Company Blogger

Blogging Tournament - Round 2

Posted Thursday, August 21, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

Content for the Crown Trophy

As the Olympics in Beijing start to wrap up, fear not as your competition appetite can be feed through the current blogging tournament taking place at Compendium. Where we have pitted our clients up against each other in a March Madness style, winner take all competition.

Results have been posted and you can see check out how the Corporate Blog's fared in the first round of the "Content for the Crown Tournament". Check out the tournament brackets here:

Compendium Blogware Blogging Tournament Brackets

Congratulations to the following clients who have made it out of Round 1 and are now blogging their way through Round 2...

On the line for these Corporate Bloggers is the coveted Content for the Crown trophy, along with a bottle of Champagne and $50 gas cards for the administrator and all bloggers - that in itself gets the competitive nature going when gas is hovering around $4.00 a gallon!

For those that got knocked out in the first round, don't fret as we will have more competitions in the future. Also, don't forget to keep that content going as we are still in the competition for Search Engine Results!

Are you judging my blog right now?

Posted Thursday, August 21, 2008 by Megan Glover

Seth Godin has a great blog post today: Who's telling you the truth about your online personal marketing?

His post makes a great point about the the trend in marketing these days which I relate to transparency. He writes that, "people are judging you", and isn't that the truth.

Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instant Message, etc... have all opened the door fainting the line between personal/professional life. So how does a marketer ensure the judgments of his or her employees don't hurt the reputation of the entire company?

Why not embrace and incorporate those mediums into your own marketing? You know your employees, particularly your Gen X'ers, are all tapped in and participating... why not embrace it and make your presence known too!

It's actually one of the reasons Compendium Blogware was founded. Chris (our CoFounder/CEO) noticed while at ExactTarget that many of his employees were blogging. And, blogging about the company - but Chris had was unable to leverage the blog content they were cracking out.

That's why Compendium is built for multiple bloggers and has an administrative layer which allows you manage the blogger's message as you see fit. So, companies and organizations can give their employees platforms to blog on and yet reap the marketing benefits such as SEO. Not only that, but you're providing a real-life voice to speak out on behalf of your organization which ultimately... humanizes your marketing.

And The Winner Is...

Posted Wednesday, August 20, 2008 by Kristen Hanschu

Week 2 of the Content for the Crown blogging tournament, and we have some winners. This past week brought on some friendly, yet firm competition. Every client gave it their all, and in the end we had 48 teams advance to the second round.

Round 2 started on Monday and already people are battling it out. What are they fighting for? Not only will these teams receive the coveted Compendium trophy, they will also have the pleasure of winning $50 gas cards for the administrator and all bloggers. Now, who would not want that when gas prices are $4.00 a gallon?

Thank you for all teams who participated and we look forward to seeing how this pans out. To view the brackets click here.

Congratulations to the following clients:

Don't think "website in" think "search engine out".

Posted Tuesday, August 19, 2008 by Lindsey Young

In our CEO Chris Baggott's latest white paper, he quotes William Flaiz of Search Engine Watch:

"“People don't go to Web sites anymore. Web sites come to them. This is, perhaps, the best way to explain the impact of search on the online experience.”

I was experiencing how very true this is, just last night. You see my fiance and I are huge Purdue football fans. (I went to Ball State, but I've been adopted in) I was searching for some new gear for us this season, namely some hooded sweatshirts, jersey's, etc. as we go to all home games. What did I do? I Google'd it. I didn't know any of those companies, or their website url's. But by searching for what I wanted, I sure did find plenty of people wanting to help me find my Purdue gear!

This is exactly why so many people are coming to Compendium for help with their business blogging. They want to be found, and we get them found! If you haven't already read this white paper, I'd highly recommend it to any potential bloggers. Go to our website and check it out! Blog for your business!

Creative Content from BabyPlus

Posted Tuesday, August 19, 2008 by Kristen Hanschu

Congratulations to BabyPlus for making it to the second round of the Compendium Blogware Blogging Tournament of Champions. BabyPlus not only creates a lot of content, but they are creative about it as well. They are averaging almost 5 posts per blogger per month which is paying off.

How do they get their bloggers to write content on a constant basis? They do so by having fun. As you can see from the pictures in this post, they motivate their bloggers by keeping them laughing. Giving them popcorn is not "corny" as you can see, it is entertaining. They also award each other with the "Best Blogger of the Month" award which is a hot commodity at this place! It is a coveted certificate naming one person as the "best in blog" for the month.

Not only are BabyPlus' in-office motivation tactics creative, but so are their blogs. The content they write is always fresh and new. BabyPlus does a great job of incorporating current events into their posts. Another reason they are receiving such a high number of visitors is that they do a nice job of creating fun and interesting titles. Good job BabyPlus, see you in the next round!

