To Blog or Not to Blog? - Lindsey Young
Greetings!  My name is Lindsey Young and I'm a Business Development Manager here at Compendium. Before I joined the company I knew next to nothing about "Corporate Blogging" and the amazing benefits it can offer to companies seeking a new outlet for marketing and SEO.  This blog will primarily focus on giving your company's blog a human voice by empowering and encouraging employees to blog creatively and professionally while at the same time conveying your overall company message.
I graduated from Ball State in 2003, and have lived in Indianapolis since. Personally, I love sports, my pets, and doing home improvement projects with my wonderful fiancé! 

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Don't think "website in" think "search engine out".
Posted Tuesday, August 19, 2008 by Lindsey Young
In our CEO Chris Baggott's latest white paper, he quotes William Flaiz of Search Engine Watch:

"“People don't go to Web sites anymore. Web sites come to them. This is, perhaps, the best way to explain the impact of search on the online experience.”

I was experiencing how very true this is, just last night.  You see my fiance and I are huge Purdue football fans.  (I went to Ball State, but I've been adopted in)  I was searching for some new gear for us this season, namely some hooded sweatshirts, jersey's, etc. as we go to all home games. What did I do?  I Google'd it.  I didn't know any of those companies, or their website url's.  But by searching for what I wanted, I sure did find plenty of people wanting to help me find my Purdue gear!

This is exactly why so many people are coming to Compendium for help with their business blogging. They want to be found, and we get them found!  If you haven't already read this white paper, I'd highly recommend it to any potential bloggers.  Go to our website and check it out!  Blog for your business!

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But...how will I find the time?!
Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 by Lindsey Young
Time is money.  This statement just becomes more and more literal as families, businesses, and life get more demanding.  Between juggling day to day duties of our positions within our companies, employers and employees alike are hesitate to add one more responsibility to the mix, such as blogging.  A common misconception within the group of people I speak with is that investing in a corporate blog is going to eat up too much of their time.  Erroneous!  I like to negate this idea with the following information:  the beauty of our compended blogs is that the responsibility is spread out among several people, the time needed to create a post is minimal...and here is the point I really want to stress to potential clients with the time constraint objection: 
  • Each user should post 2-3 times per week
  • Approximately 250 word blog posts
  • Conversational in tone
  • 10-15 minutes MAX to create
If you did the math there, that's about 30 minutes a week! Blogs shouldn't be rocket science, just engage your reader enough to take the next step.  Finding relevant information through your company blog will point them in the right direction to becoming your client, customer, or consumer. 
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Google remains "top dog" in the search engine pack.
Posted Thursday, August 14, 2008 by Lindsey Young
We like to provide all of our clients and prospects with accurate, fresh data when it comes to what search engines like . I often find myself referring to Google for search engines like I might refer to Kleenex for a facial tissue.  Clients will often ask if we are just focused on Google.  The answer is "not really".  The algorithm is basically the same for all of the big players:  Google, Yahoo, and MSN.  However the market share is truly held by our "do no evil" friends at Google. 

The latest data from www.searchenginewatch.com:  "Google is pulling in 62% of the online searches, with Yahoo at a distant second with 20%".  When it comes to blogging best practices when focusing on SEO, you truly have to consider where the majority of your organic results will lie.  Good luck and keep blogging!
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Compendium clients are seeing success!
Posted Tuesday, July 29, 2008 by Lindsey Young
We've started something pretty cool here at Compendium.  Our Client Success team has started sending out emails to the rest of us sharing statistics, and major successes of our clients.  I have found this pretty helpful when talking to potential clients, especially trying to drive home the point that early adopters will prevail using our software.  The sooner you start, the sooner your organization is going to see increased search engine traffic, engaged readers, and eventually more business! 


I'm always amazed at how potential clients that are coming to us know they need to be blogging, they just don't know why.  That's always my favorite part of our conversation when I get to inform them, and see the light bulb go off!  I'd like to share an exerpt from NetSquared.org: 

"Did you know that over 57 million Americans read blogs? U.S. blog readers average 23 hours online each week! An average of 64% of Canadians visited blogs in 2007. And 10% of online consumers in the U.K. read blogs at least once a month.”

For the complete article go here.  Like our CEO Chris Baggott always says, "we're changing the world!".

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There's no such thing as a free... blog?
Posted Tuesday, June 10, 2008 by Lindsey Young

We've all heard that old adage, "there's no such thing as a free cat".  Well the same can most definitely be said for blogging.  You get what you pay for, plain and simple.  And trust me, free isn’t always free.  A lot of objections have come up lately here at Compendium.  People interested in our software asking why they can't use a "free" platform and get the same results.  I can sit here and list the differences between the other platforms and the numerous features our software offers in comparison, but I'd rather focus on our target audience at hand; marketers.  In a recent post by our CEO Chris Baggott, he referenced a technology focused blog that stated:

          "I complained to him that one of my annoyances in life is how complex Wordpress actually is. Why? Because you don’t just have to configure Wordpress to get anywhere. To get it to perform acceptably you can either throw powerful hardware at the problem (which is how Club Troppo has done it since our donation drive last year) or you can implement a whole rogue’s gallery of tweaks and adaptations."

