Blogging is a great tool for small businesses. It helps you connect with your clients, share helpful information, and improve your online presence. 

There’s a sea of insightful blogs out there to guide small business owners on marketing, social media, content creation, and more. But which ones should you spend your precious time reading?

This article introduces you to the 10 blogs every business owner and entrepreneur should be reading in 2024. 

They offer tips, strategies, and insights to help your business grow. We will also cover why your business needs a blog, how to plan your first blog, which content management system to use and how blogging helps your company. Let’s dive in.

Why Your Business Needs a Blog

You might wonder, ‘why does a B2B business need a blog?’ 

The answer is simple: blogging is a great way to reach new clients and establish yourself as an industry leader. 

Blogging for small businesses provides excellent ROI, and builds trust for your brand. 

Having a blog allows you to demonstrate your expertise in a particular area, helping to position you as a trusted and respected authority in your industry.  

So, now you know why your business needs a blog, let’s discuss the most useful blogs for small B2B business owners in 2024. 

As a B2B business owner, following these blogs will help you keep up-to-date on the latest trends in marketing, content creation, and more. 

Top 10 Blogs for Small Business Owners to Follow in 2024

We are sharing these top blog examples to give small business owners like you inspiration for your own blog. 

Here’s what you can gain by following other blogs:

• Content Ideas and Inspiration
• Formats and Styles
• Visual and Design Inspiration
• Consistency and Frequency

100 Pound Social Blog

100 Pound Social’s blog stands out for its easy and practical advice and is specifically designed for B2B small businesses operating on tight budgets. The posts are packed with tips on effectively using social media to reach a wider audience without spending a fortune. 

Each post is written clearly and concisely, making it easy to grasp the essentials of social media marketing quickly.

What makes 100 Pound Social particularly appealing is the focus on actionable strategies. This blog covers topics like how to create engaging content, what to post for maximum impact, and ways to analyse your social media performance using simple tools. 

The blog is perfect for business owners who need to see real results.

LinkedIn Marketing Solutions Blog

The LinkedIn Marketing blog is an essential educational and conversion tool for B2B marketers looking to succeed with LinkedIn advertising. 

It publishes content 5 times per week, and has over 175,000 subscribers worldwide and 2.5 million page views annually. 

It is essential reading for learning more about activating campaigns for LMS sales, marketing, and product companies, highlighting business information, promoting excellent LinkedIn advertising practices, and much more. 

LinkedIn Marketing Blog is a great B2B marketing source for those who want data-based content that encourages inclusion.  

Social Media Examiner

Social Media Examiner has helpful, comprehensive how-to guides, tips, and news on the most recent trends in social media. It’s an excellent source for B2B businesses seeking to boost traffic and increase awareness and sales using social media. 

Buffer Blog

Buffer is excellent software for managing social media. It lets you plan and monitor all your social network accounts from one convenient location.

This blog contains articles on the use of all social media – how to get the most value from social media content and master platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and LinkedIn, as well as analysing your social media marketing campaigns. 

The blog offers a variety of information, not just on marketing on the internet but also on content advertising and marketing.

Buffer’s blog helps B2B small business owners in creating solid brands and expanding their businesses through social media. 

Hootsuite Blog

Hootsuite provides various tools that help companies manage, monitor and analyse their social media activities. These helpful tools benefit companies and ensure that their social media marketing campaigns are successful. 

Hootsuite’s blog offers excellent social media advice and suggestions. It provides a wealth of information about social media trends, tools, and strategies. It is geared towards business owners and covers topics like social media management, content creation, and digital marketing tips. 

This blog is an excellent resource for small-scale companies looking to improve the presence of their online social channels.

Content Marketing Institute

The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) was founded in 2007 and aims to improve content marketing. 

It offers numerous content marketing training courses, research papers, and training sessions. It is an excellent source for everything connected with content marketing. 

It is one of the few digital marketing blogs with an explicit Content Marketing focus. CMI has perfected the teaching of content strategies through its articles and has begun to expand into various kinds of content, including storytelling and accurate blogging practices. 

Demand Gen Report

Demand Generation Report (DGR) examines industry-related developments, technology, and hot topics to keep you updated on the latest developments in B2B marketing. 

DGR is a pioneer in research and provides a wide array of featured resources and information in fields like account-based advertising (ABM), demand trial marks, etc.

Sprout Social Insights

Sprout Social offers a suite of social media solutions that help B2B businesses in expanding their reach, enhancing their brand and making real connections with their clients. 

It’s great for small business owners who already have a basic understanding of social media but want to refine their strategies and improve engagement with their audience. 

The blog posts are easy to follow and focus on maximising the effectiveness of your social media efforts.