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Official Blogging Tournament Rules

Posted Tuesday, August 19, 2008 by Chantelle Flannery

The tournament began on August 11th and we are now moving into round two. Customers will compete to advance in a Compendium organized blogging tournament based on number of posts written by the client, week-by-week. The Blogging Tournament is designed to create some spirited competition amongst our customers in a battle of the ultimate team game—business blogging. You will be pitted randomly against another Compendium customer in the ultimate blogging championship.

Tournament Rules

You need do nothing to enter the tournament. To participate write blog posts as you normally would, or with a great deal more frequency to more effectively compete.
Winners in the tournament will advance from a field of over 100 on a weekly basis based on the amount of posts generated by each team.
If there is an equal number of posts between the two teams over the course of the week the previous week’s posts will be used to determine who will advance. We will review as many of the previous weeks as necessary in order to break the tie.
A week's worth of posts start on Monday and end on Sunday.
In order for a post to count it must be considered legitimate blog posts. This means that the post must be at least 5 sentences long and contain at least two keywords.
Remember that you’re writing on a corporate blog so talk about appropriate topics that relate to your industry and company.
Please note that sticky posts don’t count.

Tournament Prizes
The winner of the Championship earns a handsome trophy denoting blogging superiority and a bottle of Champaign. There will also be a $50 gas card for the account Administrator and a $50 gas card for the top blogger on the team. The other three final teams will receive a $50 gas card.

Tournament Contact Information
Please have fun with the tournament - use this as a tool internally to mobilize around content development. Keep an eye on Chantelle Flannery’s blog and the tournament bracket for updates.

Write content. Get found in search. Convert traffic. Demonstrate ROI. Crush the competition in business blogging, tournament style!

Blogging from Blog Indiana

Posted Saturday, August 16, 2008 by Megan Glover

Sitting here in the lobby at the IUPUI Campus Center where Blog Indiana is taking place. A great turn out, lots of great bloggers and a really impressive line up of sessions and speakers. Here are some examples:

What makes a great corporate blog,

Blog Review/Critquie Open Discussion,

Showing off you blog.

Blog Etiquette and Ethics

Great to be around blogging enthusiasts from Indiana and beyond. Blog Indiana runs today and tomorrow - there's still time to register for the afternoon and tomorrow's sessions. You can do so here: http://conference.blogindiana.com/

Blogging Indiana!

Posted Friday, August 15, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

This weekend marks a great event in downtown Indianapolis, and no I'm not talking about Gen-Con. I'm referring to Blog Indiana 2008!

Blog Indiana is a 2-day blogging and social media conference, hosted at IUPUI, that aims to promote education, innovation and collaboration among Indiana’s fast-growing blogging community. There will be several keynote speakers at the conference, including our very own Chris Baggott.

This blog conference for both experienced and new bloggers alike. Sessions will include topics such as blogging for beginners, using blogs in your business, monetizing your blog, political blogging and more advanced topics. So if you are a blogger looking to get started, looking to add a corporate blog, or wanting to capitalize on the success you're already having with the blog for your business - this is a conference you should attend.

Compendium Blogware will also have a booth at the conference, so feel free to stop by and say hello to two of our Business Development Managers, Jenni Edwards and Eric Romer. They will be happy to help answer any questions you may have about blogging for your business.

Happy Blogging!

Blog Indiana 2008

MSNBC talks about Corporate blogging

Posted Friday, August 15, 2008 by Eric Romer

I saw this video over on Debbie Weil's blog, and it apparently aired a couple weeks back on MSNBC. They do a pretty good job highlighting the value of a "blogger-in-chief".

I like that Bill Marriot handwrites his blog posts -- there's something nostalgic about that in a technology-driven world. But at the same time, that can be limiting. Relying on an extremely busy CEO, and someone to transcribe his notes, is a bit tedious.

Free up the employees to create content. They're communicating everyday with potential customers on phone and email, why not a blog?

Real World ROI Webinar

Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 by Kristen Hanschu

I am excited to announce that my client Visit Tampa Bay is a highlight in the webinar today. They have been an exemplary client of ours and we are pleased to "show them off" Congratulations Jeremy and the rest of the bloggers!

This webinar will cover what we call "Real World ROI". Basically this means that we are showing you how to cover the costs of the blog and then some. The "and them some" can mean more visits to your website, the visitors buying your products or services, or even starting your own community within the blog.

You can still sign up for the webinar by clicking here. It is not too late! Sign up now.

A Battle of the Greats

Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2008 by Kristen Hanschu

You might not be aware of this, but the greatest spectacle on earth is taking place right now. No, I am not talking about the Beijing Olympics. What I am talking about is the Compendium Blogware Blogging Tournament of Champions.

