A blog is at its basic level a website that will be updated
regularly with original content. Blogs
have been used as online journals, and are often used by individuals to share
their thoughts or ideas with the online community. Blogs can be effective tools for sharing
information and for inviting feedback from the readers. Trainers and educators can use blogs as
training tools to enhance knowledge by providing lectures, trainings, and important
information either via text or video online.
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Advantages
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Disadvantages
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Many websites allow the user to create a free
blog without having to pay for pages or for hosting
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Blog websites have basic templates for free,
so the user does not have to be skilled in html or other complex code
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Blogs allow for collaboration between more
than one contributor
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Readers can be given permission to comment on
posts
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Posts can be short or long, can contain links,
videos, and other content
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Some template designs are very basic and do
not always meet the needs of the blogger.
Third party help may be needed to design the blog
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There are so many blogs that it can be
difficult to optimize the blog for search engines, depending on the content
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Becoming proficient with blogs takes time
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Corporate trainers are tasked with the job of helping employees perform at their best levels. Training programs are often a work in progress that changes as the company changes, and that should be able to change to meet the needs of the employees as well. Corporate trainers could benefit from sharing best practices and training tools online through a blog.
Five Blogs for Corporate Trainers
LearnCore - http://learncore.com/blog/
This blog is an excellent resource for corporate trainers,
and specifically for sales trainer. New
posts are added on a regular basis and sometimes multiple new posts in a
day. The information is relevant and
provided by more than one contributor.
The posts are primarily related to improving the efficiency and success
of sales representatives. For example,
one post provides tips for how to help your sales reps meet their sales
goals. Another post deals with sales reps
meeting their quotas. These types of
articles are timely as the end of the year is approaching, and sales trainers
can use the information to help their reps finish out the year on a strong
note. The blog does not appear to
invite comments or contributions from the readers. There is no measurable level of engagement
between blog writer and blog reader. However,
for this type of informational blog, perhaps there needs to be no reader
comments. LearnCore is credible because
it provides expert training for sales leaders.
The LearnCore website has been in operation for several years and
provides sales training to organizations in need of that kind of service.
Salesforce - https://www.salesforce.com/blog/
Salesforce is a well-known company that
provides customer relationship management (CRM) tools for organizations. They are viewed as a leader in their field,
so the information provided on their blog can be viewed as reputable. The Salesforce blog pertains to corporate
trainers because it provides ideas and coaching for how to improve sales and
improve relationships with customers.
The articles that are provided on the blog include those directed toward
marketers, sales, and customer service.
Multiple posts are added each day, so the content is fresh and abundant. Two of the more recent articles are
specifically geared toward improving sales coaching and retaining customers. Corporate trainers can use this information
to improve the performance of the teams they are charged with training. The blog entries can be “liked” on Facebook, “shared”
on LinkedIn, or tweeted on Twitter, but it does not allow for direct comments
on the blog page itself.
Bersin by Deloitte - http://blog.bersin.com/
Deloitte is a very well-known
multinational company, known as one of the Big Four accounting firms. The Bersin blog was set up to provide HR and learning
professionals with valuable information for how to effectively train and lead. The blog is updated at least a couple times a
week by Josh Bersin and other contributors.
There are buttons provided on the blog to allow readers to share the articles
across various social media platforms, but there is no opportunity for readers
to provide direct comments on the blog.
Some of the more recent posts deal with improving leadership and with
elearning for professional development.
These are areas of interest for corporate trainers to improve their own
skills, but also their delivery and the content of their trainings.
Training Industry - https://www.trainingindustry.com/blog.aspx
This blog is written specifically for trainers and by
trainers. There are regular writers that
contribute, but this blog is unique from the others in that they invite guest
bloggers from the training community to contribute articles. This is a great way to invite collaboration
from blog readers. This blog can be
viewed as reputable because it brings together leaders from the training
industry to share best practices that apply across sales, IT, leadership, and
content development. Articles are added on
a regular basis on this blog. Some of the more recent posts deal with improving
the work of retail staff and advice for new training managers. These types of articles can help trainers improve
their skills and the skills of their employees.
Training Folks - http://www.trainingfolks.com/blog
Training Folks is a global training
organization. Their website boasts of
some of their well-known clients like Bank of America, KMPG, and Home Depot, so
the organization must be considered reputable.
The blog appears to be updated weekly with most of the posts coming from
a writer name Nisha Amin. This blog does
have the functionality to allow readers to submit commits for review that can
then be published on the blog. The type
of content provided on the blog is geared toward corporate trainers and toward
organizations that need help with their training departments. One of the more interesting articles deals
with adjusting training programs for the millennial generation. Millennials are entering the workforce in
large numbers, and training needs to adapt to fit their needs and talents.
Recommendations for New Bloggers
Getting started with a blog may seem like a daunting task,
but it can be rather simple. Blogs do
not have to have fancy formatting and special effects to be effective. It might be best to start with a website like
Blogger or Wordpress to start a simple blog based on a topic of interest. Search for other blogs that cover the topics
of interest and gauge what has been successful for them. Following the examples and advice of
successful blogs is an excellent way to get started on your own. Allow readers to become engaged with the blog
by enabling reader comments on each post. It is a good idea to enable to
setting that requires your approval before any comments are published to
protect the integrity of the blog.
Contacting industry experts and asking them to become guest bloggers can
also add to the blogs credibility.
Deloitte. (2016, December 6). Bersin by Deloitte.
Retrieved from http://blog.bersin.com/
LearnCore. (2016, November 29). LearnCore Blog. Retrieved
from http://learncore.com/blog/
Salesforce. (2016, December 7). Salesforce Blog.
Retrieved from https://www.salesforce.com/blog/
Training Folks. (2016, December 1). Training Folks Blog.
Retrieved from http://www.trainingfolks.com/blog
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