While it might be the goal of the IT department to tinker in applications, it is not the goal of the marketing departments of the world.  Marketing departments strive to drive in new leads, and progress forms of customer acquisition.  Our blogs do that through engaging content, traffic through SEO, and increased search engine rankings.  That is not the goal nor the outcome of free blogging platforms built for individuals.  With Compendiums corporate blogging platform, blogging for a purpose is what our clients are doing.  Marketers aren’t wasting valuable time managing the platform; they’re using our Software as a Service, and realizing their ROI.  Let us do the heavy lifting; we are a solution for marketers, not another stray cat draining valuable time and resources. 

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Small Fish in a Big Blogging Pond.
Posted Friday, April 25, 2008 by Lindsey Young
The internet is wonderful for so many reasons, but I think one of the greatest advantages to small to medium businesses is that it creates a level playing field.  Just because you're the Mom and Pop pet shop down the street, doesn't mean you can't compete with those huge chain stores when it comes to being found on the internet.  As long as you're blogging regularly, producing relevant content, you can sling those hamsters just as well as the big dogs...no pun intended.

With our software and your employees blogging, a major web presence is achievable as long as you are using the right tools.  Some small businesses are fearful of the time it might take up, the work that might be involved, and therefore are hesitant to jump on this Web 2.0 bandwagon. Again, this level playing field should encourage those SMB's to get online and get found!  With a post here and there about your business you can increase search traffic, engage those potential customers with your blog content, and drive more traffic to your website. Get to the top of those Google results and sell those hamsters.
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It's Not Your Mother's Blog
Posted Thursday, April 10, 2008 by Lindsey Young
Something we've been trying to overcome with prospective clients here at Compendium is the overall concept of "blogging for a purpose".  I know when I am speaking with potential clients several of them know they should be blogging, they've heard what it can do for search engine optimization (SEO), but they just don't know why.  I love it when I can actually see the light bulb go off above someone's head when they get the concept after I show them a demonstration of our software.  It's definitely a perk of the job when a marketer now realizes what an integral tool our software combined with their company content can truly be. 

I was having a conversation with some friends after work last week, and we were in somewhat of a debate about the effectiveness of blogging.  Consumers are becoming smarter, therefore we as marketers have to be one step ahead of them and become smarter ourselves.  They no longer click on banner ads...actually...when is the last time you saw a banner ad?  People are using Google to find exactly what they want.  People aren't using the Yellow pages, they're not looking in the newspapers, what they're doing are getting on their computers and searching.  And when those customers do that, you as a marketer need to be right there in those organic search results, raising your hand, and saying "I can help you!". 
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You know your business.
Posted Tuesday, March 18, 2008 by Lindsey Young
I attended my very first Compendium company meeting yesterday.  It was nice to see everyone all in one room, as we are usually spread out pretty thin across the 14th floor.  I think our CEO Chris Baggott raised a very good point during the meeting.  When we speak to clients, we often emphasize the fact that they are indeed the experts at what they do.  No one knows more about what they do than them.  No one can explain their business better than they can.  People often get wrapped up in the idea that their blog has to be flawless.  That misconception shouldn't be a factor when considering a company blog as a marketing and SEO strategy.  In fact knowing that a typo here or there happens to all of us, makes the fact that a human is behind the words that much more apparent. 

In this crazy world of online shopping, online bill paying, online everything, it's nice to still know actual people are still powering all of these mediums. For example, I purchased a new vehicle in December of 2006 from Nissan. Since leaving the actual dealership I haven't had contact with one human being about my vehicle.  They send me emails about maintenance, emails about my satisfaction with their product, and I pay my car payment online. While this is convenient for me, a personalized email from my salesman might add a little extra for me...attributing to the fact that I'm "not just a number".  Knowing that email wasn't mass produced, but yet meant only for me, the valued customer. 

Human interaction in the world of commerce is becoming less and less common. Add some humanization to your company while at the same time boosting SEO and providing more relevant search results for your customers. You want people reading about your company from you...after all remember, you're the expert.  Don't sweat the small stuff, and start that blog!
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Blogging and the organic search
Posted Tuesday, March 11, 2008 by Lindsey Young
Blogging as you and I once knew it, has changed.  Once thought of as an outlet for angry girlfriends, or gossipy teenagers has now come full circle to a "full steam ahead" marketing strategy. Companies are now jumping on the bandwagon, as they should, to realizing this tool for customer acquisition. 

If you know much at all about how Compendium works, you would know that search engines love blogs.  Why?  Blogs possess the five key factors that often websites lack.  Recency, Frequency, Age, Page Title, and Keyword Density.  If you want to get on that first page of Google, blogging might be your answer.  Not to mention this gives your company a human voice.  Get everyone from the entry level interns on up to the CEO involved.  People like people.  People buy from people.  Ultimately that is the goal to turn those people visiting your websites to paying customers. 

After only being with Compendium for one week I've had the chance to listen in on a number of my coworkers calls with clients.  Marketing professionals everywhere are realizing this up and coming phenomenon known as corporate blogging.  They want those search engine results!  Using Pay Per Click words is a start, but it's not going to accomplish those organic search results that the vast majority of us refer to.  For those of you not familiar with "organic" search results, they are the results on the left side.  The Pay Per Click words appear on the right side, and often times people think of those as advertisements...which, they are.  They were paid for.  If you are seeking a new method of reaching your customers, humanizing your company, and turning prospects into profit, I'd advise you to take a look at corporate blogging as a solution for your company.
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