There's a lot of chatter out there these days. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogs, etc., they all fill the lines with tons of thoughts and opinions. It's suggested that in order to have people re-post your content, you should re-post theirs. It's a great "Do unto others as you would have done unto you" concept, but is it really as virtuitous as it sounds?
If a person doesn't provide value, then they are not worth repeating. Simply pushing someone's content just to get them to do the same in return lessens your value to your readers/followers. You're simply filling the air with noise and diluting your credibility, diong everyone a disservice.
This is especially true of business blogs. Businesses need to leverage corporate blogging as a way to establish credibility in the minds of their markets, and pushing worthless content will only frustrate their readers.
The solution is simple. Be valuable to your readers and provide valuable content. Valuable content is just that, valuable. It should and will be re-posted and promoted because it provides value to the ones who read it AND to the ones who re-post it.
How does your company adapt to change? Does it move like a gazelle, or is it like steering the Titanic? If your business is trying to be competitive in search marketing, it better not be the latter.
The search marketing industry is ever-changing, and if your business plans to hang with the pack, it better be ready to handle change. Watch out for red tape and processes that will keep you from being able to make quick decisions. The SEO tools you were using three years ago may not be the best tools available to you today, and the moment you realize that there is a better opportunity, you need to be ready to act.
When considering whether or not your company is going to use a blogging solution for search marketing, keep it simple. It's easy to get side-tracked talking about fancy plug-ins and all of the bells and whistles and end up losing sight of what you are trying to accomplish. Oftentimes, businesses can get so caught up with shiny widgets that they compromise the end goal.
Choose a simple blogging software that focuses on what really matters. Stick to your guns on the end results, and don't get lost in the weeds. While slick plug-ins might whet your appetite for tech-toys, they don't necessarily put food dollars in your pocket.
I talk to many businesses who are in need of reducing costs. After getting better acquianted with their business, I find out they are running a massive email marketing campaign in-house or they are trying to build their CRM from scratch.
It's no secret that overhead is a huge cost to almost every business. Companies trying to re-invent the wheel could stand to gain a lot from using software as a service solutions such as Salesforce, ExactTarget, or Compendium instead of trying to handle all of their technology internally.
Is free really free? I can install a free-ware platform at no cost, but how much am I paying my dedicated IT guy to set up, manage, and update my blog? Save yourself tens of thousands of dollars and employ an easy to use blog software that will cost you a fraction of the salary of a full-time employee.
Everyone is selling something. I'm selling something, you're selling something, and the guy at the hot dog stand is selling something. While there is no shortage of products for sale, a lot of things just aren't worth buying.
We've all seen the overpromising health and diet products that don't do anything. How about the amazing infomercial products that fall apart in your hand the day after they arrive? As consumers, we get so battered with overpromises, that it's shocking to find something that is/does exactly what it says.
One of the best things about working at Compendium is that the Compendium blog software does exactly what it's supposed to. Just one month after coming on board, I signed a client in the financial email marketing industry. Two months after they started blogging for search,
BizActions was on the first page of Google for 25 of the 50 keywords they were targeting with us. To date, they are showing up on hundreds of keyword searches, and their program is growing stronger by the day.
If you're in the market for an SEO tool, give us a call to hear about a product that does what it says. If you're still not convinced, download one of our
case studies for further proof!
Talk to you soon!
There are many great tools available to businesses today. CRMs, email marketing solutions, and analytics tools are just a few. It's a wonderful thing when companies develop these technologies because it makes our lives easier, more productive, and will often save us money.
However, there are some out there that are more in love with the challenge of doing it themselves than growing the business. I see this a lot with SEO tools. IT guys are very smart these days, and they are capable of just about anything they put their mind to.
This is definitely true when it comes to blogging for search. Tech departments find themselves toiling over the question of "can I figure out how to do this myself?", and they forget to ask the question "is it more cost effective for me to do this in-house or to outsource?".
What about email? Isn't it cheaper to pay for a software as a service email program to send out millions of targeted emails rather than pull Bob out of the wiring closet for the next 9 months?
How about your CRM? Can't your tech team spice up a freeware platform to meet your needs? What else will suffer because thousands of dollars of their time is being spent focusing on something that could have been outsourced?
Sure they CAN, but SHOULD they?
