8 Best Sites for Small Business Owners
Posted by Dan Ronken
If you are a small business owner interested in marketing (actually, these sites are very interesting to a lot of readers even if you're not in marketing), I wanted to share some of my favorite people on the web. These folks have been a wonderful influence in my life and I'm happy to express my gratitude and share them with you today. They are categorized for your scanning pleasure.
Blogging
Darren Rowse of Problogger. My first experiential introduction to how the new era of marketing is going to be conducted. Darren's free '31 Day to Build a Better Blog' was a living example of how those who are generous with their knowlege and share their experience with others will continue to be the thought leaders on the web. This is one cool Aussie with a humble background.
Personal Design for Living
Leo Babauta of Zen Habits. This gentleman lives in Guam and is married with six kids. He provides excellent advice on topics ranging from how to create a less stressful computer experience to concepts on simple productivity. Reading his posts are a highpoint in my day and he offers many new perspectives on life in general.
Video
Steve Garfield is the author of the soon to be released, 'Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business.' He was one of the first video bloggers on the internet and has been at it for over five years. A valuable resource for anything related to creating and publishing videos on the internet. A really nice guy too!
General Marketing
Seth Godin is the author of New York Times best seller 'Purple Cow: How to Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable' as well as many other fascinating reads. What I appreciate most is his blog, which is aptly titled, Seth's Blog. He is able to accomplish so much with so few words by writing short, concise, lesson oriented, blog posts that you can confidently subscribe to and make it part of your daily reads.
Twitter
@pistachio. Her name is Laura Fitton and she is the co-author of Twitter for Dummies. She recently presented a webinar on the business uses of Twitter and I was very impressed! Remarkably talented and a joy to follow. Be sure to check her out for the latest and greatest information on Twitter and much more.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Rand Fishkin and the folks at Seomoz sure know their stuff when it comes to trying to unravel the mysteries of search engines such as Google, Bing/Yahoo. If you are into search marketing, this site is a must read. Of course if you are already into search marketing, you probably already know of this talented bunch.
Social Media
Unless you've been offline for the last, say....five years, you've undoubtedly read an article or two from Pete Cashmore's king social media site, Mashable. They are all things social media and much more. With seemingly endless resources, they could keep you busy reading for months!
And Finally...
For the Spritually Un-Enlightened
Introducing Bob Tzu. He may not do much to help your business, however, I wouldn't be surprised if reading his stuff didn't change you a little bit, and increase your belly laugh count. He is the long- lost American cousin of the Chinese, Lao Tzu and his site is Duhism. Hands down one of the wittiest and most entertaining guys I've ever come across. So if you're into clever tweets, and/or one liners, he is a must follow.
And Finally, Finally...
Nope. Sorry. That's it for this post. Of course there are many more but they'll have to hang tight for now. Hope you get something out of these links and be sure come back and let me know what you've learned.
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Photo Credit: Elvire.R.