As it is also commonly referred to as "Content for the Crown", this tournament is an all out fight to the death. Well, not really. It is, however, a tournament to determine which of our clients is producing more content than all the others.

In round 1, we have two of our greats going up against one another. Roto-Rooter and Conclusive Marketing are two of our clients that constantly produce well organized and informative content. They continually follow "blogging best practices" by producing at least two blog posts per blogger each week. Their dedication to constantly updated content certainly pays off for them. Not only do they see their blogs ranking on the first page of Google, but they are both receiving more traffic. Coincidence, we know not.

Good luck to both teams. We look forward to reading your blog posts. To view the brackets, click here.

Times Are Changing

Posted Tuesday, August 12, 2008 by meghan peters

The days when you would write a letter to catch up with a friend are long gone and have been for some time now. In this day and age if someone wants to catch up with a friend they can be found texting, emailing or possibly even reading their blog! Now is a great time to jump on the technology band wagon because you never know what is going to come next in the technology world. However, this is great news for organizations and their marketing tactics.

I recently read an article from IMedia Connection that I thought captured the essense of blogging from a human perspective perfectly. In the 2008 Compass Partners/BlogHer Study they found that "Traditional advertising has become so commoditized. Now we pay attention to what our friends say." said Jory Des Jardins from BlogHer Inc. The Compass Partners study goes on to show that some people rate bloggers' writing as more credible than traditional media.

Click here to view the complete article:
It's a Bloggers World; learn to fit in

With this shift well on its way, organizations need to embrace the future of blogging. Those who stick with tradition are sure to be left behind because one thing is for sure - Times Are Changing!

Corporate Team Building

Posted Thursday, August 7, 2008 by Kaila Woodside

A few weeks back Compendium took a weekend to do a little team building - via white water rafting. The trip was amazing and everyone came back with a new energy and feeling of real camaraderie. Wilderness Voyaguers, my rafting company of choice in Ohiopyle is actually one of Compendium's clients. So as opposed to blogging immediately after our trip on our blog - I made a guest post on the WV blog. You can check it out here.

Wilderness Voyaguers has taken to blogging for search and they keep their blog updated with fun happenings in Ohiopyle as well as infromation on the trips they offer. Following blogging best practices with the help of their Client Success Manager, Sarah Sedberry- they will surely be one of our next top corporate bloggers.

Full Disclosure on Blogs

Posted Sunday, August 3, 2008 by Kristen Hanschu

In a recent ruling, the SEC will recognize corporate blogs as public disclosure. IR Web Reports states that, "...companies can rely on their websites and blogs to meet the public disclosure requirements under Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure), according to new guidance unanimously approved by the US Securities and Exchange Commission today."

This means that more companies will be utilizing public forums such as blogs to relay their most critical company facts and issues to the public. Long gone are press releases, welcome to the new age. From now on organizations will be communicating by using blogging platforms such as Compendium Blogware.

Not only does online distribution meet these disclosures, the art of search engine optimized press releases have the unique ability to appear in search engines tied to the key words your blogging about. This is where Compendium can offer businesses the ability to distribute news with added SEO functionality. When paired with a well-written, SEO optimized press releases, blogs can more than satisfy disclosure, they can inform your customers, investors, and clients on exactly where your company stands.

Additionally, people will be utilizing their social networking sites such as Facebook and LInked In to share these blogs with their social groups. Not only do these sites socialize content and link conversations across the web, they also help bloggers and other journalists write more effective and media rich content.

Want to Find Top Blogs?

Posted Thursday, July 31, 2008 by Chantelle Flannery

I know that sometimes I get writers block when I sit down to write a blog post. When I get stuck I always start with surfing the net and reviewing some of the most popular blogs for good ideas. I find that reading other blogs helps me develop better concepts/topics and gives me ideas on content formatting.

Finding blogs online is not a problem the problem is narrowing it down to the most popular and relevant blogs. The best place to start is to use the top lists that are already out there....

Technorati Top 100 Most Popular Blogs
Top100Bloggers.com
Digg's Top Stories (not all blogs)
del.icio.us Most Popular Bookmarks (not all blogs)

Video and Business Blogging: Fun and Profitable

Posted Thursday, July 31, 2008 by Chris Baggott

Big Corporatations try and make things so complicated. I always say that innovation starts at the bottom...the so called Minor Leagues. Think sports marketing, everything cool in sports marketing (bat night, concerts, fireworks...even frisbee dogs) started in Minor League Baseball.

This is especially true in business blogging. With the advent of Affordable blogging software, some of our best bloggers turn out to be coming not from the ivory towers of the fortune 500, but from the SMB's. Forget Jonathan Schwartz or Robert Scoble...

