Piedmont Credit Union: <piedmontcu.blogspot.com>

Comments:

It's a good start for Piedmont. The subject matter and writing style are good and it follows most "best practice" guidelines for financial institution blogging, scoring 13 out of 20 on our blog scorecard below. The blog is mentioned on the CU's homepage <piedmontcu.org> which helps introduce members to the new resource. Upgrading from the "blogger template" would make it more professional looking, and an email option would benefit the members and employees who want to follow the blog. Thanks to Trabian for posting the first link to the blog.

Metrics:

First post: March 2007

Number of posts in April (April 1 to 24): 10

Comments in April: 1

Comments related to blog content or CU: 0

Traffic: not available

Score: 13 out of 20 (Grade = B)

• CU branding: Yes
• About this blog area: No
• Relevant content: Yes
• Appropriate post frequency: Yes (2 to 3 per week)
• Acceptable blog "tone": Yes
• Prominent link to main CU website: No (buried in link list on lower right)
• Email address for author or CU: Yes
• Author name: Yes
• Author bio: No 
• Posts dated: Yes
• Categories: Yes
• Blog search: Yes
• Professional look and feel: No (standard free blogger template)
• Comments: Yes 
• CU response to comments: Yes
• RSS signup: No (small Atom link at very bottom does allow feed signup; but it is difficult to find)
• Email signup: No
• Links to other appropriate resources: Yes
• Prominent mention on main CU homepage: Yes
• Supplements text with occasional pictures/graphics: No (only one graphic used so far)

For more info on financial blogging:

• Our previous coverage of financial institution blogs here
• Our report on blogging and feeds (Online Banking Report, #138)
• Opensource CU from Trabian  
• Ron Shevlin's advice today for CU bloggers (here)