It may surprise you that blogging is recession proof. It is the easiest, low cost form of marketing for your business. A blog can be just what your company needs during this slow economy. Writing content on your blog everyday is much more effective then putting thousands upon thousands of dollars into Pay Per Click campaigns, or print and radio advertisements for that matter.
Believe me blogging is the most cost effective online business if done with passion! All it takes is a little bit of time. In just 10 minutes a day, you and your employees can share what it is that you do on a daily basis, the products and services that you sell, and other areas of your business with millions of readers on the web.
Compendium Blogware has the best blog software for this day in age. We focus on leveraging the content you write with the keywords that your organization is trying to win in the search engines. A recent article by
eTechBuzz further explains how to make money on your blog in times like these. Click
here to view their article on "More Ways to Make Money During a Recession."
People often wonder why blogs are so easily searched. The answer is clear and simple, Google likes the frequency and relevancy of blog content. What most people get hung up on is the act of blogging itself.
Most days I use our easy to use blogging software to communicate what
Compendium Blogware does to the world wide web. Most days the content I write is extremely relevant content that gives readers insight as to what blogging is all about. However, there are times where writing a blog that is lacking some perspective is necessary. To stay consistent with content will get your blog and keywords ranked higher in Google. Therefore, today I am going to add some fun blog jokes I found on the web. A big thanks goes out to
CatchThePosts.com for entertaining us with these jokes.
It is no secret that the current state of our economy is far from ideal. With so many companies losing their advertising budgets, it is all the more reason to start blogging. People do not respond to traditional media in the ways that they used to. Print and tv advertising are the most expensive forms of media out there.
This is where blogging comes into play. Compendium Blogware offers an easy to use blogging platform. Our system allows organizations to let their employees blog and get found easily within the search engines. By leveraging content that your employees are writing it reduces the cost of Pay Per Click advertising. In return, you get found on a wide variety of terms in the search engines. We see that almost 95% of people click on the organic results. This is where you want to be found and blogging can help.
Vontoo is in the running for the best CRM web application. They are a leading provider for voice messaging solutions. Their automated messaging system drives revenue and and provides a leading marketing application for many companies. If you have used their product please vote and help them become the TIp Customer CRM Managment Application for 2008.
The criteria that they will be judge on are:
The websites were evaluated by majority of votes based on ten main criteria:
- Content
- Authority
- Navigation
- Design
- Accessibility
- Innovation
- Business sense and growth expectations
- Degree of competition mix in their market
- Team
- Traffic type
To vote click
here.
BabyPlus
continues to impress me over and over again. They are not only seen in
Fit Magazine, but now have their product in Plum Magazine. This power
house team not only delivers an exceptional product, but they are blogging experts.
The BabyPlus lessons are designed to be played for one hour, twice a
day. It is a curriculum that is a series of 16 naturally derived sounds
that resemble a mother's heartbeat. In the prenatal period, the brain
is at its most receptive stage of learning. By enriching the auditory
environment during this crucial period, independent studies have shown
that a child's long term learning capacities are improved. The
benefits of this include better sleep habits and faster learning.
To learn more about BabyPlus, visit their website at
www.babyplus.com. You can also find them at the following locations:
Kmart has found a new way to market to the average consumer in such a creative way. They have given 6 influential bloggers $500 to go on a shopping spree through Kmart and blog about their experiences. Furthermore, there was no censorship on what they wrote...the good, the bad, and the ugly.
To add a twist to it, Kmart utilized the social media site
Izea for their blogging campaign. It is reported that they have already received over 2,000 comments across their 6 blogs. While comments are not as important as content, you better believe that their post content has drawn people to the site and led them to purchase an item (or several).
As of Wednesday, Kmart's SMI was 23.21%--a 59% increase over its average SMI in November--against SMI's of 12.45% for JC Penney and 43.09% for Sears.
"Kmart has clearly realized significant gains in share of social media voice through this campaign--in fact, it's pulled ahead of JCPenney, and has made gains on Sears," notes Vitrue CEO Reggie Bradford. "Kmart's transparency in this effort was key, and a good example for any brand looking to use paid sponsorship elements to leverage social media's power."
John Flynn discussed the importance of referring traffic on his blog:
Inbound Internet Marketing. In his post,
When in Doubt...Refer, he speaks of a client who came to him for help with social media sites but he was unable to do so because of his heavy work load. What did John do? He referred them to someone else.
