Corporate blogging software

Welcome aboard Bauer 360!

Posted Monday, August 4, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

Our latest client to graduate from Implementation and Training with Abby is Bauer 360.

Bauer 360 specializes in Consulting, Training and Research pertaining to Internet Marketing and Web Production needs of a company. They offer a wide range of services including Web Development, E-Mail Marketing, E-Newsletters, Cell Phone Marketing, Digital Video Production, Search Engine Optimization, Social Networking, Pay Per Click and Banner Ads. They will work with your business to build an E-plan, so that you are prepared and ready for success.

Compendium Blogware and Bauer 360 have similar goals in mind as we are both committed to listen to your desires, educating our clients on processes and metrics, creating and incorporate your goals in order for the customers to see increased productivity, drive down costs, and see improved results on ROI.

I look forward to working with Ross and the gang at Bauer 360. Check them out here, as they are already on the ball and are up and posting!

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.

Using Corporte Blogs to Disclose Information to Investors

Posted Friday, August 1, 2008 by Megan Glover

The SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) announced this week that corporate websites and other forms of online media such as blogs will be a permissible vehicle to disclose information for investors.

Here's a good article that gets to the heart of the ruling.

So why is this so important for enterprise blogging solutions, like Compendium? Couple reasons:

1. Need - the need for corporations to have blog software is only going to increase.

2. Legitimacy - occasionally we'll get the question, "is blogging a fad?" We know the answer is "no" but now we have the federal government promoting blogging for business as a "recognized channel for distribution."

And, for businesses - gosh what better time to embrace a blogging strategy, and save up a little cash that would otherwise go to releases! So now among other things business can blog to:

disclose information
get found in organic search
humanize their marketing
and, blog to acquire new business.

There couldn't be a more profitable and deserving time for businesses to start blogging.

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.

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 :-)

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...

Does the Thought of Corporate Blogging Make Your Head Explode?

Posted Wednesday, July 30, 2008 by Ali Sales

You're not alone. This article, 25 Tips for Marketing Your Blog, made me think of how daunting business blogging can be for any kind of organization.

There are some good tips in this article, don't get me wrong.

It's just a lot to think about, and you're a busy person, right? I am a big fan of using subject matter experts (SMEs) as much as possible. I don't want to be an accounting pro or a legal pro -- I want to have a basic understanding and then pay and rely on people around me to help.

Okay, so you know where I'm heading with this:

Wouldn't it be great if you could do the same thing with a corporate blogging program?
Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a blogging partner who can worry about all the details so that you can focus on writing content for your company blogs?
Oh, and wouldn't it be great to use a blogging solution that lets you log in, type your content, and then the blogging software itself structures that content in a way that helps you get found in the search engines?

Well, stop the head explosion and accept that you don't have to know all the answers in order to get started. You just have to find the right partner, and by default, the right blogging tool.

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's a Business Blog Supposed To Accomplish?

Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2008 by Chris Baggott

There was some feedback from my interview on Blog Squad Radio last week about the Compendium Approach to Business Blogging was too Corporate.

I posted this reply:

I wanted to thank you both for a great session last week. Your questions were insightful and I really appreciate your open-mindedness for some of these new concepts.

A successful relationship requires direct communication. To get the right to build a relationship with a customer or prospect you have to first be found, second build credibility that a relationship with you will add value to the prospect or customer.

Blogging is spectacular for this stage of the relationship. From that point however 99% of the time that relationship is going to evolve to leverage some other medium...which might include face-to-face, email, telephone or even paper based things like catalogs.

You guys are a perfect case to show that a successful blogging program shouldn't be measured by the number of comments...but from the amount of traffic and conversions.Thanks again,

Chris Baggott, CEO
Compendium Blogware

Advanced Business Blogging Strategy, requires that your employee and constituent content should be mostly about your business. Blog about your solutions, your customers, your aspirations as it relates to your products & services. This is what people are searching for...great blog information that helps them and builds trust

Cuil Search Engine: An Outsider's Review

Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2008 by Jenni Edwards

Another search engine? Are we really in need? Maybe if it is drastically better, maybe if it makes my life easier; but in general I am not sitting there wanting a new search engine, but I also have to assume that most marketers aren't sitting wanting for a corporate blogging tool --- it's my job to show them that they need one. So has Cuil convinced me to switch from Google? Not quite. Although Cuil was founded by Google engineers and brags about the increased number of pages that are combed through and the ability to search the so called 'deep web'. In addition, the search results look more like a magazine than a list, as traditional web searches do. Not to mention the $33M in venture-capital money.

