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Some blogs truly define today’s business voice. These blogs represent a healthy mixture of independent and mainstream voices, prominent academics and small business owners with equally strong opinions.

We compiled a completely biased sampling of our 50 favorite blogs, sorted by category. The categories are neither based on anything official nor are representations within them equal. For example, we have included a ridiculous number of finance and investing blogs, an industry where coverage truly stood out this year. It is possible that we have forgotten other categories.

However smattered the designations on this list, rest assured that every single one of these blogs is worth reading. If you find something missing, or want to show off your own blog, we encourage you to comment.

Here they are, categorically sorted, and alphabetically ordered:

Advertising
Dim Bulb Author and advertising critic Jonathan Salem Baskin picks apart ads and marketing campaigns, then offers advice on how to do them right. Hint: Watch the branding.

Business Leaders
Jonathan’s Blog Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz is arguably the best exec blogger in the ’sphere.

Blog Maverick, Mark Cuban’s blog. Commentary on various issues that Mark Cuban is interested in. Makes readers feel like an insider to the upwardly mobilized.

Business Travel
The Economist’s Gulliver is not only one of the best business travel blogs on the Web, it is one of the only ones.

China
All Roads Lead to China provides economic and business analysis and news from China, by an American expert.

Customer Issues
Church of the Customer covers customer evangelism. Useful for both companies and individuals.

The Consumerist looks at business from a consumer-rights standpoint while remaining remarkably readable and informative.

ECommerce
Practical ECommerce lives up to its name, offering really useful advice and tips for those with online presences.

Economics
Marginal Revolution: Tyler/Tyrone Cowen and Alex Tabarrok author one of the Web’s essential economics blogs.

Freakanomics Blog at the New York Times: The authors of Freakonomics present…more Freakonomics! This econ blog is a treat.

Economics Roundtable offers useful daily econ- and business links.

In Beat the Press, Economist Dean Baker points out flaws and missteps in economic reporting, often giving valuable insight in the process.

Entrepreneurship
Toilet Paper Entrepreneur: Mike Michalowicz offers invaluable tips, resources, and networking/exposure opportunities for new entrepreneurs in this innovative blog.

Environmental Sustainability
The Oil Drum gives thorough peak oil and enviro-news opinion and analysis.

Financial News and Investing
Steadfast Finances offers down-to-earth tips and coverage of finance, for everyday folks.

Financial Armageddon: Author Michael J. Panzner covers the carnage using media and official outlets.

Seeking Alpha compiles reports and commentary from more than 2,000 contributors, making it a information hub and one-stop shop for an assortment of financial information.

Market Movers at Conde Nast Portfolio: Felix Salmon blogs on the financial industry all day at this blog. And he does a mighty good job of it.

Credit Writedowns offers the best credit crisis coverage on the Web.

Calculated Risk: Lending, mortgages, indices, and cutting-edge macroeconomic coverage–Calculated Risk covers it all, one step ahead of the rest.

Financial Times’ Alphaville Deftly filtered real-time coverage of market activity, from the UK but covering the US and EU as well.

Abnormal Returns is the perfect place to browse updated, smartly filtered links on investing.

Franchising
The Franchise King Blog is an invaluable resource for franchisers and those interested in the business.

Generational Blogs
These were tricky to sort out. No single blog covers all of a generation’s issues, but some blogs address those issues while primarily focusing on some other aspect of business. Here are our picks:

Baby Boomer: My Retirement Blog
Gen-X: Startup Addict and Gen X Finance
Gen-Y: Employee Evolution

Human Resources
HR Bartender integrates current news, events, and tips into a comprehensive and elegant HR resource.

HR Wench offers frank, pithy, and entertaining advice on real-life human resources issues.

India
Trak.in’s Arun Prabhudesai shares startup, Internet, entrepreneurship, and other business buzz from India.

Influence Science
Incentive Intelligence covers the sometimes-mysterious world of incentives, rewards, and influence in a very readable and interesting blog.

Innovation
Endless Innovation’s lengthier, insightful posts on innovation inspire and inform.

IT/Tech
TechCrunch: Stop here first for tech news.

Silicon Alley Insider provides essential snark about Silicon Valley.

The Business of IT provides carefully considered posts relevant to IT departments across the board.

Job Search Issues
Unemploymentality gets to the heart of the unemployed, well, mentality.

The Wall Street Journal’s Laid off and Looking follows eight laid-off MBAs through their job searches, offering insight from the ground.

Leadership
The Practice of Leadership offers inspiration, motivation, and tips for leaders.

Marketing
Duct Tape Marketing: John Jantsch continues to do small business marketing well in this classic blog.

Copyblogger shares a wealth of useful information on copywriting for online marketing and other businesses.

Seth Godin’s Blog: The Oracle of Marketing speaks.

Opinion (Various Topics)
The Brazen Careerist Penelope Trunk offers a columnist’s wit and insight on a variety of work-related issues.

Coyote Blog provides thought-provoking commentary on a variety of business-related topics by an independent thinker.

Pharmaceuticals
Pharmalot Pharma journalist Ed Silverman covers the industry with pleasing professionalism.

Private Equity
PE Hub makes private equity not only interesting, but cool.

Public Relations
Edelman Blog: PR guru Richard Edelman writes about PR and reputation management.

Regulatory Issues
SOX First focuses on Sarbanes-Oxley management and compliance, but covers a wider range of issues.

Social Networking
Riveting Rosie talks about social networking, advertising, and a variety of other topics from an insider’s perspective.

Thought Leaders
Harvard Business Review’s Monitor Talent Group Blog provides stimulating posts by today’s great thinkers.

The Becker-Posner Blog provides impressive, thorough commentary by two eminent minds: Nobel-winning economist Gary Becker and US Court of Appeals judge Richard Posner.

Women
Learned on Women talks trends, insights, marketing, and leadership for women and business.

We're giving away an Apple Nano this week, right on time for the holidays!

This blog is teaming with goWholesale to find out more about how you use the internet to source products and services for your business.

The Apple Nano will go the person that gives us the best tip on using the web to source products for their business.

* Leave a comment below with your answer.
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LOL! You would be nuts to pay that for this site. But if you are nuts, I'll tell you where to send the check! Pop on over to Business Opportunities and see what your blog is worth. The calculation is based on the recent Weblogs Inc. deal.

I am a big fan of your site. I am currently a first year MBA student at (removed), and I think I am getting more from your site than I am from my MBA. I sent your post about management being like math to my father. My father is pretty close friends with Charlie Munger, and he decided to forward along your post to Mr. Munger. Mr. Munger absolutely loved it. He sent a copy of the post to Warren Buffett and his entire family. Please keep up the great work.

Needless to say, Charlie Munger's witty comments have made me smile time and time again, so I'm glad I could do the same. And I've sent a tuition bill to the guy that sent me the email.

If you missed the post he was referring to, it is here.

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The Stalwart – a new finance/investing blog run by a professional investor.

Home Office Voice – a blog about running a business from home.

A list of female personal finance bloggers.

An interesting business blogging story sent by BobVis.