Small Business Blog

Engage your readers

Friday, November 20, 2009 by Michael Burton

We probably all remember that teacher (or teachers) we had growing up who taught classes that seemed to drag on forever. They stood in front of the class, talking in a monotone voice, and they never engaged the class during the hour-long lecture. What was it about those teachers that turned us off so much?

A lot of it probably has to do with the fact we prefer to take part in teaching. The audience likes getting information in a give and take format. It's not just a one-sided thing.

Enter the world of PowerPoint, Youtube clips and other forms of multimedia! Today, many students claim that they focus on a presentation much better if there is multimedia involved.

This same philosophy can carry over to blog posts. It is great if you have a ton of things you want to say in your blog, but it is important to make it easy on readers. Including things like pictures, videos, and links can make blogging for search more fun on the writers and more engaging on readers.

Compendium's business blogging philosophy makes blogging easy and effective for any kind of writer. The important thing to keep in mind for any blogger is to have a way to keep your reader reading. A 500 word paragraph can come across as intimidating and time consuming and cause readers to leave your page.

Uses of Genetic Algorithm

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by james litton

Here at Compendium in the product group we take the opportunity on a weekly basis to improve the base level of knowledge of our employees by getting together and discussing the world of computer software. We alternate weeks between code reviews of internally produced work and a reading group.

Last week we ran a reading group. This quarter our reading groups are structured such that we select a topic and everyone in the group presents some relevant information on a sub-topic. This give everyone the chance to delve a little deeper into something that are interested in while improving the knowledge for everyone.

Although the information we discuss doesn't always immediately apply to the task at hand with respect to blogging software, we do sometimes learn something that comes in handy later.

In a past reading group about algorithms, I found this post: http://brainz.org/15-real-world-applications-genetic-algorithms; and although blogging software isn't on the list of applications for genetic algorithms, marketing techniques are. Marketing techniques are at the core of what business blogging is all about. This demonstrates effectively the breadth of reach a seemingly irrelevant topic might have and why it's important to continue to think about ideas that might not necessarily seem relevant at first glance.

Local Search... on the backburner no longer.

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Megan Glover

Local Search. Heard of it? If not, it's time to educate yourself.

Here's a simple example of local search. I wrote a blog post a while back about why my gym in Indianapolis should be blogging and how they need to be targeting keyword search terms like: Indianapolis gyms, gyms in Indianapolis, etc. These are all examples of local search phrases because they are contained within a specific region or area.

Not only are local terms easier to win in search but who really uses the print yellow pages anymore. Let's be honest. Is there anyone reading this blog right now who uses the yellow pages exclusively to find local businesses and organizations?

It's no surpise then that demand for local search results on the web are increasing and it's up to local businesses and organizations to add this to their top priority list of new marketing tactics for 2010.

For more information about Local Search take a look at these great resources:

1. eMarketer, November 3, 2009: Local to Take Lead on Online Ad Spend.

2. Whitepaper: Business Blogging, The Key to Local Search

Compendium Makes Top Indiana Blogs List

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Jess Wehner

A few of our clients, coworkers, and friends were ranked last week as having some of Indianas top blogs! These blogs were voted in the top 50 based on content, comments, and visibility in Indiana and Indianapolis:

Compendium Business Blogs:

MediaTile: Digital Signage Solutions Blog
Fuseworks Studios

Compendium Employees:

Mikey Mioduski: Our Indiana Wedding
Megan Glover: Blog Content, Marketing And SEO

Friends of Compendium

Doug Karr: Marketing Technology Blog
Craig Lile: My Old Kentucky Blog

Checkout these blogs and more to see what's blogs are hot right now!

highlights from the future [of web design]

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by mikey mioduski

Just got back from an awesome conference called The Future of Web Design 2009. So I guess you could say I've seen what the future has to offer. I gotta say, it looks promising.

If you're designing your business blog, or you're thinking about a blog redesign, I'd recommend checking out some of these names I'm about to drop. As we know, business blogging can really help you to communicate your message to potential leads / customers. Because blogs do very well in search, your blog could very well be the first impression you ever make on aforementioned lead / prospect. With new developments in web design, from things like HTML5 and CSS3 to new ideas in content strategy and creation, you can really make that first impression a big one by paying attention to your business blog's design.