You can learn about the latest trends in social media and how to adapt them to benefit your small B2B business. From choosing the right platforms to understanding your analytics, Sprout Social Insights offers clear and practical advice to apply immediately.

Marketing  Insider Group

The Marketing Insider Group blog is an indispensable resource for those keen to drive their business forward through content marketing. 

This blog simplifies content marketing, making it accessible for B2B business owners. It explains how to create content that resonates with your audience, enhances your brand, and drives sales.

The blog posts focus on the ‘why’ and ‘how’ of constant marketing strategies.

B2B News Network

B2B News Network is especially for B2B small business owners. It covers various topics, from the latest industry news to B2B marketing techniques. 

The blog’s simple language makes it easy for you to stay on top of industry trends and understand complex concepts like lead generation and customer relationship management.

Its main strength is its focus on the practical aspects of running a B2B operation. 

These blogs are a gold mine of information, and each serves up knowledge and easy-to-understand images that make learning not just effective but also enjoyable. 

By following these blogs for small business owners, you can gain valuable tips and ideas that are directly applicable to your B2B business and help you to grow and succeed in 2024. 

Does Your Small Business Need Its Own Blog?

Small B2B businesses must have a blog to stand out and increase their client base. B2B business blogging is an excellent way to present yourself and promote everything you love about your business. Creating a blog for your business is fast, easy, and efficient for your company.

Let’s look into the specific ways blogging can benefit your B2B business:

• The blog helps boost your brand’s visibility.
• Blogging enables you to establish a deeper relationship with your reader.
• Blogs benefit you by establishing your brand’s identity.
• It can boost your brand’s credibility.
• Blogging creates SEO opportunities.
• It can increase web visitors.
• Blogging can increase engagement.

How To Plan Your First Blog Article: Blogging for Small Business

Let’s start by walking through the planning and writing of your first article, step by step. 

1. Choosing Your Blog Topic
2. Choose a Content Management System
3. Write a Click Worthy Blog Title
4. Add Keywords for Your Blog Article
5. Implement a Content Calendar
6. Consider Blog Word Count
7. Writing the Article Description
8. Use Links in your Blog Article

Choosing Your Blog Topic

To identify a popular, relevant topic to write about, consider the frequently asked questions relevant to your business or industry. 

What are you selling? 

For a small business blog, imagine yourself in your target audience’s position and consider what they are searching for.

When choosing your blog topic, you must consider the points below.

• Your audience – are they older, younger, professional, or looking for a friendlier tone? How do they speak? Where are they residing?
• Your niche – i.e., don’t write about NTFs if you sell your life coaching services!
• Your objectives – are you trying to get conversions, subscriptions, etc.? What are you trying to do, and how does your blog article address that?
• The present – don’t use outdated information. 

Hit these four points, and your blog article should already be off to a great start.

Choose a Content Management System

But before starting the first blog, you must choose a content management system. 

There are tons of content management systems you can choose from for your small business blog. You will usually run your blog on the same system as your website, so always start by checking which system your website is currently using. This ensures compatibility and blog functionalities.

Here are a few options:

• WordPress

WordPress is used by 43.4% of all websites because it is simple to use and offers additional features for users who need them. The basic edition of WordPress is free, but most B2B businesses will likely need a paid plan.

• Joomla

Joomla is an open-source CMS that provides various features, such as creating pages in different languages. It has a long learning curve for newbies, so it is crucial to be familiar with web development. 

Although Joomla is free to use, it has higher costs for domain names, hosting, themes, and plugins. Similar to other open-source CMS, it is important to ensure the site is up-to-date to improve security.

• Tumblr 

While Tumblr might be referred to as a social networking platform, its user-friendly interface is great for blog writing. It’s also an excellent alternative if you’re looking to use an informal tone for your posts. Tumblr is completely free to use.

• Webflow

Webflow is a visual content control system designed for graphic designers and marketers with design abilities.

The platform lets you drag and drop components to create the website, making it simple for anyone to use. Webflow offers hosting plans with various rates to suit your needs. 

• Blogger 

Blogger is a free Google product that has been around since 1999 and has been recognised as a game-changer in the online publishing world. It has simple, user-friendly templates and can be linked to your various Google accounts. 

• WIX

It’s an all-purpose blogging platform that can meet most requirements. The WIX blogging system is easy to learn and offers various attractive templates and design options. It also has features that allow you to analyse your blog’s performance and make money from your content, which will be helpful as you create your blog and grow your audience.

Write a Click Worthy Blog Title

Writing a blog title can be the most challenging aspect of blogging for small businesses. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Let’s start by discussing how long your title should be.

A blog title of 50–60 characters is often recommended for visibility in search engine results. When writing your blog title, ensure the primary keyword is placed at the beginning. 

