Blogging is a great form of inbound marketing that businesses use to gain exposure, website traffic, and even land sales. However, to be an effective marketing strategy, it needs to be done the right way. To tackle blogging and build a solid inbound marketing toolkit, we compiled a list of 18 business blogging statistics that will not only open eyes, but will also help you build and launch a successful blog.
Here are the biggest business blogging statistics of 2021 that small business owners need to know:
1. Blogs are a marketing tool for nearly 80% of businesses
A total of 78.9% of bloggers report that their blog delivers marketing results. The biggest response was “some” results (54.2%), followed by “strong” results (24.7%).
These blogging statistics tell us that blogging is an effective way of growing your business and that it is not difficult to make your blog successful.
2. A blog can increase your conversion rate by 6x
Without content marketing (i.e., blogging), most businesses can expect their standard conversion rate (purchases compared to site visits) to be about 0.5%. With content marketing, your conversion rate is likely to rise to around 2.9% on average.
3. Half of the top 200 Fortune 500 companies have blogs
Sure, you might think, smaller companies could benefit from blogging and establishing themselves as industry experts. But how about large and established companies?
Of the top 200 companies on the Fortune 500 list, 50% run a corporate blog. Even when you’re already at the top, blogging is still an important and effective tool for inbound marketing.
4. Bloggers who spend 6+ hours writing a post report 31% better results
The better the content is, the better your results will be. But shouldn’t there be a point of diminishing returns? Not according to Orbit Media Studios—at least, not below the benchmark of six+ hours.
This is the maximum amount of time that its survey participants indicated that they spend working on each post. Most bloggers spend three hours and 55 minutes writing a post, but bloggers who spend six or more hours writing a post report 31% better results.
Readers are looking for good information. That means the bar keeps getting higher for content creators who want to be competitive in this space.
5. The most successful bloggers conduct their own research
Bloggers who make over $50,000 a year are 5.8 times more likely to conduct their own independent research and publish case studies than less successful bloggers. They are also five times as likely to have a podcast, 4.5 times as likely to publish videos, and 3.7 times as likely to publish interviews.
6. Seven out of 10 people prefer articles to ads
Ads probably won’t ever go away, but they are a lot less important for customers than content. 70% of customers say they would prefer to learn about a company through an article than an ad.
Consumers like to feel like they understand what they are getting and have a relationship with the company they are buying from, and blog content does this for you. 82% of customers find that reading custom content makes them feel more positive about the company, and 90% of customers feel that custom content is useful.
These business blogging statistics show that blogs don’t just help you show up on Google; they also make you more interesting and useful to your customers.
7. Pictures get you 94% more views
Incorporating relevant visuals can get 94% more eyes on your content. That business blogging statistic is a staggeringly effective tool in boosting your marketing campaigns. Visual content helps you get clicks and shares on social media, and can make your content easier to understand.
8. Top-performing posts have 10 pictures
75% of bloggers who place 10 images in their posts report that it is highly effective, but only 3% of bloggers actually do it. Sure, it can be hard to come up with that many high-quality, relevant pictures per post, but it is well worth the effort.
9. Listicles get shared 2X as much
Listicles, or list articles, get shared twice as frequently as any other format of a blog post. A listicle breaks information down into small, easy-to-digest bites, and keeps readers’ attention by giving a lot of useful information in a concentrated format. If you’re looking for content ideas based on proven business blogging statistics, listicles are a great place to start.
10. 70% of bloggers recycle their old posts
When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO) dominance, fresh content is king. This is even more true when it comes to customers looking for information about your industry. If they click on your article or blog post and then see that it’s 5 years old, they might just click away. It might still have great information that is very relevant today, but they don’t know that. As far as they know, it might all be outdated by now.
This is why 70% of bloggers update their old posts regularly. It’s an easy source of content because you already wrote it. All you have to do is check which information is still correct, which information is outdated, and what new developments need to be added.
Updating content is a lot less work for you than writing a completely new article from scratch. And for your customers, it assures them that they are getting the most up-to-date information. It helps you show up on search engines too, as they always prioritize new information over older ones.
11. Long-form posts perform the best
In the early 2010s and teens, you’d find content writing advice recommending that you aim for several hundred words—enough to give some good information, but not enough to overwhelm readers. A common number to shoot for was 800 words.
That number has increased a lot. Semrush found that in 2020, blog posts with 7,000 words or more tended to get the most shares and the best SEO performance.
12. The average blog post is 1,236 words
The average has been going up each year, so expect that trend to continue rising. However, while extreme long-form posts might be the most useful—and therefore the most shared—most people would probably not appreciate having to read that many words. According to research, the average blog post should be around 1,200 words, which is 53% longer than the average length several years ago.
13. Blogging 4 times a week drives 3.5X more traffic
Posting regularly is important for your business blog’s success. Blogs that post four times or more per week get three and a half times more traffic than blogs that post once per week.
14. Blogging daily is still the best
Four times per week is much better than once per week, but if you can manage to publish every day, you should. According to this business blogging statistic, blogs that publish every day have a 128% increase in the likelihood of reporting “strong success” in their outcomes.
15. The best time to post is in the morning
A study of 170,000 blog posts showed that the time of day when people are most likely to read blog posts is between 7 and 10 in the morning. If you schedule your posts anywhere within that window, they will show up fresh in people’s feeds at the right time.
16. 80% of customers ignore paid ads
Up to 80% of customers ignore paid ads in search engine searches, instead preferring to scroll down to the organic (“real”) links to find what they are looking for. This means that even if your competitors are showing up above you in highlighted paid links, you can still get more clicks if you have good organic content with well-researched keywords showing up in their searches.
17. 70% of successful bloggers promote their content
It’s getting harder to get clicks from social media or Google. 50% of bloggers say it has gotten harder in the past two years to get traffic from Facebook. Nearly 20% say it has also gotten harder to get traffic from Google.
What sets successful bloggers apart is that they promote their blogs proactively. 70% of bloggers who make over $50,000 a year off of their blogs promote their blogs, while only 14% of bloggers who make less money make the effort to self-promote.
18. The majority of people will read your blog on Chrome
64% of internet users use Google Chrome as their browser. This might look like only a bit over half, but the next runner-up, Safari, only has about 16% of users. If you have to choose which browser to optimize your content for first, choose Chrome. The last thing you want is for most of your potential customers to click away because the formatting that shows up on their screens is terrible.
Bottom Line
A blog can be a huge bonus to your marketing strategy. It’s proven to be more affordable than advertising while reaping the same benefits of increased visibility, awareness, and traffic to your website (or even physical store).
Follow the advice of these business blogging statistics and create high-quality posts that speak to your audience. In return, you’ll get clicks from Google, shares on Facebook, and the loyalty of customers who trust you to give them interesting and relevant information that they want to read.
