Five becomes ten

I like lists of five things. And Rubel's list in Wired on How To Run A Corporate Blog isn't bad.

But despite my penchant for lists of five things (honestly, ask anyone. I can't write lists of four things), his left me wanting.

Perhaps a list of ten would've been better. (Multiples of five are OK...)

Here's five more to make up the rest:

6. Reflect your brand.
Tone, style, design, strategy. Your blog is not a forum for uncontrolled ranting or blatant libel about how rubbish your competitors are. At the same time, it's not a platform for peddling bland messaging. Work out what you brand values are and champion them via your blog.

7. Have a plan for every outcome.
Blogs are a useful crisis management tool, but they could also fan the flames of any potential media fallout. Do you have a plan that kicks in should a crisis occur? A blog could be critical in getting your message out fast - make sure it's by-the-book.

8. Try out new stuff.
Blogs are quick and easy to update. Plug in Twitter and play with it. If that doesn't work, unplug it and try something else. Your IT team won't let you do this on your corporate website. Blogs are a testbed for new tech - embrace the opportunity.

9. Bring power to the people
The most interesting person to write a blog is not the CEO. The people that have direct engagement with the customer have the most colourful stories. A CEO blog is a great thing, but balance it out with a blog written by a collection of sales people or your R&D team.

10. Track, track, track.
Are you being linked to? What's your blog traffic and is it growing? How much of your website traffic is referrals from your blog? Who is commenting? Does anyone really care? Social media technology is pretty good at helping you work all of this out. Measure it, record it, and track it back to the reasons why you launched the frickin' blog in the first place.