SME Blogs-2

As a small business owner, you need to do most of your business activities yourself and be knowledgeable about the whole spectrum of your day-to-day operations. From drafting legal contracts to making sure your website stays in the air or determining your optimal social media strategy to grow your business.

Small Business Blogs are an ideal tool to stay up to date on the latest developments and learn new tricks on how to succeed and grow your business. The only problem is that there are a lot of business blogs out there and they are all screaming for your attention.

So which ones are successful in providing the information your business needs and how can you find them? Like we did for the Best Content Marketing Blogs, we combined 10 popular “Best of List” and earmarked what blogs keep up appearing on most of these recently published lists. And here are the results!

As we are a small business ourselves, we use this list as well of course for educating and inspiring our minds and for optimizing our Consultants 500 platform.

Top 12 Small Business Blogs to Follow
& Grow your Business

  1. Duct Tape Marketing Blog – Listed 7 out of 10 times and all the posts you see come from real experience guys running this blog. Their core business is providing consulting to small and mid-sized businesses, and their content actually reflects that. It’s a must-follow when you are interested in real life business ideas and strategies.
  2. Copyblogger – Listed 5 out of 10 times and has been described as the Bible of Content Marketing. They produce some of the most valuable content resources on the internet, and if your business creates online content, this is the place to be to stay up to date on trends and best practices.
  3. Buffer Blog – Listed 4 out of 10 times and the Buffer Tool is used by many professionals, including us, for scheduling and analyzing your social media posts. They give great insights on sharing, creating, analyzing and converting with social media.
  4. Social Media Examiner – Listed 4 out of 10 times and it is one of the best places to find out what tools to use for your social networks and read in-depth how-to guides for all aspects of social media. They call themselves the world’s largest social media marketing resource, helping millions of businesses discover how to best use social media to connect with customers, drive traffic, generate awareness and increase sales.
  5. Chris Brogan Blog – Listed 4 out of 10 times and this blog is operated by yes Chris Brogan who runs his own successful media business, he is a famous professional speaker and consultant and a New York Times bestselling author. So he knows what he is talking about when he writes about marketing, sales, and business in general.
  6. Small Biz Trends – Listed 4 out of 10 times and this blog is one of the more comprehensive ones that provides how-to tips, industry news, and trends. It covers the whole spectrum of running a business, from technology to marketing to finance.
  7. Small Biz Survival – Listed 3 out of 10 times and this blog specifically focuses on running small/rural businesses in small towns. This blog, owned by a small business owner, covers various aspects of social media and provides ongoing tips on running a successful small-town business.
  8. Convince and Convert – Listed 3 out of 10 times and this blog is run by a group of digital marketing advisors and was founded by best-selling author Jay Baer in 2008.  It’s one of the top-ranked social media and content marketing websites on the internet for a reason. From SEO, email marketing, social media, conversion tactics to mobile strategy, it is all covered here.
  9. Gary Vaynerchuk – Listed 3 out of 10 times and this blog is run by Gary who is a successful serial entrepreneur and investor, and who appears in multiple “watch lists” like Fortune, New York Times and Inc. His blog covers social media, entrepreneurship, startups, and family businesses all based on a lifetime of building successful, multi-million dollar companies.
  10. Entrepreneur On Fire – Listed 3 out of 10 times and this site is a combination of a blog/podcast where tonnes of successful entrepreneurs have been interviewed. If you want to know all the ins and outs of great entrepreneurs and are into podcasts, this is a must.
  11. Social Triggers – Listed 3 out of 10 times and this blog is about sales, marketing, entrepreneurship and all aspects of social media. The blog is run by Derek Halpern, who was called “the master of social media” and the world of online communications by Inc magazine.
  12. Guy Kawasaki – Listed 3 out of 10 times and this blog is run by this well-known marketing guru with the same name who has worked for and advised businesses like Apple, Google, Canva and Evernote. He is a successful evangelist, venture capitalist, author, speaker and via his blog he shares his priceless knowledge.
  13. Blogtrepreneur – Listed 3 out of 10 times and this blog advises small businesses and entrepreneurs on starting, managing and growing your business. It has become one of the top blogs for entrepreneurs.

Both blogs (#9) Gary Vaynerchuk and (#10) Entrepreneur on Fire actually ended up equally. However, the technology behind our blog is not that sophisticated that you can make amendments to numbered lists;-)

The blogs of Duct Tape Marketing (1), Copyblogger (2), Buffer (3), Social Media Examiner (4), Convince and Convert (8) and Social Triggers (11) also ended up in our Best Content Marketing Blogs list, so a lot of people must agree on the great value these blogs create on a day-to-day basis.

How we Established the Ultimate List

  • We combined 10 lists about “Best Small Business Blogs” that were recently published by specialists who are (small) business owners themselves or who know their way around on this subject because they for instance advice or coach small businesses.
  • When a blog was ranked as number 1, it got 1 point, and when it was ranked 2nd, it got 2 points, etc.
  • When no particular ranking was applied to a certain list, then each listed blog got the same points
  • To be included in the final list a blog should be listed minimal 3 times out of the 10 lists in total.
  • More weight was assigned to blogs who were listed at least 5 times or more out of the 10 lists in total.
  • All lists were summed up, and the blog with the lowest number was ranked 1, 2, 3, etc.
  • This resulted in the 12 (13) Best Small Business Blogs that are followed by many Small Business owners and/or experts.

Sources Used

The 10 “Best of Lists” used for our research are:

  1. 25 Blogs Small Business Owners Should be Reading.
  2. Top 10 Small Business Blogs.
  3. 15 Best Small Business Blogs to Follow.
  4. 21 Best Blogs That Will Help Grow Your Business
  5. Top 40 Blogs for Entrepreneurs in 2016.
  6. 10 Business Blogs to Follow in 2015 to Grow Your Business.
  7. The Top 10 Best Small Business Blogs for Entrepreneurs in 2015.
  8. 21 Great Small Business Blogs.
  9. 10 Business Blogs to Follow in 2016.
  10. 9 Essential Blogs for Small Business Owners.