Hi! My name is Lynsey Rosencrans and I'm the Associate Accounts Manager for Compendium Blogware. I joined the
Compendium team knowing very little about the blogging world, but I was very eager
to learn more about this growing phenomenon. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by
the vast number of professionals using blogs as networking and marketing tools.
In this blog, I will discuss how to keep tabs on your personal and
professional blogs, as well as how to provide you with the best customer
service to ensure your blog will be very successful!
Posted Thursday, June 5, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
I love quotes and i feel there are a lot out there that simply sum up what I have been saying about blogging all along. So as a weekly, "please live by this," I will continuously add quotes to my blog.
To kick this off, I've found a wonderful quote by
Brian Clark, that encompasses what is very true about blogging. Many bloggers seem to get very caught up in what they want and not their readers. Take this to heart each time you sit down to write. Enjoy!
“Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.”
Posted Tuesday, June 3, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
What are blog readers really looking for? They are looking for YOU! Blogs provide the ability for a company to show their human side and present information from your point of view. You don’t have to be a natural born writer to write a blog. Here is a quote from a recent article in the Dallas Morning news:
"It's clear that when it comes to traditional authority figures – whether they're chief executives or heads of state – people trust them less," says Mr. Edelman. "Employees are the new credible source of information. We have data that shows an employee blog is five times more credible than a CEO blog – and I say this as a CEO blogger."
Click here to view the full article:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/columnists/chall/stories/DN-Hall_16bus.ART.State.Edition1.463ac30.htmlPeople are wanting to know what you have to say AND they are looking for it. You don’t need to be a published writer in order to create fantastic posts -- write just like you are speaking to a friend, tell stories, be humorous, and keep it simple.
Posted Thursday, May 29, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
Having a blog is nothing without feedback. Comments are a great way to gage the readers who are coming to your blog. Most readers can even gage how well a blog is by comments. I have a
friend that visits blogs and tends to skip right to the comments. Why? Well, for one they
are very amusing and for two, he claims he can tell how well a blogger
is on topics by the comments.
Here are a few tips on how to manage and drum up some comments for your blog:
- No matter what, always respond to your commenter's, either via a blog post or contact them directly through email. This is a great compliment towards your readers. They'll be sure to return to your blog. Interacting with your readers is a wonderful way of keeping loyal readership. If you are good to your readers, they'll be good to you. Many will link to your blog often and pass your URL around to others.
- Responding to comments can also make up a huge part of your blog
content. If you are stuck on a blog topic for the day, go back through
your comments and reread any that you may have missed and share their
story. Be sure to give the reader recognition in your post.
- Continually ask your readers for their feedback. Let them know you need their advice on certain tops or would like to hear their stories that surround your topics. Most readers are a bit timid to respond, but if there is an open, friendly invitation, they will be more apt to respond. Ask questions that motivate bloggers.
- Try not to make your questions too controversial. You want to initiate conversation, not start a war. Be wise in these situations and try not to alarm your readers.
Posted Thursday, May 29, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
The other day I was on a client status call with a client who mentioned he had two blogs, one with us, for his business, and another that he occasionally used for social networking and so on. After handing me his personal blogs' URL to check out, I noticed some of the content was the same for both blogs. YIKES!
Why is this so bad you ask. Well, ultimately, Google will end up getting confused about the generated content on both sites and will decide to blacklist one of the blogs. Your also running the risk of losing some great traffic based on not generating fresh content. If readers have both URLs and are avid readers of both blogs, they will tend to get a little bored by seeing the same posts.
All is not lost though. If you are creating blog posts that share similar topics, be sure to keep them simple and reword your posts, linking back to the original post. As long as you don't copy and paste the same post, you have nothing to worry about. It's never a bad idea to reference your old work, just don't duplicate it.
Posted Friday, May 23, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
May is racing month in Indiana and to celebrate the 92nd year of the
500, today I will be attending Carb Day. For those of you who don't
know what this Hoosier Holiday is, here's a quick definition:
Carburation
Day, or Carb Day,
is the last chance for the drivers to practice before the big race on
Sunday. Instead of having the entire day to practice, they have only a
few hours to get track time.
Sounds like fun, yes, I know. There's, of course, a lot more that goes
into this day, like the food, music and of course the fan fare.
Ah yes, the fans. I mean what would racing be if it didn't have its fans. Actually what would anything be without fans? If you think about it, businesses have fans too. Cheesy, I know, but they do, and in the corporate world, they are called clients.
So the next time you are looking for something to blog about, why not include a success story from a client. They will no doubt appreciate it!
Posted Thursday, May 22, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
David Cook!
With 97 million viewers and over 12 million votes cast, the Idol season
came to an end last night announcing its latest singing sensation. Yes,
you guessed it, I Lynsey, am a closet American Idol fan. Laugh or
praise all you want, you have to admit, Idol is a pretty big deal and
they know how to grab the attention of viewers.
