Over the past few weeks I have been working with a few clients to re-design their blog. The re-designs are happening for a few different reasons - but the #1 reason is always to increase conversions. A blog for business that brings in 1500 visits a day - but doesn't convert a single
on to a lead is problematic. Check out a few great new blog re-designs:
blog.widen.comsurvey.cvent.comblog.hhgregg.com
Blogging Best Practices push for a stand out Call to Action on your blog that will easily allow visitors to take the next step with your business. Take a look at the widen blog (pictured right) the nice eye-catching image with an easy to locate call to action to "TAKE THE TOUR" immediately grab the attention of the searchers.
These re-designs have been in place for only a short period of time and have already generated more leads and/or more qualified leads on average.
Happy Halloween from Compendium! That cutie over there is my sweet little cousin Carter dressed up in his astronaut costume. He is my motivation for my Halloween post of the day. 5 spooky ideas for your next 5 blog posts that follow blogging best practices:
1. Tell a spooky story. Testimonials are a great way to allow your prospects to hear from your current clients.
2. Creepy Statistics - Your prospects want numbers. Numbers showing clear ROI from your product are great ideas for blog posts.
3. Show a Scary Video! Videos embedded right into your blog post will give your readers a different way to connect with your product.
4. Report on an evil story. Sharing a story where your company is highlighted is a great way to talk about your company's success from another angle.
5. Happy Halloween - blogging about timely holidays and events are great for search. Show your personal side and share how your company celebrates holidays and events.
Candy, pizza, milkshakes, paid time off, movies during lunch, happy hour drinks, cash... etc, etc. You name it - our blogging administrator has done it. Incentive programs that is. At Compendium all it really takes is a little friendly competition or incentives to get employees to blog. Take me for example: I am not a dedicated blogger. Typically, my name is used when referring to the idea that you "can't appoint bloggers". However, tonight, a Saturday night on Halloween, I am blogging. (and passing out candy to cute tricker treaters from the big bag of candy on the right).
Powerful blogging software needs lots and lots of content to be successful and sometimes its just takes the right type of motivation for each person to become a dedicated blogger. What did I need, you ask? What drives me to blog at 9:00 PM on Saturday night is that it is now part of my job. Each month every blogger on the client success team has a set number of blog posts they need to write. This isn't a huge number - 10-13 posts is all. But knowing that it is part of my job, keeps me motivated to get to that number.
Every day I am talking with blogging administrators on how to keep their bloggers motivated, and sometimes it just takes a little trial and error to find out what motivates the blogging team. Talk with your Compendium Client Success manger today about some ideas for your own blogging program.
Just yesterday
Julie Murphy signed on Compendium's newest client,
Western River Expedition.
I for one am super excited about our newest client and am lucky enough to become their client success manager. As a kayaker, mountain biker, rock climber and former river guide myself I love that an outdoor company is taking advantage of powerful blogging software.
Western River Expeditions has a dedicated blog program administrator (which we all know is the one of the biggest success factors for a great blog for search engine optimization), a very forward thinking owner and exciting subject matter to blog about!
Stay tuned for some of Western River Expedition's success stories in the coming months!
New clients coming on board with Compendium are always wondering if they can see some of our best-looking templates . Obviously, "best" is a relative term - and when I say best I mean a template that has great calls-to-action, high conversion rates and high read times. Here are some of the templates that I send new clients to:
CVENT Web Survey Software CVENT Event Management Lydia's Uniforms Roto Rooter ExactTarget Widen Each of these blogs has a great design that follows blogging best practice and makes it easy for the searcher to take the next step with the company. A blog for business should highlight the company's' brand and give the searcher in each stage of the buying process a possible next step. If you'd like to learn more about how to update your blog software template, email us at help@compendium.com!
Over the last month the client success team has been collecting success stories from our
clients. These stories are collected either while on the phone with a client, through email or while compiling ROI data for a client. In just 30 days we have collected over 46 clients succes stories. That's two stories EVERY day from clients. A coulple great success stories from my clients are:
While helping her husband set up a blog with a free blogging service, Nancy from DCR Virginia State Parks said she forgot how great Compendium was and that our blogging interface is what is so great.