This post can relate to blogging in so many ways. He makes a good point about referrals. Just like businesses, blogs should have referrals as well. What I am talking about here, are referring sites. These are sites that you can link to and get them to point back to your site. By doing so, you can get people to follow you from a variety of different sites. Therefore, creating a community of new readers. We can all learn an important lesson here, when in doubt...refer!
I must admit that I am a Facebook addict. At one point, many moons ago, I was not one to get "sucked into" these social media sites. That was, of course, before I started working for a technology company. Compendium Blogware not only uses blogging as a search engine optimization strategy, but we also integrate our blogging strategy into social media sites.
Facebook provides a place where we can share our posts via RSS feed, leave comments and tips for those who follow us, and upload fun video and images. It is a place where we can share our fun organizational structure with everyone. To view our Facebook page click
here. Leave us a comment or a link back to your blog. We look forward to your comments, pictures, and wall posts.
Compendium Blogware is proud to announce that we are on
Twitter. Each day we will give you a valuable blogging tips to help you create content. Over the past few weeks we have sent tips out revolving around the following topics:
- Write a post about a current event and how it's impacting your business. If it's impacting you - it's impacting your prospects.
- Blog about a recent whitepaper or research brief. Provide readers with immediate value - a link to download the paper.
- Write in your own voice. Make your blog posts more personal by adding humor.
- Take 10 minutes to write about how your clients use your product and/or service.
To find more of these helpful tips join us on Twitter by clicking
here.
Doug Karr and Chris Baggott present this months webinar on how blogs will change your business. Coporate blogging can be utilized in a number of ways to gain new clients. Inbound marketing is one of the least expensive ways to get prospective leads to come to you. In this webinar, you will learn:
1. Why blogging is the most effective inbound strategy.
2. How blogging is an inexpensive way to generate leads.
3. How blogging gets your company found in search.
To view details click
here:
With so many advertisements being shoved down our throats every day, businesses are finding new and innovative ways to market their products and services. Pop up banners, newspaper ads, and Pay Per Click advertising just does not work the same way it used to. Marketing through blogging is a common way for the average customer to find you and purchase your products and/or services.
The common consumer just ignores those flashy ads. People are so bombarded with these tactics that it means nothing to them. By having a blog content management system such as
Compendium Blogware, everyone in your organization can share their thoughts and opinions. From the CEO to a customer service representative, it is important that these individuals are writing about what it is that their organization has to offer.
By having a platform to share these ideas, it makes it easier for your company to be found in the search engines. Let's face it, not as many people actually click on those paid searches anymore. So why not market in the organic search results? Most companies are worried about how they are going to market in this tough economy. To that we say, blog. It is a cost efficient and easy way to promote your company in its best light. It gives you the ability to write content that focuses on what your company does and the solutions that you can provide to your potential customers.
Firefox recently released a group of exciting new add-ons to their browser. These are nice features that can actually help you when writing a blog.
Finder and Seeker and Social Butterfly are my two favorite applications. Finder and Seeker focus on sites such as
Stumble Upon and
Interclue. These sites give you other sites that are of similar interest and relevant links right at your finger tips.
Another helpful blogging add-on they have is Social Butterfly which allows you to keep track of all of your social networking sites in a clean and easy way. Sites such as
Twitter,
Facebook, and
Linked In are all sites that you should be sharing your blog on. Optimizing content by passing it along to others is a key to marketing your business blog.
So who benefits from a stable workplace? From, cleaning firms, law firms and non-profits to Wall Street investment bankers and manufacturers. Any organization for which developing and maintaining customer (or donor) relationships is critical to long term success of the firm.
A stable workplace + stable workforce = good customer relations.
Why, then, do companies sometimes act as if customer relationships are
relatively unimportant? Good question! Tune in December 10 to learn why and how to build a stable workplace - and what NOT to do. All participants receive a copy of the slides and an Executive Summary of our 2008 Top Small Workplaces Benchmarking and Best Practices Report.
Register now for this exciting webinar hosted by Winning Workplaces by Bill Brett and Liza Fraser. To view their corporate blog click
here.
Today,
OJ Simpson was charged with 15 years for armed robbery (or the other thing which I am sure you all know what I am talking about). I decided to dedicate my fun casual Friday blog to him. There are a few things that OJ can teach you about what blogging.
