Comala Credit Union: <comalacreditunion.blogspot.com>

Overview:

In our view, any blog is better than no blog; however, Comala Credit Union's new blog puts that hypothesis to a test. It's only been online for two weeks, so we'll cut them some slack, but they need to spruce it up a bit if they want members to trust it as a reliable resource.

Thanks to Ron Shevlin for posting the first link to the blog (here).
Update: Apparently, Morriss at Everthing CU had it first. Both posts were on the same day, but I doubt Ron posted his before the 12:19 AM entry at EverythingCU (here).

Metrics:

First post: 12 April 2007

Number of posts in April (April 1 to 25): 3

Comments in April: 3

Comments related to blog content or CU: 1

Traffic: not available

Score: 7 out of 18 (Grade = C-)

• CU branding: No (just a small picture of what must be headquarters)
• About this blog area: No
• Relevant content: Not enough info (just 3 posts)
• Appropriate post frequency: Not enough info 
• Acceptable blog "tone": Yes
• Prominent link to main CU website: No (buried in link list on lower right)
• Email address for author or CU: No
• Author name: No
• 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: No
• Prominent mention on main CU homepage: Yes (big time...and it blinks!)
• Supplements text with occasional pictures/graphics: No

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 open letter to  CU bloggers (here)