corporate blogging

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!

The Worst Thing I Heard At Blog Indiana

Posted Wednesday, August 20, 2008 by Chris Baggott

So I was privileged to teach a session on Advanced Business Blogging at the recent Blog Indiana event in Indianapolis. I learned a lot and there were some really smart people with some really good ideas and advice for Blogging in general and Corporate Blogging specifically.

But there was a LOT of Bull S--- too. I'm not normally one to go negative but some of this stuff makes me so mad that smoke comes out of my ears.

Blog Indiana Bad Business Blogging Advice, Comment Monitoring

The experience has given me an idea for a whitepaper: "Top Ten Lies about Business Blogging" (once I calm down, I'll probably change the word Lies to Myths)

This person (who's name escapes me) was doing a session on Business Blogging as well. A woman asked about comments and explained that her CEO wouldn't let them start a company blog unless he could review and reject comments he didn't like.

The advice?? Basically, it's better not to do a blog at all if you are going to actively manage comments!

I was incredulous.   Of course a corporation has to monitor not only comments, but blog posts as well. There is a lot of responsibility and liability for anything that appears on your site...including your blogs.

If Blog Benefits = 100%   Comments in general represent < 10% of that benefit.

The reality is that most business blogs never get that many comments anyway. Comments should never be used as a primary gage of success.   Think about Traffic, Search Engine Optimization and Conversions. Those are the real metrics of blogging best practices.

So my surprise was this idea that if you are not 100% you shouldn't do anything at all was just bad advice.

Stay tuned...I've got another 9 to go :-)

Team building at Oliver

Posted Tuesday, August 19, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

Those of us in the Client Success area at Compendium Blogware (as well as our entire organization) work hard and pride ourselves on our ability to work well together in order to ensure our clients are seeing ROI on their Corporate Blogs. Every now and then, we do break out of the office for some team building.

Last week the Client Success team took a team trip to Oliver Winery, located in Bloomington, Indiana. For those not familiar with the Indiana terrain, Bloomington is home to Indiana University, and is south of Indianapolis.

Client Success Team with Bill and Dennis in Oliver Vineyard

(Front Row: Dennis Dunham (Oliver), Chantelle Flannery, and Abby Brosmer-Rivera)
(Back Row: Loren Sandman (ICVA), Kristen Hanschu, Sarah Sedberry, Jeff Lefevere, and Bill Oliver (Oliver))

It was an experience none of us will soon forget, as we were taken on a personal tour of the Winery and Vineyard by Bill Oliver (Owner) and Dennis Durham (Winemaker), and treated to a fantastic dinner prepared by Oliver Winery's own Heidi, at the Oliver Farmhouse.

Our team was able to see how wine is made from start to finish at Oliver, complete with tours of their lab, tasting from the oak barrels, seeing them package the wine,

to sampling their new line of Skydog.

For those that are not familiar, there have been several commercials out recently promoting this new line of wines from Oliver. There are several new aspects to Skydog for Oliver, including a twist cap (instead of the traditional cork), and a economical price of $7.50 a bottle.

Most endearing about this line of wines, currently involving a red, white, and rose, is the mascot. To quote straight from the bottle...."Watch out…it's hard to resist a dog with a jet pack."

Dennis, Sarah, and Bill with the Skydog line

The day was a special one for all of us, and we could not be more appreciative to Bill and Dennis for their personalized attention and the patience to answer all our questions! We will not soon forget the experience and hope to plan a return trip soon.

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/

Ready, Set, Go!

Posted Friday, August 15, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

Our implementation manager here at Compendium, Abby, has done an excellent job of graduating several clients this week and we are very excited to see what they can do.

Check out the newest Corporate blogs to Compendium's platform:

Data Recovery Specialists: A company that focuses on data recovery and computer forensics. Their success rate for data recovery is one of the highest in the industry and they offer extremely competitive rates for their services.

MediaTile:MediaTile is one of the very few companies in the world that provides a comprehensive, all-in-one digital signage platform that integrates an LCD HD display, media player, network access, and a web-based control system.

Roberts Distributors: Roberts focus is on Photo, Video, Electronics, and Imaging. They offer comprehensive classes as well as all the equipment needed to make you a pro!