So if you're just getting started, just thinking about it, or are just hungry for some inspiration and knowledge... here were some of the speakers that I found truly inspiring from the conference.

Mike Kus
Designer at Carsonified
personal site: http://thethingswemake.co.uk/

Mike Kus emphasized the importance of thinking "outside the web." As soon as we start thinking about a website design, we limit ourselves. We think of things we already know, things we've already seen, things that are trendy. But Kus approaches his designs as if they aren't web designs at all, but instead posters... tee shirts... or some entirely different medium altogether, autonomous of the web. He then brings his idea "back to the web" where his results are often head turning, bold and memorable.

Daniel Burka
Former Creative Director at Digg
now Director of Design at Tiny Speck.
personal site: http://www.deltatangobravo.com/

Daniel Burka's talk, "Listening, Really Listening, to your users," was stellar. I also had the opportunity to sit in on his 3.5 hour workshop the day before, which was even stellarer as he went into open honest detail about the endless lessons he learned over the many years working at Digg, one of the most popular news sharing sites online. Burka made great points on the importance of testing your site with real users, and really listening to what they're telling you-- not only with their words, but with their actions. He emphasized the importance of adapting to change, and being willing to do so. He quoted someone else, "If you look back and aren't embarrassed by your website's version 1.0, you spent way too much time on it."

That's the beauty of web design (as opposed to print), is that we can change things every single day, and if we try something, and it doesn't work, we can try something else. This mentality and willingness to adapt is what made Digg the site is today, and why it gets ridiculous traffic and interaction from its community. Burka also made a fantastic point about the politics involved when making changes to a website of such scale. Burka indicated that there were intense debates at Digg when facing design changes that would often delay change, or induce design by committee results. In his words, Apple is fortunate to have such a benevolent authoritarian dictator, because the result is an incredibly simple, streamlined, yet layered and powerful website.

Very cool, very humble guy.

Joshua Davis
NY Based Artist, Designer & Technologist http://www.joshuadavis.com/

Joshua Davis was the Keynote Speaker at FOWD. This guy charged the stage with bright red pants, a matching bright red jacket, and two Red Bull Energy Drinks. He then blew minds with his ideas and art in a presentation exploring the notion of "Space."

Davis started as a painter and fine artist, who fell in love with Flash back in the early nineties, and has since spent his time exploring and pushing digital art. His work and approach to art and design are extremely innovative, his process totally unique, his results powerful and unexpected.

If you can ever catch Joshua Davis at a comedy-- I mean speaking gig, or at one of his art exhibits, I highly recommend it.

Here's to the future.

-- MSM

CNAME - What is it? How to set it up?

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by Krystal Featherston

Now that you're on board with Compendium and you've filled out your getting started form, the first thing you'll need to do is set-up your CNAME.

Now if your wondering what a CNAME is, well .... let me explain:
A CNAME record or Canonical Name record is a type of resource record in the Domain Name System (DNS) that specifies that the domain name is an alias of another, canonical domain name. This helps when running multiple services from a single IP address. Network administrators also use CNAMEs when running multiple HTTP servers on the same port, with different names, on the same physical host.

What does this mean for you ....
At Compendium, we require our client select a domain or sub-domain for their blog and create a CNAME Record for this domain. As a software as a service, Compendium hosts all of our clients blogs, including content and images. By using a CNAME Record, and directing to the Domain of www.compendiumblog.com, we have the ability to add to and modify our infrastructure when necessary without affecting service to our clients.

When a CNAME record is set for the URL of blog.EXAMPLE.com, and the CNAME record points to www.compendiumblog.com, the browser will resolve to the content at www.compendiumblog.com, but the browser would show http://bog.EXAMPLE.com in the address bar.

Now that you know what a CNAME is and why Compendium require our clients to create one, its time for you to get your set-up. Click here for some basic instructions. However, if you manage your DNS records through your registrar, here are links to some step-by-step instructions to some of the main registrars that will help you with this action.

After you get your CNAME set, your just a few days away from blogging for your business! So get your CNAME set and starting blogging today!

REMEMBER: if you have a question you can search Compendium's Knowledgebase RIGHT NOW - or fill out the online submission form.

