Why Business Blogging

BizSurvey is sold on the value of Compendium's blog platform

Thursday, November 12, 2009 by Compendium Client Reviews

BizSurvey wasn't sure of the benefits of blogging. After further research, they were sold on the benefits of blogging with Compendium blogging platform. An employee at BizSurvey, Matt Braun, made the following statement about Compendium's software: "Had to convince my boss of the value of blogging, but once I got him to look at Compendium's solution, he saw the light - and within weeks we saw the results in our SEO improvement." The results don't lie - SEO improvement is just one of the many benefits of blogging with Compendium.

Name: Stephanie West
Company: Compendium Blogware
BlogURL:

We want your suggestions!

Thursday, October 29, 2009 by Stephanie West

Webinars are a great way to get information about a particular topic. At Compendium, our webinars are focused on blogging - corporate blogging in particular.

There are numerous benefits of blogging for your business. Chris Baggott, Compendium's Co-founder and CEO, has spoke about many issues around corporate blogging. But now has come the time for YOU to let us know what you'd like to hear about. What type of blogging best practices would you like to hear about? We want your opinion and suggestions because webinars are designed for YOUR benefit!

Some informative Webinar topics previously discussed include:

What else you would like to hear about?? Please submit suggestions in the comment section of this blog.

Generate leads for a larger fan base

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 by Stephanie West

Many great TV shows go un-noticed - or without a large fan base. They may have a very loyal fan base, but it's small. If you're one of those loyal fans, don't you wish that everyone know about it?! Don't you wish there was a way to generate leads to this awesome TV show?! I sure do!

http://www.insidesocal.com/outinhollywood/2006/11/a-brilliant-gaythemed-episode.html

Over the past few months, I've gotten hooked on the TV series: How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM - for short). It is in its 5th season and is incredibly funny, witty and entertaining. It's on Monday nights on CBS @ 8pm EST. (I'm finished with my HIMYM shout-out for the day.)

My whole point is this: Your company has something great to offer. It's probably not a TV series, but it is something that you want more people to know about, right?

A great way to generate leads for your company is through corporate blogging. Compendium offers a blogging software platform that all lows you to blog for search engine optimization.

Why keep your company a secret? It's great to keep a small and loyal client base, but don't you want to share your company with everyone?

Schedule a demo with a blog expert at Compendium and they'll help explain the benefits of blogging for your business. So start generating more leads today - I'm going to suggest that my favorite TV show does the same...

Compendium: Out and About!

Friday, October 9, 2009 by Stephanie West

When all else fails, talk about the weather. Isn't that what we do when we're at a standstill in conversation with people??

That's how we handle conversation in person.

But how do you handle a lull in your thoughts when you're writing? In particular, blogging?

I'll be the first to admit that I sometimes wonder what I'm going to write about next. I can't just write about the weather in Indianapolis whenever I'm at a standstill - because you probably don't care about that...

I can blog about my internship at Compendium and what is currently going on here...

Compendium is gearing up for Blog World at the Las Vegas Convention Center on October 16th and 17th. Compendium's co-founder and CEO, Chris Baggott, will be speaking at the conference. There will be hundreds of participants, speakers and exhibitors present who are willing to answer your questions and give you more feedback on the many benefits of blogging.

Be sure to stop by Compendium's booth for more information on the advantages when you blog for business. Compendium will help you understand the blogging solution and how to leverage your company with a corporate blog!

Building a foundation to blog

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 by Stephanie West

Corporate blogging isn't something that your company should just blindly start doing. It requires thought and clearly defined goals in order to receive the maximum benefits of blogging for business.

Before you begin blogging, set goals. What do you want to achieve? The only way to successfully blog is if you know exactly which aspects of your company you want to focus on.

http://www.philosophicalquestions.org/GalleryRollingTwo.html

Once you have outlined your blogging goals, you can build your foundation. Building a foundation on clearly defined goals is like building your foundation of stone. It is substantial. Your search marketing strategy can be best executed when you know exactly what you are trying to get accomplished.

