Indy software startup growing clients, jobs

Blog, blog, blog, blog. Are people really making these wonderfully rich community like business connections through blogs?

Nope. Read Computerworld. If the big company CEOs could turn "blogging" into a mouthpiece that people would believe, then they'd be all over it. But the need for legalities, politically-correct views, and views that do not diverge from corporate philosphy mean that the true spirit of "blogging" will NOT be tolerated. Most corporate "blogs" are basically PR pieces, devoid of spirit, humor, spontaneous discourse, and originality. Most of them should just release a white paper instead.

Don't forget the smaller companies... The big corporations don't have any problem getting website hits, but the smaller ones do. And I kinda like the idea of getting a human feel to a company, learning what it's all about. If a company is trying to get its first start, I might trust them with my money if I can read about their passion for their mission and about how hard they are working versus some faceless new company that could just run off with my money. I'm just more likely to give my business to someone I know, or at least someone that I FEEL like like know. But maybe that's just me.

Homer - you may be looking at this the wrong way. Yes, big company CEO's aren't utilizing this resource, but smaller ones (read: YOUNGER) probably should. Those big CEO's likely don't even know what a blog is. Every day I watch many (not all) people of older generations who still dictate letters to their secretaries and also have them print off their emails before reading it (if they have email at all). I've just grown up in a different world - a world where dictation seems like a huge waste of time, a world where I can read an email while walking the dog, and a world where things like blogs are a great resource that can communicate a lot, to many, very easily. Bottom line for small companies - if their blog shows up in my first google search page, I'll probably read it.

I guess I'm not seeing the specialness/revolutionary factor here. We've kind of reached a point now where everyone with a social security number just about has a blog. Personally, I dislike the fact that when I'm searching for information, it seems like the number of hits I get is overinflated with random people's blogs. Say I'm searching for legitimate information on a particularly specialized element of history. What you'll get is maybe 3 pages of actual hits, and 500,000 with blogs and other random junk. Biff Johnson's opinions on the finer points of technological warfare in the 1920's have value, but they don't count as actual, usable information, unless he's backed them up with facts (they never do). As far as "company blogs" go, I'm not impressed. Different name, but these are just commercials. If your company pays someone to develop a blog for you, that's little more than advertising. Does it matter that blogs are "interactive"(people can comment on them)? Nope. I can talk back to TV commercials, tell the actors I'm not going to buy the product, but it's still just a commercial. A "company blog" isn't much more than a thinly-veiled advertisement...something I, for one, avoid completely.

Go CB, grow and hire as many as possible. There are lots of mfg. jobs being lost on a regular basis. With the politicians that are in Washington there is no end in sight to American job loss.

The software gets your website on the front page of google.

I had a lot of the same types of comments made about a software idea and gave it up only to see in about a year to two later five major softwate companies do what I was going to do and making a lot of money off of it. I figure it this way, those of us discussing this really don't have an idea of what is the next great idea or we would not be here....we would be off implementing it. The Japanese taught us that it does not have to be an original idea; it just has to be better (and cheaper does not hurt).

Good point.....and an important one. Gee if Google were coming out now, I bet you that the naysayers would be saying, "I don't get it, Yahoo is already out there and is a good search engine".

Tim wrote:

The software gets your website on the front page of google.

My company wants people to blog, but they want to pre-screen the blogs.

Tim wrote:

The software gets your website on the front page of google.

You can do that on your own, you don't need expensive blogging software, you need to know how to write, a free wordpress account and a basic understanding of SEO, and if you are a large corporation you already have the google juice to get up on the top listings for your keywords. I may be wrong but I don't see the market for this.

Marcie wrote:

My company wants people to blog, but they want to pre-screen the blogs.

Nothing wrong with that! Take a look at Compendium Blogware. It does work!!!

Marcie wrote:

My company wants people to blog, but they want to pre-screen the blogs.

Hi Marci,
This is exactly what Compendium does -- we have an admin layer that makes sure all content is approved before it hits the web. Pls. email ali@compendiumblogware.com if interested.

Wow! Thank you all for the great comments.

If nothing else this proves the media world is changing. A live dialog regarding a newspaper story in real time would have been impossible a year or two ago.

Now imagine that you were the one pitching this idea to the newspaper back in 2000.

