correct avenues to keep up with the times, while capturing their attention as well.
Consider this quote from the same report:
"Adults of all ages increased their use of social tools in the last year. Adults younger than 35 approached universal social participation, while adults ages 18 to 24 and those ages 25 to 34 adopt social media similarly. Only 3% of 18- to-24-year-olds and 10% of 25- to-34-year-olds are socially inactive."
Let me repeat:
"Only 3% of 18- to-24-year-olds and 10% of 25- to-34-year-olds are socially inactive."
It is becoming more and more clear that social media is not just some habit that those young whipper snappers are using to talk about their Friday night activities. Nearly all adults online are participating socially, including those 40 and older. For example, my grandfather who is in his 80's has a Facebook account - and might I add that it was on his own volition.
So where are you spending your marketing budget? If your business doesn't already have a business blog solution, Facebook page or Twitter account, you are setting yourself up to be chasing your competitors who've already launched their social media strategy. Don't get left behind!
Sometimes it is hard to come up with content when you are close to the subject matter that you should be writing about. I often find myself talking to clients about everyday activities that they are engaged in and I point out how easily they can become blog posts.
It takes a little bit of time to start identifying what would make for an interesting blog post but once you get a hang of identifying content it becomes part of your everyday routine.
Here is a list of blog post ideas that I recently put together for a musician. I removed his name but will perhaps add it back in or at the very least do a follow up post when he starts to use these content ideas. (
See right there while doing my job I uncovered something else I could be blogging about - it's that easy!)
Blog Post Ideas for a Musician: CD Releases - You have 3 CDs so you have a ton of content that can easily be written. Even if it’s an older album you still want to sell it right? LINK TO YOUR PRODUCT IN YOUR POSTS
- Talk about the cover art
- Talk about the other artists that are a part of the project – write a post for each
- Every song should have a post with a buy now linking to the CD
- Release parties: where when who should come
- Post release party: get a flip and record a short review from an audience member makes for an easy video post
- Reviews – every time a review is published a follow up blog post should be published too with a buy now link to your CD
Shows - You have a regular gig right? Every week…. That’s at least one new post a week
- Pre show info
- Playlists from the show
- Ask fans if there is something that they want you to play during a show - have them comment back to you about it
- Post show
Media Coverage - Every time there is a newspaper or magazine article about you blog about it and link out to the full article. Heck even ask them to link to your blog when they are writing the piece about you!
I put together this list in about 5 minutes just from looking at the artists website, MySpace page, and Googling their name. Now think about how many more things the artist could come up with if they spent 5 more minutes on it.
Content is limitless but it really comes down to the amount of effort the blogger is willing and wanting to put into it.
Search Is Vital
I came accross a post by Chris Brogan that is about a year old. Still relevant LOL. He's reviewing a book called: Branding only works on Cattle and makes this point:
“Search is a larger, behavioral reality that impacts corporate strategy.”
Baskin rightly points out that marketing strategies that don’t include a heavy element of search won’t work well for us. One of the reasons that I advocate content marketing, such as writing a compelling group blog, is that it’s an opportunity to build search equity. Writing about things that people might search for is a great way to find some new people at your door who might want a look at your product.
Exactly. Although the world has evolved beyond the Group Blog to more widespread employee blogging, Blog Marketing is moving mainstream as a corporate marketing strategy for the simple reason that you can drive very high ROI by winning search and solving problems for your customers.
Twitter + Corporate blogging = Reaching Potential Customers
Online marketers have recently proven that companies using Twitter are reaching more potential customers than companies using Facebook.
In a recent study of Fortune 500 companies, 54% if the companies studied had a presence on Twitter. In comparison, only 29% of those companies had a presence on Facebook. The article suggests that more companies are choosing Twitter because of its "more mature feel, which may appeal to corporate culture better than Facebook’s younger, hipper platform." Click
here to read the entire article.
Companies stated that the 4 main purposes for using
Twitter include:
- Company News
- Customer Service
- Marketing Promotions
- Employee Recruitment
Considering those statistics, it is also important to recognize that 32% of those companies own a corporate blog. Of the possible social media combinations to use, the best combination for online marketing proved to be using Twitter and owning a corporate blog.
So if your company already has an account with Twitter and you're also considering a corporate blog - check out the business blog software that
Compendium has to offer. Building a business blog will help you reach more potential customers...
Ask yourself - are you capitalizing all that social media has to offer? For more information on social media, sign up
here for the next free Webinar:
Getting a Grip on Social Media on Thursday, Aug. 20th at 1-2PM EST.
The other day I posted this graph showing the latest of the Gartner Hype Cycle's and the 