A few days after launching the blog program for OpenView Venture Partners, Kellie Stacey said that "Everyone that I have worked with so far from Compendium has been great! The staff is professional, timely, and pleasant. Thank you for all of your help so far with our implementation!"
Stay tuned for more client success stories from Compendium!
This coming Tuesday I will be heading out to visit one of my favorite clients at GK Elite, Andrew Foss. GK Elite, who sells competitive gymnastics leotards, is about to celebrate their one year
anniversary as a Compendium client so I figured that I would head out to Reading, Pennsylvania (my home state) to meet up with Andrew in person.
The GK Elite blog has paid for itself a few times over and continues to grow every day. One week the blog even produces over $10,000 in sales - in ONE WEEK! A few weeks back we even added a second blog to the network -
cheer.gkelite.com.
During this trip I hope to really dive into the GK Elite statistics, ROI, and overall sauces of the program. We know that GK Elite is a very successful client and I cant wait to hear more stories of how a blog for search engine optimization has turned the up the amount of search traffic and what the sales have been over the past year. I will follow up after my trip with great numbers of how easy to use blog software has impacted the company.
If there is one thing that makes a powerful blogging software even more powerful its a great
blogging administrator. The main job of a blogging administrator is to approve and decline the blog content submitted by the company bloggers. But a great blogging administrator does much more. A great blogging administrator typically does the following as well:
1.) motivates the team of bloggers daily with new ideas
2.) develops incentive programs for the bloggers
3.) understands exactly how to track the success of the blog program back to a clear ROI
4.) is also a blogger and contributes daily to the blog
5.) is personally excited and motivated by the blog program
6.) understands blogging best practices and enforces those with the bloggers.
A great blogging administrator can be the difference between a good and a great blog for search engine optimization.
A few weeks back the Client Success Team met up with a Google Analytics expert to learn more about what Google Analytics can do for our clients who are leveraging corporate blogging software. The more SEO tools and tracking ability a client has, the more they will know what their blog is doing for them. One feature really stood out to me during this session is the ability to tag links and track them throughout the analytics.
For example, lets say you are putting together a newsletter campaign. If you are leveraging email software, like ExactTarget, you are able to track open rates and click through rates through the software - but how do you track the reader after they have clicked through to your blog? With
Google's URL builder you can do just
that.
A few easy steps to follow:
1.) Enter the URL of your blog site
2.) Fill in the fields:
- Campaign Source
- Campaign Medium
- Campaign Name
3.) Generate Code
4.) Use the generated hyperlink to send newsletter readers to your blog and track them through your analytics.
Tracking these readers:
Find your Direct Traffic. Within your direct traffic look, for your campaign source (IE: October Newsletter). Count of the conversions, read times, pages viewed/visit, etc to understand what these readers do after they leave your newsletter!
A blogging strategy is an important investment for clients, but if you don't know where all of your traffic is coming from and where its going... then you might not understand how powerful of a tool it really is.
Calling all Compendium Clients! Last Chance! Last Chance! This afternoon at 2:00 PM EST the Client Success team will be talking about Calls-to-Actions
on your Compendium blog. Call-to-Action, or CTAs, are the lead generation gateway to your business. A blog with great search rankings, great content and no CTAs would be useless as you aren't giving your prospect any reason to continue the conversation with you. CTAs are a trackable way to ensure that the folks who are finding your blog are engaged enough to take the next step.
This afternoon, Chantelle Flannery will be discussing blogging best practices for what makes a good call to action. She will go through Compendium's guidelines for CTAs and even highlight several client CTAs that are working well.
To join the webinar just register
HERE (or click on the Call to Action in this blog post).
Every time I meet with a client who is having a hard time keeping their bloggers motivated, I always ref
er to one of the best strategies I have heard thus far: Smiley Faces.