Are you considering blogging but concerned that no one in your company will blog? Here at Compendium, we blog for all kinds of things. Right now we're blogging for pizza, a few weeks ago we blogged to enter a raffle to win gift cards (I won, btw), and about a month ago we blogged for pro tennis tickets. With tangible incentives, it's amazing how our marketing team can motivate the whole office to blog. One day we were enticed with a buffet of junk food if we wrote a post that day. By the time the sugarfest started, all but two people at Compendium had submitted a post.
My point? Don't let employee participation get in the way of starting a blogging solution for your business. Whether your employees blog for snacks, tickets, or PTO you can get them to blog. And at the end of the day, they're all blogging for business. Now THAT'S something worth blogging about
One thing great about blog marketing is that it allows you to talk about your business while being yourself. No one likes to be sold, and it can be a real turn off when a company comes off as 100% business. A lot of people don't trust businesses, and utilizing blog software allows you to show that real people run your business.
Keep in mind that it starts by being real with yourself. Even in face-to-face settings your employees can be a real turn off. I recently checked out a new gym to save some money. From the second I started talking about rates with their rep, I picked up that he was using tactics on me. I told him that I wanted to work out and then pick up the conversation after I tried out the equipment. Before I worked out, he couldn't take off the initiation fee. However, after I worked out and still seemed unsure, he offered removing the initiation fee if I would sign today. I understand that tactics are used, but don't lie to your prospective clients.
If you can't be real in person, you won't be real using blogs in your online marketing. However, if you have a great business with great employees, take advantage of it and props to keeping it real.
I was speaking with a friend yesterday about a company that he was working with. He was telling me that he couldn't get them to move forward on a new online marketing initiative because he couldn't provide examples of leaders in their industry that were using that search marketing strategy.
How can businesses expect to lead in their industry if they won't try anything that their competition isn't already doing? What would your boss think if he/she knew that you didn't have the guts to try something that the leaders in your industry aren't already doing? Are they paying you to follow the crowd?
With rapidly changing technology, online marketing strategies are evolving every day. Change is opportunity; if you want to be a leader, take advantage of it.
Isn't it amazing how "stuck in our ways" we can be? Growing up, my family always had a dog. As a result, I determined that I hated cats and would never own one. They seemed too prissy, moody, and distant. Then, in college, one of my roommates bought a kitten. Not by my own volition, I was exposed to living with an animal that I actually came to enjoy. My unfounded predisposition was crumpled, and I decided that cats could actually make good companions.
Who cares?Well, this same principle carries over in business. "Why blog? We've never had a corporate blog before." "I'm not going to start a business blog; it isn't a priority right now." Just because you haven't done it before, doesn't mean it's bad or doesn't work. As a matter of fact, many great successes are born when people decide to try something new.
How are blogging goals and life goals related? 
How do some business decision makers make the same mistake that they make in their personal lives?
How do I keep this happen to my business/in my life?
Many people, myself included, tend to get lost in the weeds. I believe this can be avoided by simply taking a moment to ask the question: "Why?"
- Why am I fuming with anger when someone cuts me off?
- Why am I arguing with my wife about where we should eat tonight?
- Why do I need to have a better yard than my neighbor?
The answer:
It doesn't matter. There are much more important things in life, and I would be wise to start focusing on them instead of being so petty.
The same is true for a company's corporate blogging program.
- How many RSS subscribers does my blog have?
- How many blog comments do I have?
- Is my blogging software updated with the latest plug-in?
Again,
It doesn't matter. What's the goal of your business? To increase the bottom line. So the real question is:
How is my blog growing my business? If it isn't, it should be.
We could all benefit from staying out of the weeds by frequently asking "Why?"
If you would have told me a month ago that I would be blogging for business, I would have laughed at you. Not only was I primitive in my knowledge of corporate blogging, I was completely apathetic in regards to learning more about it.
Today, it's safe to say that I am drinking the kool-aid. Coming from a background of selling non-essential products, I can't talk enough about the benefits of using Compendium to blog for lead generation (engaging customers when
theyare looking for
you, providing a
human touch to your marketing efforts, and
tracking your results every step of the way...just to name a few)!
If you think it seems cheesy to get hyped about the company you work for, just
browse a few whitepapers or
attend our next webinar and see if you can resist joining the crowd!
