It’s easy to take the sheer volume of information at our fingertips for granted. With over 600 million blogs out there today, we have so much knowledge within easy reach that it can be overwhelming.
Some blogs are so-so. Some are world class. And some are just a waste of your time. So how do you know the good from the bad?
We painstakingly poured through hundreds of blogs to bring you the 24 best blogs for small business. They’re separated into six categories, so read through the whole list or skip to the section that interests you the most!
Operational Blogs for Small Business Owners
These small business blogs are the generalists that cover a bit of everything. They’ll help you write a business plan, scale, find funding, and more.
FedEx Small Business Center Blog
FedEx’s Small Business Center blog is full of practical tips and how-to’s. Since it’s FedEx, many of those tips involve logistics, like packaging, fulfillment, and inventory management. But they also cover topics as varied as finance, marketing, and staffing. And it’s written in simple, easy to follow language.
No need to look to FedEx for faxing solutions though — eFax’s simple online faxing system has got you covered.
Small Business Administration
The SBA may be in the business of providing financial support to small businesses, but they provide educational support as well.
The UX for this blog leaves a bit to be desired. But the content is solid, spanning a huge range of topics like franchising, entrepreneurship, customer service, marketing, and beyond. It also covers specialized topics for women, BIPOC, and veteran small business owners.
BizSugar
The blog from the folks at BizSugar dives into measurable, actionable business topics like which KPIs to track, how to use a CRM to generate leads, and how to maximize ROI with Google Ads. And if you don’t know what those abbreviations mean, you should definitely check out this resource.
They also do interviews with entrepreneurs and small business owners for a dash of inspiration.
Women on Business
Written entirely by women, Women on Business is a blog for today’s female entrepreneur — although male readers are certainly welcome too.
Since 2007, this award-winning blog has been covering a vast selection of categories, from beginner to boardroom. And since it’s all written by women, you’ll find topics that you may not find in other small business blogs, like inequality in the workplace and how an economic downturn affects women-owned small businesses.
Productivity & Systems
With a small business, you have a small team. So productivity and streamlined systems are even more important for your business than for a huge mega-corporation. These are the best small business blogs to help you get the most out of your day, and keep calm while doing it.
David Seah
“Investigative Designer” David Seah is on the hunt for the absolute best productivity tools, tips, and tricks. He does experiments to see what works and what doesn’t, and shares the results with his lucky readers.
He also makes his own productivity tools like planners and goal trackers to help you keep moving forward.
Zen Habits
Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits is productivity with a heavy splash of mindfulness thrown in. Rather than staying on the hamster wheel of accomplishment, his philosophy argues that if we commit to doing less, we can actually achieve more.
By prioritizing the tasks that are truly meaningful, we free up space and energy to excel. If you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, this is a great place to start.
LifeDev
Chock full of articles and product reviews, LifeDev wants to make you the most efficient version of yourself. It explores concrete tools like time management software and physical paper planners. But it also gets into more esoteric topics like finding inspiration and the balance between motivation and creativity.
It’s easy to fall down this rabbit hole, so pick a day when you have some time in your schedule to get started!
Darius Foroux
Entrepreneur and writer Darius Foroux shares tips on productivity and establishing good habits in his weekly blog. After building his own successful businesses, Darius wasn’t sure where to go next. As he explored what he wanted from his life, he shared (and continues to share) what he’s learned along the way.
If you sign up for his email newsletter, you’ll also get free access to his Growth Kit. It includes ebooks and habit trackers to help you be your most productive self.
Marketing & Social Media
The internet gives small businesses a chance to compete with much bigger competitors. But online marketing has grown more technical than ever before. Retargeting, pixels, SEO, and constantly changing algorithms — it can be a lot to follow. These blogs will demystify today’s marketing, and help you keep up with the changes.
Moz Blog
Moz makes SEO tools to help with keyword research, page optimization, and link building. Their blog demystifies this somewhat confusing marketing specialty, so small businesses can attract more web traffic and more leads.
With a new article each day, you’re always on the cutting edge of new technology and SEO updates.
Neil Patel
There is no detail too small for digital marketing wizard Neil Patel. While he does go into the bigger SEO and content marketing topics, he’ll also happily spend an entire blog post explaining how to keep your emails out of spam or the best way to repurpose old content.
He also uses so many helpful screenshots and responds to every single comment on every single blog.
Search Engine Journal
Like Moz, Search Engine Journal explores SEO from top to bottom. They also dive into social media optimization, PPC campaigns, and content marketing. So why three SEO blogs on this list?
While there are some “best practices” that are generally accepted in the field of SEO, Google doesn’t always share the details of how they rank websites in their search engine. So these three blogs are always testing and re-testing so they can figure out what still works and what doesn’t.
Copyblogger
Once you understand SEO and why you need to include certain language and keywords in your online content, what do you do next? You go to Copyblogger and learn how to put it to use with the written word.
Copywriting is different from content writing, and they’re both different from writing in school. This handy blog will help you to establish your business voice and build your expert authority online.
