Navellier's blogs among first in industry " for a good reason

The blogs just launched by Navellier & Associates of Reno are more complicated than they appear on the surface.

So complicated, in fact, that they are among the first launched by a financial services company anywhere in the country.

Navellier, which manages about $4.5 billion for individual and institutional investors, wanted to provide daily observations about the market to clients.

That's not too difficult, and the company launched a blog written by its researchers and occasionally by its founder and chief investment officer, Louis Navellier.

The trick came when the company decided to allow clients to comment, says Peter Knapp, general counsel and chief compliance officer for Navallier.

Even though the comments would be written by readers, Navellier executives viewed the blog and the rest of the company's Web presence primarily as a marketing tool.

And because it's a marketing tool, Knapp says, the blog fell under federal securities regulations that keep a tight handle on what investment firms can say in their advertising.

"A lot of the commentary on a blog would not pass a compliance review," Knapp says.

The answer: The company is keeping a tight control on the blog conversation, running all comments through a quick review for regulatory compliance before they're posted.

Although the two-way conversation on the company's blogs are only a few days old and client participation has been light, Knapp says the review-and-post process appears to be working smoothly. The blogs are at blogs.navellier.com