So, you want to become a smarter blogger? Well, good for you. I've been blogging now for almost 10 years, and I'd like to think that I'm a lot smarter than I was when I first started.
Of course, blogging isn't always plane sailing. Blogging is an exciting and unpredictable venture, and those who start exploring it for the first time must realize that the journey ahead will be filled with plenty of ups and mostly downs.
The downs, though, are hard lessons to be learned.
When I started blogging back in 2010, I was already running an eCommerce business in the arts and crafts niche. This business was struggling.
For me, one of the main reasons for starting a blog was to try and generate some additional income on the side to fund my art business. I kind of jumped into blogging really.
I didn't set myself any goals, and I didn't have a clear objective other than to try and make some money.
Did my plan work?
Well, kind of. It worked for a few years until Google Penguin and Panda came along.
Oh boy, did I make a ton of mistakes or what? In fact, I decided to quit my first blog and start all over again in 2013.
From the very beginning, blogging has given me some purpose. Although I initially went into it blind. I knew my purpose was to build a business from blogging.
After quitting my first blog and starting over, I began to fully understand that if I wanted to become smarter and successful as a blogger, I needed to commit myself to it for life.
Honestly, I really hope to be doing this "blogging" and "online business" thing for many more years to come, because there is still so much I want to learn. I know I can become better and make smarter decisions with my blogging business, the more I learn and adapt.
I hope you feel the same way about blogging too.
OK, so enough ranting from me about why I started blogging and whether I think I'm smart at it or not. Below, I've compiled a list of 20 top business and marketing blogs that I believe will make you a smarter blogger.
These 20+ blogs have served me great purpose over the last 10 years, and I'm eternally grateful to the authors. And so if you're just starting out on your blogging journey, I believe you'll find amazing value by following and reading these blogs.
Of course, these blogs not only present the opportunity for you to read the content and take action, but they also present the opportunity for you to learn more about the authors or owners. Blogging, after all, is about making connections. You can learn about the blog author's story and journey of how they became successful too. Now that's inspiring, right?
OK, let's get cracking.
Seth Godin is a renown American entrepreneur, blogger, author of some of the most amazing business, entrepreneur and marketing books you'll ever read.
Seth is considered to be the grandfather of blogging and entrepreneurship, not to insult Mr. Godin, of course.
Seth's blog is packed with valuable, digestible content that you can read on his blog here.
One of my favorite quotes from Seth's book, Linchpin, is this:
“An artist is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. And an artist takes it personally.”
As an artist and designer myself, I feel inspired by that quote.
If you're at all interested in taking a look at Seth's book LinchPin, you can find it here on Amazon.
ProBlogger and it's founder Darren Rowse was one of the very first blogs I got to discover when I was starting out, like many others, I guess.
Darren loves to share insightful blogging and entrepreneurial tips aimed at newbies and seasoned bloggers.
The content on Darren's blog is simple to read and understand, and the tips are almost always actionable.
Darren is also an author at ProBlogger and has written several wonderful eBooks and guides. One of my favorites is the 31 Days To Build A Better Blog workbook. You can check out Darren's blog ProBlogger here.
When it comes to copywriting and content marketing advice, there is no other website in the blogosphere more authoritative on the subject than CopyBlogger.
Brian Clark and his team are the masterminds behind CopyBlogger and the content produced. The company also created one of the most powerful theme framework software for WordPress called Genesis Framework, now acquired by WPEngine.
CopyBlogger offers a membership where you can get access to a ton of free valuable resources, eBooks, exclusive content, months of education for free when you signup (at the time of writing this).
I would recommend bookmarking CopyBlogger as this is one site that will help you to become a smarter blogger and writer.
There is also one of many great podcasts hosted by CopyBlogger called The Rainmaker, check it out on iTunes.
You can visit CopyBlogger here.
Pat Flynn is the entrepreneurial mastermind behind the SmartPassiveIncome blog.
Pat is genuine living proof of what can be achieved by creating passive income through smart blogging and building profitable online businesses.
His most recent income report details how he made more than $300,000 in a single month. That's quite astonishing, right?
Pat considers himself to be the 'crash test dummy' of online business, sharing what strategies are working and what's not.
Pat also hosts one of the most popular, invaluable online business and entrepreneurial podcasts on iTunes.