We look forward to great content and although they were not able to get into this month's Blogging Tournament - Content for the Crown, I'm sure they will give the next round of competition a run for their money!

Search Engine Optimization spending increases

Posted Friday, August 15, 2008 by Eric Romer

A new survey from the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization (SEMPO) shows that both advertisers and agencies are ramping up their spending in Search Marketing, particularly organic SEO. This shouldn't be shocking news, as Search Marketing has steadily grown, and will continue to grow as less and less people use destination websites.

It's not rocket science. If I am looking for a particular brand of jeans, or a specific tea pot my mom was talking about, I search. I Google "cast iron asian tea pot", and start my research.

As the survey shows, advertisers are increasing their organic SEO by 28%, and agencies by 73% (the highest increase of all the categories!). So what does this mean? It means companies are trying to optimize a traditional website to be found on many different keywords. The only problem is a website will only be able to capture a handful of keywords. There are hundreds, thousands of different ways I can search for that tea pot. As a business who sells that product, I need to cast a wide net and be found on as many of those terms as possible.

Don't believe me? If you have 5 minutes, check out this Whitepaper that discusses how traditional SEO efforts pale in comparison to a corporate blogging solution when it comes to organic search.

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

But...how will I find the time?!

Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 by Lindsey Young

Time is money. This statement just becomes more and more literal as families, businesses, and life get more demanding. Between juggling day to day duties of our positions within our companies, employers and employees alike are hesitate to add one more responsibility to the mix, such as blogging. A common misconception within the group of people I speak with is that investing in a corporate blog is going to eat up too much of their time. Erroneous! I like to negate this idea with the following information: the beauty of our compended blogs is that the responsibility is spread out among several people, the time needed to create a post is minimal...and here is the point I really want to stress to potential clients with the time constraint objection:

Each user should post 2-3 times per week
Approximately 250 word blog posts
Conversational in tone
10-15 minutes MAX to create

If you did the math there, that's about 30 minutes a week! Blogs shouldn't be rocket science, just engage your reader enough to take the next step. Finding relevant information through your company blog will point them in the right direction to becoming your client, customer, or consumer.

The New Age of Recruiting

Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2008 by meghan peters

Many organizations are used to posting open positions or internships on their website, compiling submitted resumes and then weeding out for interviews. But what if this process was changed and all the work was done by the student and all the company had to do was show up for an interview? This may seem like a strange idea, but it's not so strange for those ambitious and creative college students. With hard times in the economy and job market, many college students are trying to find another way to land their first big position or internship.

This introduces you to the idea of informational interviews. Informational interviews are basically when a soon-to-be college grad does some research on a company they find interesting then contact a specific department to see if they can conduct an informational interview to get to know the company and positions they offer, and to sneak in some advice from someone who has been in the business for a while.

Now you are probably wondering how this pertains to blogs? In a recent blog post on MarketingSherpa by Anne Holland she found that the blogosphere is a great place for college grads to do some research on potential future employers. Not only does blogging boost your SEO but it also puts a human voice to your company, which helps students identify with your company a bit easier.

There are a lot of students that graduate from college every summer and companies want to be sure they get someone who is going to bring something to the table. So why not attract some bright stars? I'm sure you already have plenty of great reasons to implement Corporate Blogging, but I think you can add this to your list!

Blogging Tournament!

Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

It is Tournament time here at Compendium Blogware. The quest "Content for the Crown" has officially begun!!

Content for the Crown

To see who you are up against, check out the tournament bracket.

Let your competitive spirit out and make sure you post! Click here to login and start writing content for your corporate blog now.

Also, we encourage healthy competition and banter. Feel free to post comments, as trash talking is allowed. Please do keep in mind that unsportsmanlike conduct is not condoned and could result in disqualification from the Tournament.

When it comes to witting content for the Blogging Tournament - One thing to remember is that content will be reviewed and all posts 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 your 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.)

You can follow the blog tournament progress on Chantelle's blog.

Finding Time to Blog

Posted Wednesday, August 13, 2008 by Jim Hyslop

So I know that I have already blogged about this issue but it seems to come up a lot. In fact I just read a post by Shel Holtz where he also addresses the issue that I hear all the time, "my staff is already maxed...we just don't have time to blog" and it got me thinking again.