ExactTarget, a long time user of Compendium, had a tough time motivating the 300+ plus employees to blog. They tried contests, games, prizes, etc - and it would produce a bit more content, but they needed more. A constant reminder for the bloggers. A few months back they came up with a brilliant idea that has worked really well for their company. Each week the marketing team counts up the posts written during the previous week and throughout the month for each of the bloggers. Then, leveraging their email marketing program they send a personalized email to each and every blogger letting them k
now where they stand. Included on this email is the Team goal, blogging best practices, tips and tricks as well as a few blog posts ideas for the coming week. However, the big motivation on this blog comes from a simple "smiley face" in the top right hand corner. If a blogger created enough content they receive a "smiley face". If they have a couple posts but didn't reach their goal - a "neutral/straight face". And if you didn't blog at all.... a "frowny face". This simply weekly reminder that you either helped the company drive results or that you let them down has kept the bloggers pumping out content each and every week.
Compendium's Client Success Team is here to help your company leverage powerful blogging software. We will work with your company to find out what motivates your bloggers, what drives results and how can your company win search through a blogging strategy.
"The promotion of weapons is restricted" according to Google Adwords. Want to advertise your inventory of firearms, ammunition and switchblades? Not in Google adwords you won't. So how can a sophisticated, forward thinking business that sells guns win search for hundreds or thousands of keywords? A blog for search engine optimization, t
hat's how. And that is just what Gilbert's Guns did.
Last month,
Gilbert's Guns signed on with Compendium to create a blog for search. They started off with a "test" and are targeting about 50 various keywords covering ammunition, firearms and binoculars. Understanding that corporate blog software is a strategy that takes a good amount of content to be successful, the plan is to contribute 6-8 posts a day on the various product lines. Also, because Compendium is a scalable, easy to use blog software, Gilberts Guns will continue to expand their targeted keyword list with success from the first round of targeted keywords.
Stay tuned for follow up on the success
Gilberts Guns will surely see in the coming months by leveraging corporate blogging software to targeted "prohibited" Google Adwords keywords.
The Central Indiana Bicycling Association has designed a 100 mile bicycle challenge for touring bicyclists around the country. This event will have over 5,500 registrants from over 40
states and several other countries. The Hilly Hundred, starts and finishes right outside of Bloomington, Indiana and is a great ride!
This year, Bicycle Garage of Indy, a Compendium Client and local bicycle shop is asking their clients to tell their Hilly Hundred story. By leveraging Compendium's easy to use blog software and the new Web-To-Post functionality, you can easily tell your story and even upload an image from race day. Oh! and BGIndy even has set up an incentive program for you to do so. They will be giving away a $100 Gift Certificate!
If you are looking for simple blogging software that will make it easy to leverage your clients stories then check out our webinar and get a grip on social media.
A long standing client of Compendium, Roto-Rooter is always looking for new ways to leverage content from their employee base. The latest software as a service tool they are benefiting from is Compendium's Web-to-Post functionality. Using Web-to-Post, their employee network simply navigates to a simple web-page where they are able to create a post without logging into the Compendium interface. They can title their post, tell a great story about a customer and even upload a picture. Once they are finished they simply submit their post up to the Administrator of Roto-Rooter's blog program. With the administrative layer in place, each post must still be approved before it will go live to blog.
By creating this web page, the Roto-Rooter corporate blogging team utilizes the white space on the page to help the bloggers with best practices, tips, and advice. They even use the space to talk about incentive programs and prizes associated with the blog to help motivate the bloggers.
After implementing Web-to-Post last month the blogging team has seen more than 80% of their content come from the web-submission page. The content is relevant, keyword
rich blog content that tells stories from Roto-Rooter branches all over the country!
Want to find out how you can leverage Web-to-Post for your business and win a Nano? Check out our giveaway a day promotion and learn more.
Compendium Blogware continues to grow each and every week, signing on more and more clients looking to leverage blog software for their online marketing efforts. Regardless of the size or structure of the company the blogging administrator will need to focus on three important things when managing their blog program: Motivation, Procrastination and Process. I found this great site
IQ Matrix that breaks down this process to the nitty gritty.
Most clients have a great plan in place to leverage their employees (the best voice of your brand) - but sometimes it take a little Blogging Motivation to kick in them into high gear. What I typically tell my clients they will need is:
- First a process that determines where/who the content comes from and how it should be submitted. Luckily, Compendium clients have a great UI that allows users to easily submit content to the admin for approval.