In contrast, blogging for business before outlining your company's blog goals is like building your blogging foundation on sand. Your blog content may never be maximized in search engine optimization. And your blog may be a little skewed. A skewed blog will lead to having sporadic content throughout the internet - and what good is that?

Compendium's corporate blogging software is designed for your blog to be optimized in organic search. With relevant keywords, you are building a solid foundation. To keep building on that foundation, you have to continue generating content containing those keywords.

Schedule a demo with a Compendium blog expert today. They will determine if your goals are compatible with Compendium's corporate blog strategy!

What do you get in return for blogging?

Monday, September 28, 2009 by Stephanie West

It's easy for me to tell you to blog - especially to blog for business. I can easily list the profits of blogging:

Your return on investment (ROI).
80-90% of clicks happen in organic search.
The measurable benefits.
You'll drive traffic with your blog.
Generate leads.

Those are some measurable benefits of corporate blogging. But what fun is it for me to just tell you the benefits of blogging? That would be boring - and no fun. Wouldn't you rather read about someone else's success story?!

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3316/3272144112_0caf4e6966_m.jpg&imgrefurl=http://investornation.com/blog/&usg=__GDPclmhI2-Li4tZfp7s2i9hbRAU=&h=163&w=131&sz=6&hl=en&start=15&sig2=cRZEm1U1jK2QeByLG_tJww&um=1&tbnid=zL_NOsgm9ls--M:&tbnh=98&tbnw=79&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dinvestor%2Bnation%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=2hPBSvjkHaHUNI7O4b4G

One of our clients, Investor Nation, describes their own blogging experience. Investor Nation is a wholesale real estate investment company that has been blogging since February of 2009. Since then, 35% of their keywords are ranking in the Top 10 in Google. That's great for a blogging platform that has been around for less than a year!

Investor Nation has been able to gain an edge over their competitors and generate leads that they wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. Their return on investment from Compendium's corporate blogging software is great! Investor Nation is found in organic search - which is the concept of the platform.

Read more client testimonials and hear the benefits of corporate blogging from THEM!

If you'd like more information on Compendium after reading the client testimonials, click here to schedule a demo with one of our blog experts and receive a $50 Starbucks card!

Make Blogging a Habit

Friday, September 25, 2009 by Stephanie West

http://www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/groups_subcategory.asp?CatID=38

I like to run... or at least I used to. I used to run 5-6 days a week and absolutely loved it. I felt great, had time to relax/think, and loved being outside.

Running was fun.

It was a habit.

The great part about habits is that they're routine. They become mindless. And they're PRIORITIZED.

When I make a habit out of running, my whole days seems to go better - because the benefits outweigh anything undesirable associated with working out or running. I'm just happier when I run.

Blogging is to your company as running is for me.

Blogging works best when it is a habit. Your company will seek the most benefit from blogging when each employee blogs - as a habit.

Corporate blogging isn't something that you should remind yourself to do - if should be a HABIT. Everyday tasks should inspire you to blog for business. The only problem with a habit is that it can be shuffled around and not prioritized if you let it. I let running get pushed aside (and school took precedence). I shouldn't have let this happen because the benefits of running outweigh the time (or pain!) it took to run. In the end, I was sacrificing running.

"Good" habits are great. Blogging with Compendium is a good habit to have because there are clear benefits associated with it.

Blogs Drive Organic Search

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 by Stephanie West

What drives you to blog for business?

Most people blog to be found in search - especially organic search.

http://blogging.compendiumblog.com/blog/blogging-for-money

This picture depicts where most "clicks" occur in search. This is just one reason why you should consider corporate blogging. The corporate blogging software that Compendium offers is structured so that if your company to generate relevant blog content - which should lead to organic search results.

Internet searchers are your prospects - and they are searching for the information you are generating. So in addition to generating good blog content, your blog should have links to other pages of information for your prospects to utilize. This element leads to lead generation.

Lead generation is your way (as a company) to connect to these prospective clients.