("uhhh...we want you to write us a letter and if we like it...well we might run it in a future paper")

You would have wound up out on the street....to the detriment of the paper for their lack of vision.

So about Compendium. We are driving revenue. Our customers include some of the largest and the smallest companies in America and we are growing...hence the need to increase our hiring. We are growing because we offer something unique that organizations recognize brings a measurable value.

What the web brings to organizations of all sizes is democracy. Anyone can use these tools...and with a Software as Service model you pay based on usage.

If you are comparing Compendium to Blogger or Wordpress, it would be similar as comparing ExactTarget to Outlook...yeah both do email, but are completely different solutions with totally different value propositions. You can't say one is better than the other...they are different.

We are of course happy to discuss this one on one with any organization that would like to learn more. feel free to email me chris@compendiumblogware.com

Danielle wrote:

Blog, blog, blog, blog. Are people really making these wonderfully rich community like business connections through blogs?

I wanted to reply to this comment specifically. Danielle; Yes.

All relationships have to start somewhere. In the world we live in, a lot of people are out there typing in their problem to a search engine.

What do they find? A bunch of look alike corporate sites? Faceless institutional Websites that all say the same thing.

With a blog I land on a page that is actually written by a human being..someone who is smart, passionate, cares about what they are doing and their customers.

Given the choices, which do you think is more likely to lead to a rich, rewarding human relationship?

Blogs work. They help on Search Engine Optimization and they convert at a much higher rate vs. a traditional website.

Chris Baggott
chris@compendiumblogware.com

I use Blogger and it works great. Nice features and it's free.

Rick wrote:

I use Blogger and it works great. Nice features and it's free.

Does it get your company on the front page?

My blog is very consultative and educational. Don't need to be on the front page b/c word of mouth (e.g. email, tel., etc.) sends people to my blog. Unlike businesses seeking to use their blog to prospect for new clients, I'm using my blog to build strong relationships. If you guys are promoting a way of manipulating "google's search engine" through blogs, you should be very careful.

Tim wrote:

<quoted text>Does it get your company on the front page?

Josh wrote:

Homer - you may be looking at this the wrong way. Yes, big company CEO's aren't utilizing this resource, but smaller ones (read: YOUNGER) probably should. Those big CEO's likely don't even know what a blog is. Every day I watch many (not all) people of older generations who still dictate letters to their secretaries and also have them print off their emails before reading it (if they have email at all). I've just grown up in a different world - a world where dictation seems like a huge waste of time, a world where I can read an email while walking the dog, and a world where things like blogs are a great resource that can communicate a lot, to many, very easily. Bottom line for small companies - if their blog shows up in my first google search page, I'll probably read it.

I agree with much of what you say. But I'm certainly not "looking at it the wrong way." As a small business owner and developer, I'm bombarded daily with the latest technology information. If I recall the statistics correctly, 28% of companies now blog, a number that is not projected to have meaningful growth. Indeed many of the bigger companies are already pulling back away from the cliff.

But I do see a use for it with a smaller company (such as mine) that has to be more radical in their marketing approach. Since one of my marketing techniques is the old-fashioned cold-call, I've even visualized writing about my daily experiences. Those who spend their days behind a PC with a telephone and a high-speed connection trying to market and sell might enjoy a collection of real life experiences -- at the very least they'd be worth an occasional laugh.

One thing I'll give Mr. Baggott for free here that has cost me a lot of time and money. Your point about age. It's almost like an invisible line has been drawn across the age charts -- small business owners age 55 and up do not buy technology. Oh, I don't mean they don't buy Word and email and such for their "secretaries" or see the need for a website, and I don't mean that someone like Warren Buffett doesn't "buy into" technology. What I mean is that an extremely high percentage of small business owners in that age bracket would rather let their company die than move to a technological marketing and selling approach. Even the successful ones, some of them do not even have a PC in the office. The ones that do, the motto is: if it aint broke, don't fix it.

Folks sitting over in their little cubicles or offices downtown, over at Keystone Crossing or any of the other business high-rises in this city may think that the rest of the world CARES about the next great thing for the PC. In the small business arena, most of the owners age 55 and up surely do not. And like it or not, for the time being, they are the ones most likely to be running the show. It doesn't matter how great that next big idea is, if you can't sell it, you have nothing.