Since the 2002 debut of American Idol, viewers have been able to do
just about anything to interact with the history making show via the
web. Blogs about the contestants are seen all over the net, the
contestants also blog to their fans to encourage votes, even social
networking site such as myspace and face book have gotten involved.
You've got to admit, that show definitely knows how to drum up
business, I mean look, that it's even getting me to blog about it!
Businesses with their own websites should take a tip from this popular
show. Websites, now days, seem informational to a new and existing
client, but how can that client or reader interact? Some
readers/clients like to make suggestions, share stories or even comment
on what a great product the company has. Blogging can do just that.
Companies are able to put themselves out there for the sake of their
customers, answer questions, take suggestions to heart, even strike up
interesting conversations with active readers. As American Idol has
taught us, it's all about involving the fans with a little interaction.
Until next year, I'll be watching American Idol reruns and enjoying the musical stylings of David Cook.
Posted Friday, May 16, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
When initiating client conversations about what it is we do here at Compendium, we constantly throw out the term, "SEO," assuming everyone knows what it means. I mean, it's web basics, right? No, in reality some of our clients have no idea what SEO means,but nod their heads with a sly smile on their face. I know in the back of their minds they're thinking, "I'll just let them talk about it and the product, then look up that term in
wiki tonight."
Allow me to help...As defined in Wikipedia, Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results for targeted keywords.
Now you know what it means, how do you achieve this? Again, allow me to help:
*
Set page titles accordingly. Page titles appear in the top left hand corner of the browser window. If the page is "Best Blogging Software," the page title should incorporate something like,"Compendium Blogware - Best Blogging Software".
*
Use description information with a concise overview of the page's purpose. For example, "Compendium Blogware, best blogging solution for your business."
*
Keywords, Keywords, Keywords. Use them and use them often.
Posted Friday, May 9, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
When I talk to individuals about Compendium, I always stress "blogging for a purpose."
I do see the confusion in their face before they ask me, "So, what exactly does that mean?"
What do you as a company want out of a blog? What are your blogging
goals? Most companies crave the SEO benefit. Crawling up the search
engine ladder with the amount of content they put into their blog, but
is it effective across the board?
How can we begin to blog for this purpose?
Without an
effective blogging platform, everyone's content becomes unfocused
and unorganized. As I mentioned before, search engines look for
recent, frequently updated and fresh content. People in your
organization have great ideas and thoughts they want to share, so why
not utilize that information to your advantage and begin moving ahead
of your competition?
Posted Friday, May 9, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
I ran across this wonderful article on
cnn.com
the other day about how blogging is turning into a therapeutic way of
dealing with emotional distress and finding online support groups for
almost anything is more and more common. I'm sharing this article
because I think the most important piece that's underlying in it is
that human interaction is very vital in today's society.
Check out the article, relax, then blog:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/personal/05/07/blog.therapy/index.html
Posted Thursday, April 24, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
This week, my colleague and I decided to hold "Operation Content Creation" This email campaign was created in hopes drive content up amongst our clients who state they don't have the time to devote to blogging. Each day we sent out an email that provided a daily tip on creating content around the office.
One of my daily tips suggested to keep your posts short and simple. I suggested this partly because of the time restraints given by our clientele. Most people who blog have the preconceived notion that the post has to be a page or two long, but not true. Most blog readers are
“scanners” and don't have enough time to read a lengthy, indepth post. Get to the point quickly. Publishing short posts more frequently
is a better format than publishing lengthy articles every few weeks. Short posts do keep readers engaged and you'll see they will come back again and again wanting to read your quick insights and daily thoughts.
Posted Friday, April 18, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
So your blogging on a regular basis, but you're not sure how to measure your conversion. You see from Google Analytics that the traffic is there, but is it quality traffic? Conversion points are very important to business blogging. They help you generate leads or specific inquires.
A conversion point can be anything measured as a trackable positive result. For example,
Compendium has a few great conversion points located in the sidebar. With conversion points, you are getting the potential client to do something. Putting them into touch with your company.
Here are my other suggestions for great conversion points:
Join email list
Sign-up for newsletter
Obtain a white paper
Request contact
Visit our web site
Sign up for a demo
Receive a free gift
Give these a try and let me know how they work for your business.
Posted Thursday, April 17, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
While speaking with a few of my friends the other night, I was asked,
"What exactly is a blog for." My dear, dear friend, who shall remain
nameless, but will know I'm talking about him, mentioned that he
thought blogs were strictly for banter, quick jabs and worst of all
slander. He had been reading a lot about how companies utilize blogs to
attack their competitors and had the notion that a blog could be more
hurtful than helpful. I, being the level headed girl that I am, said,
"Yes, but a blog is completely about emotion and how you handle that
emotion toward your audience."
In the wonderful world of corporate blogging, you have to learn how to
hold your tongue and respond to a competitors comments tactfully,
making sure your not letting your anger get int the way of your
writing. It's one thing to make a passionate point about the industry
your in, but it's entirely another to post blatant slander towards a
rival. Make sure you keep up with your companies policies and not "bad
mouth."