1. Do NOT repeat the same infractions over and over again. As part of your corporate blogging strategy do not copy and paste from Word. Additionally, do not leave keywords out of your post entries.
2. Do keep it interesting. Readers love to know what is new at your company. Share with them fun and exciting new products or services you are offering. Blog about something different everyday.
3. Leave people with a lasting impression. Of course, in your case, you want it to be good. Whether it is a funny video, or holiday picture that might put a smile on the readers face, give them something more. Give them something to want to come back to.
According to Roger Slavens of
BtoB Magazine, "Global IT and telecommunication spending is projected to reach $3.3
trillion annually by 2010, growing at a compound annual rate of 4.5%
from the $2.7 trillion spent in 2005, according to Gartner Research. IT
purchases in the U.S. are expected to grow to $1 trillion by
2010--including $871 billion this year--accounting for roughly 32% of
worldwide spending."
Definition 6, Atlanta's leading full service interactive agency sees the affects of this and are staying ahead of the curve. In their recent BtoB Magazine feature, Jennifer Van Fossen, has addressed this issue and are working toward the growth of their own organization. They see the shift in IT managers being more focused on key business decisions than the implementation of technology systems.
Definition 6 has been blogging because they see the positive affects it can have on a business during these times. With the telecommunication and PPC spending, it is a better more cost effective alternative to other forms of media. To read more about Definition 6 forward thinking processed click here to view the
article or their corporate
blog.
We have a new contest that I am very excited to share with my fellow clients. Are you having trouble getting your bloggers to create content? Are you a company blogger finding it hard to come up with new topics to write about? We have a fun new contest to get you motivated!
Participate in Compendium's Holiday $1k Blogging Spree. Here's how it works:
Create Content. Every post you create counts as one ticket for the raffle. Drawing happens live on December 18th.
The winning ticket holder will receive $500, and we'll give $500 to the blogger's team.
The promotion starts now.
Create your content today to win!
To view the official rules, check out our
new client blog.
The
Indianapolis Tennis Championships is a high performing company because of the marketing techniques they utilize on an everyday basis. This group has been blogging for over 5 months now and their success continues to grow. They started their program in July and immediately saw nearly 2000 visitors and have maintained a steady pace since that time.
They are able to do this by staying on top of current events and promoting their blog through social media sites such as
Facebook and
LinkedIn. Additionally, the Indianapolis Tennis Championship team endorses their blog through their company newsletter. By doing this, they are able to drive more traffic to their blogsite which leads to conversions through their calls to actions and/or the website. You can view a sample of the newsletter below. To view the blog click
here.
Bill Reynolds of
Comperaser, is using Compendium Blogware to grow his company in ways people in his industry have never seen before. CompEraser is a patent-pending, internet based service that provides unique enterprise risk management resources to help organizations quantify and reduce the total cost of worker injuries.
Not only is he gaining more and more clients by blogging for search engine optimization, but he is being recognized in every area of his industry. Lexis Nexis has written several pieces on CompEraser including the
LexisNexis Top 25 Blogs for Workers' Compensation.
He has been awarded this honor for the amount of well written and thought provocing blogs he has shared. To read more click
here to view the blog.
We hear about it everyday, markets plummeting, stocks crashing, jobs being lost. It is no surprise that we are not in the most stable economy. For that reason, blogging for search engine optimization is the best way to market your business. In a recent article by
SEOmoz they discuss the various reasons why seo is the best marketing tactic out there.
- The internet outperforms any other marketing channel out there. A majority of business for companies comes through the web. Additionally, the internet is one of the cheapest medians to use for marketing efforts and the ROI is like no other. Where as print media used to be the way to reach your customers, it is no longer the case because it is so expensive and unresponsive.
- Web budgets are being reassessed. This means that as people pay more for Pay Per Click Campaigns you can acheive even better rankings through blogging. Utlimately saving you and your company money. In an earlier post of mine, I touched on the cost of PPC and how 95% of people click in the organic results. Since that is where you want to be found, blogging is the affordable solution.
- You can measure your efforts through blogging. By using an analytic tool you can determine which posts/pages are keeping your customers on the page and taking action.
If it were up to me, I would tell every company to invest in blogging. It is a great solution for marketing during this time.