E-tailers Investment Plans in 2010

Thursday, November 19, 2009 by jennifer buscher

Just read an interesting article in EMarketer on how advanced e-commerce businesses plan to invest their dollars moving into 2010. The top three additions include:

1. Social Marketing
2. Video
3. Blogs

Nearly 40% of all respondents plan to include these applications. What does this mean? I think this means a number of things... First, social marketing and blogs are not a fade. Adoption is becoming mainstream. Customers want to human buying experience.

So, what to do? It's really simple... start a business blog on an advanced business blogging platform. This should be your cornerstone for content creation. Use video in your content, and then push that content out to your social networks. You can kill three birds with one stone so to speak.

“The last time many retailers installed a new e-commerce platform was five years ago, and those systems aren’t robust enough to support all of the new technology that’s changing the very nature of how consumers are shopping online,” David Fry, founder of Fry Inc., told Internet Retailer. “Smart retailers know they need to implement better technology now or they’ll miss out on the recovery and a big opportunity.”

Moral of the story.... get onboard or you'll miss out!

Versatility in blogging

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Michael Burton

One of my favorite things about blogging is its versatility. Here at Compendium, we firmly believe that blogging for business fits directly into the marketing campaign of any organization. Blogs are such a powerful tool because they can be tailored to be about anything you feel like writing about.

Whether you have a huge company providing business world-wide or own a small Mom & Pop store in your small town, there is a place for blogging in your business. Blog posts can focus on anything from your products and services to special promotions and upcoming events.

Any of your employees can find a place in blogging as well. Hearing from a wide variety of employees, such as marketing, sales, support, etc. can give readers a look at different aspects of what your company does and how it operates.

If you would like more information on how Compendium might fit in best with your company, contact a Compendium blogging expert today!

Corporate blog security

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Brian Millis

Are you one of the thousands of businesses trying to force a freeware blog platform to operate as a marketing tool? Yes?

The most obvious question then is; How is that working out for the company? Is it driving lots of organic search traffic? Converting that traffic into qualified inbound leads? How much revenue have you generated directly from blog leads?

Well, those are all great business questions to consider. But what about an even more basic consideration than measurable results . . . what about:

Is your business blog more of corporate RISK rather than a useful marketing TOOL?

Just check out this recent post from Kyle Brady about a hack-in through a Wordpress blog. In case you don't want to read the entire article, here is what happened:

a list of hundreds of URLs to assorted pages, mostly porn, appeared after the </html> tag on all pages of the site
for content created after the attack, it somehow embedded itself inside the Wordpress content, and all links redirected to a malware site – in addition to breaking the entire page

Now thankfully, the post details out the lengths that were taken to discover the issue and how to fix it. I consider myself pretty technologically savvy, and even I thought it was confusing.

Doesn't that seem like a lot of work to fix a tool that most likely produces very few results? This is the second time just THIS WEEK that I've heard about similar security issues. I think that all businesses out there should be considering third generation corporate blogging. The differences are pretty simple:

Security
Automation
Measurable Results

Put Your Blog on Steroids...

Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by Meghan Manning

That's right - you read my title correctly! If you aren't currently using business blogging as your search marketing startegy, now is the time to get started. If you are currently using blogs to help you get found in search, now is the time to step it up and put your blogs on steroids!

To learn how - attend the upcoming Webinar presented by Target Marketing featuring Chris Baggott CEO/CoFounder of Compendium Blogware.

During this informative Webinar, you'll learn:

Develop SEO-friendly content
Determine the optimal posting frequency
Measure the value of your investment
Engage customers and prospects

Be sure to register now to attend - the Webinar is getting close and you'll want to reserve your spot today!

Be Valuable

Tuesday, November 17, 2009 by Lee Jorgenson

There's a lot of chatter out there these days. Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, blogs, etc., they all fill the lines with tons of thoughts and opinions. It's suggested that in order to have people re-post your content, you should re-post theirs. It's a great "Do unto others as you would have done unto you" concept, but is it really as virtuitous as it sounds?

If a person doesn't provide value, then they are not worth repeating. Simply pushing someone's content just to get them to do the same in return lessens your value to your readers/followers. You're simply filling the air with noise and diluting your credibility, diong everyone a disservice.

This is especially true of business blogs. Businesses need to leverage corporate blogging as a way to establish credibility in the minds of their markets, and pushing worthless content will only frustrate their readers.

The solution is simple. Be valuable to your readers and provide valuable content. Valuable content is just that, valuable. It should and will be re-posted and promoted because it provides value to the ones who read it AND to the ones who re-post it.

