Reading and reviewing corporate blogs from other companies is a great way to learn a little bit more about your own blog. Microsoft has a large community of blogs, and a wide variety of bloggers writing in numerous blogs within this community. There are a number of employee blogs in the Microsoft blog community, which is insightful and interesting, but many of the community blogs are rich in technical jargon which is useful to those who are more tech savvy but not necessarily useful to those who are not used to the lingo.

There are a lot of blogs that are from Microsoft or about Microsoft, and many focus on technical advances relating to the Microsoft software. However, there is also a higher education blog that is part of the Microsoft community which relates to programs that are being integrated into universities for students. For example, I read about a software program called Business Intelligence and how Microsoft Performance Point is going to bring benefits to universities and the students who attend them, which was a pleasant subject to read about.

Because so many of the Microsoft blogs are technical in nature, they do not get many comments from readers despite being updated rather frequently. Most of the blogs in this network do not encourage dialog and do not appear to be very engaging. Let’s break down some of the details of these blogs in a purely number way.

Ease of Finding – 9 out of 10.

Once I typed “Microsoft” into Google’s search engine, a bunch of different Microsoft blogs came up. Blogs can also be found through the Microsoft website as well.

Frequency – 6 out of 10 –

These blogs are updated pretty frequently, but not on any real schedule that I can discern. I was finding some blogs with entries that were a few days old, and nothing new or fresh despite plenty to say.

Engaging Writing – 5 out of 10 –

The writing in many of these blogs is really only going to relate to tech savvy readers, or people who are really serious about finding out more information about Microsoft. This writing may be somewhat engaging, but it caters to heavily to a specific audience and leaves out a lot of potential readers in the process.

Relevance – 6 out of 10 –

Blogs in this network are highly catered to people who are seriously into technology, and as a result, they really are not relevant to the general public as a whole.

Focus – 8 out of 10 –

Perhaps too focused, but the focus here is good.

Honesty – 7 out of 10 –

The technology and software blogs appear honest, but I am less sure about the employee run blogs, giving these guys a solid 7.

Interactivity – 3 out of 10 –

These blogs are not very interactive, as they spend no time facilitating conversation or answering questions for readers.

Responsiveness – 3 out of 10 –

These blogs are not very responsive, as it does not seem like anyone is creating conversation in the comments, or even responding to those which are posted.

Grand total score for the Microsoft blog network is 48 out of 80.

Originally posted 2009-02-11 05:03:48. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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The last four blog entries (1, 2, 3, 4) have touched on eleven vital tips for crafting good blog entries and keeping your corporate blog going. In the last tip in the previous blog post, we talked about putting together a checklist to make sure that all of the most important details are touched on in the blog entries that you write. Rather than leaving you to craft your own checklist for this purpose, we have created a fairly basic one that you can use for your own purposes.

- Headline -

- Is the topic of your blog entry clear to someone who begins by only reading the headline of the post?

- Have you used a keyword in your blog post title, or have you used one of the catchy title examples mentioned in the previous article?

- First Paragraph -

- Does the lead paragraph in your blog post tell your reader who the story is about and what the story is about? Does it indicate to the reader why he or she should care about the blog post?

- Did you touch on the 5 W’s, Who, What, Where, When and Why in the first paragraph of your blog post? Is your blog post written in a journalistic style, and even more importantly, does it make an honest effort to be objective how you have written it?

- Post Clarity -

- Is the angle that you have used in your blog post one that is likely to appear newsworthy to your readers?

- If someone who knows absolutely nothing about your topic reads your blog post, will they understand what you are talking about?

- Is your blog post completely free of technical jargon and other confusing or unclear terms? If so, remove them now.

- Ending your Blog -

- Did you remember to ask the readers of your blog a question at the end? You need to make sure that you are stimulating your readers to write comments and offer up feedback. Ask them a question, ask directly for feedback or find some other way to essentially say “Hey, talk to me!” because blogs are excellent for the purpose of facilitating communication and correspondence.

- Did you remember to write the entire blog post while keeping your reader in mind? Do you remember WIIFT? Make sure that your readers are getting something out of your blog. If there’s nothing in it for them, why should they stick around and read?

- Finally, run through your blog: Is it free of errors? Run a spelling and grammar check and make sure that there are no glaring errors, because your readers can and will notice them!

Run through this checklist every time you write a blog, and if everything is satisfactory, click on “Publish” and sit back knowing that you put out a good piece of content that your readers will appreciate.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2009-03-04 05:48:36. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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This book claims to be the definitive guide to corporate blogging, so we were pretty interested to see what it had to offer. Right off the bat, the forward, which was written by Bob Lutz of GM (a corporate blogger) got our attention. It’s always nice to see books written by and for the intended audience, since this tends to produce a book that gets right to the point and manages to hit all the right notes.

Weil’s writing style is very conversational, which is very well suited for smaller companies that may not be all that up to date on the technical jargon or for those that are simply looking for a quick explanation that cuts through the hype. Readers expecting a highly technical tome would probably be disappointed, since the intended audience is really those who are not already into blogging, but looking for ways to help their company.

The author has been quite a celebrity in the corporate blogging world and has been credited with really explaining to the masses what this is all about. Her numerous television appearances and her own site have served as great education and the book really takes it to that next step. Inside, she answers all of the questions that a beginning corporate blogger may have, making it seem quite easy to get started.

By breaking down the entry barriers, Weil is making it much easier for anyone to start their own corporate blog. We appreciated the up-beat tone of the book and the way that she really presented her information without talking down to the reader. As the experts that got advance copies of the book stated, this can easily save you five to six months of heartache and get you started off on the right foot.

That is what really matters in the world of corporate blogging and for that, we give Weil high praise. She could have gone a little more in depth on a few topics, but overall, we found that the book was an easy read that got the job done. It isn’t probably a good book for those that already have a pretty good grasp of the technicalities of running their own blog, but it is very useful for those just starting out.

By getting through all of the stuff that can doom a corporate blog to failure and showing small and big companies how to go about corporate blogging the right way, Weil has performed a very important service. We highly recommend this book to anyone that is just starting out, especially if they are completely new to corporate blogging as a concept and as a means of reaching out to your customers. It was a quick read, and did exactly what it said it would. Anymore, that is a rare combination, especially when it comes to business advice books. It is well worth the time and is certainly a good reference book that you can go back to time and time again.

Originally posted 2008-08-15 05:47:50. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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