Interesting concept...but a bit confusing for my first try. Also, was a bit surprised with the results of a few test searches. Unfortunately, it looks like this evening that their servers were a bit overloaded and I wasn't able to get results for a few terms. I like the innovation, pushing every search engine to be better and better. However, this doesn't seem game changing for Compendium because at the end of the day --- a search engine's success will always be based on its ability to serve up the most relevant results based on the search terms in the quickest and most user friendly way.

What does this mean to our business? Not much --- we measure some of our client's success with Google and benchmark search standings there as well; but the topically driven corporate blogs that are created from the Compendium system are search engine neutral.

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.

Finding Time to Blog

Posted Monday, July 28, 2008 by Jim Hyslop

It seems as we move along in this new realm of blogging with a corporate focus for search engine optimization and return on investment one of the largest concerns expressed by management is access to the resources necessary to make a corporate blog successful. What we need to remember here is blogging is simple. Do not over think it. We all know a lot about our business but we don't have to get it all out in a single post. That is the Beauty of a blog.It is not America's next best selling novel instead it is a coffee talk conversation and should be focused on human engagement.

Best practices in blogging- by Compendium tell us that these posts should take 10 -15 minutes MAX! 200-250 words MAX! Remember...the key to SEO is recency and frequency of your blog posts NOT how much you say per post. So don't be worried about who will contribute and how much lost productivity may come from people needing to allocate time to blogging, instead think of it this way, by allowing people within your organization the 20-30 minutes they need each week to contribute a couple posts they will actually be building your lead generating machine.

Is Blogging Only for SEO Wrong?

Posted Friday, July 25, 2008 by Ali Sales

Blogging for SEO isn't wrong, but it can't be your only goal. Why? Because it's the tip of the iceberg. Of course you want your business to get found through search as many ways as possible, but your goal can't stop there.

You want a prospect to find your business blogs through search, and then what?

There is a next step. What is it? You want them to find one of your corporate blogs and then read sixteen posts before leaving the page? You want them to find one of your blogs and then subscribe to an RSS feed in order to come back over and over again and do nothing but read?

You see what I'm getting at here of course.

Your corporate blogging strategy can't focus on only the search engine optimization aspect. SEO is a means to the end, and your end is to make money by creating new relationships. That's it. If someone clicks to your blog from search and finds a webpage that's impersonal, unprofessional, and full of pointless information, then your blogging program is completely falling flat.

Today Compendium's very own Chris Baggott, will be hosting a webinar that goes into more detail on these topics. The webinar will also cover blogging tips, blogging best practices, and more. This is a great opportunity to ask any burning blogging questions. Get details and sign up for the webinar here.

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)

How to measure your Corporate Blog Interview

Posted Thursday, July 24, 2008 by Chris Baggott

Blog Squad Compendium Blogware Chris Baggott Corporate Blogging software solution

I'll be a guest today at 5pm est of the Blog Squad to discuss how to Track and Measure your Corporate or Business Blog. Be sure to tune in :-)

You have to register, and can do that on the Blog Squad Site....

Advances in Technology – What does the Future hold in store for Blogging?

Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008 by Chantelle Flannery

I have always been the type of person to think about what things are going to be like in 5 or 10 years… within reason of course not in the sci-fi startrecky kind of way. I love reading geeky articles about the newest innovations. Just imagine in a few years we will all have touch screen monitors in our end tables and we will be able to play chess directly on the surface or flip though a digital photo album with friends. With that in mind how do you think it will change the way we blog?

If you think about it search is already starting to change by incorporating images and videos in results. To try this for yourself just try Googling Darth Vader. Because we know how search is starting to change we can begin to adjust our content to account for this. Make sure that your switching up your text based content with video and images. The verity of content will also make for more engaged readers.

But really you can look at my previous statement and say that there are already vodcasters, podcasters, and image only blogs… so then my question to you is what do you think the next big shift in blogging will be?

For a great article that will help you get your futuristic thinking cap on check out this article.

