Blogs are an excellent source of information and education, and can often provide you with data that can increase your productivity, further develop your business acumen and keep you up to date on current trends.
We've rounded up our favourite blogs to watch in 2016 so that you can have a read and hopefully learn a few new tricks.
Moz | moz.com/blog
Moz - formerly known as SEOmoz - is a fantastic internet marketing blog, with its main focus being on search engine optimisation and digital marketing techniques. Articles are written by many industry professionals and influencers such as Rand Fishkin and Larry Kim. The blog caters to all kinds of abilities - there is complex techniques in there as well as handy guides with advice and recommendations.
Hootsuite | blog.hootsuite.com
You may have already heard of Hootsuite - if not, it's a great social media scheduling and management tool. If you don't use it already, you should definitely check it out. Alongside this, they also run a blog full of social media advice and marketing tips that can be applied to individuals, start ups, SMEs and large organisations. Helpful articles include advice such as "15 Essential Tools to Better Manage Social Media", "How to Deliver Exceptional Social Media Customer Service" and "7 Ways to Make Your Social Marketing More Effective" as well as plenty more. On average, they post at least one blog a day which means you should always have your fill of content to read over.
Mashable | mashable.com
Mashable has gained a lot of ground in 2015 and has established itself as one of the go to blogs for various different niches. It has excellent content on technology and digital marketing such as social media, as well as entertainment topics, business and world news. The blog is more of a news publication rather than a platform for tips and advice, but it's a great way to stay ahead of the game and ensure your business can perform in-line with current standards and developments.
Marketing Land | marketingland.com
As you have probably already guess, Marketing Land offers expert advice on all forms of marketing for your organisation. They cover a wide range of topics, from social media to search engine marketing and everything in between.
They also have a sister site, "Search Engine Land" which is all about SEO. It's also a blog worth checking out to pick up some new tips on search engine optimisation.
Smashing Magazine | smashingmagazine.com
Aside from the content, I think I'd probably give this blog a place on our list purely because of their name - smashing! However, they are more than just a name - Smashing Magazine is one of the go-to places for any web designer or developer, no matter what skillset you have in the area. It can provide great tips and advice on creating designs and developing websites, as well as keeping you up to date on latest trends such as responsive templates and new styles of coding.
Business Insider | businessinsider.com
Business Insider is a great source to learn all about world business and politics. It offers business and finance news for professionals and people looking to learn a few new tricks, as well as the occasional interesting article or video.
Sploid | sploid.gizmodo.com
Sploid is quite possibly the perfect blog to read if you have time to kill, you're on your lunch break or you just fancy some plain old pracrastination. Sploid shoowcases the weird and wonderful in all aspects, such as "What happens when you pump way too much air into a basketball", "These 7 wildly creative burgers look so damn tasty" and "Can you tell the difference between what's real and what's not in these amazing illusions?".
Do you think there's any blogs we've missed? Let us know what your favourite blogs are by tweeting us to @Cosmic_UK!