Blogs, Marketing & Operations

Blog Content Webinar with Chris Baggott and Douglas Karr

Who is Abby

Abby Brosmer-Rivera

Hi! I'm Abby Brosmer-Rivera. I am a Product Support Manager here at Compendium. As Product Support Manager, I work with internal and external users of the Compendium Software to resolve changes and issues. I serve as front line support and work to ensure we are providing the best blogging software around!

I am competitive in nature and I enjoy problem solving and building client relationships, but most importantly the challenge of exceeding expectations.

On the personal side, I am the proud mother of two amazing children and one dog. I love the company of family, friends and great food!

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Blog URL - To Change or Not to Change

Posted Sunday, November 16, 2008 by Abby Rivera

I have received the question a couple of times from different clients asking what the effects are of changing their blog URL and what our recommendations are. This one is pretty clear, despite any changes you may be making, 99% of the time I recommend our clients not change their Blog URL.

Once you start creating content in your blog, you start to gain equity. You will see indexing, rankings, conversions, community all revolving around your netowrk of blogs.

When you change your URL, you run the risk of losing all of this. You will lose a good portion of this equity, you also lose any indexing and ranking you have seen and if you have RSS subscribers, those will be lost as well.

Despite the risks listed above, if you still decide that you would like to change your URL, there are several steps you can take with Google to communicate these changes.

But over all, after weighing the pros and cons to changing your blog URL, in most cases, the cons far out way the pros, and this is why I always recommend not changing your URL.

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YouTube fo your video?

Posted Friday, November 14, 2008 by Abby Rivera

As a member of the Support Team, the topic of videos and how best to include videos in your blog post comes up rather frequently. Videos are a great addition to any blog post and help to make your blog post more interactive.

I always recommend to our clients to take any video they are creating and upload it to YouTube. It is an easy way to show video on your blog or your website. It is also another way for you to be found.

There are a couple of items to note about video...

Video is NOT searchable (except in YouTube)
When creating a blog post with video, ALWAYS use text to describe your video
Post it on YouTube to expand your footprint on the web

For specific instructions on how to embed video into your blog post, Check out Krystal Featherston's post Embedding Video in Your Blog Post

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What is the Uber Blog?

Posted Thursday, November 13, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Let me first say, I love this word... Uber... But really, what is the Uber Blog in Compendium Lingo?

The Uber Blog is the main company blog. It is also the start page for your blog network. Typically the Uber Blog is titled your company name. All blog posts with the exception of your sticky post will compend to the Uber Blog.

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I got 100!!!

Posted Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Abby Rivera

So I have seen others do it, but never been able to accomplish it myself. Today reached 100 on the Keyword Strength Indicator!

keyword strength indicator

I am so excited about it reaching 100! But really why is this import? This keyword strength indicator reminds me that I am blogging for a purpose with my corporate blogging. I recognizes that I am sensibly talking about topics that are important and relevant to my business, Compendium.

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What's a sticky post???

Posted Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Here at Compendium, we have some words that are unique to us...Sticky Post is one of those words.

Sticky posts only appear at the top of individual user blogs, and typically share information about the author with readers. Sticky posts can be personal information about the author or it can provide readers with the purpose of the company blog.

Sticky posts do not appear at that the top of any other blogs in your network. Remember that a User Blog is not the start page for your blog network either. The start page is the Uber Blog or main company blog and sticky posts will not show there either because it is not focused to a specific User.

Sticky posts are typically a bio post and contain personal information about the author. Sometimes companies prefer that it provides readers with the purpose of the company blog.

Remember:
- A sticky post is only applicable to the User blog that it is created under.
- It will remain stuck at the top of that specific user blog.
- It will not compend to any other blogs.
- You can view my sticky post by clicking on the link for an example

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The New Support Team

Posted Wednesday, November 12, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Blogging Software with a Support Team ~ a concept typically unheard of. Not at Compendium. Last week we officially launched our new Product Support Channels!

Now all Compendium Clients can reach out for help in 3 different ways...

Complete the Webform - there is a link to this on the main page of all User and Admin Accounts
Send an Email to help@compendiumblogware.com
Call us at 317.777.6255

Our Support Teams Main Objective is to get your questions answered as quickly and as effectively as possible. Striving to ensure we are the best blog software around!