The truth is by saying you don't have time to blog you are really saying I don't have time to communicate. I know I would never hear the same answer in regard to email or phone calls. The idea of not communicating by phone would be unheard of! We need to re-tune our minds to look at the blog in this exact way....as another form of corporate communication with our clients and business prospects on a human level. The beauty of the blog is now our method of communication is serving multiple purposes. Engaging our prospects, optimizing your company in the search rankings, and turning visitors into customers by your ability to do both of the first two things. But to do so you need the tools that allow you to do this.You need to incorporate methods of advanced business blogging.

The real time issue with managing a corporate blog does not come from communicating...it comes from managing the blog for ROI. There is a lot of lifting that happens to leverage that communication for your maximum benefit. At the end of the day if your company uses the right blogging tools to do this for you, you will inevitably secure the many benefits of blogging you deserve while at the same time never allowing your clients and potential customers to rank below the number one spot on your lists of priorities.

Driving business comes from the ability to acquire new customers by communicating to them you have exactly what they need. So by saying you don't have time to blog you are really saying I don't have time to obtain new forms of revenue. From a business perspective that just doesn't make sense. Blog for SEO. Blog for engagement. Blog for ROI!!!!

Business growth = Good Stuff..........Happy Blogging!

My Facebook Addiction and Blogging

Posted Friday, August 8, 2008 by Jenni Edwards

I admit, I have a slight Facebook addiction and through my self justification of this time waster --- I realized a few of the reasons I am so addicted to Facebook:

There is always something new to see, whether someone has added new pictures or updated their relationship status. I believe there is some certain interest in anything new --- most of these 'new things' I couldn't care less about in real life and would never seek out the information -- but its there right in front of my face and NEW so I look at it.
It's real --- real people, that are also at their computers updating their status, adding pictures and adding friends. These people are LIKE ME.
Pictures and videos -- I read all day...emails, the paper, notes...how nice is it to see engaging PICTURES and VIDEOS. The cheesy line of "a picture says a thousand words" isn't too far off when it comes to looking through someone's Facebook photos.

The thing is...these three things are the same reasons that blogs are so great to engage prospects! Now, being focused on business blogging, my end goal isn't to get someone to visit my corporate blog five times a day, but it is to engage the reader and the same tactics that make social networking so addictive can work, even for the non-social networkers that are out there searching for the solution to their problem on search engines -- having a well search engine optimized business blog that includes the newness factor along with real, human interaction (showing people that I am normal and like them) and having some great engaging videos and pictures can be a great tactic to engage your prospects in a deeper conversation to learn more about your business, just as Facebook can be a great place for individuals to learn more about one another (whether necessary information or not).

What's your blog bracketology?

Posted Friday, August 8, 2008 by Chantelle Flannery

Can you predict the bracket? In order to set up your picks go to the brackets main page and click on the ‘predict it’ link at the top of the bracket. Create a login for the bracket system and fill out your picks. The person who most accurately predicts the bracket will win a special prize. Note that the prize winner must be contributing content to their corporate blog during the entire tournament. You have until midnight on Monday August 11th to finalize your bracket.

One thing to note - although we are a competitive group here at Compendium we do not condone office gambling as it relates to this tournament and we will also not be held responsible for loss of productivity :-) Please make sure that your focusing on how you can help your team advance in the bracket create content.

Click here to add content to your blog now.

Writing Content for the Blogging Tournament

Posted Friday, August 8, 2008 by Chantelle Flannery

The first round of the competition begins on Monday August 11th and ends on Sunday August 17th. Now is the time to begin motivating bloggers and planning out content for next week. For some great content development tips check out probloggers post on”24 things to do when stuck for a topic to blog about”.

Personally when I am stuck the when writing a blog post the first thing I do is start reading industry newsletters. I probably receive at least 10 new industry emails a day and subscribe to at least 20 RSS feeds that I read on a regular basis. When you're stuck what do you do?

When it comes to witting content for the Blogging Tournament -
One thing to remember is that content will be reviewed and all posts 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 your 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.

Start adding posts to your corporate blog today!

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.

Google ramping up YouTube ads

Posted Thursday, August 7, 2008 by Eric Romer

I came across an blog post from Saul Hansell in the New York Times' Bits blog that highlights what most of us regular YouTube users have noticed lately: an increase in ad-supported videos.