You can visit the Smart Passive Income blog here.
Chris Ducker is the founder of ChrisDucker.com and the author of several inspiring and educational entrepreneurial books.
As s well as his informative blog, Chris publishes videos on his YouTube channel.
The book that has really made an impact on me and my business has been his recent publication titled, Rise Of The YouPreneur. You can find that book on Amazon here.
Chris is also an expert in entrepreneurship and virtual staffing.
I've been happily subscribed to Chris's blog for a good few years now and I can honestly say that I've learned so much in that short time.
Chris also hosts an educational podcast on iTunes called "the New Business Podcast". You can follow Chris's blog here.
Jim Connolly writes at his marketing blog at JimsMarketingBlog.com.
His area of expertise is working with businesses and writing about marketing, however, Jim also shares a lot of valuable and actionable tips and insights into blog marketing, copywriting, and social media marketing.
Hist blog posts are often short, concise, and easily digestible.
You can follow Jim's blog here and join over 60,000 other people who follow and read his blog.
Chris Brogan is a New York Times Bestselling author and a professional speaker.
He writes for his blog over at ChrisBrogan.com where he loves to share tips on a wide variety of topics ranging from business marketing, creating connections online, using social media, to using a variety of tools to help you better your business.
And, not to forget that Chris loves to share tips and ideas for bettering yourself as a person.
You can check out some of his books on Amazon and follow Chris's blog here.
When it comes to traffic generation for your blog or your website, Ana Hoffman is an expert in this field.
Ana writes primarily for her own blog and personal brand website at TrafficGenerationCafe, where she will teach you most things you need to know about search engine traffic, social media traffic, and traffic conversion.
You can visit Ana's blog and get her free traffic report here when you signup.
Neil Patel blogs over at QuickSprout.com and is also the co-founder of companies like Crazy Egg, Hello Bar, and KISSmetrics.
Neil is recognized for many accolades including being a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama, and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations.
Asides from helping big-name brands and companies grow their revenue and traffic, Neil loves to share some of the most valuable tips and strategies on building an audience, copywriting, advanced SEO, blogging and much more on QuickSprout.
It would be more than fair to say that following any of the blogs that Neil writes on, WILL definitely help you become a smarter blogger in your niche.
You can follow Neil at QuickSprout.com here.
I believe it's important for bloggers to keep up to date with all the latest news, trends, and events regarding Google and search engine marketing.
Search Engine Land is a great resource and information website for getting valuable tips on SEO, social media and internet marketing.
You can visit Search Engine Land here.
If you want to stay tuned with all the social media marketing news, get tips and strategies on a wide variety of cool social marketing tools and services, then I'd highly recommend you bookmark SocialMediaToday!
The site is amongst the top 10 most popular industry media sources for digital marketers on Twitter, so it's well worth bookmarking.
You can visit Social Media Today here.
When it comes to learning all about WordPress, there's only one blog that I can think of that is worthy of great Merit. That blog is, WPBeginner.
WPBeginner is the largest WordPress resource site for WordPress Beginners and boasts tons of simple to understand and apply WordPress tutorials to help you become more custom to using WordPress.
There have been so many occasions where I've resorted to a tutorial found on WPBeginner to achieve something on my blog. It's been an amazing resource site for me as a blogger over the years.
The glossary section of this website is a page definitely worth bookmarking too.
When it comes to WordPress search engine optimization, no one knows how to do it better than Joost de Valk from and the team over at Yoast.com.
Joost is also the mastermind behind one of the most widely used SEO plugins for WordPress, WordPress SEO by Yoast. This is one of the plugins I recommended installing as a first time blogger.
In addition, Yoast.com also boasts lots of awesome content on its blog, including actionable tips, strategies on blogging and would you believe, SEO. Visit Yoast SEO here.
Social Media Examiner is run by Michael Steltzner who is a pretty well-known guy in the blogging and social media community.
The SME blog is always updated with some of the best tips, techniques, including trends, news, case studies and research that will help you to fine-tune your own social media marketing efforts.
Michael also hosts a popular podcast on iTunes which I recommend tuning in to if you have time.
You can learn more about Social Media Examiner here.
Steve Scott is one of my top favorite bloggers and authors of all time.
