John Crickett compiled a “The Top 100 Business Blogs” list and I’m delighted to see, I made it to position 70 - he says:

“…… I’ve gathered together a list of what I believe are the Top 100 Business Blogs on the Internet. ….. The blogs are listed in order of their Technorati rankings (T), their Alexa rankings (A) are show as well. “

John defines a Business blog as “one that provides business ideas, advice, commentary or feedback on business in general.” He’s excluded sites that he feels are primarily a news based site or that is merely posting content from other sources and sites that are too new or have not been updated for over a month.

I would like to thank John for his work, here is his list - the rankings are correct at the time of posting:

1. Copy Blogger T: 36 A: 7,825
2. Seth Godin T: 47 A: 10,314
3. MicroPersuasion T: 169 A: 33,643
4. How To Change The World T: 180 A: 14,709
5. Freelance Switch T: 312 A: 10,638
6. A VC T: 1,226 A: 27,737
7. Rough Type T: 1,253 A: 69,429
8. Successful Blog T: 1,432 A: 44,935
9. Small Business Canada T: 1,517 A: N/A
10. David Allen, Getting Things Done T: 1,549 A: 53,592
11. Springwise T: 1,913 A: 23,858
12. Small Biz Trends T: 2,155 A: 63,364
13. Fast Company T: 2,310 A: 12,141
14. Instigator Blog T: 2,477 A: 58,816
15. Occam’s Razor T: 2,548 A: 45,541
16. Smart Wealthy Rich T: 2,879 A: 79,415
17. eMoms At Home T: 3,443 A: 27,125
18. Escape from Cubicle Nation T: 3,467 A: 202,751
19. The Marketing Technology Blog T: 3,496 A: 47,038
20. Business Pundit T: 3,724 A: 114,669
21. The Engaging Brand T: 4,404 A: 433,644
22. Influential Marketing Blog T: 4,779 A: 98,886
23. Drew McLellan - The Marketing Minute T: 4,820 A: 129,669
24. The Digerati Life T: 4,873 A: 53,353
25. Success From The Nest T: 4,908 A: 95,008
26. Business Blog Consulting T: 5,186 A:237,901
27. Church Of The Customer T: 5,576 A: 250,201
28. Todd And T: 5,643 A: 161, 019
29. Net Business Blog T: 5,936 A: 36,107
30. Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing T: 6,583 A: 92,784
31. Bootstrapper T: 7,497 A: 50,304
32. About.com Entrepreneurs T: 7,797 A: N/A
33. Blogtrepreneur T: 7,897 A: 53,011
34. Branding & Marketing T: 8,200 A: 710,326
35. Duct Tape Marketing T: 8,985 A: 31,714
36. Simplenomics T: 10,252 A:288,753
37. Freelance Folder T: 10,543 A: 63,590
38. Business Opportunities Weblog T: 11,018 A: 16,213
39. HELLO, My Name Is Blog T: 11,395 A: 422,218
40. Self Made Minds T: 11,704 A: 39,719
41. Sox First T: 12,894 A: 994,161
42. Young Go Getter T: 14,239 A: 45,373
43. Trust Matters T: 15,462 A: 58,403
44. Small Biz Survival T: A: 18,074 A: 875,069
45. The Personal MBA T: 19,207 A: 142,649
46. The Entrepreneurial Mind T: 21,958, A: 155,166
47. Blog Business World T: 23,025 A: 252,405
48. Working At Home On The Internet T: 23,247 A: 423,900
49. Biz Informer T: 24,631 A: 904,745
50. EmpowerWomenNow T: 25,837 A: 117,085
51. Biz Plan Hacks T: 27,048 A: 1,335,732
52. CreateBusinessGrowth T: 32,949 A:197,290
53. Business Opportunities and Ideas T: 33,205 A: 282,805
54. The KISS Business T: 35,496 A: 621,082
55. Startup Spark T: 35,747 A: 386,949
56. Buzzoodle Buzz Marketing Blog T: 41,092 A: 467,418
57. MindPetals T: 41,714 A: 128,487
58. Marketing Deviant T: 43,764 A: 281,072
59. Go Big Network T: 44,842 A: 25,303
60. Cool Business Ideas T: 49,679 A: 187,126
61. Neville’s Financial Blog T: 52,048 A: 140,296
62. Atlantic Canada’s Small Business Blog :T 52,589 A: 795,253
63. College Startup T: 53,143 A: 184,398
64. Reflections Of A Biz Driven Life T: 79,365 A: 361,398
65. Branding Blog T: 93,462 A: 1,110,518
66. Carnival Of The Capitalists T: 93,462 A: 1,897,375
67. Young Entrepreneur T: 104,933 A: 26,491
68. Marketing Genius T: 132,066 A: 2,222,119
69. Better For Business T: 137,774 A: 590,797
70. The Small Business Blog T: 140,824 A: 577,490
71. Focused Mind T: 162,356 A: 520,971
72. Small Business Tips T: 166,367 A: 74,005
73. Lifes Perspective T: 194,358 A: 179,801
74. Business Opportunities Blog T: 199,700 A: 832,678
75. The Savvy Entrepreneur T: 224,227 A: 391,147
76. Egg Marketing Blog T: 231,062 A: 740,867
77. The Franchise King Blog T: 273,240 A: 520,732
78. Small Business Entrepreneur T: 317,977 A: 883,094
79. The Great Startup Game T: 331,293 A: 421,492
80. Work At Home Start Up Guide T: 345,597 A: 1,190,178
81. Dorm Room Biz T: 360,865 A: 957,072
82. Startup Blog T: 377,609 A: 2,552,189
83. Open Inovators T: 395,824 A: 1,230,257
84. Get Entrepreneurial T: 437,475 A: 446,085
85. Bplans Blog T: 437,475 A: 1,373,525
86. Stuff4Restaurants T: 461,534 A: 298,982
87. Canadian Entrepreneur T: 484,461 A: 237,901
88. Strategize T: 487,964 A: 2,856,731
89. The Marketing Spot T: 587,893 A: 2,550,840
90. The Ravings Of A Mad Entrepreneurial Scientist T: 587,893 A: 566,836
91. More Than We Know T: 871,446 A: 2,964,420
92. Solo Entrepreneur T: 1,212,405 A: 471,491
93. Stuff4Business T: 1,391,575 A: 298,982
94. Consultant Journal T: 4,262,598 A: 667,342
95. Startup Addict Musings T: 4,446,976 A: 1,03390,690
96. Edith Yeung T: 8,911,336 A: 125,290
97. Boostrap Me T: 8,911,336 A: 550,348
98. The Selling Sherpa T: Not Listed A: 772,292
99. BizzBangBuzz T: Not Listed A: 1,484,797
100. The Freestyle Entrepreneur T: Not Listed A: 1,519,518

