Do you have a burning desire or need to know more about blogging statistics?
Maybe you need to sell your boss on the idea, support the need to make a change or convince yourself it’s worthwhile to start a blog.
Whatever the reason, you’ve come to the right place.
We’ll start off light with basic numbers and some overarching trends.
Then we rev things up with a deep dive into everything from success rates to posting frequency.
Contents
Blogging Basics: General Statistics
Let’s start things off with some basic blogging statistics for an overview of their effectiveness and reach.
How Many Blogs Are There?
There are over 600 million blogs on the internet, making them a sizable percentage of the world’s 1.9 billion websites.
Do People Still Read Blogs in 2022?
Yes, people still read blogs in 2022
In May 2022, the popular blogging platform Blogger.com saw over 50 million unique visitors.
Given that those numbers cover a single month on one platform, it’s easy to see that millions of people still spend time on blogs.
Are Blogs Actually Profitable?
Blogs can be profitable.
Though the amount of money bloggers make varies, the average annual income is around $39,000.
Some 10% of United States bloggers make over $100,000 annually, while the top 0.6% pull in over one million dollars annually.
What Percentage of Bloggers Are Successful?
Success is relative, and annual income isn’t the whole story.
A recent poll showed that 77% of bloggers felt they got results.
Why Do Most Bloggers Fail?
A blogger can fail for many reasons, but it always comes back to quality content and consistency.
Though it sounds counterintuitive, focusing too much on making money and not enough on engaging with your audience is one of the top reasons for failure.
Digging Deeper: Number You Need To Know
Now that you have a brief overview of blogging, it’s time to dive in and explore the critical issues, like money and content types.
Top Blogging Statistics
Whether blogging is your primary income source, you use it to enhance your business, or you want to use it as a side gig, pull up a chair and tune because these numbers are the real deal.
- There are over 70 million new blog posts daily, demonstrating the importance of consistent posting.
- Visitors leave over 77 million comments on new posts, opening the door to engage with your audience and increasing organic growth.
- Over 54% of Fortune 500 businesses feature blogs for the public. While it’s a potential revenue builder, blogging allows these companies to inform and engage with their target audiences.
- About 46% of internet users rely on opinions from bloggers and vloggers to make decisions. So getting your product in front of influencers can impact your bottom line.
- 77% of people who use the internet spend some time reading blogs. Therefore, you could reach more people through blogging than through other methods.
- 83% of bloggers use keyword searches to optimize content. Committing to a keyword strategy for your blog posts isn’t a suggestion; it’s necessary.
- Most bloggers spend two to three hours creating a blog post. Blogging is a time investment more than anything, so set aside the appropriate time to meet weekly and monthly goals.
- 70% of people prefer reading articles about a company to seeing ads about them. No matter how colorful your advertisement is, it can’t be an informative blog post that lets your audience feel closer to you and what you do.
- The average reader spends around 52 seconds reading a post, so create skimmable content.
- Over 50% of traffic to websites comes across mobile devices, making mobile responsiveness a critical feature for your blog.
General Blogging Statistics
Blogging is a versatile tool for anyone willing to put in the time and effort.
These general statistics effectively highlight that versatility.
- Blogging is the second most popular form of media for content marketing teams.
- Websites with blogs see a 434% increase in their chances to rank higher.
- Over 60% of Americans dedicate substantially more time to reading blogs than email, making blogging more efficient than email marketing.
- Around 80% of people bypass sponsored posts on search engines in favor of organic results.
- About half of search engine results use four or more words, making long-tail keywords essential.
- 59% of links shared across social media were never read, meaning a catchy headline goes a long way.
- Content marketing is expected to increase by more than $417 billion by 2025.
- Over half of the viewers leave a site if they have trouble viewing the content, so making your blog run smoothly is a make-or-break situation.
- Tumblr hosts more than 518 million blogs, meaning there is an opportunity for anyone and everyone.
- Over 44% of buyers consume up to five pieces of content before speaking with a seller.
Blogging Statistics About WordPress
Hopefully, you know that WordPress is a popular content management system that’s easy to use, even for beginners.
It’s one of the top options for bloggers because of all the tools and customization options.
The following statistics support the platform’s growth and stability, making it one of the most powerful, expansive options in the industry.
- WordPress powers over 40% of all websites on the internet.
- Over 400 million people visit WordPress blogs every month.
- Since 2011, WordPress has seen steady growth at around 12% per year.
- WordPress is also used by over 64% of content management (CMS) users.
- WordPress users can choose from almost 10,000 free themes. Users can also pay to upgrade to a premium theme with more than 20,000 options.