News & Tech
Understanding how your business fits into the larger ecosystem is vital for long-term forecasting and quick decision making. Read these small business blogs to learn about new technology and the way the winds are shifting — while there’s still time to adjust.
Small Business Trends
The sister site of BizSugar, Small Business Trends covers news, tips, and trends that impact the small business world. This site’s daily content is a blend of actionable insights and inspirational interviews.
Blogs are broken down into useful categories for easy navigation. Under advice, for example, articles are separated into content for franchises, startups, handmade items, and green businesses. So you can just focus on the topics that matter to you.
SmallBizDaily
Founded by two former executives at Entrepreneur magazine, this blog for small business owners covers trends, management, tech, and more. As some small businesses — especially brick and mortars — can be resistant to new technologies, the small business focus makes the topic more approachable and less intimidating.
Since the site was founded by two women, there is also a “Women” section that focuses on challenges and opportunities specific to female entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneur
The magazine version of Entrepreneur has been around since the late 1970s. But the blog is their sprightly online sister, offering quick bites of news so you can keep up with the latest. There are also blogs about marketing, starting your business, franchising, and more.
Another handy category — health and wellness. An entrepreneur’s health is often the first thing to go when there are too many tasks and not enough hours in the day. So the focus on keeping healthy is a great addition to their offerings.
MakeUseOf
Dedicated to demystifying technology, MakeUseOf explores both the hardware and software that makes our small businesses — and our lives — run daily, like sending and receiving faxes with email.
Compare the newest smartphones, tablets, laptops, and accessories to make the best choices for your business. And learn about all the updates to Instagram, Facebook, Google, and more to keep your marketing efforts up-to-date.
Finances & Accounting
Far too many small businesses have met their end because owners and managers didn’t keep track of the numbers. Knowledge is power, and that’s never more true than with your business finances. Stay on top of dollars and cents with these blogs.
Gusto
Gusto is a small business payroll company, so they know numbers. Their blog helps companies to navigate the complicated world of tax codes and payroll. It helps to break down important financial concepts into easily digestible bits, which is vital when a new tax bill is packed with obscure legalese.
It also has an entire section about growth, which can help businesses to strategize hiring more employees or opening new locations.
Kabbage
Kabbage provides funding and some banking services to small businesses as an alternative to a traditional bank. To support their clients (and non-clients!), they’ve created the Kabbage blog, chock full of news and advice to help businesses thrive.
They also have handy tools like their ROI calculator to help you assess the value of your investments in inventory, equipment, or marketing.
Evergreen Small Business
Written by CPAs, Evergreen Small Business brings you advice straight from the pros. Look for info on all the most recent tax changes, including compliance tips and tax breaks your company can take advantage of.
Also look for suggestions about the business formation that may be right for you, and what the tax implications are for each. This is a very useful blog for small business owners!
Business Credit Blogger
One of the biggest issues that small businesses face is cash flow. Business Credit Blogger helps companies to build business credit, find funding sources, and access lines of credit that can keep their finances stable.
It’s a great resource for small businesses looking to understand different types of loans and credit cards.
Best Small Business Blogs for Inspiration
Small business can be tough. Sometimes, we just need a little dose of inspiration to get us through another day. The names on these small business blogs may be big now, but they know about starting from nothing.
Marie Forleo
Coach, entrepreneur, and best-selling author Marie Forleo shares her own lessons, plus those of famous friends like Glennon Doyle, Simon Sinek, and Elizabeth Gilbert to help you navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
In addition to her blog, she releases weekly videos on her online show, MarieTV.
Seth Godin
Marketing master Seth Godin writes a daily dose of advice or inspiration on his simple blog. Some posts are longer and explore a topic in detail. Others are simply a sentence or two, a prompt to get you thinking or a link to something else he’s found enlightening.
Sign up for his email list to get his wisdom delivered to your inbox daily.
Smart Hustle
Smart Hustle has marketing, operations, and leadership articles galore. But they also do lots of interviews with successful small business owners that can help you face your own business challenges.
Find motivation in the stories of others as they scale, overcome obstacles, and innovate their way to prosperity.
Addicted 2 Success
While it’s not 100% business focused, Addicted 2 Success can help to keep you going when your motivation flounders. Learn about mindset, coping with failure, and taking risks in these daily posts.
Plus, there are categories specifically geared towards entrepreneurs and startup founders. Get tips about company culture, tackling uncertainty, and how we measure success.
Don’t Get Overwhelmed!
With so much information out there, you can’t possibly soak it all up. That’s both the blessing and the curse of the information age.
No need to commit to all 24 blogs for small business owners! Just bookmark this article, and every time you’re looking for a little dose of knowledge or inspiration, you’ll know where to find it.
Be sure to also check out our blog covering the best business podcasts.
James Lintzer - Consensus
James Lintzer develops marketing communications strategies and programs for a variety of Consensus cloud brands, with a focus on eFax. As a business and technology enthusiast, he provides valuable insight and experience across Consensus’ North American SMB services. James is also an avid paintballer and collects non-fungible tokens in his spare time.
