TAINTED BY DISAFFECTED TEEN RAMblings and extreme political rants, blogs
may seem like a major time- waster that way. However, businesses can use these easy-to-create pages as a tool to improve communications with clients and employees. And it’s usually free.
Only 5 percent of blogs on the Web are business related, according to a recent study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That’s unfortunate, because you can use a blog to update employees about company business, alert clients to new services (or service problems), and even aid in disaster recovery efforts by letting customers and employees communicate during emergencies.
A company blog can save time and resources by pointing employees to new health-benefi ts information or increase a company’s profile by providing
customers with relevant news and information. The simplest free blogging service is Google Blogger. The text-focused software is limited, but
a beta version lets you make portions of a blog private—perfect for sensitive information intended for employees.
Microsoft’s Windows Live Spaces and Yahoo! 360 are two other free blogging services, but they’re most effective ways to get your message across.
And you can handily create each without going to a professional print shop.
For a more professional appearance, you’ll need more than the basic templates that the free services offer. Look to TypePad, which starts at $4.95 a
month, to create a more polished appearance.
Some of the famous blogging services are,
Google Blogger:
LiveJournal:
TypePad:
Windows Live Spaces:
Yahoo! 360 (beta):