- The average price of a premium WordPress theme is $59.
- Over 20% of the sites on WordPress also use WooCommerce.
- The official plugin library gives users access to over 60,000 plugins for free.
- One of the most popular plugins is Yoast SEO, with over five million active installations and over 25,000 five-star ratings.
- WordPress.org sees over 500 new sites daily via the free version.
- WordPress supports over 100 languages, and changing the language is easy. This video explains how to change language settings to reach more people.
Blogging Statistics About Revenue & Money
If you hope to be one of the popular money-making blogs, you probably want to know more about the financial side of things.
- Bloggers have various revenue streams, but the most lucrative are ads, sponsored product reviews, and their own products or online courses.
- Blogging contributes about 40% of all United States publishing commissions.
- Food, lifestyle, and travel are the most popular markets accounting for over 65% of all blog views.
- Food bloggers have the highest average income at over $9,000 monthly.
- GoogleAdSense is a powerful tool, but bloggers stand a far better chance of selling on their own. Organic methods are 2.5 times more effective than GoogleAdSense.
- Over 70% of bloggers who make over $2,000 per month use Adthrive or Mediavine.
- Of those bloggers who make over $50,000 per year, 45% of them sell their service or product.
- 60% of people say they bought a product after reading a post about it. Vendors can educate people on their products while sharing their brand voice and run a higher chance of conversion.
- 600 million devices used ad blockers in 2016, a number that has increased 40% each year since. It costs over 60% less to blog than to use alternate marketing methods.
Blogging Statistics About Content
Blog content rules involve more than a well-written piece.
These statistics should clarify what content fares best for blog posts.
- Around 60% of consumers like to read valuable blog content from their favorite brands.
- Over 30% of buyers admit to making a spontaneous purchase after reading quality content.
- About 24% of readers feel that poor-quality blog content crushes your credibility.
- Each blog post should target two to five keywords for SEO purposes.
- The length of a blog post is important, and it turns out that three-quarters of the public likes them short at less than 1,000 words.
- That said, the average blog post is around 1,400 words.
- However, blogs should be closer to 2,450 words to rank higher and get more shares and backlinks.
- It’s not just about what you say in a blog post; after all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Relevant, high-quality images attract 94% more visitors.
- The ideal ratio is one image for every 75 to 100 words.
- Videos can go a long way, with over 50% of visitors watching the entire piece.
Blogging Statistics About Blogging Frequency
Another contentious point is posting frequency and publish times.
Here are the most recent trends to help you craft the ideal posting schedule.
- Publishing four blog posts per week results in 3.5 times more traffic than one post per week.
- Blogs that publish weekly are 2.5 times more likely to see strong results than those that post less frequently.
- Businesses see 3.5 times more visitors when posting at least 16 times per month than those posting once per week.
- 22% of bloggers in a 2021 survey reported publishing weekly, while a mere 2% posted daily.
- Businesses gain traction with longer posts (7000 words or longer) because they see four times more traffic than shorter posts (less than 1200 words).
- The best time of day to publish is the morning, specifically between 9:00 am, and 10:00 am Eastern Standard Time (EST).
- That’s because 70% of readers access blogs in the morning.
- However, over half of men prefer to read blogs at night, meaning you need to consider your target audience when scheduling.
- Regardless of the time you publish, Mondays and Tuesdays are the best days to publish blog posts.
- Saturdays see the most comments from visitors, most often during the 9:00 am hour.
- Interestingly, Mondays and Thursdays see the most clicks on outbound links. Daily posting can increase your chances of gaining more unique visitors.
Blogging Statistics About SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a buzzword in the blogging world and one of the key factors in blog success.
These statistics might help you climb the search engine rankings.
- 96% of bloggers use analytics.
- However, only 32% of bloggers always check their analytics, 26% usually use them, and another 26% report occasional use.
- Only 4.8% of users click on the second page of search results, meaning you need to find a way to rank high enough to gain traffic.
- Over 90% of websites get zero traffic from Google searches.
- The average website that ranks in the top ten is at least two years old.
- SEO is the top way to drive traffic, which is why 69% of marketing teams rely on it.
- Use titles with six to thirteen words for best results, but the first 50 to 60 characters matter most
- Updating old posts for SEO makes them three times more successful.
- Plus, updating an old post takes less time than creating a new one.
- 71% of bloggers update old content for SEO purposes.
Blogging Statistics About Traffic
Google Analytics can provide a great deal of information about your blog traffic, but sometimes it helps to frame that information against current trends.
These blogging stats cover the most important trends for site visits and sources.
