Keeping up with all the small business information streaming down the Internet could be a full-time job in and of itself. In fact, bloggers and writers pretty much do make it their full-time jobs.
There’s certainly no end to blogs and sites that position themselves as being oriented towards business, small and otherwise. But here’s the question:
Which ones should you be regularly reading? (Aside from TechSperts Talk, our own blog, of course.)
In a way, you could use the page rankings published by Alexa.com as a bias-free starting point. After all, Alexa can tell you which sites are the most visited, ergo the most popular. But if you Google the phrase best business blogs, you won’t be fed mere page ranks alone. You’ll get the vital missing ingredient: human input.So, here are a handful of blogs that we can recommend as additions to your personal reading list.
In no particular order – and coming from a variety of industries and niches – here are some blogs and general websites that we’d suggest any small-business owner take a look at:
HubSpot is an inbound marketing company. As such, they’re at the top of their game when it comes to the attracting-and-retaining-customers field. I particularly like to refer to HubSpot when I’m doing anything related to building web content – writing, design, etc. – and when I need to get some inside information on social media for businesses.
Speaking of social media, absolute beginners and seasoned users alike should check out this site. It labels itself as “Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle.” It offers downloadable podcasts and regular blog-style articles on a variety of social media news, helpful techniques, and guides. If you’re trying to decide between social media platforms or if you want to make the most of the accounts you’ve got, give Social Media Examiner a look.
Lest you think we’re hitting the social media scene a bit too hard, let’s be perfectly clear about LinkedIn’s blog: it’s not just about social media. In fact, it is much more than social media; it’s just about the only customizable big-name blog I’ve run across. With content from Influencers – people who are subject matter experts – and other LinkedIn users, Pulse offers advice on everything from starting your career to management pratices.
We’ve mentioned the Small Business Administration’s website several times in our blog. And there’s good reason for it. Not only does it have ever-present and ever-popular articles on starting and running a small business, it’s also our go-to resource for tax and legal information (aside from an attorney). The blogs – there are more than one, organized by category – may not be updated as frequently, but they’re worth keeping tabs on. What sites, blogs, and feeds would you add to this list? Tell us in the comments section below!