So let me recap:

Prospective leads search.
Most of them click on organic search results in their search.
These leads then read your blog.
They want more information on what you wrote about (your content)
So they click on a link to another page.
And their interest in your company drives them to contact you with more information.
Or the information they fill out allows your company to contact that prospective lead.

All of this leads me to one point: People read blogs. Blogs humanize your company and are great resources for curious customers. So consider Compendium's corporate blogging software in order to connect to these perspective customers. Click here for our free Whitepaper: Consider Blogging for more information on the benefits of blogging!

Are YOU ready to blog?

Monday, September 21, 2009 by Stephanie West

Let's start with the basics of blogging...

http://thefuturebuzz.com/2009/09/02/blog-content-in-demand/

If you are familiar with the supply and demand curve, you know that equilibrium is the point where supply and demand intersect. At equilibrium, everyone is satisfied with the current condition. You are also maximizing your efficiency at this point.

Interesting - but what does this have to do with blogging??

Everything.

As a corporate blogger, your job is to generate proper content for perspective customers. Perspective customers are internet surfers "demanding" a certain amount of information. Whether they know it or not, internet surfers are using search marketing. In order to fulfill their demands, you should "supply" these internet surfers with the information they are searching for.

Internet surfers are searching for certain keywords. By supplying them with information on these keywords, you are fulfilling their need. This is what you want! As a corporate blogger, you know what keywords to blog about within your blog post. These keywords are then maximized in search engine optimization. This is why you should strive to reach the point of equilibrium in blogging.

For more information on corporate blogging with Compendium, click here to receive our free Whitepaper: Consider Blogging to learn more about the benefits of blogging and how to get started.

Make the Most of Your Blogging Efforts

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 by Meghan Manning

Did you know that along with working at Compendium in the marketing department I'm also a part time food critic? Well not really, but close! In the marketing department we also manage a blog called Indianapolis Restaurant Reviews.

As a department we go out every Friday to a new location somewhere in downtown Indianapolis. Then we come back to the office and critique the restaurant and the lunch we had on our restaurant blog.

This might sound like a lot of work, but actually it's quite fun and we understand the benefit of blogging with Compendium (we drink the Kool-Aid) so naturally we want to use our software to promote our thoughts on area restaurants so we can insure that we're getting the most out of our blogging efforts.

Check out our blog here and tell us where we should go to lunch next!

And for more information on how Compendium can help you make the most of your blogging efforts - click here to schedule a demo today!

The Beauty of Business Blogging

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 by Stephanie West

There are many benefits of blogging... particularly, there are many benefits to using Compendium's blogging platform.

There are several key features that I think are worth noting in Compendium's software:

Enterprise level editorial control - Which means no one can post without approval.
Easy to use interface - I learned how to navigate it in 10 minutes and you can too!
Scalability - You can start with a few bloggers and add more as times goes on. As your number of bloggers grows, so will your SEO scale.
It is web-based - Compendium's software is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution. You just have to contact our Client Success department with any questions you many have.
Search Engine Optimization - Compendium's platform automatically structures your blog content to be maximized in SEO.

And that's the beauty of it.

Compendium offers all of these features with its blogging platform - all you have to do is generate good blog content! For more information on Compendium's blog software, click here to receive our free Whitepaper: Consider Blogging and see if a corporate blog is right for your company.

We'll teach you how to blog

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 by Stephanie West

Skeptical about starting a corporate blog? Not sure how to invade the blogosphere?

No worries! Here at Compendium, we'll help you every step of the way!

http://www.sitelogicmarketing.com/blog/category/analytics

Our Client Success team will help answer any questions that you have regarding:

Setting up your blog
Blog content ideas
The value of blogging
The application that Compendium provides
Benefits of blogging with Compendium

And the list goes on...

The main thing you should know is that we won't leave you stranded with this new software to figure out - although it is very easy to use! Compendium's staff will assist you in understanding the blog software and teach you exactly how to use it.

