Are you looking to start a business blog but not sure where to begin or what makes a good one? You‘ve come to the right place!
In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll be showcasing 7 stellar examples of business blogs covering topics like personal finance, entrepreneurship, side hustles, startups, and more.
For each blog, we‘ll highlight:
- Their approach to content
- Traffic stats and monetization strategies
- Social media presence
- And most importantly, key takeaways you can apply to your own business blog.
Whether you‘re a seasoned blogger or just starting out, there are nuggets of wisdom to pick up from these successful sites. Let‘s dive in!
Overview of The Top Business Blogs
Before we explore each site in-depth, here‘s a quick rundown:
The Balance
A personal finance site covering small business topics like operations, insurance, taxes and more.
Business News Daily
A professional editorial publication for entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Upflip
A blog and education platform about various side hustles and entrepreneurship ventures.
Side Hustle Nation
The blog of serial entrepreneur Nick Loper focusing on side business ideas.
Startups
A UK-based blog helping small businesses launch, grow and thrive.
Gigworker
A blog by Brett Helling who‘s worked extensively with Uber, Lyft and Postmates. Offers tips on the gig economy.
Both Sides of the Table
Mark Suster‘s blog drawing from his experiences as an entrepreneur and now venture capitalist.
Next, let‘s explore each of these exemplary business blogs in more detail.
1. The Balance
DA: 70
Traffic: 10.3 million visits/month
Load Time: 494ms
CMS: N/A
The Balance is among the largest personal finance sites on the web. It covers topics like budgeting, investing, banking, and mortgages. But they also have a popular section dedicated to small business advice.
This site is part of the Dotdash Meredith publishing empire which owns brands like People, Better Homes & Gardens, and AllRecipes. So they have an experienced team of editors, managers, and financial experts creating well-researched, accurate content.
To date, The Balance boasts over 14,000 articles on finance and business-related topics – that‘s an extensive library!
Content Approach
Under their Small Business section, you‘ll find helpful articles divided into categories like:
- Operations & Success
- Office Setup
- Business Tools
- Business Insurance
- Entrepreneurship
- Business Banking
- Business Taxes
- Business Financing
The site publishes mainly short and medium-length articles on these small business subjects. Most posts have a featured image but limited visuals otherwise.
Income & Monetization
As a well-established site, The Balance earns from display advertising, sponsorships, and affiliate commissions from financial products.
When reading their articles, expect to see:
- Banner ads at the top
- Large ad units at the bottom
- Numerous sidebar ads
- Recommended credit cards and service providers
This multi-pronged approach allows them to monetize such extensive traffic.
Social Media Presence
The Balance maintains accounts on major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. However, social engagement is generally low across the board.
In this case, a thriving social presence isn‘t vital since they rank so well in search engines and have loyal returning visitors.
Key Takeaways
- Building an extensive library of evergreen content over many years leads to strong organic traffic and authority
- Even sites getting 10+ million monthly visitors don‘t require large social followings
- Display ads, sponsorships & affiliate programs together enable monetization at scale
2. Business News Daily
DA: 76
Traffic: 2.7 million visits/month
Load Time: 461ms
CMS: N/A
Business News Daily offers advice for entrepreneurs and small business owners of all stages. Their team has professional writing and editing experience from places like ABC News.
The site also belongs to the Business.com and BuyerZone family of brands. So they have the knowledge and networks to create informative guides around business trends, tools, and more.
Content Approach
Business News Daily organizes their content into four high-level categories:
Start – Ideas, plans, basics to launch your biz
Grow – Sales, marketing, financials, HR, tech, and more
Lead – Leadership strategies, tips for women entrepreneurs, managing teams
Find – Discovering HR, financial, marketing, security solutions
As you can see, they cover extensive ground related to entrepreneurship and operating small companies. You‘ll find everything from product reviews to tips lists in their archive.
With focused writers creating new posts almost daily, they provide breadth and depth. The well-researched articles also run at medium to long-form lengths.
Income & Monetization
As a professional site tailored to business owners, Advertising makes up a significant chunk of their revenue.
The ads you see on Business News Daily are served by their partner Business.com – so they are relevant to their audience. Besides display units, they likely earn affiliate commissions too.
Social Media Presence
Business News Daily has accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest. However, social posts and engagement are both infrequent.
My guess is the audience heads to this site for lengthy, informative articles. So flashy social campaigns aren‘t vital to their success. Prioritizing search visibility is working out better.
Key Takeaways
-
Catering content specifically to entrepreneurs/SMBs attracts relevant advertising
-
Extensive archives with daily publishes helps rank for a variety of business keywords
-
Social efforts don‘t yield significant returns; focus on SEO instead
3. Upflip
DA: 32
Traffic: 669,100 visits/month
Load Time: 1.7s
CMS: WordPress
Upflip offers advice around entrepreneurship, side hustles, passive income ideas and operates an educational platform.