Welcome GroupeSTAHL

Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

I would like to welcome our newest client in the Compendium family, and help jump start them in to the blogosphere:

Groupestahl

GroupeSTAHL is headquartered in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, and is a manufacturer of pre-cut felt letters and numbers. They have been a leader in the imprinted sportswear industry since 1932 and has grown into a global supplier with manufacturing facilities, distribution and customer service centers around the world.

Some of their accolades include:

World's largest manufacturer of heat presses
Inventor of Thermo-FILM, CAD-CUT, and Hotronix
Hold over 65 industry-related patents and trademarks
Have consistently obtained over 10% growth each year for the last 20 years.

They have just finished up our implementation process with Abby, and are already posting content to their corporate blog. With all of their expertise and experience, I look forward to reading what they have to say!

Check GroupeSTAHL's blog out here.

Your Acquisition Dream Come True

Posted Wednesday, July 23, 2008 by Ali Sales

I don't care what kind of business you are, or what industry you're in. Your acquisition dream is probably pretty similar to mine. And it goes something like this:

1.    A prospect that knows nothing about your company "Googles" a problem or a need that you can solve.

2.    The prospect sees your result on the first page of Google in the organic results, and the title of the result matches the phrase, which causes them to click on it

3.    The prospect lands on your webpage, does around 60 seconds of credibility checking, reading, light research, and likes what he/ she sees.

4.    The prospect notices that there is a way to engage with you immediately and contacts you to start a conversation.

My dreams come true on a daily basis because of our corporate blogging program, and today was no different. Here's what happened:

1.    A prospect with no knowledge of Compendium or our blogging platform "Googled" what the needed -- "Blogging Solution”

2.    Prospect found Compendium’s “Blogging Solution” blog as the #1 organic result. Prospect clicked on blog, did brief research

3.    Prospect clicked on "Instant Chat" available in the sidebar of the blog and immediately engaged with someone from our staff.

How can you make this happen for you? Well, funny you should ask...see that little "Instant Chat" ad on the side of my blog? Go ahead and click to talk to us. We're ready to share our blogging secrets anytime.

Increasing Referral Sites

Posted Tuesday, July 22, 2008 by Sarah Sedberry

As a Client Success Manager here at Compendium, it is my responsibility to stay on top of my clients blogging efforts and to help guide them with best practices in blogging.

The first and foremost important thing about having a successful blog is posting frequent content. Best practices are to blog a minimum of 2 posts per week, per individual blogger.

We have several clients who are doing a phenomenal job of this; Visit Tampa Bay and Big League Tours are just two examples. Due to their frequency of posting their SEO rankings are following suit, as well as, sites referring traffic to them.

A key tactic that these corporate blogs are using is simply putting links in their posts, referring readers to other sites for articles, pictures, more information, etc... Search Engines LOVE the traffic that is generated by these embedded links.

Whats more is that if you start to link out to other sites, they will start to link back to you (as long as your content is relevant). Then as readers are perusing their sites, it will direct traffic to your blog. Therefore increasing your traffic, number of referring sites, number of new visitors, and ultimately the number of potential consumers!

For more information on how to begin building links into your blog posts, check out this article, from SEOBook.com, on 101 Link Building Tips. It provides insight on link baiting and multiple ideas on how an individual can add links to blog posts.

Google's Earnings Are Down

Posted Sunday, July 20, 2008 by Jenni Edwards

Late last week Google announced its quarterly earnings with disappointing results; only the fourth time they have ever missed Wall Street's expectations. So what's behind this? Well, first of all it's important to note that even though Google didn't meet Wall Street's expectations; they still rose from Net Income in Q2 of 2007 of $925B to Net Income of $1.25B this past quarter.

What does this mean to the search community? Internet and technology companies are historically volatile, but Google is the mother ship and rarely misses the mark. So a couple of the reasons why Net Income and some revenue numbers were off the mark this past quarter:

Acquisition of DoubleClick
Increased costs associated with hedging foreign currencies (one of the most interesting things about corporate finance in a multinational company --- how much a currency fluctuation can change the bottom line)

Net-net, Google is still just as dominating as it was prior to this announcement in my eyes. Google is who we, as a business blogging platform focused on winning organic search, will continue to benchmark against and use as a primary search engine of measuring clients success because with over 60% of the US market share it really is the elephant in the room when it comes to online acquisition --- so, being Google's friend and working in good faith to structure content in the best way for the user experience is exactly what we are focused in doing here at Compendium.

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