This little list should keep you busy over the weekend, go and have a look. I’ll be checking out the competition. ST.

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Mobile working is a trend that is emerging in all sectors of the market and is here to stay. It provides employees flexible working conditions that empower them and is also beneficial to the business.
Mobile working ensures that the business doesn’t have to worry about office space for the mobile workers but this however does not mean that the business owner is not responsible for ensuring that the employees are provided the same connectivity as the office bound employees.

A recent report of a study undertaken by CISCO underlines the need for good management when it comes to mobile workers. It is essential to keep communication optimum as both over and under-communication lead to problems. While under communication may make the employees feel isolated and unclear of work goals, over communication may lead to undermining the trust of mobile workers.

Stuart Duff, the author of the report is also an occupational psychologist at Pearn Kandola, says “As the mobile working phenomenon continues to grow, organizations must ensure that they have suitable leadership in place to manage teams of mobile workers.”

The recruitment of mobile workers is of utmost importance and business owners need to look for self motivated, confident, determined and independent workers. They also need to ensure that the mobile workers are given their due attention and acknowledgement in the business. An online office goes a long way in ensuring that mobile workers are in touch with the office and feel a part of it.

Tags: 7 Customer Service, Accountanats, AccountsOffice, BoomerPreneurs, Business Idea, Business Mentoring, Business Start Up, Business Success, Cash-Flow, CashBook, Contractors, CPAs, Entrepreneur, Freelancer, Home Business, IT, Lifestyle Business, Micro Business, MumPreneurs, Office 2.0, On-Demand Small Business Infrastructure, Online Shop, Outsourcing, Pearn Kandola, Personal Business, OnlineOffice, SaaS - Software as a Service, Sage Business Heartbeat Survey, Self-employed, Shell Springboard, SMB - Small Medium Business, SME - Small Medium Enterprise, SOHO - Small Office Home Office, Virtual Assistant, Virtual Office, Vivid Economics, VSB - Very Small Business, Web 2.0, WebOffice, WinWeb Live

Recently there's been a number of articles on news type websites and posts on blogs about what it takes to be a Virtual Assistant or what a Virtual Assistant actually is.

