Are you still on the fence about whether to start a blog or ramp up your publishing schedule? Are you looking for relevant blogging statistics and data to use in your next piece of pillar content?
Tired of reading? Then listen to this article: |
Here’s the deal. It can be a pain digging through the internet looking for the most important blogging statistics and data ⇣.
But you do it anyway because you know blogging is one of the best ways to engage your target audience, generate leads, and boost brand awareness; and you want to share this with your readers.
And if you haven’t started blogging yet, and aren’t sure it’s needed to grow your online business, it can be tough to determine which blogging stats are the most reliable (or convincing).
Because of this, I’ve done all the work for you. We’ve scoured the web looking for what we feel are the most compelling, need-to-know blogging stats and facts for this year.
So, let’s get started.
Blogging Statistics and Facts for 2020
52% of the top 100 blogs in the world use the WordPress content management system.
Source: Dear Blogger
Finding the perfect platform to blog on can be tricky since there are so many great content management systems to choose from.
That said, WordPress continues to dominate as the most preferred platform. In fact, it’s estimated that WordPress powers over 33% of all websites in the world.
53% of marketers say that blogging is their top content marketing priority.
Source: HubSpot
Blogging is at the core of most marketing strategies. In fact, there isn’t much that your marketing team can do that doesn’t benefit from regularly published blog content. Lead generation increased brand awareness, SEO, email marketing, and more are all marketing methods that your blog will help. So if you don’t fall into the group that is prioritizing blogging, add yourself now.
66% of marketers report using blogs in their social media content.
Source: Social Media Examiner
Your blog doesn’t just add value to your website or your site visitors. When used on other channels, such as social media networks, your blog content has the ability to drive more traffic your way, boost engagement, increase brand awareness, and even convert more sales. Posting blog content on popular social media platforms can also help your search rankings.
94% of people share blog content because they feel it will be helpful to others.
Source: Propel Your Company
The more valuable your blog content is, the more likely it is to be shared by your readers on popular social media channels. Make social sharing easy to do on your blog so people can share their favorite content and spread awareness about your brand for you.
Websites with a blog have tend to have 434% more indexed pages.
Source: Tech Client
If you know anything about SEO, you know that the more content your website has, the more content there is to index and rank in search results. So, it should make sense that having a blog on your website will increase your number of indexed webpages dramatically.
Adding to that, the more webpages your website has, the easier it is for crawlers to decide what your site is all about and display those pages in the right search results for the right people. This improves the quality of organic traffic that comes your way.
47% of buyers view 3-5 pieces of content before making a purchase decision.
Source: Demand Gen Report
If you run an online business, it’s important you understand the entire customer journey. After all, people visiting your website will be at all stages of the buying process and your blog content should reflect that. When you blog, make sure to write about topics that tap into these three main stages: awareness, evaluation and consideration, and decision-making, so no matter where people are at in the buying process, there’s content on your site that will mean something to them.
Companies that blog get twice as much traffic from their email marketing than those that don’t.
Source: HubSpot
It’s not enough to just blog on your website and hope for positive results. Your blog content should be so versatile it can help you in other channels, such as social media and email. In fact, linking to your latest and greatest blog content in email campaigns leads to higher open rates and increased clickthroughs, which means more traffic on your website. This not only helps you draw in interested leads, but it also boosts your site’s SEO too.
Blog articles with images get 94% more views.
Source: ContentMarketing.com
Neurologists believe that people can process visual imagery 60,000 times faster than written content. On top of that, images within blog content break up long text, make things easier to understand and offer people that prefer to see over read a way to learn about your business.
Marketers who prioritize blogging efforts are 13x more likely to see a positive ROI.
Source: HubSpot, State of the Inbound
If you want to be a successful marketer, you have to work hard and diversify your strategies. Luckily, blogging has proven to be an effective way to boost your overall ROI. You’ll know when your ROI starts to climb when you see things like higher conversions, increased revenue, and more brand engagement.
The average word count of top-ranking Google content is between 1,140-1,285 words.