- About 95% of blog traffic comes from the first page of search results.
- Hyphens and colons in headings increase click-through rates by 9%.
- 74% of businesses report that content marketing attracts more quality leads.
- Posts under 2,000 words draw more organic traffic.
- Only 27% of blog readers read posts thoroughly.
- The most frequent complaint from blog readers is poor writing, including wordiness and tough-to-read content.
- Watch your page load time because sites that take longer than five seconds to load end up with bounce rates over 90%.
- Using more backlinks can increase the traffic from Google.
- YouTube gets over two billion visitors per month.
- The average blog visitor spends 52 seconds on the page.
Social Media Blogging Statistics
Social media is one of the most pervasive phenomena in our lives, and it guides many of our decisions.
So it’s little wonder that content teams rely on social media to drive traffic, and that means creating posts that mirror their blogs.
- 97% of bloggers use social media platforms to promote their blogs.
- 75% of people over age 13 use social media.
- 93% of people on the internet use social media.
- 99.8% of people never engage in social shares on their mobile devices.
- The best time to post on social media depends on the platform. Facebook is somewhere around 3 a.m. or between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m.
- 58% of internet users use Facebook at least monthly.
- However, about half of bloggers say it’s getting harder to drive traffic from Facebook.
- LinkedIn has over 850 million users around the world and over 57 million companies listed.
- Here’s an impressive business statistic that could change how you market your business blog. B2B businesses get 80% of their social media leads from LinkedIn.
- Posts between 1000 and 2000 words get the most social media shares.
Blogging Statistics About Guest Posting
Posting regularly is an important way to grow your site, but guest posts can drive additional traffic by tapping into new audiences.
It’s also a way for marketing teams to fill out their blog content creation calendars without having to write as much new, custom content.
It’s also an excellent way to establish yourself or your company as an authority in the industry.
Properly writing a blog post for another site, especially a high-profile one, can earn you some positive attention.
- 60% of bloggers do up to five guest posts each month.
- A fraction of bloggers (3%) submit more than 100 guest posts monthly.
- Over 60% of visitors consider blogs with multiple authors as more credible.
- Guest posts are most popular from June through August.
- 50% of bloggers pitch to 10 or fewer sites per month.
- 81% of bloggers report deciding on the topic of the guest post.
- Guest posts can increase your website’s traffic by up to 80%.
- 37% of guest post writers are on staff, while only 8% are freelancers.
- Almost 80% of editors feel that guest content they receive is too promotion-focused.
- Regular guest blogging is one of the top five ways to build backlinks.
Statistics About Marketing a Blog
If going viral is your goal, you need to work to spread the word literally.
Marketing a blog takes effort and some good old-fashioned promoting.
- 70% of bloggers earning $50,000 or more per year report actively promoting their blogs.
- 97% of companies rely on a content marketing strategy.
- Blogging is more effective than email, white papers, or ebooks.
- 69% of businesses say blog campaigns play a major role in lead generation.
- 55% of marketing teams cite blogging as the top inbound marketing concern.
- Influencer marketing is a powerful trend, with 70% of teens trusting influencers.
- It’s not just teens, either. Almost half of consumers rely on influencer suggestions.
- Even though it could lead to better results, only 10% of bloggers collaborate with influencers.
- Paid ads account for only 13% of traffic.
- Over 20% of bloggers devote more time to marketing their blogs than writing new content for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
That’s a lot of information to digest, but you probably have a few more questions.
Hopefully, these frequently asked questions can clear things up.
How often do successful bloggers post?
It depends on the blog and industry, but successful bloggers typically post at least once per week up to four or five times.
However, larger corporations may need to release more content, up to several times per day, to keep up with the industry standard and customer needs.
The sweet spot for a successful blog lies somewhere in the balance between quantity and quality.
If you don’t have time to post four high-quality blogs per week, it’s better to do one or two.
What has replaced blogging?
Videos, or vlogging, is a new trend that has people flocking to platforms like YouTube, Twitch, and Instagram.
Blogging remains popular, but there is an increase in the demand for video content.
So, it’s worth exploring the options for a more comprehensive marketing and blogging plan.
Wrapping Up
Blogging is a highly effective way to reach audiences, attract more leads, and even increase revenue.
It’s a versatile option that anybody can use with limited knowledge, though staying on top of current trends is crucial to finding success.
While you determine what success looks like for your blog, understanding these blogging statistics can help you reach those goals.
Blogs are invaluable tools if you want to spread the word about a product or educate a community on an important issue.
Like what you read?
Have insights to share?
Comment below to let us know what you think about these blog statistics.