It‘s run by three founders – Christopher Mondragon, Adam Hill, and Brandon Vaughn – who each runs successful service businesses like house cleaning, vending machines, industrial coatings and more.
Beyond the blog, they also host a top-rated podcast and YouTube channel around business and entrepreneurship.
Content Approach
One concern around Upflip‘s content approach is that they don‘t seem to use categories or tags on their site. This suggests they may be casting too wide a net covering too many subjects without a laser focus.
However, their blog covers inspirational stories around startup founders, product reviews around business tools, actionable tips on passive income ideas, and more. Posts tend to run long-form with ample images.
One standout section is their YouTube channel which features videos and entrepreneur interviews driving 747k+ subscribers and over 63 million views!
Income & Monetization
With over half a million monthly readers, Upflip earns from display advertising, affiliate promotions, and high-value courses.
Their blog features units from AdThrive, Amazon, and more. You‘ll also find cloaked affiliate links within posts promoting helpful tools.
In addition, their online entrepreneurship courses command price tags from $797 up to $2,997. And their popular YouTube following likely brings sponsorships too.
Social Media Presence
Besides YouTube, Upflip maintains accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. However, social engagement remains relatively low.
My hunch is the majority of their audience comes from search and direct visits rather than social traffic. So a big following isn‘t a priority.
Key Takeaways
- YouTube channel accelerates growth with visual content
- Expensive, high-value courses enable monetization
- Social media efforts don‘t drive significant traffic
4. Side Hustle Nation
DA: 57
Traffic: 613,000 visits/month
Load Time: 600ms
CMS: WordPress
Side Hustle Nation is run by full-time entrepreneur, podcaster, and author Nick Loper. He promotes side business ideas you can start while holding down a regular job.
Nick has worked at companies like Ford before ultimately walking away to work for himself. His side hustle grew successfully into his full-time gig. And now he shares advice so you can build a profitable business alongside your 9 to 5 too.
Nick‘s work has been featured by The New York Times, Fortune, Entrepreneur, and more. He also hosts the chart-topping Side Hustle Show podcast with 1500+ five-star reviews.
Content Approach
On Nick‘s blog, you‘ll find posts covering ideation, planning, marketing, tools, and more around four side business models:
- Online businesses
- Freelancing gigs
- Ecommerce stores
- Investing apps
Most articles fall under one of those key niches. With guest contributors helping too, the site publishes multiple posts weekly. Expect lengthier pieces with nice visuals.
In addition to the blog, Nick‘s podcasts, 12 books, and $7 course offer further side hustle knowledge for readers.
Income & Monetization
With a clearly defined audience interested in side hustles, this site earns well from:
- Sponsorships
- Display ads
- Affiliate promotions
Nick also leverages his audience to sell books, courses, and podcast sponsorships successfully.
Social Media Presence
Surprisingly Side Hustle Nation doesn‘t utilize social media much besides a private Facebook group of 55k+ members.
Nick himself maintains Twitter and LinkedIn accounts although engagement is lower there. Given his podcast popularity and email list size, he may not rely heavily on social conversion.
Key Takeaways
- Podcast helps build loyal audience interested in blog content
- Books and courses enable monetization beyond ads/affiliates
- Large social media followings aren‘t vital
5. Startups
DA: 70
Traffic: 323,600 visits/month
Load Time: 484ms
CMS: WordPress
Startups offers advice specifically to UK-based small businesses to help them launch and scale successfully.
With founders who have operated and exited their own startups, they provide tips to entrepreneurs just getting started or struggling with the basics.
The website also regularly profiles real founders across industries like food and beverage, tech, retail and more.
Content Approach
Startups aims to cover "everything you need to start and grow your business" with sections on planning, finance, hiring, workplace strategies, and founder stories.
Their most popular verticals are around:
- Business planning and administration
- Securing startup funding
- Using technology and software
- Managing remote teams and workspaces
Being focused solely on the UK startup scene also helps give their advice a regional flair. Expect daily news updates mixed with long-form guides.
Income & Monetization
To earn from over 300k monthly visits, Startups features affiliate links across their website. When suggesting tools, software, or service providers, they use referral links to drive commissions.
In addition to affiliate marketing, they also run targeted advertisements matched to their audience via networks like MVF Global.
Social Media Presence
You will find Startups active across most major networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. However, engagement levels appear modest with 10 – 20 likes per post usually.
Given their strong organic traffic driven by regional search terms, extensive social promotion may not fit their model currently.