I have to give huge credit to one of his books titled How To Write Great Blog Posts That Engage Readers. Such a great read and even for someone who's been blogging for a number of years, it's a great book to have on the shelf for quick reference and a motivational boost.
You can find that book on Amazon here, by the way.
Anyway, Steve blogs mainly about internet business and Kindle publishing. He also regularly writes and shares blogging and affiliate marketing tips based on his own findings and experiences.
If you want to learn more about Steve, his blog and valuable eBooks, I'd highly recommend visiting his site here.
Miss Ileane Smith is the gal behind the popular blog BasicBlogTips.
Now, BBT specializes in sharing beginner and advance blogging tips, social media tips, and one of Ileane's favorite topics, YouTube and video marketing.
Ileane has a large and loyal reader base and updates her blog regularly with fresh content with actionable tips, tutorials, and videos.
I've followed her blog from the very start of my own blogging journey, and I have had the pleasure of guest blogging for her blog at BasicBlogTips.com.
You can visit Ileane's blog here and become part of her growing community.
Daniel Scocco is the main man behind daily blog tips.
If you're looking for more advanced blogging tips and knowledge then DailyBlogTips has to be in your list of bookmarked blogs.
The DBT blog is updated daily Monday to Friday and has a lot of great tips to offer beginner and advanced bloggers.
Learn about blog design, blog promotion, blog traffic, and monetization, blogging to support your business, case studies, internet marketing and much more.
To find out more visit DailyBlogTips here.
Number 18 on my list is BlogTrepreneur run by entrepreneurial brothers Matthew and Adam Toren.
Blogtrepreneur shares articles on blogging, entrepreneurship, making money online, social media, business, and personal development.
The Toren brothers also authored an award-winning book called Kidtrepreneurs. If you approach blogging with an entrepreneurial mindset, this blog has to be on your bookmarks list.
You can find out more about the site, the authors and subscribe to their email updates here: Visit BlogTrepreneur.
BloggersPassion is one of my top favorite blogs and Anil Agarwal does a great job with putting out some extremely valuable content on the blog.
I remember visiting BloggersPassion when I first started blogging back in 2010 and picking up a lot of great tips, some I'm still using today.
BloggersPassion loves to share articles on blogging (obviously), hosting, WordPress tutorials, making money, and SEO.
If you haven't already done so, I'd highly recommend you check out Anil's blog here and consider subscribing.
ShoutMeLoud really should be at the top of this list when it comes to the topic of blogging.
Harsh Agrawal, (founder) has built one of the most successful blogs in the blogosphere.
Harsh has an inspiring story to tell about how he got into blogging in the first place, but foremost, his blog ShoutMeLoud is an information super-hub with a lot of valuable content, tutorials, WordPress hacks, business tips, hosting tips, and more, that's sure to help you become a smarter blogger.
Over the last 8 years, ShoutMeLoud has been my 'go-to blog' for many WordPress, hosting, SEO and webmaster tips and tutorials.
Whether you're just starting out in blogging or are an experienced blogger, visit ShoutMeLoud for sound blogging advice provided by a true blogging professional, as well as many other wonderful guest authors appearing on the blog.
FamousBloggers is a successful multi-author blog that provides tips and advice on marketing and promoting your blog in every way imaginable.
Whether you're looking to grow your traffic, build an email list, create backlinks to your blog, or finding a profitable niche for your next blog project, FamousBloggers have some great tips and advice to give.
The site was founded by Hesham Zebida, and you can visit and subscribe to the blog here.
Last but not least, Pradeep Kumar is the founder and chief editor over at HellBound Bloggers.
Pradeep established the blog when he was just 17 years of age. He loves to write about blogging, SEO, WordPress, making money online and business tips based on his own experiences.
To learn more about HellBoundBloggers visit the site here.
So peeps, there you have it! My power-list of top blogs to follow and bookmark for the future, what do you think?
Are you following any of these blogs yourself?
If you can think of any other blogs that I haven't mentioned above that deserve a shout-out, perhaps maybe even your own blog, please do mention them in the comment section below. But seriously, no spamming whatever you do.
If the comment section is closed, feel free to send me an email here with your name and blog URL for me to check out. Give me one good reason why I should include it in this list.
I look forward to hearing from you.
For the time being, enjoy these blogs.
