10 Marketing Blogs Small Business Owners Should Read

Hey small business owner, are you looking for something to read? Well, if you don’t have time for a great business book or two, there are thousands of marketing blogs you could choose from. In fact, there are 1119 blogs listed on the Ad Age Power 150 list of best marketing blogs. So the question is, which ones are the best?

The problem with marketing blogs is that they tend to focus on Internet marketing solutions like content creation and social media. That’s great if your business happens mostly online (like Logomaker). But what if you’re a baker, a roofer, or an attorney? In those cases, it’s likely that at least part of your marketing is offline.

So this list includes blogs focused on online marketing as well as solutions for small business owners with offline needs as well.

Best Small Business Marketing Blogs

Duct Tape Marketing
Owned by John Jantsch, this business and blog covers a wide range of marketing ideas and strategy. Most of the content involves ideas for marketing your business online, however there are plenty of tips for those with offline businesses as well. John is a small business owner himself, so he understands the difficulties of running and succeeding in this world.

UNMarketing
Run by Scott Stratten, this blog can be irreverent and critical of stuff that doesn’t work. He’s a fan of creating great relationships between brands (or brand owners) and the customers that use them. There are lots of great ideas that you can put to work for your business to help develop better customer relationships.

Software by Rob
I’m a big fan of Rob Walling’s podcast: Startups for the Rest of Us which focuses on the nuts and bolts of creating small, sustainable web app businesses. The podcast is awesome. The blog is pretty good too, though Walling doesn’t update it nearly enough. Still, there’s a lot of good (older) content about how to launch and grow small businesses on the web that’s worth reading.

Flying Solo
This isn’t really a blog, it’s a community of small business owners based in Australia. But  they share some of their content on the home page—much of which applies equally to businesses living offline. If you’re based in Australia, you might consider joining. The rest of us will make do with the free content provided at the site.

Kissmetrics and QuickSprout
We love thess blog from Neil Patel and the ideas and advice they provide. From profiles of successful entrepreneurs to advice on improving webpages and response rates, there’s lots of things to learn and put to use.

Unbounce
Another blog that we love, this one is focused almost entirely on making your website more effective. From page design, to button testing and conversion tracking, using the ideas shared on the UnBounce blog will make your website better. Sorry, not a lot of offline use from this particular blog.

Killer Startups
This is a both a startup blog and a paid review site. There’s some good content for business owners that ranges from the typical “how to do social media” to more valuable advice like tips for franchising, leadership books you should read, and what to look for in a shared office solution. And if you’re willing to pay a few hundred dollars, they’ll even feature your startup in a post.

Noobpreneur
Another blog/business community, this one focuses almost entirely on offline solutions for small businesses and is targeted to readers who are starting their first business.

Erica.biz
Run by Erica Douglas who built an online business then sold it for more than a million dollars, she now gives advice to other small business owners who would like to do something similar. She’s building a new business and sharing her thoughts along the way.

That’s enough for now. Of course there are others. Do you have a favorite, never-miss marketing blog? If so, let us know!

Photo credit: Justin in SD via photopin cc