Hi!  My name is Kristen and I am one of the Client Success Managers at Compendium Blogware.  It is my job to ensure every client understands the value in the blogging applications we provide.  My role is to motivate clients to post fresh content, help them track and analyze their blog, and to work toward the ROI they want to see from the blogs.

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

Compendium Blogware is happy to announce that our newest client, Eugene Chamber of Commerce, is blogging.  Not only are the blogging, but they are already seeing results!  In just one month of posting content they have seen all but one of their keywords ranking in Google

How have they accomplished this in such a short time?  The answer is, and will always be, content.  The way to get better rankings in the search engines is by adding updated and relevant content on a regular business.

Blogging for SEO is a growing business trend that companies are continuing to see the benefit of.  Our blogging platform is easy to use and makes blogging fun.  The Client Success Team at Compendium will help you get your blogs off the ground and provide you with continuing support for the life of your blog.  We are here for questions, consulting, and getting your company the results that you are trying to achieve.  What other blog software can say that? Well, none to be exact. 

If you would like to view Eugene Chamber's Blog click here.  Leave them a comment while you are at it!

Click here to purchase the bookCompendium Blogware welcomes Smith Weaver Smith to the world of blogging! They are a consulting firm that helps businesses land deals in record times.

The head of the organization, Barbara Weaver Smith, is an amazing keynote speaker who focuses on the topic of "Whale Hunting" or how to land big business deals.  Her passion is in the area of small business growth, business women, and women owned businesses.

Whale Hunting Women is a network of women who do big deals in business and community, women who want to learn, and men who support these efforts.  To read her blog click here, you will not be disappointed.

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.



In an article from Duct Tape Marketing, by John Jantsch, he talks about the benefits of hosting a blog on your own server.  This is a feature that Compendium Blogware provides for you.  There are many benefits to NOT hosting your own software. 
  1. You do not have to learn how to apply the upgrades to your existing software.
  2. We walk you through any questions that you might have so you fully understand the functionality of your software.
  3. Any problems that you experience with "free" blogs, you are expected to fix.  We take the guessing game out of it by fixing the issues for you.
  4. Our company is open for suggestions that you have for product requests.  Therefore, you get to use a software that you are comfortable with. 
Our blog hosting software is always changing and improving to fit the needs of our clients.  If you are considering utilizing an organizational blogging platform look no further than Compendium.

One of the blogging problems that people constantly wrestle with is how long their content should be.  In the world of blogging there are two types of people that you will typically run into.  One is the "thought leader-must write an essay" type.  The second is the "keep it simple so people will read this" type.  Which type are you?

We tell our clients that best practices for a blog post is anywhere from 2-5 paragraphs.  This keeps your readers engaged.  They are able to find what they need in a blog post rather than digging through piles of information.  If you find yourself writing posts that are 10, 11, and 12 paragraphs then it is time to shorten them up.  You can also split them up into several posts or have them as a series of posts.  Big League Tours is a client of mine that does a fantastic job with this. 

Of course, you will still be seen as a thought leader even though you are not writing essays.  The next time you go to post a blog, keep these blogging tips in mind.  If you are spending an hour typing up a post, that is way too much time.  Remember to keep it short and to the point.  You will gain new readers and people will potential subscribe to your blog because they will care about what you have to say.


We focus on a wide variety of marketing tactics surrounding our blog writing software. In a recent article by Lee Oden, he goes on to discuss each one of his secrets to blogging for search engine optimization. I do have to disagree with his second point where he names his favorite blogging platforms.  This is probably due to the fact that this author is not familiar with our better blogging software.

One of the major differences between Compendium and our "competitors" is that we walk you through each one of these 25 marketing initiatives.  Where as, the other blogging tools allow you to set up a blog and then leave you to figure it out on your own, we hold your hand through the entire process.  Our client success team is trained to get your blog off the ground and have you ranking on keywords as soon as you possibly can. 


Individuals and organizations who are using some of our competitors (and for sake of being respectful, I will not name names) are running into problems with people commenting on their blogs.  A reader will leave a negative remark and the accused has no way of monitoring or deleting the comment. In fact, there have been some lawsuits over unlawful statements and comments that are made on blogs and websites. 

In a recent article by Wendy Davis, Roommates.com was sued for civil rights violations.  With this said, our prospective clients are usually nervous when it comes to the commenting portion of our business blogging software.

Our blogging platform allows the individual or company to view all comments before they go live.  Compendium's advanced system give them the power to approve and decline all comments that people leave. Therefore, nothing will be shown on your blog site that you did not approve.  To view what our comment section looks like, you can view my blog.  Additionally, our comment section requires that the reader fill out a captcha which does not allow for people to spam your site.


As part of the Client Success team at Compendium, it is my duty to ensure that our clients are seeing results from their blogs.  We mainly look to Google when it comes to keyword rankings.  Google currently holds almost 70% of the search engine market.  This is why we strive to get our clients keywords ranking on the first page in Google, and many of them do. 

The real question is:  How do I get ranked?  In an article by Amit Singhal, he explains how this happens. There are 3 main ways to get your company found in Google. 

1) Best locally relevant results served globally.
2) Keep it simple.
3) No manual intervention.

We focus on the first two very heavily.  This is done by writing constant and relevant content.  Many people think that "the look" of the blog will bring you traffic.  Quite the contrary, updating your content is the only way to do so.  We provide the blog creation software that gives you the ability to do so.

Many people think that when it comes to blogging, one size fits all.  In other words, they think that one platform will work for every type of business out there.  This is not true in today's fast moving technological world.