If you want to emulate great Blogging Best Practices, pay attention to Lizan Brand.

Lizan is focused on Blogging for Search. She highlights high value and unusual products using all the best SEO tactics including the right keywords, geo targeting and blended search favorites like video. Why?

So when someone is looking for a specific product or a drink recipe in Greenfield or any of the surrounding communities like the big city of Indianapolis, she's the number one choice.

As a result, she has been featured in the Indianapolis paper which is over 20 miles from her store. This week she was featured in DMNews (trust me, she doesn't consider herself a direct marketer) and the things that she blogs about, she is now buying by the case. This is the best thing about Business Blogging, telling a great story about things that move your business forward.

Sure Greenfield Liquors sells 6 packs of cold Miller Lite, but her profits come from high end wine and Liquor. Blogging on these topics rings the cash register.

Watch this video and see if you don't end up thirsting for a Root Beer Cocktail :-)

The Bloggers Code of Conduct

Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2008 by Chantelle Flannery

Over the past few years the concerns have been raised about how bloggers conduct themselves online. The most notable was Tim O'Reilly’s call for a bloggers code of conduct. Some of the more traditional bloggers gave a significant amount of push back to the situation while others embraced it. I think that it is important that all corporate blogging companies establish their own rules of conduct as it pertains to blogging.

Here are the main points that should be included in the code of conduct:

As an individual and as a company taking responsibility for content fond on the blog
Take a stance for/against use of images and videos you might not have the full rights to
An explanation for your commenting policies – to you respond via email/post/comment and do you even approve comments when appropriate
Policy for approving or declining posts – what content is acceptableHow success is measured and tracked on the blogs
An explanation for how the content from the analytics on the blog are used and what they are

What is a sticky post and why would I want one?

Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2008 by Chantelle Flannery

A ‘sticky post’ which is often used to describe the topic of the blog and include a picture of the blogger is will remain at the top of the blog and all subsequent posts appear under this ‘sticky post.’ There can only be one sticky post at a time and sticky posts can only be added to individual blogs. In order to create a sticky post follow the normal steps for creating a post and before you submit the post make sure that you check the box ‘Keep post at the top of my blog’.

Example Sticky Posts:

Compendium Blogware: Blogging & Teambuilding

Posted Monday, July 28, 2008 by Chris Baggott

Compendium Blogware Company Trip to Ohiopyle...lots of business blogging fodder

I'm sure a lot of good stories will come out of this weekend's Compendium Blogware's First Annual White Water Rafting Trip to Ohiopyle PA. The Story is best told in pictures, so please feel free to browse Kaila Woodsides's Flickr Compendium of the trip.

If one of the goals of Corporate Blogging is to humanize your organization, sharing your events and activities probably go a long way. I'm guessing anyone who sees these blog photos and reads the posts from the Employees that post to their Compendium Blogs will get a pretty good idea of the personality of our organization.

At the end of the day, advanced business blogging is about showing that you have smart, fun, passionate people...who all share a common goal of doing everything they can to make you a successful business blogger.

Corporate Blogging from another voice.

Posted Friday, July 25, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

Douglas Karr touched on a topic near and dear to our hearts here at Compendium Blogware in his post yesterday: Blogging for Business: New Tricks for Old Dogs.

Douglas does a great job breaking down how blogs are emerging as a marketing source for companies.

He addresses the pitfalls businesses are falling into, such as:

Dull conversations aren’t attracting readers
Business blogs turn into regurgitated press releases.
The topics don’t spark comments or trackbacks.
The posts lack personality and thought leadership.

"In short, the reason why business blogs are failing are because corporations are substituting a blogging application for their content management system."

At Compendium Blogware we help focus your posts and give you the tools to help make your corporate blog successful. We stress blogging for a purpose and assist in creating a strategy with your business to get a return on your investment.

Douglas also touches on what they can do to ensure success.

"Gaining authority and search engine results"
           - This is part of the package with Compendium - our expertise in SEO"

"Implementing a blogging platform that guides the blogger effortlessly through the posting process"
         - Our platform allows the user to easily create and post content, provides a                 list of keywords to focus on, and an indicator letting the blogger know                     how strong their post is.

"Blogging is a not an overnight success. Great blogging results require momentum and constant analysis and improvement."
           - Our Client Success Team is here to provide support and guidance                             regarding content ideas, best practices, tips and tricks to keep the                         process simple and stress-free.

Another feature of our platform is that there is an administrative layer that monitors the content that ends up published.

These are all reasons why Compendium Blogware can be the best answer for any business looking to begin a corporate blog.

(Also a thanks to Douglass for the plug!) :o)

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