- Second is motivation. Motivate your bloggers to create content by putting clear goals in place with great rewards. (think prizes and praise)
- Third is helping bloggers overcome the procrastination. Be up front with your bloggers on what you expect of them - and help them beat the procrastination with reminders (daily, if necessary).
These three easy steps will allow for a faster and easier launch of your prgoram.
Today I had a great meeting with one of our clients, Biotta Juices. Biotta Juices are organic juices made from naturally grown fruits and vegetable. The flavors range from Beet Juice to Elderberry Juice and are all really great for you.
The
Biotta Juices Blog has been up since February of 2009 and seen tremendous results. When Biotta came to Compendium earlier this year they did not have a website - and they struggled with what to tackle first: the blog or the website. They decided to leverage the blogosphere, blog marketing and search marketing to really ramp up their name in the search engines and begin driving track-able results.
Without having a website,
Biotta really focused on utilizing their brand throughout their content - proving successful on winning all of their branded terms as well as broader, more general terms. Now, only 6 months later, they are being found on over 7000 variations of organic juice terms both broad and branded and continue to grow week over week.
A successful online marketing strategy that began with a blog and has now incorporated a website and will soon add many more features.
I just wanted to take a few minutes to highlight one of our newest blog networks at
Harrison College! 
Harrison College is a family-owned educational institution whose guiding objectives are:
- Our students gain requisite knowledge and skills through general education within career-focused curricula.
- Our graduates achieve career goals and demonstrate a commitment to lifelong learning.
- Our graduates demonstrate strong character and integrity in their life and work, and add value to the world in which they live.
The Harrison College blog hopes to educate prospective students on the high quality education and experience one would obtain at this university. A couple great blog posts to check out are:
- Understanding College Makes for a Positive Experience
- Understanding Your Learning Style
- Choose a Program of Study
Based in Indiana, Harrison College offers five schools of study with more than 30 degree, certificate and diploma programs and this blog is going to be a great resourse for those interested in their various programs.
Check out the
Harrison College Blog!
Today I started reminiscing on my previous job and experience as a white water rafting guide and how that has played a part in my current role as the Director of Client Success for Compendium Blogware.
For three summers I worked for
Wilderness Voyageurs in Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania as a river guide. Every day was spent going down the same river - in the same raft - at the same time. What did change day-to-day was the type of people I was guiding. They ranged from families, scout groups,
church and camp groups, 30th year HS reunions, college fraternities, etc. My job was not only to keep them safe – but to educate them on how to successfully maneuver the raft and make it through the obstacles (big waves/holes and rocks) without falling out or flipping over. I had to change the way I spoke, the words I used and how I explained it depending on who I was talking to.
Much like I did as a river guide, our client success team manages hundreds of clients on our
multi-user blog software. Not only to they have to change their message from company to company, dependent on the company’s industry and goals – but they have to change their message depending on which user they are talking to. Our corporate blogging strategy is not to have a dedicated company blogger, but to allow each and every person in your company to blog.
Our client’s dedicated client success managers help companies start a business blog – and guide them successfully through all of the challenges of keeping the blog up and running and filling it with content. Sometimes that means sending the users daily email – sometimes it is by creating an internal contest for motivation.
Regardless of the means, our team at Compendium is dedicated to making our clients extremely successful.
So because Willow is not allowed in the Compendium Offices any more (per Building Management) - I have decided to make her an honorary member of the Client Success Team! Furthermore, give her a title: Da Duh Duh DAAAAHH!!!
Blogging Wonder Mutt. And she is here to talk about one of our newest user interface tools: blogging content ideas. We know that it is sometimes difficult for the company blogger to come up with an idea for a blog post - but it doesn't have to be. Our easy blog software has become even easier to use -- by helping you with the actual content.
The content ideas panel, located directly in the user interface, pulls in news articles that are relevant to your business blog and the keywords you are targeting.This is a really great starting point. Simply read the article and then blog about it. Give your reactions to the article. Blog about whether you agree or disagree. Do you have a product/service that will help combat the issue in the article? Just write about it!
Let your corporate blogging strategy become relevant when people are searching for the services your provide and the news.
Signing off,
Wonder Mutt
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