The author points out that the ads are more reminiscent of "the gaudiness of MySpace than the sterility of Google," and describes how the Kings of Search are trying to get a return on their $1.65 billion investment when they purchased YouTube last year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of behavioral targeting when done properly, and not intrusively like Facebook's Beacon nightmare. For example, the image above has a text ad in the top right corner for Obama's book, which is probably relevant to a person watching a video about the man. But, like Saul said, it's a little harder to justify "enhancing user experience" with a Nissan ad that pops up on the bottom.

As online video grows (which it will), I'm sure this model will be tweaked and improved. However, right now, it's very much a "shouting" method of marketing. The first time an ad has no relevance to me, I stop paying attention. This only needs to happen once or twice (Myspace is a prime example), and then I tune out.

For businesses trying to reach their target audience, corporate blogging software allows you to create very relevant, personal content for those in the market to buy. The best "behavioral targeting" is to deliver highly relevant, recent information to those seeking it. As the digital shift continues, every organization will have a company blog in the next 3-5 years.

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.

Newspapers and Blogging?

Posted Thursday, July 31, 2008 by Jenni Edwards

Chris pointed out a great article today in the Wall Street Journal exploring the situation of many newspapers as they are struggling to master local online advertising. A few factors are at play with this struggle; but big picture, newspapers suffer from cannibalistic revenue -- the idea that if one segment of their business gains revenue it is likely coming out of the other business arm. For example, a car dealer buys online ads and pulls back their print ad budget with the same newspaper. So why as a marketer would I do this? One reason is that people think of a newspaper's website as a destination and online marketers are focused on winning searches not being a sidenote on a website that they are already advertising to the same audience in the print version (note the chart to the left with 53.3% spent with Internet Companies).

So what's a newspaper to do? Win organic search. In the spirit of "if you can't beat them, join them."

If I (as a newspaper) win local searches I now am not only selling my subscription base to the advertisers, but also selling the 'general public' as potential impressions or conversions to the advertisers. I have changed my 'product'. The newspaper also increases its page views and traffic and can charge more for the same ad space. It really can work and make sense...imagine this situation: A personsearches "Atlanta Business News"; is brought to a blog via search that is only focused on "Atlanta Business News"; has a great user experience and notices an ad for "Low Cost Business Furniture" on the blog, clicks and converts. The furniture store is now able to target a larger audience than going at it alone and has also associated itself with a generally respected newspaper that has plenty of content to win organic searches through a corporate blogging strategy.

Obsession...

Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

Alright, I admit it. I have completely given into to the iPhone craze (although, I still retain some pride as I did not stand in line for 5 hours to get the phone on the first day, I waited until day 2).

iPhone

This is my first Apple product so I am certainly no apple-head, but I can now understand the passion expressed by Apple users. However, this conversion of loyalty is not caused by what you would think. As Jon Fortt over at Fortune Magazine mentions in his article:

"The iPhone’s magic isn’t in the features – not the 2-megapixel camera, or the Safari web browser, or even the music and video capabilities. It’s in Apple’s knack for making all those features easier to locate and use." Not only is Apple making it easier for consumers to use, they are also reshaping the wireless game by making a move "from phone sales to software development".

The iPhone's impact on business is monumental as well. There are endless choices out there for the professional looking to be mobile; but with the iPhone's ease of use, larger screen, quicker web access and user-friendly internet tools make it an easy choice for me. Having access to the internet no matter where you (as long as you have a signal) without having to carry around a clunkly laptop/computer bag will only breed more and more users surfing the web.

The next time I'm standing in line, have a lay over in the airport, or waiting on my friends for a get together - guess what I'll be doing - that's right, checking in on all of my clients blog posts (ha ha).

In all seriousness though, with the focus on technology, it is important that a business get their name out there and be searchable. Corporate blogs are a perfect answer to this, as search engines love the fresh, relevant, and frequent content that blogs create. Our blogging platform keeps the process simple, as well as, delivers powerful results (like the iPhone). Not to mention, we also partner with our clients, and provide day to day support, and are available to answer any questions that may arise.

Millions of searches are run every day, and we here at Compendium Blogware want to help ensure that it's your company that is showing up in those searches, for your targeted consumer. With our easy to use software, active support and customer service, your corporate blog will see success and perhaps you'll become "obsessed" as well...

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