This document lists and summarizes blogs that provide useful information for bootstrapping businesses. It outlines 20 blogs in alphabetical order that cover topics like marketing, growth, conversions, social media, email marketing, design, and entrepreneurship. The blogs vary in frequency, from weekly to monthly posts, and provide case studies, strategies, and insights for starting and growing businesses with limited resources. The document encourages adding other recommended resources and notes that the author will update the post over time.
2. The following are blogs that
I have found useful to bootstrapping your own businesses.
They are listed in alphabetical order.
If you have more resources to add,
please leave a comment:
https://ryanbattles.com/post/blogs-for-bootstrappers
I will update this post with quality recommendations.
3. Andrew Chen
andrewchen.co
Andrew writes about tech,
startups, and marketing. The
content is not click-bait, but
rather insightful reflections from
those in the know. Andrew
regularly accepts guest authors,
so you're likely to stumble across
a few other bloggers in this list
while reading Andrew's blog.
4. Backlinko
backlinko.com
Brian Dean has carved his niche
by specializing in creative ways
to build links to your website.
Recently he has also been
writing about building your
email list (who isn't?), with long-form,
actionable posts that come
out about once a month. Brian
puts time into his posts, and it
shows.
5. Boost Blog Traffic
boostblogtraffic.com
Jon Morrow and his team write
about once a week on effective
blogging and content promotion.
Even though not every
bootstrapper is a blogger, every
bootstrapper writes content for
their marketing site (or is at least
working with someone else who
is), so it pays to be a good writer
and know how to promote well.
6. Clarity
blog.clarity.fm
Clarity is a blog about general
business advice, with a heavy-skewing
towards startups, if not
bootstrapped startups. The blog
claims to "All stuff, no fluff", and
I honestly believe that they have
attained this with the high-quality
posts that come out
about once or twice a week.
7. ConversionXL
conversionxl.com/blog
Peep Laja runs a successful
conversion consultancy, and
blogs about optimizing
conversions. The posts go deep
and provide actionable advice I
don't often see anywhere else.
8. Copyhackers
copyhackers.com
Joanna Weibe is a highly sought-after
copywriter who leverages
her honed writing skills with A/
B testing to increase client
conversions by 100% or more.
She freely shares many of these
case studies on her blog,
showing just which tweaks led
to the desired increase in
conversions.
9. Customer.io
customer.io/blog
The Customer.io blog releases
new content weekly regarding
"email marketing, copywriting,
psychology, and customer
happiness." They offer insight
into their own business and
strategies as well as offering up
general advice-type articles.
10. Fizzle
fizzle.co/sparkline
Fizzle calls their blog "The
Sparkline", and it is a
combination of original content
and notifications of new
episodes of their podcast, "The
Fizzle Show". Their content is
varied, with recent articles on
design, podcasting, copywriting,
and overcoming depression.
11. Happy
Bootstrapper
happybootstrapper.com
Jaana, the author of Happy
Bootstrapper, is an accountant
who took up design/
development and eventually
became a bootstrapper. Her
insight into the financials of
SaaS products is incredible, and
her posts are generally long-form
and well-researched.
12. Heidi Cohen
heidicohen.com
Heidi's blog focuses more on
social media and content
marketing, both necessary
disciplines for many
bootstrappers. New posts come
out about every other day.
13. Help Scout
helpscout.net/blog
The Help Scout blog is pretty
varied in content, typically
within the realms of growth,
support, and retention. New,
long-form posts are released
once a week.
14. Justin Jackson
justinjackson.ca
Justin is one of those writers
that injects his personality into
everything he publishes. I love
this about his posts, which
typically have to do with
growing an audience, building
products, and life in general.
15. Kikolani
kikolani.com
Kikolani is the home of Kristi
Hines, a freelance writer and
professional blogger, whose
work can regularly be seen
around the Internet on a wide
variety of blogs. Her content
generally relates to social media
marketing and search engine
optimization.
16. KISSmetrics
Marketing Blog
blog.kissmetrics.com
An online marketing blog from
the creators of the SaaS
application Kissmetrics
(analytics for web applications).
Even if you follow no other blog
for marketing your product,
follow KISSmetrics. They publish
content approximately once a
day, sometimes more.
17. LKR Social Media
lkrsocialmedia.com/
category/blog
Laura Roeder's blog is a great
resource for all things social
media peppered with insight
into running an online business.
Laura is working on a SaaS
application named Edgar, so her
posts at times reflect her
experiences with building and
launching a product.
18. Nathan Barry
nathanbarry.com
Nathan is a hybrid designer/
marketer, and his blog is pretty
equally split between these two
disciplines. Nathan is one of
those writers that isn't afraid to
share specific details about what
he has found to work for him, as
well as what hasn't worked so
well. Some of Nathan's most
valuable content has to do with
maximizing launches, pricing
strategies, and self-publishing.
19. OnStartups
http://onstartups.com
Dharmesh Shah's blog on
entrepreneurs is updated about
once a month, but the content is
long-form and full of
entrepreneurial insight from
Dharmesh, who is the co-founder
of Hubspot.
20. Quick Sprout
quicksprout.com/blog
I don't know how Neil Patel does
it, but he consistently outputs
high-quality articles multiple
times per week on Quick Sprout,
as well as the Kissmetrics Blog.
Topics include content
marketing, social media, and
overall engagement strategies.
Every post garners dozens of
comments and hundreds of
shares.
21. Ryan Battles
ryanbattles.com/blog
Ryan is the co-founder of
Harpoon and Find Bacon. He
blogs weekly on topics that
relate to entrepreneurship,
productivity, and growth
engineering.
22. SaaStr
saastr.com
Jason Lemkin writes once or
twice a week about all things
entrepreneurial, especially in
relationship to SaaS applications,
and recurring online revenue.
Many of his posts go on to be
syndicated in Forbes, The Wall
Street Journal, etc.
23. Signal vs. Noise
signalvnoise.com
This blog is probably the most
varied in the list, consisting of
company news, customer
profiles, op-ed pieces, and video.
However, this blog (from the
makers of Basecamp) often
provides insight into lessons
learned running one of the most
successful SaaS applications to-date.
24. Software by Rob
softwarebyrob.com)
This blog is not updated
regularly, but when new content
comes out, I am sure to read it.
Rob Walling is the host of the
popular "Startups for the Rest of
Us" podcast, and author of "Start
Small, Stay Small". He has run
numerous startups, and shares
his experiences freely while
teaching others how to make
money off of multiple streams of
income.
25. Unbounce
unbounce.com
Every few days Unbounce
releases another insightful
article on landing page
conversion and optimization.
From optimizing calls to action
to headline tweaking, the tips
shared within this blog will
improve your landing pages.
26. Unicornfree
unicornfree.com
You either love or hate Amy
Hoy's entrepreneurial blog with
attitude. I must admit, after
meeting Amy in person in Philly,
I'm a big fan. Behind the in-your-face
headlines (not uncommon
for the F-bomb to make an
appearance) lies someone who
really cares about her audience
and wants to see them succeed.
27. Thanks for Checking this
SlideDeck Out!
If you would like to read more about bootstrapping,
entrepreneurship, productivity, and building an audience, check
out my blog at:
https://ryanbattles.com