Check out Krystal and my blog frequently for tips, frequently asked questions.

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Blogging as a Business

Posted Thursday, October 30, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Why do we blog as a business? There are many different reasons this is important, but the number one reason is and should always be SEO, Search Engine Optimization. Winning those organic searches, proving ourselves with relevant content and then converting those readers to customers.

Blog as a Business

At Compendium we work to help our customers see the benefit of winning those organic searches. We first win the search with keywords blogs - topic driven blogs. Next, blogging as a business allows your employees to have a voice and and potential client to relate and connect to your employees. Finally, by proving yourself with strong, relevant content, we are able to easily convert readers into clients.

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What's an RSS feed?

Posted Thursday, October 30, 2008 by Abby Rivera

One of the most frequent questions I receive is, "What exactly is an RSS Feed?"

I have spent much time with clients review how RSS feeds can help them blog and what exactly an RSS feed is. But, I recently stumbled on a video on YouTube that very clearly explains this to anyone, even the most basic internet users.

So now that you have seen the video, why are RSS feeds important to blogging?

RSS Feeds help writers generate content ideas by knowing what is going on it their industry at any moment
Allows readers to receive frequent updates on content that is posted on any specific blog

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Blogs vs Social Sites

Posted Tuesday, October 28, 2008 by Abby Rivera

ClickZ published an article today that discussed marketing on blogs vs social sites. General consensus is that blogs win and clients purchase more because of blogs!

The article titled Study: Blogs Influence Purchases More Than Social Sites by Enid Burns states, "Blogs have more impact on purchase decisions than social networks, a new study finds. Blogs create conversation and trusted resource that influences purchase decision."

So now that we are straight, you have the ability to gain trust and confidence from potential buyers and that blogs work.
One question remains in my mind...how are these potential buyers finding you, especially if they don't know you are out there?

The Answer: Blogs that are content focused to search phrases that your potential clients are searching. It is extremely important that if you have a blog, that it be found organically by search engines. With the Compendium Blogging Solution, we have blogs that are focused to search phases that are found organically by search engines.

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Creating Your CNAME Record

Posted Monday, October 27, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Thank you for choosing Compendium as your blogware provider! We look forward to moving your blogging program to its peak potential!

During the set-up of your blog, you will need to create the Subdomain for your blog and a CNAME Record for the subdomain. This is an action that occurs in your DNS Records, so please work with your IT provider to accomplish this action.

If you manage your DNS records through your registrar, here are links to some step-by-step instructions to some of the main registrars that will help you with this action.

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Blogging Slacker

Posted Thursday, October 16, 2008 by Abby Rivera

OK - So I am the official blogging slacker and not living up to the recommended 2 posts per week! Like some of you, I got busy and side tracked from one of my core responsibilities. So, how am I going to remedy this and get my head back into the game????

Here are some blogging tips to content generation:

Schedule some time on my calendar - this will ensure that I have time set asside to dedicate to blogging
I have signed up for some Google Alerts - I always recommend to our users to sign-up for RSS feeds to keep up on their industry, but Google Alerts are just another great tool to help generate ideas!
Blog about what is happening on a day to day basis here at Compendium and more specifically within Implementation
Quick and to point - keep your blog post short, direct and to the point. This helps you readers engage quickly and allows you to complete your post quickly too

These quick tips will help you and I to keep up our best practices in blogging and better blogging results for our companies.

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Blogging and the Company Trip

Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Rafting in Ohiopyle

I was on the phone yesterday with a client, we were discussing content for their blog posts. Specifically, what is appropriate to talk about on your blog? I mentioned that while it is important to talk specifically about the topics we will be focusing on with our blog package(i.e. Keywords), it is very import to also relate to your readers. Let your readers know that you are a real person. Talk about what you are doing, different things that are going on within your organization, or the community in general.

One of the best examples of this, is Chris Baggott's Blog. He is always talking about both Compendium and what is going on in his world - an then ultimately pulling the two of these together. I am sure some of you have read Chris's recent blog post about our company trip to Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania or checked out Kaila's pictures on Flicker and seen this all work together.

In this fashion, here is my take on the weekend...
Absolutely amazingly ridiculous!!! Just some of the words I used to describe it in a text to my sister. We had a great weekend together as a team. For some of us, the weekend pushed us to the limits, others of us were olds pros, but not matter who we were, we had a blast!