Just keep saying to yourself, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but blogs will never hurt me."
Posted Friday, April 11, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
While discussing content creation with a client the other day, an interesting point was brought up to me. The client asked, "How can I keep the bloggers motivated?" Great question! With that said I came up with these 5 tips to keep the content flowing.
1.) Incentive programs-Why not persuade your bloggers with free meals, gift cards, two hour lunches or a day off (Obviously try to stay within business guidelines).
2.)Setting time aside to blog-Recommend or suggest a time the entire company can sit down and blog. Place a time on their schedules for 15 minutes twice a week and have them shut off their email and put their phones on do not disturb.
3.) Help generate content-If your bloggers are experiencing writers block, pass along emails or URLs that surround the company's blog. Set up brainstorming sessions over lunch (or even happy hour) with your bloggers and come up with catchy ideas.
4.) Get your clients involved-Have your bloggers ask clients to be guest bloggers, sharing their success stories or feedback. This will ultimately build a great rapport between business and client.
5.) Share results and impact of content-When content is being generated, you will see the impact of it in your rankings and quality traffic. Make sure you pass all of this information to your bloggers. They will be excited to see how their words are boosting the interest of readers.
Pass these ideas around and send me your feedback!
Posted Thursday, April 10, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
Disclaimer: While I do realize I will sound like a giddy little school girl, I do have a point to this post, so please stay with me.Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha are coming back! The moment all
Sex and the City fans have been waiting for is just a short month away! After talking about this movie with a few of my friends the other night, one thought occurred to me, is Carrie a blogger now?
We all know that she was seen numerous times in front of her computer typing rapidly away about life’s little coincidences and love issues that came up in her and her friends' personal lives. While her weekly columns were read by the fashionista’s and high class martini drinkers of New York City, they could have been just as useful to women across the U.S. So It would make sense that Candace Bushnell would make her number one character, who is known for staying in the trendiest of fashions, play up to the times.
A huge trend of “entertainment blogging” can be seen widely across the web, motivating and enticing fans to voice their opinions and thoughts about movies, television shows, “in” actors and actresses and current news.
Why wouldn't Corporate America get in on the act to? Blogging is viewed widely as a great marketing tool, not to mention gives a company a personal touch. Who wouldn't want to read what the President and CEO of a big Conglomerate company has to say? When it comes down to it, blogging helps businesses connect with clients on a deeper level.
Posted Wednesday, February 6, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
Being relatively new to this phenom taking over the web, I’ve learned a few things: Blogging can help you become more popular on Google, (go ahead, you know you want to Google yourself), getting your point across to your audience does not take a full 3 pages and blogging really isn’t that hard.
In my last post I discussed how to start blogging….. easy, write about anything, target your audience and give them a good read! Great! Now how often do you post and how long should posts be?
Spending at least 15 minutes in front of your computer can be the most beneficial thing for your company. That’s right 15 minutes is all it takes…. ok, now I sound like an infomercial, but it’s true. Avid blog readers look for main points that get right to the heart of the subject you’re pushing. There is no need to spend an hour or two deliberating over irrelevant information and cranking out page after page of information your reader will just skip over. Get to the point and call it a day!
Now as far as post frequency...Don't take this the wrong way, but I tell all of my clients to post at least three times a week. GASP, three times a week?? Don't worry, it's really not that bad....3 x 15 = 45 minutes a week. Think about it, you may spend 45 minutes a week surfing for the latest news on Britney Spears. So why don't you give that poor girl a break and spend a little time blogging for your business.
Posted Thursday, January 17, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
Your blog is set up and ready to go… all it needs now is content. “Uh, what? You want me to write something?? What am I supposed to write about?”
As an Account Manager of Client Success, I’m constantly asked this. Being new to the wonderful world of blogging, I can completely sympathize with my customers. My palms are still sweaty from submitting my first post, but I did it with a little encouragement of knowing that this was a splendid way of reaching my clients and helping them on a personal level.
It can be VERY intimidating to throw your thoughts to the web only to have God knows who pick them up. The best advice I can give is, be yourself. Yes, that simple! You know whom you want to target so go get them. You can essentially write about anything. Keep it simple, yet get creative with your posts! Tie in local and national events to get your point across. Do what it takes to keep your readers engaged, intrigued and asking for more.
Posted Thursday, January 10, 2008 by
Lynsey Rosencrans
Last night I took in the pleasure of watching one of my favorite movies,
Jerry Maguire. A classic line in the movie came up and struck a chord with me,
“Help me, help you.” Pretty simple advice, right? This is the same philosophy I
apply to what I do at Compendium Blogware. In order to get the most out of your
blog, I need to know what you want, what your goals are for your blog and
how you can achieve those goals successfully. What do you want out of your
professional blog? How can I help you get your message across to clients and
colleagues?
It’s very important to establish what you want to say to potential clients.
Everything you post on your blog reflects your company as well as yourself. I’m
more than happy to help you give that reflection its personal touch with blogging
tips to help your blog become more successful. It all starts with your insight
and feedback.
