Business blogging remains a popular and viable path today in 2024. Industry benchmarks point to ample opportunity for new entrants to establish sites serving entrepreneurs, aspiring founders and side hustlers. In this updated guide, we’ll explore winning strategies from sites big and small while extracting key lessons you can apply.
Updated Business Blogging Statistics for 2024
Let‘s first ground ourselves in some 2023 data around business blogging:
- ~427 million blogs currently active worldwide (Source)
- 61% of businesses employ blogging as a content marketing tactic (Source)
- 61% of B2B marketers state their #1 goal is building an audience for their business blogs (Source)
- Top money-making blog niches include business, finance, tech and marketing (Source)
With such sizable blogging participation from businesses, it‘s clear there remains ample room for new players catering high-quality advice to entrepreneurs, founders and side hustlers.
Now let‘s analyze 10 leading business blogs highlighting effective strategies for growth and monetization.
Business Blog Traffic Levels
To showcase lessons that apply at various scales, I purposefully selected sites ranging from ~25K monthly visitors up to 10M+. Let‘s see which bracket each example falls into:
High Traffic
- 10M+ – The Balance
- 2M+ – Business News Daily
- 500K+ – Upflip, Side Hustle Nation
Mid-tier
- 300K+ – Startups.co.uk, Gigworker
Early Stage
- 25K+ – Both Sides of the Table
This spectrum demonstrates how core strategies around high-quality content, community-building and monetization integrity carry sites to prosperity regardless of size. Now let‘s explore each one!
The Balance – Personal Finance Powerhouse
Niche: Personal finance, Small business
Traffic: 10.3 million/month
Income Streams: Advertising, Affiliate marketing
With over 70 writers and editors creating 5000+ personal finance articles, the Balance established itself as a long-trusted brand. Their small business section alone gains millions of eyeballs monthly.
Key Takeaways
➡️ Leverage access to extensive expert networks for scalable, authoritative content creation
Business News Daily – Serving Ambitious Business Owners
Niche: News, tips/tools for small business
Traffic: 2.7 million/month
Income Streams: Advertising, Affiliate links
This site has invested in a polished digital media presence including video series. Their focus providing actionable guidance around SMB trends fuels strong organic growth.
Key Takeaways
➡️ A dedicated team and slick production values can elevate perceived expertise
Upflip – Focused on Startup Education
Niche: Starting and scaling a business
Traffic: Over 650K/month
Upflip‘s blog supports their core online course offerings for new entrepreneurs. Their passion for equipping business newcomers drives site expansion.
Key Takeaways
➡️ Find business models aligned to your existing assets/programs
Side Hustle Nation – The Part-Time Biz Guru
Niche: Side gigs, Online business, Freelancing
Traffic: Over 550K/month
Income Streams: Sponsorships, Affiliate marketing, Books
Nick Loper‘s site showcases tested side hustle models while offering tips for part-time founders. His personal experience brings credibility guiding working professionals toward biz success.
Key Takeaways
➡️ Flaunt your real-world experience; work directly in your niche
Startups.co.uk – Fast Start Resources Across the Pond
Niche: Starting and growing a business in the UK
Traffic: 335K/month
Income Streams: Affiliate links, Advanced Ads
Localizing advice for UK business owners allows Startups.co.uk to stand out. With sections like How-to Guides, Business Tools and Templates, they‘ve built an engaging, supportive site.
Key Takeaways
➡️ Consider tailoring your niche advice to a particular region or specialty
Gigworker – Your Gig Economy Masterclass
Niche: Making money with rideshare, delivery apps, freelancing
Traffic: 310K/month
Income Streams: Advertising, Affiliate links, Job board
Few can compete with Brett Helling‘s first-hand knowledge of the gig landscape. He smartly expanded content beyond rideshare into broader freelancing and small biz models while retaining niche authority.
Key Takeaways
➡️ Expand carefully beyond initial niche while leveraging experience-based expertise
Both Sides of the Table – An Insider’s VC Perspective
Niche: Startups seeking funding, venture capital deals
Traffic: 34K/month
Income Streams: None apparent
Drawing on his experiences as an entrepreneur and now VC investor, Mark Suster provides unique insights into funding dynamics. His focus attracts an influential readership despite lower visitor totals.
Key Takeaways
➡️ Boast legit insider access; Accept slower growth to start
Additional Standout Examples
Here are three more stellar case studies on strategically growing sites related to business, marketing and technology:
Copyblogger – By tirelessly honing their niche around content marketing strategies, Copyblogger built their blog into a veritable media empire now generating over $15M annually.
OkDork – Noah Kagan takes an edgy, contrarian angle in doling out marketing tactics for bootstrap entrepreneurs. His unique personality built a cult following.
Shopify Blog – Shopify wisely created an advice portal with ecommerce tips complementing their core commerce offerings. They leveraged in-house experts while attracting contributor all-stars.
Key Takeaways for Business Blogging Prosperity
Let‘s extract some cross-cutting lessons from these inspiring examples:
Community rules – Sites like Side Hustle Nation and OkDork thrive by building genuine connections with their audience. Solid comment moderation and social media engagement practices help deepen reader loyalty.
Monetize intelligently – Numerous monetization models can work, but tailor yours to align with audience expectations and site strengths, evoliving gradually as needed.
Stay focused – Resist covering every business theme; Become the expert site for restaurant marketing tactics or UK business formations or whatever niche where you‘ll uniquely contribute.
Play the long game patiently – Remember platforms like Copyblogger and The Balance put years into building their media presences. Consistency matters most.
I hope peering into what makes these sites thrive sparks ideas to fuel your own business blogging journey! Let me know which model you find most inspirational.
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