We had the opportunity meet some of our clients! I also had an opportunity to try out one of our clients products, Gla Gla Shoes. (I'll be writing again very soon with my opinion about how great these shoes are!). Thank you Chris and Kaila for showing us around Ohiopyle. Check back a little later for some more fun stories:-)

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Travel JCT is Blogging!

Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Congratulations Jan! We are so excited to have you up and blogging we look forward to checking out your updates to the travel world and those great travel deals! Jan recently started Travel JCT. She is located in Georgia, but through the marvels of the internet, can help anyone plan their next get away!

Click here to check out Jan's Blog!

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Congratulations to GroupeStahl

Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Congratulations to Debra and the StahlsID group on getting your blog up and running! GroupeStahl has been in the Heat Press / Custom Heat Transfer business for over 75 years. They currently sell to local and custom T-shirt and sporting good stores all over the United States.

Click here to check out their blog!

I has been a pleasure working with Debra and I am excited to get their blog rolling!

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Congratulations to Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce

Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce website

Just wanted to post a quick blog to congratulate the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce on completing their implementation! This Chamber of Commerce is working to increase communication with their members in the Eugene, Oregon area. They are working a redesign of their website, so be on the look out for updates to their blog as well!

Check out their blog at http://blog.eugenchamber.com

Welcome and Congratulations!!

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Check this out!

Posted Monday, July 14, 2008 by Abby Rivera

Check this out!

I preach to my clients in Implementation the importance of content. I quickly realized that I was not listening to my own advice. I told myself this weekend, that I must establish this habit for myself as well. We all know that posting a blog is not hard work and that it is actually a lot of fun.

So, as a part of my own goal to get blogging, I have decided that I am going send out quick posts about my clients as the wrap-up the implementation process. This will give you the ability to go and check out who all our new blogging clients are!

Below are a few links to clients who have completed their Implementation and have moved into the Client Success team! All of these companies have been such a joy to work with!

Financial Center Federal Credit Union

Indianapolis Tennis Championships

Fun Education

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Constent Relevant Content

Posted Sunday, June 15, 2008 by Abby Rivera

I have been talking about this a lot in my recent New Client Trainings, but I want to briefly talk about some best practices in blogging and most specifically, the importance of constant relevant content on a blog.

I recently sat through an SEO Training by SEOmoz, a leader in the SEO field, and then attended another event put on by a local Indianapolis Company, MediaSauce. During both events the amount of focus on the importance of constant relevant content of our blogs.

When we focus on optimizing our search value and blogging for business, the amount of content relevant to our keywords is directly related to the success of our blogs.

We receive success stories from our Client Success team each week that focus on clients who are showing great results and 100% of these clients are leaders in content production.

Take 5 minutes and do a little research... stay on top of current information and topics relevant to your industry. A couple of recommendations I have to help you write content:

Subscribe to RSS feeds from others in your industry
Subscribe to RSS feeds from others in related industries
Subscribe to RSS feeds from your competitors
Subscribe to eNewletters and email upates
Stay current on your trade publications.

All of these ideas will help you stay current with market trends, plus linking out to these will help you create some great "link juice"!

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What Brought Me Here...

Posted Friday, June 6, 2008 by Abby Rivera

So, as you can see by the recency of my blogs, I am new at Compendium. But I have to say that when the opportunity arose for me to come on board I could not have been more excited. Compendium's Blogging Software was product that just makes sense to me. It was like on of those inventions that we all think...why in the world didn't I come up with this!
I have seen companies go through website revision after website revision trying to stay on top of internet marketing. Making little tweaks to figure what the hot new thing was to get all those search engines and ultimately people to find them. With Compendium, you are constantly updating, adding new information and helping all those search engines and ultimately NEW CLIENTS come find you.
When I started, I told all of my friends and family about this exciting new blogging company in Indianapolis I was working for. I explained the concept of corporate blogging and professional blogs and as it did for me, it connected for them as well. What a better way to market your company, stay on the forefront of your field and become an expert in your industry.
I look forward to working with all of you, new clients, potential clients, current clients, and co-workers. If you ever have any questions feel free to email me.

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