If you believe the news type websites and all the advertising hype, it's anyone who has a computer, can type a little and has an internet connection. It's promoted that to set up is very cheap and almost anyone could become a VA.

And there are many out there who still don't know what a VA or Virtual Assistant is, so let me enlighten you, the reader!

A Virtual Assistant is someone who operates from their own office (usually a home office but not always) and provides virtual office type support to their clients. They usually don't see their clients face-to-face, although some services provided requires that does need to happen. VAs are usually someone with a minimum 5 years experience in office based work, the corporate world, bookkeeping, computer troubleshooting, graphics design, web design and a heap of other computer based skills. Whilst initially those who had a strong secretarial background embraced this new industry as their career path, the reality is there are many now operating as VAs or VPs (Virtual Professionals) who do not have a secretarial background but might have worked in Human Resources, Banking, other financial institutions, engineering, IT and heaps of other types of business. The emphasis is on 'assistance' - the VA is providing assistance to a business owner/operator and providing the support they need so they can focus on the things that bring in the money, not the things that need doing daily to keep it operational.

For anyone to set up in this type of business the fact remains that there are costs involved, computer equipment, software, furniture, insurances, advertising, some ability to manage and run a business and so on. The software is important - they really need to know and understand it - no client wants to be paying for someone to learn how to do something when they should already know, particularly if they're promoting that type of service.

Is it true that some VAs charge only $10USD an hour and others over $50USD? The answer is 'yes' and 'no'. Those charging at the low end of the scale most likely are hobbyists looking to earn some extra money at home and have some idea of how to do what they're promoting. Very few at that price range are serious about building a business and developing it, and their skills. Those who charge at the higher end are highly skilled and most likely worked in Senior roles in the corporate world before setting up business. Many others are middle of the range - $25USD - $45USD and again, are working at building their businesses and increasing their skills range.

You do pay for what you get, or should I say you will get what you plan to pay for. But remember, that paying someone who is at the higher range will save you a lot of problems - you are not paying for an employee and all that means in the way of insurances, taxation, etc and you are paying for experience and skill. Someone at the lower end scale will mean you'll need much more input into the work that is produced and will need to be following up, checking and correcting things - based on my own personal experience of what I've seen take place in the industry.

The following articles will help those looking for more information on this industry:

Business Operator or Employee?

Not Cash Poor Nor Skills Poor

Advice to those seeking to use a VA

Virtual Assistants, Home Business, Customer Service, working virtually, virtual support

It struck me today what incredibly good value for money the winweb new pricing structure offers, don’t get me wrong it was well priced before, but now …

For £119.88 per year for a single user licence you get a lot for your money, mind you always have, and that’s when I realised, you get so much with winweb I am sure a lot of people out there don’t realise what it can do to help them with their business or how it can help them get their business up and running.

I know I am often told about features I didn’t know existed, so I thought over the coming weeks, and depending how much more I discover it can do, the coming months, I would look at winweb and how its business infrastructure can help you by looking at all it does.

I would welcome input from other users on features you have discovered that others may not know about, or if you are a user who is not getting the full benefit then let me know what you want covered, and lets see if together we can’t unlock the true potential of the winweb business infrastructure together.

One reason many small businesses fail is a lack of structure to their business, winweb is offering you that structure, it is  already packaged and priced at the ‘incredible’ value end of the market.

Tags: Winweb, Accountants, Accounting, AccountsOffice, AccountsVision, Bookkeeping, Bookkeepers, Business Development, Business Infrastructure, Business Start Up, Business Tool, Client Relations, Customer Service, E-Commerce, Entrepreneur, Home Business, Self Employed, Working for yourself, OMB, SME, Small Business, Small Business Infrastructure, SaaS, Software as a Service, Virtual Assistants

You may have all seen in the news recently the petition to have the Prime Minister scrap the planned vehicle tracking and road pricing policy, and you may wonder why on a blog for small business I bring it up, well quite simply put, if this government gets its way then this will be yet another tax that the small business will have to endure.

To add your voice to over 1.2 million others who are against it please use the link below and say NO!

Link to E-Petition on Downing Street website.

Tags: Small business, SME, Self Employed, Working for yourself, Road pricing policy, SMB, OMB