Source: Searchmetrics
There’s no denying that making your blog content stand out is challenging. That said, it’s good to know that longer blog posts are going to help you gain favor in Google search results. Thought the typical blog post ranges between 1,100 and 1,300 words, from a more technical SEO perspective, you might want to consider going even longer (nearly 2,500 words).
Of course, long blog content doesn’t automatically mean better search rankings. You also need to consider things like content quality, relevance, target audience, keywords, and link quality.
70-80% of users ignore paid ads and instead focus on organic search results.
Source: SEJ
You may see some positive results from your paid ad campaigns that appear in search results. But the truth is, most people are looking for organic search results, such as links to your blog content, to find what they’re looking for.
Companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website.
Source: Business 2 Community
Any time an authoritative website links to your website in their own content, you reap SEO benefits, are privy to their audience, and gain more traffic to your site. Plus, you begin to establish yourself as an industry leader, which can help you grow your following and your customer base. The best link-building strategy around is to publish high-quality blog content that others want to reference and tell their own readers about.
Blogs have been rated as the 5th most trusted source for accurate online information.
Source: Search Engine People
Blogs are highly trusted sources of information. And while the internet may seem oversaturated with too much blog content, this is actually good news for consumers. The more content a consumer can check out, the more confident they’ll feel when they choose you as the company to do business with. That means a higher retention rate, lifetime customer value, and of course, revenue.
Over 409 million people view more than 20 billion pages each month.
Source: WordPress.com
Remember what we said about the internet being oversaturated? Well, it is. But this isn’t stopping people from continuing to publish killer content and reap the benefits. It also doesn’t stop people from conducting thousands of Google searches a day in search of the perfect blog post to read.
73% of visitors skim rather than read the blog post thoroughly.
Source: HubSpot
Though long-form content generally ranks better in search results, you have to remember to write for your site visitors. Most people have very short attention spans and want to consume as much information as fast as possible. This means they are doing a lot of scanning. When you blog, be informative but structure your content into short, easy to read paragraphs. Also, add bullet points, highlight key phrases, add headlines to break up the text, and don’t forget the images.
61% of marketers see generating traffic and leads as their top challenge.
Source: HubSpot, State of the Inbound
It’s a shame that content marketing, specifically blogging, is such an effective way to grow a following or business, and yet over half of all marketers still feel that generating traffic and leads is their biggest challenge. Take it from us; this won’t be your number one challenge if you prioritize blogging.
Compounding blog posts generate 38% of overall traffic.
Source: HubSpot, State of the Inbound
When we say compounding blog posts, we mean content that will continue to generate more organic traffic over time. In other words, the content that will never be outdated will continue to drive more traffic your way as time goes on. Of course, you can never really know which blog posts will compound the most for you. So, continue to consistently post new content on your site, and try to make it all as evergreen as possible.
36% of people prefer list-based headlines.
Source: ConversionXL
Numbers are everywhere and people love that. After all, there’s a reason why websites like BuzzFeed do so well. They tap into people’s love for numbers, lists, and desires to skim everything they read. You should do the same when you blog.
60% of marketers reuse content 2-5 times in order to generate more content for their blog.
Source: Izea
There’s no sense in making things harder for yourself. If you have a great piece of killer blog content that your readers love, repurpose it to make it usable in other ways. For instance, turn the information into an infographic, create a short email series, focus on bite-sized topics within the post and create separate posts for each, or even create a piece of video content for those that prefer to watch than reading.
55% of bloggers check analytics often.
Source: Orbit Media
Out of the 95% of bloggers that have access to their website’s analytics, over half of them check the metrics on a regular basis and feel this has a positive impact on their success.
This is a great strategy for those wanting to monitor their business’ growth, find which channels convert the most people, discover where traffic is coming from, and so much more. Use a free analytics tool like Google Analytics so you can make better data-driven decisions for your online business.
And there you have it! The 20 most important blogging statistics and facts for 2020 that you, whether a new or seasoned blogger, should pay careful attention to if growing a following or a business is on your radar.