Make the blog title catchy with powerful words. If your blog title is too dull, misleading, or doesn’t cover the correct topic information, people will likely move on quickly. This can result in a higher bounce rate, hurt the SEO performance of your website, leading to lower rankings in the SERPs and, ultimately, fewer eyes on your content.

Blog Post Title Examples

Some examples of popular topic title structures you can build ideas from are: 

• How To’s (“How To Choose a CRM,” “How To Find Business Insurance”)
• Listicles (“Top Ten Self-Help Books,” “Top Six Ways To Improve Workplace Morale”)
• Vs. (“Custom CRM VS Off-The-Shelf?”)
• Checklists (“Make Sure Your Business Insurance Has These Things Included”)
• Step-By-Step (“5-Step Guide To Finding Your First Client”, “3 Steps To Hire Your First Employee”)
• Mistakes (“The Biggest Mistakes New Business Owners Can Make”, “Avoid These Hiring Mistakes”)

Add Keywords for Your Blog Article

Add primary and secondary keywords in the article and title (add the primary one in the title). 

The more relevant keywords you have within your article, the more often you appear in searches. However, you need to ensure the keywords themselves are relevant, fit naturally into the article, and that you aren’t ‘keyword stuffing.’

People use keywords to find solutions when searching online. You can gain more traffic if an online search gets your content in front of your audience. 

You can check out a few good SEO and keyword research websites online, which can be incredibly helpful when narrowing down your keywords and overall article focus.

Implement a Content Calendar

You can make a content calendar for your blog similar to a b2b social media content calendar. The calendar will include:

• Content titles
• Description
• Keywords
• Number of words etc.

This will give you an organised view of your website and ensure you’re up-to-date with your blog posts.

Consider Blog Word Count

Now that you have a blog topic, title, and keywords, what is the optimal word count for a blog? Well, it depends on what the blog article is meant to do. Longer is typically better for social shares and SEO. 

However, shorter articles generally get better results for engagement. See the pros and cons below for more details about this:

Pros

• 500 words: Good for generating discussion. Often gets lots of comments.
• 1000 words: Good for getting backlinks and shares on social media.
• 1500 words: Gets frequent shares on social media. Good for getting more in-depth points across.
• 2000+ words: Rates the highest on Google searches. Very shareable. Good for backlinks.

Cons

• 500 words: Doesn’t do much for SEO. It is less shareable on social media.
• 1000 words: ‘Standard length’ expected by many.
• 1500 words: Depending on the topic, get into the ‘too long’ category. It often gets fewer comments than shorter posts.
• 2000+ words: Readers must be willing to read longer form content. It can be hard to write that many words without becoming boring or repetitive.

Consider the above pros and cons when deciding on blog word count.

Writing the Article Description

An article description is a summary of the article’s content. It gives an instant overview of the article’s topic and main points and informs people what they will read in the article.

Think about WHY you write a blog post and what it needs to cover before you start, then make sure it’s clear to your readers to catch their interest.

Some objectives to aim for in your content marketing strategy could include:

• Growing blog and website traffic
• Increasing your cash flow through sales or affiliates
• Entertaining or informing your readers
• Growing your email list
• Establishing authority or credibility
• Describing or explaining a product or service you are offering

When writing the article, you must consider the tone of the article. Four of the most common writing tones include:

Formal	Common in professional and academic contexts	Direct, respectful, yet lacks ‘warmth’
Informal	Conversational	Friendly, but doesn’t come across as ‘expert’
Informative	Educational	Shares information with the reader but can become dense if the topic is in-depth
Entertaining	Wants the reader to enjoy the topic	More lighthearted and enjoyable to read, but can be ‘fluffy’

Use Links in your Blog Article

Next, you will want to plan out your external and internal links.

Internal links are useful for keeping visitors on your website, while external links can be a useful component of your SEO strategy. Having internal and external links on a page helps Google understand the topic of your content for SEO, crawls other content on your site, and gives the linking page more authority.

Relevance, traffic, authority, link profile quality, editorial standards, outbound link quality, and indexation are the seven characteristics of high-quality backlinks. 

Final Thoughts

Having a blog on your website can be a valuable asset for small businesses.  It helps attract visitors, generate leads, improve search engine rankings and establish yourself as an authority on the topics you cover. 

In other words, blogging is a great way to maximise your website’s potential! You can start small, but by creating strong content frequently, you will benefit in the long run. 

Next Steps

If you are finding it hard to plan your blog or social media strategy, or don’t want to deal with things like figuring out the perfect call to action, look no further than 100 Pound Social. Our UK-based team of content experts create high-quality, well-researched blog articles and social media content for 1,000+ small businesses worldwide, helping them gain relevant web traffic and save time.

Contact us today to find out more.

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