It doesn't get much easier to start a blog TODAY than that, does it?!

boost your business

Monday, September 14, 2009 by Stephanie West

"Blogs can be a boost for business"...

This was a headline in the TheReporterOnline.com on September 14th.

And this is a headline that Compendium constantly stresses. Blog marketing will boost your ability to be found in search.

The article outlines several key points that Compendium also stresses. Here are a few that I thought were consistent:

http://www.blogtips.org/does-your-non-profit-organisation-need-a-blog/

A blog is simple to create, unlike a website.
A blog is less formal and a way to communicate with customers and other leaders in the business community.
Blog content gives a business presence online.
Gives a business the ability to tell potential or existing customers about news in the industry.
Since blogs are updated daily, chances are increased that the blog will be picked up in search engines - and this concept helps with page rank.

These points are all emphasized at Compendium as well. For more information on why business blogging is here to stay, click here to sign up for our free Webinar: Third Generation Business Blogging on Thursday, Sept. 17th from 2-3PM hosted by Chris Baggot.

Customizing your Corporate Blog

Friday, September 11, 2009 by Stephanie West

There are a number of reasons why you should blog. I could list them all, but that would be boring. So instead, I'm going to explain to you an important concept behind corporate blogging...

Personality.

Many times, your company's website is merely just a source of information. Your company website provides quick facts. And generally, that website information isn't personalized.

So ask yourself this: How much do you value the personality of your company?

Here at Compendium, I would safely say that everyone values the personality of our company. And because of this, we want everyone to know what it is like to work at Compendium.

With our corporate blog, searchers are able to get a more humanized understanding of Compendium. Since our employees consistently write blogs, we are constantly humanizing our company.

Don't you want searchers to see the humanized aspect of your company? By blogging, searchers will understand the personality of your company.

For more information, click here to receive our free Whitepaper: Consider Blogging. It will give you more details on how your company will benefit from blog marketing - a humanized approach to online marketing.

Are YOU doing your part by blogging?

Thursday, September 10, 2009 by Stephanie West

With the many tasks and responsibilities that employees are assigned today, it's easy to get caught up in a daily routine. But it's time to redirect your attention and change up that daily routine.

Ask yourself: Is blogging at the end of your bottomless to-do list?

I hope not... but if so, here are some reasons why you should consider reprioritizing...

Blogging wins in search - check out our Whitepaper: Blogging's Role in Search Marketing and Social Media to better understand how your blog can win in search.
Blogging is fun! It's a creative outlet and a great way to escape the daily tasks on your to-do list for a short time.
Incentives! Have your marketing department organize weekly/monthly blogging incentives - we're currently doing this at Compendium and competing against each department for a week of drinks/snacks of our department's choice!
The blogosphere is expanding and YOU need to position your company within this growing online marketing strategy.

These are just a few reasons why I recommend corporate blogging. For more reasons why your company should blog, click here to schedule a demo with one of our blogging experts and see the benefits of blog marketing!

Attention shift to online marketing

Monday, August 24, 2009 by Stephanie West

I was recently drawn to Seth Godin's blog titled, "Mass Attention Surplus." It talked about what is now an out-of-date form of marketing: TV ads. Years ago, these ads worked. People watched them and marketers thrived off of the idea that "the more ads you bought, the more money you made." But, like everything, the ideas were introduced and this form of marketing worked before the internet.

http://metricsman.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/inflationary-twitter-audience-numbers-hurt-social-media-credibility/

Now, there is the internet, which introduced online marketing. Seth Godin suggests that the internet has brought about a surplus of attention. Those TV ads are going unsold because people are directing their attention to various forms of online marketing, such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, or BLOGS.

The common misconception that marketers make is that these forms of online marketing are free. Sure, signing up for a Facebook or Twitter account isn't going to cost you anything initially (but it will be an expense for someone to maintain). But the problem with these "free" accounts is that they don't reach internet surfers the same way that a blog does.

Corporate blogs are written and intended to reach the audience of the their searcher.

