Guide to Small Business Blogs

Get an overview of the latest trends, opportunities and tips

Start at high profile business blogs that have a lot of traffic and are consistently updated by well-known bloggers.

I recommend: Small Business Trends includes coverage of technology that affects the small business market. Get marketing tips from the Duct Tape Marketing blog or BIG Marketing for Small Business, and find out about business networking online at Virtual Handshake. Two up-and-coming entrepreneurs share their personal experiences at Slate's BizBox. Others worth a look include Business Opportunities Weblog and The Entrepreneurial Mind. The eVenturing Entrepreneur's Viewpoint Blog links to useful business articles around the Web on topics from going global to staff management. Find out how to go from "corporate prisoner to thriving entrepreneur" at Escape from Cubicle Nation. Carnival of the Capitalists has links to the most interesting business-related blog posts, hosted on different blogs each week.

Discover the best blogs from actual small businesses

Gain a unique perspective into the lives of people starting and running all kinds of small businesses through their blogs.

I recommend: USA Today's Small Business Connection blog often features small business blogs. Pajama Market highlights a small business blog of the day and interviews bloggers about the impact blogging has had on their businesses. Other interesting reads include Aldo Coffee, The Bloomery Florist, Sharma Jewelry Designs, Sheepdog Print and Design, and Kendrick's Billiards.

Find other small business blogs on blog directories

To find a coffee shop blog, for example, type in "coffee shop". You can also subscribe to keyword search feeds to find the latest blogs in your area of interest. Search on your own company name to see if it's being mentioned in the blogosphere.

I recommend: Try Google Blog Search or Technorati's business directory, or simply search for a business type or topic you're interested in from the top pages of Google Blog Search or Technorati.

Use RSS readers to get summaries of updates to your favorite small business blogs

RSS or RSS feed refers to a way for sites to syndicate their content, and allows you to read the highlights of all the blogs you like to read in one place.

I recommend: You can subscribe to a blog's RSS feed from the blog itself. You'll get a special URL and then you'll need to view it in an RSS reader or aggregator, such as My Yahoo, Google Reader, or Bloglines.