Current trends in corporate blogs

Corporate blogs, like other blogs, have their own unique trends to follow. Of course, these trends are not necessarily shared by all corporate blogs, but still it is true that many of them feature the functions and design element presented below. These features are used in order to make the blog more efficient and user-friendly.

1. Simple layout, with few glamorous visual elements

Although many companies that have corporate blogs spend huge amount of money for creative commercials and fancy events, when it comes to their corporate blog design, most of them prefer quite simple. Blog content is the most important element so in many corporate blogs it’s situated in the most visible and easily accessed place.

Going against the trend:

Nike is one of the few companies that have put more emphasis on the look of the blog.

2. Branding

Usually between the layout of the corporate website and the design of the corporate blog a lot of similarities can be found. Yet, there is an element that is a must – it’s the corporate logo. Many corporate blogs feature the corporate logo and font as branding elements in the design. Depending on the chosen designer concept and the aim of the blog, these elements can be used more intensively for whole blog branding. Besides, corporate colors are typically used in the blog design to promote consistency in branding.

3. Multiple authors

Posts in many corporate blogs are usually written by number of different writers who work together as a team to provide content to readers. Cooperation is a necessity mainly because these people typically have other duties beside blogging and it’s difficult to get a significant amount of content from one individual. In most cases, if a company wants to have an active and efficient blog with regular and interesting posts, it should apply the multiple author strategy.

The ways authors are presented in the blog they write vary. Many corporate blogs offer a grid of authors’ avatars in posts, which can help readers connect with the writer and follow their posts. Some companies prefer hiring different authors who cover different topics, and some companies prefer having several thematically focused blogs.

4. Networks of blogs

When companies want to cover a wide variety of content in their blogs, their invite different writers and usually develop a small network of blogs rather than one all-encompassing blog. In these cases, the blogs are separated according to topic. Another option is each author to have his/hers own blog. This allows the company to publish more content and be more specific with content so that it can truly be of value to readers.

5. Few comments

Although blogging is intended to be two-way communication between companies and their audience, many corporate blogs attract very few comments to their posts. This seems to be in part due to the type of content that is published. Companies that publish typical blog content that isn’t focused on their products or themselves tend to draw more comments than those that publish corporate announcements or posts that are mainly intended to promote a product.

6. No ads except for internal ads

The only ads that are typically found on a corporate blog are those of the the company’s own products and services. This is not surprising, but it is a significant difference comparing to blogs in general. Having in mind the specific purposes and intent of corporate blogs, ad revenue is inconsequential, and ads would be a distraction to readers and a hindrance to the company’s goals for the blog.

Monster for example uses a large banner ad on its blog for its own services, but no outside advertisements.

7. links to the company’s home page as well as products and services

Every corporate blog will at some point link back at least to the company’s home page, and navigate users to other parts of the company website and provide brief information about products with links to specific pages or sections of the website. Without advertisements in the sidebar, there is plenty of space to do some internal promotion.

8. Separate domains

It’s not uncommon for a corporate blog to be kept on a separate domain than the company’s website. There is a good deal of variety in practices with this, and it certainly isn’t the case with every corporate blog, but many companies have chosen to use a separate domain.