You tell me: Is this good business blog content?

Monday, November 16, 2009 by Chris Baggott

You Tell Me...is this really a blog post?

I saw this post on an ecommerce blog the other day and had to give pause. The powerful blogging software we offer has a complete API, so it's easy to integrate into other content sources, but I had not seen anyone use it to feed in relevant live chat transcripts.

At first I had to ask the question that I'm sure you are asking: is this legitimate content in a blog for business?

I really quickly came to the conclusion that yes, this is not only a really clever way to leverage existing content, it's actually quite valuable for the audience.

Here's the thing: Lot's of people have the same problem.   As a result, lots of blog traffic comes from organic search.   Those people ask questions...they want to find answers.    These live chat transcripts are direct answers to direct questions.   What's great is the simplicity.

You are already having these conversations. Doug Karr once suggested looking at all the emails you send out each day as a source for blog content.   I thought that was brilliant and I think this is too.

Every day people in your company have interactions with customers and prospects.   They help people, provide information and solve problems. This content is nothing more than a reflection of that value...you have already invested in it, so why not share it with others who can benefit?

E-Retail wants out of the slump . . . Compendium can help

Friday, November 13, 2009 by Brian Millis

Just read this little gem in E-Marketer Daily Newsletter.

"Online merchants are hoping to come out of the economic slump faster than brick-and-mortar stores, and they're ready to spend on the technology and marketing to make it happen. New platforms, customized services and social media marketing are on the menu."

Of course here at Compendium, we already knew this since our clients, like GK Elite have been proving it by driving crazy organic traffic through the blogs leading to record online sales. I feel that online merchants are much quicker to adopt better search marketing tools like Compendium, but the brick and mortar stores don't need to be left behind.

Just look at how HHGregg is promoting coupons, building brand awareness, and giving new reasons to come and check out their in-store selection with their amazing corporate blogging strategy.

Give me a call, 317-777-6254, and we can talk about how your business can benefit from better technology and the power of business blogging.

'Simple' is better in business blogging

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Brian Millis

Have you ever stumbled across a blog and thought, wow, that is an amazing looking blog? But as you navigate the page, you get lost because there is so much going on? Here are some great examples of incredible blogs that will inspire any digital artist out there. There is no argument that these blogs are beautiful and creative. But if you're a business, and the goal of your corporate blog is to drive visibility through better organic search marketing, is MORE always a good thing?

I think not. What is great about Compendium Clients, is that their blogging has a true purpose. As you can see from that link, we have some great looking templates as well. But everything is focused at the ROI of business blogging. It's simple:

Write useful content
Get found in search by the right people
Convert that traffic to a lead with a clear Call-To-Action
Make more money

Now of course I understand that interaction, engagement, subscriptions, etc. are all wonderful as well. But for a business, what is most important? Therefore, next time you find a company blog, take a hard look at all the widgets and gadgets that consume the page. Are they really helping? Take a note from unrelated businesses on simplicity. Simple can be better!

How and Why To Set Up Google Analytics Goals

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Jess Wehner

Many of our clients don't have tracking in place that will allow them to fully see exact dollars they can contribute back to their blog software. If this sounds like your company, there is some simple coding you can use to help your team track conversions deeper than just how many visitors came to the website from the business blog.

If your you use Google Analytics to track your website, you can set up a Goal to measure how well your site is fulfilling business objectives. A goal is achieved any time someone visits a page on your site that you wanted them to get to (i.e. a thank you page, a receipt, a confirmation, etc.). Once the goal is set up, you will be able to see the blog as a referring site listed in your analytics, and then be able to see how many of those referring visitors completed your goal. For example, the client I am helping set this up main business objective is to get people to view a demo. Our goal is set for the confirmation page once you have signed up to view a demo. Now, they will be able to tell how many people came from the blog and signed up for a demo - real ROI for their search marketing program.

If you take the tracking even further, you could even assign a value to that goal. For example if you know that 10% of people who view a demo will sign up for your services and your services on average go for $500, then the goal value would be $50. Then you could tangibly measure what the ROI is of the blog.

