As its blog title implies, Wharton MBA for Executives is a blog managed by and written for MBA students of Wharton School?s Executives program. There are actually two blog administrators, although the blog also features guest bloggers from time to time. Basically, the contents of the blog chronicle the authors? experiences in their pursuit of an MBA program.
What makes this blog special
Unlike most MBA blogs, which may be classified as informative or feature blogs that typically discuss basic management and business principles, this Wharton blog falls under the “personal blog” category. For instance, one of the authors wrote about his trip to Marrakech and how price-haggling with souvenir vendors gave him an idea for a paper in his negotiations class. Set on a clean and simple three-column WordPress layout, the blog contains links to the official Wharton EMBA site and other Wharton blogs, as well as the authors? Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. Since the target readers are Wharton EMBA students?and those who aspire to be?other useful links include business journals and news articles on finance.
Navigating through the site is easy, as one of its three columns show the blog categories and tag clouds. This allows readers to find entries only on topics that they are interested in without having to spend too much time digging through the site. The archive link and RSS button enable followers of the blog to find old entries and receive blog updates conveniently.
Areas for improvement
However, the blog still needs tweaking in some areas. The blog description on the header indicates that one person maintains the blog, although its “About” pages show two different authors. Also, simple does not have to mean “boring,” so adding images to the entries will make the page more attractive to readers. Adding relevant widgets will also optimize the blog?s clean look and readership.
MBA Answers is a blog that seeks to provide sound answers to all MBA-related questions. This is one place on the Internet where current and would-be MBA students can get useful information from someone who has plenty of experience in the field, ranging from taking the GMAT to online MBA programs and international business schools.
What makes this blog special
One thing that makes MBA Answers stand out as a career blog is its magazine-type layout. On its homepage, you can see snippets of its featured posts, which are grouped under the categories, “About MBA?s,” “GMAT & Business Schools,” “MBA Updates,” and “More MBA Answers.” Write-ups in About MBA?s contain general information on the degree, such as its benefits and factors to consider when assessing one?s readiness to pursue an MBA. Posts under GMAT & Business Schools help readers choose which program and business school is right for them. The MBA Updates category provides links to useful and recent MBA materials, while More MBA Answers is where readers interact with each other in typical Q&A fashion commonly found in e-forums.
What makes MBA Answers stand out is that by subscribing to the blog (simply type your e-mail address into the appropriate field), you will also get newsletter issues delivered to your inbox. For those who don?t like getting too many messages in their inbox, they can still subscribe to the blog?s post and comments updates via the RSS button.
Areas for improvement
Despite the blog?s nice layout, readers may find some difficulty navigating through the site. The homepage contains tabs and links which turn out to be serving the same function?directing the reader to the same page containing the same information. For instance, clicking on the “About MBA?s” tab on the upper-left side of the homepage and the “More Featured Posts” link under the “About MBA?s” box on the same page will give you the same result. In addition, it will be much better if readers get to post questions directly, as most are posted (moderated) through the site administrator.
KoolKareers.com is an informative career blog created by Kudos Infomedia, a web development firm based in India. Mainly, it caters to readers who plan to pursue post graduate education or study abroad, although it also contains reference materials for those preparing to make a career move.
Strong points
KoolKareers.com is very professional-looking, which gives any reader an impression that it is more of a website than a regular blog. It contains articles that are useful and necessary for people preparing for graduate school, particularly in complying with admission requirements. Anyone who comes across this blog will surely get the impression that it is well-organized, as its contents are classified according to the type of admission test or process one is preparing for. Its main categories include CAT, GATE, GMAT, and MBA preparation, as well as SNAP, JMET, FMS, XAT, IIFT, CET, IRMA, and interviews.
Much of the blog?s appeal is in the relevance and usefulness of the content itself. Under MBA preparation, for instance, an entry on funding your studies through an education loan provides information on educational loan schemes, the expenses considered by such loans, and the documents necessary in filing a loan application. The site is also easy to navigate, because the tag cloud, links to recent and most viewed articles, and a more specific category list appear on the page even while you jump from one article to the next. Another good point for KoolKareers.com is its reader-friendly quality. Ads are minimal and are positioned in a way that won?t get readers redirected to an external site by mistake. The blog also has an RSS button, making it easy for readers to subscribe to its content.
Weak points
KoolKareers also has its Achilles? heel, though. Some tabs don?t function, such as the “sitemap” link that gives an error message when clicked and a “watch this video” link that doesn?t play. The same goes for its Facebook and Twitter “share” tab. If these issues are fixed, then this site will become more popular among its target audience.
Inside HBS is a personal blog maintained by an MBA student at Harvard Business School. In this blog, the author considerably writes about life on campus and in Boston, and a little bit about the MBA program.
What I like about this blog
One thing that you will notice about this blog is that the writing style is consistent with the two functions the blog serves: one, to document the writer?s life as a student at the Harvard Business School; and two, to tell the reader about the sights and the culture in Boston. Unlike most personal blogs in which the writer simply expresses his or her thoughts without the need to explain things to whoever cares enough to read, this one doubles as an informative/travel blog. For instance, in a post about hiking in Blue Hills, the writer tells the readers that it is “the most popular of the Boston-area hiking spots” and that it “may be the biggest of the three major state parks within the I-95 inner Boston loop,” after which he or she embeds a map of Boston parks.
It also contains landscape photos and posts on Boston holidays, as well as the writer?s observation on the attitude of HBS students. The blog layout is a simple two-column, three-page Cutline theme, with links to other HBS blogs. Site navigation is relatively easy, as there are not too many links, and posts are tagged accordingly.
Suggestions for improvement
Although the contents of the blog make for an educational and entertaining read, the layout does little justice to it. Its upbeat tone will work well with “Follow me” or “Tweet this” Twitter widgets or those that encourage more interaction from readers (other than the comment field). The sitemap link displays an error message when clicked, so the link must be broken and needs to be re-configured. Lastly, it will be better if the archive is transferred to the right column, as it is more noticeable there than in a separate page.
GeekMBA360 is a blog that cuts across three niches: personal, career, and Internet marketing. According to the writer, the sole purpose of the blog is to provide career advice, especially in riding out the recession wave and managing one?s finances. However, since the writer has an MBA and a computer science background?not to mention a marketing job for an Internet company?he or she describes the contents of the blog as “career advice at the intersection of business and technology.”
What to like about this blog
Although the writing style used is friendly and personal, one look at the list of blog post categories will tell you that the blog is serious and, as the writer claims, well, “geeky”; topics discussed include multiple income stream, product management, and company analysis. The blog contains tips on saving, recruiting, job-hunting, fast-tracking your career, and blogging. For instance, in a post about conquering blogger?s block, the writer recommends writing at least 3 posts per week. A Q&A section is also available, where readers can respond to questions asked by other readers.
The blog has a number of good points. For one, the way the blog posts are titled does wonders in sparking the reader?s interest without being misleading. Also, each part of the blog holds substantial information and is not just serving as space fillers. It has a page for forums, as well as those containing a layoff survival guide and daily updates on layoffs, including those which are ?secret? or unannounced.
Areas for improvement
However, one thing that it does need to improve on is the layout. While the Cutline WordPress layout is all right for a personal blog, it waters down the attractiveness of GeekMBA360. Cutline is too generic, and a blog of this quality should opt for a more unique web design. In addition, a search field must be added to help readers find posts on certain topics much quickly, especially since the blog already contains several posts.