Example: Those of you reading this blog right now were interested in something that I'm talking about. You probably want to know why corporate blogging is more profitable than just using Twitter... or something along those lines...

Blogging is very beneficial for a company, but companies must also realize that corporate blogging isn't necessarily free. There are initial costs involved, but there is also a team of client success managers ready to answer your questions at any time. The business blog software that Compendium Blogware offers is very easy to use, with a great client support. It is set up so that all you have to do is... blog! And if your blog incorporates keywords, then searchers will find you. Click here for more information on Compendium's blog software.

So when you are evaluating the profitability of online marketing vs. those traditional (and costly!) TV ads, consider using Compendium to set up a corporate blog. The benefits are endless!

How to Profit from Business Blogs

Thursday, August 20, 2009 by Stephanie West

I have heard from several people the reasons why they don't have corporate blogs... the common reason including: profit.

Some people question the benefits or blogging, particularly related to profit. One misconception is that their business will be losing money because employees will be spending their time writing blog posts as opposed to completing other "more important" tasks.

These are all misconceptions that can be clarified in a previous Webinar: 5 Best Practices to Profit from Business Blogs. Click here to register for this Webinar replay, hosted by corporate blogging expert Debbie Weil, and Compendium CEO & Co-Founder Chris Baggott.

The keys points from this webinar include:

How to prep for a profitable blogging strategy.
Tactics that will immediately generate demand for your product/service.
How measure, track and adjust ROI.

So if you're a critic of business blog software and don't see the benefits associated with it, listen to this webinar replay. It will provide you with more insight to the profits of corporate blogs.

Create a blog with Compendium and you'll see that it is very powerful blogging software.

Why Business Blogs Win Search

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 by Sarah Sedberry

Here at Compendium its difficult for us to sometimes take a step back and realize that not everyone else out there is as super psyched about blogging, and recognizes the potential that it provides every company out there in their marketing efforts.

So for all of those out there that still have questions about whether blogging is right for your company (which it is!) I encourage you to register for our upcoming webinar, hosted by CEO Chris Baggott on June 24th.

This month's webinar visits the topic of Why Business Blogs Win Search. We know that over 90% of internet users say search is their #1 activity online - so it means that your potential clients are turning to the Internet, specifically the search engines, to find answers to their problems.

The question becomes - Why wouldn't you have a business blog?

Think Large Corporations & Blogging Don't Mix - Think Again!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009 by Meghan Manning

Every month Compendium hosts a new Webinar, so you can imagine that during our Webinar's we receive a lot of questions and concerns about implementing a business blogging strategy for large organizations that require a lot of cutting through the red tape.

So, when I came across this article titled "Fortune 500 Corporate Blog Adoption Slow and Steady" on Business Wire, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to dispel any pre-conceived notions about business blogging.

Read the entire article here.

The most informative part of the article includes some of their key findings...here are a few examples:

Five of the top ten companies have public blogs: Wal-Mart, Chevron, General Motors, Ford, and Bank of America.
90% of the Fortune 500’s blogs have the comments feature enabled.
81 of the Fortune 500 or 16% currently have public-facing blogs.
10% of the Fortune 500’s blogs link to podcasts; 21% incorporate video

If this article doesn't help change your mind about this topic, attend our upcoming Webinar: Why Business Blogs Win Search. Register now - there's only 150 spots available for this Webinar.

Why business blogs win search

Tuesday, June 9, 2009 by mikey mioduski

We've got yet another exciting opportunity for anyone looking to learn the benefits of integrating a blogging strategy into your marketing plan. Compendium CEO and Co-Founder Chris Baggott who is currently blogging really hard this afternoon, so he should have some really interesting stuff to talk about.

Free blogging webinar: Why Business Blogs Win Search

To accomodate more guests on different coasts, this webinar will take place two times on the 24th, at 11am and 4pm EST, for about one hour each. Each session is Live and Chris will field a Question and Answer session afterwards, and he will probably blog a lot about it the following week, especially if there is an internal incentive going on.

Sign up for the webinar here!