If you’ve ever searched for small business blogs, you know how ubiquitous they are—everyone, it seems, is blogging about small business (as well as entrepreneurship and startups). Most of these blogs are just marketing tools–their creators try to lure you in with a few bits of generic information and advice and then comes the pitch for whatever they want to sell to small businesses.
There are some blogs, however, that do provide guidance, insight and advice for small business owners about how to build successful ventures.
Here are twenty-one of the best blogs out there for small business owners—providing education, information and inspiration:
BizSugar
A blog with small business news and tips that is crowd-curated. BizSugar’s community of readers share business blog posts, videos and other content from which readers of the blog can learn something, For those that share content, they are reinforcing their reputation and brand and bringing online visibility to their content. The community votes on member-submitted tips, advice and information, advancing the most popular (and what’s considered by the community to be most useful) posts to the home page. Top posts are pushed to the top or can make it into the BizSugar Top 10 list.
Kabbage
Kabbage is redefining how small business find and apply for loans online and their blog is full of tips to grow, manage, fund, or innovate your small business.
Social Triggers
A blog from Derek Halpern, who writes about sales, marketing, entrepreneurship and the world of social media. Halpern was called “the master of social media” and the world of online communications by Inc. magazine.
DIY Marketers
Small business owners are often limited by their marketing budget. DIY Marketers focuses on those creative marketing strategies that help you reach more customers for less money and Ivana Taylor makes it fun.
Penelope Trunk
Raw, funny insights from the entrepreneur Penelope Trunk about starting, running and marketing a business. You’ll also find advice on productivity, management, blogging and other business-related issues, as well as life lessons—all of them Trunk’s, of course, but useful nonetheless.
Marketing Profs
If you’re looking for a digest of the latest and greatest marketing tips and news, Ann Handley’s got you covered. Her aim with Marketing Profs is to educate the modern marketer using real world data and examples. With the PRO membership, you get access to their best content.
Both Sides Of The Table
A blog written by Mark Suster, a two-time entrepreneur who sold one of those companies to Salesforce.com and then became a venture capitalist. (Get it? Both sides of the table?) He’s a general partner in Upfront Ventures and blogs about startups, entrepreneurship, sales, marketing, management, leadership and more.
Copyblogger
The mother of all content marketing blogs. Copyblogger will help you advance your content marketing skills across the board. They produce some of the most valuable content resources on the web and their topics cover a wide range. Writing well is a skill that requires frequent studying and practice and Copyblogger can be an excellent guide to improvement.
AVC
A blog written by Fred Wilson, managing partner of two venture capital firms, Flatiron Partners and Union Square Ventures. Wilson is a leader in the entrepreneurial community and has been a VC for more than 20 years. He has been writing on the blog everyday since Sept. 2003 and the topics are wide-ranging but related to starting and running a business (while also trying to live a somewhat normal life).
Small Business Survival
This blog has been around since 2006 and is geared toward rural and small town small businesses, with how-to articles and an emphasis on social media marketing, plus a chance for business owners to share good news in the blog’s weekly “Brag Basket.”
OPEN Forum
American Express has really knocked it out of the park with OPEN Forum. They’re covering topics from agile marketing to building company culture and everything in between.
Adrian Swinscoe
Blog of consultant and speaker Adrian Swinscoe, which features interviews with business people and posts about customer experience, building a customer-centric business, service, social media as well as employee and customer engagement.
Buffer
All social everything! What I love the most about Buffer is their transparency. They are not afraid to share their data, what they’ve failed at, and what they’ve learned. They have a buzzing community of people who want to discuss what they’ve learned from the Buffer blog. Chat with Buffer’s content creators and grow in a fun, exciting community!
The Franchise King
The blog of Joel Libava, otherwise known as The Franchise King®. Libava is a franchise ownership advisor and the author of Become a Franchise Owner! The Star-Up Guide to Lowering Risk, Making Money and Owning What You Do (John Wiley) Everything you ever wanted to know about researching, choosing and buying a franchise.
Evergreen Small Business
Written by Stephen L. Nelson, a Seattle-based CPA who specializes in serving small business owners, this blog is focused on the details around running a small business, like tax issues related to LLCs, a review of do-it-yourself incorporation kits, Affordable Care Act information for small businesses and how to handle past due tax returns.
Mixergy
Mixergy interviews entrepreneurs on their successes and failures. Learn from a wide range of passionate business leaders who not only had a business ideas but a mission. Mission is #1 at Mixergy.
Google Small Business
This is Google’s official blog for small business owners, where the company discusses new releases, new Google tools and how to make the most of them, and instructional information like how to set up your first data feed, and experts weighing in on how to make the most of social media. The blog is somewhat promotional—after all, it’s mostly about Google products and tools—but it’s still very useful.
Duct Tape Marketing
John Jantsch is his name, and the “World’s Most Practical Small Business Expert” is his game. He runs Duct Tape Marketing, providing reliable marketing advice to small business owners and marketers.
Farnam Street
Have you been meaning to read up on the great philosophers but don’t have the time? Farnam Street will teach you how to think, read, and perceive the world around you the way the famous big thinkers do. Become a better leader and “go to bed smarter than when you woke up.”
Fast Company
So there’s Fast Company… and then there’s the Fast Company blog. They do things differently by using Tumblr as their blog platform filled with beautiful pics, gifs, and that same digestable information we crave from Fast Company. They cover leadership topics as well as design, productivity, business, and useful life topics.
Richard Branson
Because who doesn’t like the dude?
This post was updated on August 2, 2018.