Here are step by step instructions for setting up a goal in Google Analytics (the simple way):

Step 1: Go to the goals page on Google Analytics, and click “set up goals and funnels”

Step 2: Click “Add goal”

Step 3: Fill in information for goal

Active Goal = On
Goal Position = Set 1, Goal 1
Goal Type = URL Destination
Match Type = Exact Match
Goal URL = Thank you page or registration complete page
Case Sensitive = check
Goal Value = can put a dollar amount of what this person is worth to you

Whose success are you measuring?

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Stephanie West

When it comes to stories of success, Compendium wants to make sure you know how its corporate blog software will fit into your daily routine.

There are numerous case studies available from various companies' success stories. They are all real stories from real companies that have seen success from Compendium's corporate blogging software.

For more of these success stories and more information on them, sign up for Compendium's free Webinar: Finding Business Blogging Success: Real-Life Stories. The Webinar will be hosted by marketer Chris Baggott, CEO and CoFounder of Compendium Blogware.

The Webinar will take place on November 18th, from 2-3pm EST and it will share the successes of several companies, including an eCommerce Gymnastics Apparel Company, SaaS Event Management and Web Survey Company, and Concrete and Services Company in Minneapolis.

In addition, the Webinar will cover:

Best Practices for ROI driven business blogging.
Real-life examples of successful blogging strategies.
How to set up a blogging strategy built for success.

Don't hesitate, sign up today!

Client Webinar: Using Blogs to Generate and Nurture Demand

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Jess Wehner

Every couple months we like to provide general learning sessions for our clients. In addition to our dedicated account management team, we also want to provide opportunities for clients to take their knowledge to the next level with client-only webinars. This month's webinar will feature Chris Baggott, our CEO and Richard Cunningham, VP Marketing of Right On Interactive.

During this webinar you can expect to learn about:

How your business blog program and email marketing campaign can work together to acquire and nurture leads
How Compendium's marketing team is currently employing these tactics (our program has seen 97% growth in leads generated and 100% ROI, year to date)
How to integrate blogging into customer life cycle messaging.

Interested in signing up? Here's the details:

Date: Thursday, December 3rd 2009
Time: 1:00 p.m. EST | 12:00 p.m. CST | 11:00 a.m. MST | 10:00 a.m. PST
Length: 1 hour
Website: http://bit.ly/LBFTu

A business blogging lesson from my Dad

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Brian Millis

One of my favorite words of wisdom from my Dad is: Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

He used to say that to me when I would complain about my job mowing lawns and interning in an extremely boring company. He would follow this up with a great lesson that has always proven itself true to me. If you always work hard, and put your full effort into something, the money will follow. This was my Dad's way of instilling a strong work ethic in me. However, I think that the same lesson can be applied to business blogging as well.

If a company feels that communicating on a human level with their target market is important, than isn't it worth doing well? I believe it is. And if you start a corporate blogging strategy in the right way and stick with the program, the money will indeed follow. Compendium's easy to use blog software just makes it easier to find success. With a small investment in this technology, businesses can focus on good, consitent content that adds value to a searcher. Here are 3 features that make this simple:

Provided with the important targeted keywords for your business
Endless stream of content ideas
Immediate feedback on how you're doing writing keyword rich content

Go ahead, request a demo and we'll show you how easy business blogging really can be. Remember, if you think that search marketing is worth doing, isn't it worth doing well?

Finding New Ways to Market Your Business

Friday, October 16, 2009 by Chandra Chaves

Each week I am overwhelmed by the amount of mail that I continue to receive from various company who want my business. Coupons, sales ads, etc. I am always throwing them away and thinking how much money do these companies spend on these thick paper advertisements and coupons? Then I think, if they are spending the money to send these advertisements and coupons to consumers, then they are spending way to much money on marketing their business.

In today's world most of us use the computer to find what we need. Why should companies spend money on such marketing ads, when we can find that information ourselves with a few clicks?

Companies should invest their money into new strategies for the ever changing market. Compendium has that solution. Compendium sells affordable blogging software that will save consumers money as well as put money into their pockets. The easy to use blog software enables the client to put the power into their hands by blogging about the company and its experiences and customer experiences. It adds that human element to marketing that gets lost in the shuffle. Why not blog for business? Blogging about your business allows consumers to find your business just by providing certain keywords that pertain to your business. So when searchers are looking for a certain brand or a specific type of product, you want to be blogging! Save consumers time and money by getting rid of the needless paper advertisements and go green. Let people search for you on the net, but of course, you need to always blog about your business!!!