To Order from Amazon-click here.In the book, Break From the Pack by Oren Harari, he explains why one size does not fit all.  When people are looking to blog and they come to Compendium for solutions, we get asked why we are better than the rest.  That is because we are different from every other blog creation software company out there. 

If you want to blog for your business then you need the right tools. This includes an affordable blogging software that you can customize to your website and business.  It also means that you are able to have many individual bloggers contributing to one site.  In return you are utilizing the blog site to gain new clients, sell more product, and market your product or service. 


When setting up a blog, you have the option to use a sub-domain or a directory.  We suggest using a sub-domain for two main reasons. 

  1. Sub-domains are seen as a part of the website so you do not have to "start from scratch".  In other words, Google will recognize your sub-domain before it would a directory so it takes less time to get indexed.
  2. Sub-domains are also easier for a reader to remember.  They are more likely to remember both your website and blog site since they are so similar. 
In an article by Matt Cutts, he goes in to great detail as to why he recommends the sub-domain over the directory.  You can learn more blog secrets and how to blog for search engine optimization from Matt as well.

The number one excuse that I get from people who are not blogging twice a week is...not enough time.  I really can't say that not having extra time is an "excuse" because I have found myself in the same boat.

How do I get around this?  I schedule it into my calendar.  I set aside two times a week, one hour total, for blogging.  The only way to be found on the web is to continually write new content.  This post for example is only 3 paragraphs, however, it will still be searched by Google and eventually ranked.  Blog best practices says that an individual post should be no more than 5 paragraphs long.   Readers tend to stay engaged with shorter posts. 

Some good examples of clients who are using our blogging software are BabyPlus, Estridge, Big League Tours, and Cutera.  You can view their blogs to get an idea of the type of posts people stay engaged with. 

Visit Tampa Bay is an excellent example of how a small to medium size business can see success with blogging.  They do a fantastic job of following best practices and posting frequently. 

Click here to view their blogVisit Tampa Bay has been blogging for seo (search engine optimization) for a few months and each month they have had the opportunity to gain new clients through this program.  They are doing this by winning organic searches on Google, Yahoo, and MSN.  In fact, everyone of their keywords is ranking in at least one of these search engines. 

If you are having a hard time getting your employees to blog, follow the example that Visit Tampa Bay has set in their blogging strategy.   They keep their posts short and to the point.  Their bloggers add relevant links and interesting images.  To view their blog click here.


Adding images and/or video on blogs is something that can either help or hurt your bounce rate depending on how you use them.  For many new bloggers, the use of images can be particularly challenging.  Luckily, our software provides and easy to use blogging platform that makes it easy to add these images. 



What are best practices when adding pictures, logos, or other image links? 

  • Use the correct "type" of image.  Our SEO software takes JPG, GIF, and PNG images which are standard for all Internet browsers.
  • Size can also determine whether or not a reader will stay on your blog post.  If the image is larger than the body of the post, it is likely that the reader will not read the content on the page.
  • Posting images can be a daunting task in most other applications.  Compendium's easy to use blog software makes this a snap.  We use a text editor that makes it simple to add any type of image or video you like. 
  • Finally, ensuring you are not using a copy written image that you do not have permission to post is key. 
Images can help the reader become and stay more involved in what they are reading.  They can increase the time a reader will spend on your blog as well. 

One of our newest clients, Indianapolis Tennis Championships, is now blogging!  They came on board with Compendium just a few weeks ago and are using our blog software to advance their opportunities in Google and other search engines. 

The Tennis Championships will be held in Indianapolis on July 12-20.  If you are attending this event for the first time, then you are in for a treat.  It takes place downtown in the heart of Indiana.  The Circle City provides you with endless entertainment in addition to tennis.  Indianapolis has some of the best museums and restaurants in the Midwest.

They are on the verge of seeing how blogs will change their business. To get more information please visit their website or their blog.  Here you can purchase tickets for this event, find a hotel, and discover what to do while you are in town.



I am proud to say that Estridge is already ranking on 4 of their keywords and it has only been a month!  If you want to talk about a company that is following blog best practices, then Estridge is the blog to look at. 

View Estridge HomesThey are a builder here in Indianapolis who is looking to gain and inform prospective clients.  Estridge has taken all of the steps that Compendium has given them and is seeing wonderful results.  For example, their authors are posting content at least 2 to 3 times per week per person. Additionally, they are doing a fantastic job of linking in and out of their blogs. 

Due to these factors, they are ranking on 4 keywords in Google and it has only been 30 days.  Blogging for SEO is something that Estridge has seen as a driving force of their business.  If you want to see results follow in the same path as Estridge.

We, Compendium, are a blogging software company in Indianapolis that is working with Estridge to produce these results.  We are an affordable solution to expensive websites that are hard to maintain and update. In fact, we are the easiest blogging solution out there.



 

Compendium is happy to announce that Wellesse (Botanical Labratories) is blogging.  Wellesse is known for their nutritional supplements such as glucosamine, liquid calcium, and All Day Energy.
Order these Children's Multivatimins by clicking here.
I have actually had the opportunity to test some of these products and I must say that I am impressed.  The Wellesse Children's Multivitamin Gummy is the only sugar-free kids multivitamin on the market.  I have been taking these, even though I am 26 years of age, and have noticed such a wonderful change.  I feel more alert than ever before. 

The Wellesse All Day Energy is a phenominal product as well.  About 2 months ago, I had the flu and felt as though I was never going to recover.  It was a cold and dreary day and I was just trying to make it through the work day.  I took one of the 2oz bottles of this majic medicine and felt remarkably better.

Wellesse has a fantastic line of products.  To get more information, please check out their blogs.