I am an IT guy also have e-learning knowledge..My company provides e-Learning and contract trainers services. I am looking to implement business blog on our corporate website. First i ve to convince my executives that we ll get benifit out of it.I ll give them a sort of proposal for business blog. I ve downloaded wordpress (a popular open source blogging system) and ll implement this on corporate web site.
Would you please advice me what should be included in proposal to convince managers.Second question is about what should be there on blog to make it effective, to get real benifit out of it. thank you in advance!

I do not see why they would be opposed considering the software to implement one is free. However, in order to get the most out of the blog, you have to have someone devoted to supplying content to it.. A blog doesnt do any good if its not updated regularly.

If done right, a blog can be a great asset to a business website. If you write content about things that interest you customers, it will help generate traffic to your website.

I am currently in the process of proposing research on corporate blogs as my dissertation topic. I can say, based on the literature I've reviewed thus far, that blogs benefit organizations in several ways. Increased employee engagement, knowledge sharing, and information dissemination. As mention in the previous response, consistent practices in updating content is important.
You will also need to consider if you'll start with a top-down, bottom-up, or peer posting (engage your HR department to set policy rules).
I am hoping my research topic is approved - what I will explore is how training and learning professionals are using corporate blogs.

Greetings!

The idea of a blog for business purposes is outstanding. As SKedi says, the important aspect is to have the content well developed. Users will be impressed with the process if the content delivers what they want. My suggestion is to follow a business plan process for the development of the blog. For example, detail purpose, objectives, benefits; elaborate the what, where, why, how for the audience. Include resources (i.e. money) as that can be a stumblng block for managers.

Best to you,

Eileen Dittmar

quote:

Originally posted by SKedi:
I do not see why they would be opposed considering the software to implement one is free. However, in order to get the most out of the blog, you have to have someone devoted to supplying content to it.. A blog doesnt do any good if its not updated regularly.

If done right, a blog can be a great asset to a business website. If you write content about things that interest you customers, it will help generate traffic to your website.

One of my favorite reasons for a company blog is reputation management. It's a good way for customers to feel like they "really" know you, and gives a feeling of personal insight into the organization. Should anything negative about your company ever get posted on the internet, having a blog in place is the perfect place to A) refute/explain it and B) counter balance it with some positive stories.

I know I always feel more confident dealing with a company that is transparent enough to write about real issues they face and expert-y enough to have interesting thoughts to share.

To summarize, I vote yes.