Key Takeaways
- Spotlighting local startup examples helps provide locally-relevant advice
- Mixing news updates with evergreen long-form guides keeps audiences engaged
- Directing services/tools recommendations to affiliate links increases monetization
6. Gigworker
DA: 56
Traffic: 298,900 visits/month
Load Time: 1.21s
CMS: WordPress
Run by Brett Helling, Gigworker offers advice, how-to‘s, and tips for people wanting to earn income from side hustles across ridesharing apps, food delivery platforms, freelance sites, and more.
Having worked extensively with Uber, Lyft, Postmates and similar services, Brett provides wisdom to help you navigate the fast-growing gig economy sector.
Gigworker has been recognized by Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Forbes, and others for their coverage around the freelance revolution and the future of work.
Content Approach
Gigworker publishes posts mainly around three categories:
App-Based Gigs – Working for Uber, Airbnb, Wag and similar service apps
Freelancing – Getting your first freelance client, marketing yourself, pricing strategies
Small Business – Guides around planning, legalities, marketing, taxes, and more to launch your own
With Brett himself authoring most pieces, you can expect detailed and insightful tips from his many years of first-hand experience. Posts run at medium to long-length.
Income & Monetization
This niche site around the gig economy attracts relevant display advertising from Google Ad Manager, Amazon, and more. Affiliate promotions also make up a portion of revenue with recommended services and tools.
Sponsored listings and premium job board features further monetize their laser-focused audience effectively.
Social Media Presence
Surprisingly Gigworker does little on social media currently. As an authority site for this rising online sector, social could be an untapped channel for them potentially.
But with impressive organic traffic and compelling niche content, Brett likely attracts visitors through search and direct visits more right now.
Key Takeaways
- Focusing on an emerging niche can help cement yourself as an authority
- Mixing a job board and affiliate recommendations boosts monetization
- Social visibility has significant room for growth
7. Both Sides of the Table
DA: 63
Traffic: 34,300 visits/month
Load Time: 876ms
CMS: Medium
A serial entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, Mark Suster shares his experiences and lessons learned on Both Sides of the Table.
After successfully founding and exiting two enterprise software startups, Mark joined venture capital firm UpFront Ventures. He‘s now invested in over 50 technology and SaaS startups helping the next wave of disruptors secure funding.
On his blog Mark provides insights into getting funded, evaluation tactics, startup strategy, and more topics influenced by his unique background.
Content Approach
With Mark himself authoring most posts, popular themes include:
- Evaluating startup founders
- Early-stage funding decisions
- Growing & scaling companies
- Mergers & acquisitions
- Los Angeles tech ecosystem
Think meaty articles covering investments, entrepreneur lessons, and Mark‘s personal career trajectory. While posting frequency is lower than other sites, there‘s great depth.
Income & Monetization
Surprisingly the blog currently does not feature any display ads or affiliate links. As a free Medium.com site, they also do not offer paid memberships or upgrade options.
My hunch is Mark treats blogging more as personal branding & content marketing rather than a direct monetizable asset. By sharing advice for entrepreneurs, he builds authority and trust to support his VC activities.
Social Media Presence
Mark links his blog to his personal Twitter and Facebook which boast modest, but engaged, followings. The goal seems more about industry positioning than revenue generation or virality through social sharing.
As someone more focused on startups getting to 7 or 8-figures in revenue, going viral for the sake of it doesn’t seem a priority currently.
Key Takeaways
- Establish expertise and personal brand with long-form niche content
- Converting blog traffic and social followers into revenue doesn’t make sense for every strategy
- Building relationships with those who might eventually seek funding seems his priority
Recapping The Key Blog Takeaways
Let‘s do a quick recap of best practices to apply to your own business blog:
Perfect Your Niche, Position Yourself as Expert
The most successful sites identify specific niches rather than cover business subjects too broadly. Find a focused angle and own it.
Build Resources and Archives Over Time
Don‘t expect overnight success. Producing helpful content consistently over months and years leads to authority.
Mix Evergreen Guides With Timely News
Blend newsy updates into your classic evergreen long-form tutorials and list posts.
Enable Comments to Foster Community
Building genuine conversations and allowing user-generated tips shows you care.
Images Boost Engagement
Insert relevant photos, graphics, screenshots into advice articles. Avoid walls of text.
Monetize Through Multiple Channels
Ads, affiliates, premium offers, and sponsorships together contribute to earnings. Avoid overly relying on one monetization model.
Organic Search Drives Most Established Sites
At scale, lots of traffic comes straight from Google instead of social sites or email. Ranking high with SEO helps immensely.
Use Social to Supplement, Not Drive
Don‘t worry about going viral on social media. Focus on creating awesome content. Traffic and revenue will come over the long-term by providing ongoing value.
I hope exploring these real-world cases gives you ideas and models to emulate. Check back as we showcase other examples of successful blogs in various industries!
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