About the corporate blog designs, trends and principles - article reviews

I put aside this article for too long - now when I went thru it, though I didn't go thru all the list of corporate websites with blogs, I still enjoyed reading it, seeing some principles and some trends of the corporate blogs. Guess what: I'm also working on such a blog and, as it is specified in the purpose of the corporate blogs, there are more than 1 goal for the corporate blogging. Anyways, let's read more about

Corporate Blog Design: Trends And Examples

Purposes of Corporate Blogs

1. 1. Communication with customers and the public
2. 2. Demonstration of corporate responsibility
3. 3. Reputation management
4. 4. Promotion of products and services
5. 5. Provide executives and/or employees the chance to communicate openly
   

Potential Issues for Corporate Blogs

1. 1. Negative comments
2. 2. Consistent and frequent posting
3. 3. Usefulness of posts
4. 4. Who is going to write the content?
5. 5. Promoting open communication without damaging the company
6. 6. Lack of focus
7. 7. Converting traffic into something useful
   

Trends in Corporate Blogs

1. 1. Simple layout, with a lack of visual appeal; Going against the trend.
2. 2. Branding
3. 3. Multiple authors
4. 4. Networks of blogs
5. 5. Few comments
6. 6. No ads except for internal ads
7. 7. Links to the company’s home page as well as products and services
8. 8. Separate domains
   

And last, but not the least - actually it is the longest section of this article - view a Gallery of Corporate Blogs. Very impressive collection of corporate blogs of well-known companies, and very useful article - Corporate Blog Design: Trends And Examples - via smashingmagazine.