The rules

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Here are seven to-dos (and a few do-nots) to consider when developing your brand or product blog.

Rule #1: Know your audience.
You'll want to do a little research to find out who your audience is. Based on your knowledge, gear your content to their needs and desires. There are any number of sources to draw from, including:

• Other blogs in your field
• Forums, newsgroups and other online communities
• The trade media
• Your customer service department (this can be your best source for determining your blog's voice and content)

Bear in mind that your audience will likely be far larger than just your customers. It may also include the trade and mainstream media, industry "influencers," such as popular bloggers, consultants and academics who study your industry. Your competition, of course, will also be watching.

Rule #2: Determine your voice.
After you've learned as much as you can about your audience, the next step is to determine your blog's overall voice. If your blog is about a software product whose customer base is made up largely of engineers, your voice will be different than if your audience consists of accountants. But in general, your blogging voice should be very different from your corporate voice. Never "speak with a wooden tongue." A few adjectives to describe your blogging voice might include:

• Casual & conversational
• Passionate
• Honest
• Authentic
• Fun

Conversely, your blog should never be:

• Arrogant
• Self-serving
• Jargon-filled

That last point is vital, especially if you think your blog will be read by a wider audience than your immediate customer base. Speak in plain English whenever possible. Your blog isn't an "always-on, 24/7 reciprocal audience touch-point," but "a casual way to stay in touch with people." Finally, your blog's voice should not be monolithic. Your company is made up of individuals, not machines. If you have more than one person authoring your blog posts, let each express himself in his own way.

Rule #3: Create a unique design.
Your blog should have a unique look and feel all its own, albeit one that connects to your brand. The aforementioned Yodel Anecdotal and Southwest airlines blogs are two great examples.

Rule #4: Develop an editorial calendar.
Sit down with your product people, customer service folks, marketing department and execs and roughly figure out where you want to go eight or ten weeks in advance. Don't get locked into it; just use it as a kind of roadmap with a lot of options.

Rule #5: Be topical.
Go ahead and employ allusions to what's going on in popular culture, technology and the arts. You can even allude to history. Your readers are smart, and they'll get where you're coming from. (Here's a tip: For techie blogs, science fiction-related metaphors almost always draw attention.) Your content should always provide helpful tips and tricks, but it can also discuss emerging trends in your field.

Rule #6: Include outside voices.
Consider recruiting third-party experts, influencers or evangelists from your field to write special guest posts. They can really lend a lot of credibility. For example, search marketing influencers Rand Fishkin and Jen Slegg have helped me develop the tone of my own day-job blog.

Rule #7: Be bold!
Don't be shy about taking chances, making a statement or taking on issues that are important in your space. If you feel some legislation or piece of policy is putting the damper on your industry, hurting your sales, and going against the public's interest, then you, as a responsible business leader, have a duty to say so. Your blog is a great place to rant. The recent Internet Radio Day of Silence is a great example. Remember, the bolder you are, the more "linkbait" you're likely to get.

Rule #7.5: What not to blog about.

• Repurposed press releases. Unless you've got a new angle, don't be too PR-ish.
• Topics you wouldn't be willing to discuss outside of the company (policy issues, legal stuff and so forth).
• Financials, stock price, earnings, executive compensation and all that bean-counting stuff. Your audience wants to know what you are doing for them, not what you are doing for yourself.
• Stuff that's off-topic to your audience's interests.

If you're not sure about whether you should blog about a given topic, consult your legal department.

Remember what Captain Barbossa says to Elizabeth Swann in "Pirates of the Caribbean" about the Pirates' Code: "[They're] more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules." That's the way you should think about the 7.5 rules listed above. The first rule of corporate blogging is that there are no rules of corporate blogging, until you've talked to legal.

Michael Mattis is a marketing manager at Yahoo! Search Marketing. Read full bio.