Publishing blogs is still one of the best ways to optimize your website and connect with your audience. That’s why it’s important to stay on top of blogging trends and statistics. This way, you can come up with a sound, data-driven marketing strategy for your business.
Today, we’re rounding up the best blogging statistics for 2024.
Our Favorite Blogging Statistics
- There are more than 500 million blog sites worldwide.
- 88% of businesses that do outsourcing pay people to write for them.
- 38% of bloggers publish content once a week.
- 68.52% of bloggers agreed that blogs add credibility to a website.
- 22% of bloggers spend 2 to 3 hours working on a post.
- Long-form content gets an average of 77.2% more backlinks.
- How-to articles is the most popular blog format.
Let’s dive into the detailed blogging statistics, starting with some general stats.
General Blog Statistics
1. Blogs Account for More Than a Third of All Websites
There are over 1.7 billion websites in the world. And out of that number, more than 500 million of them are blogs.
Getting an exact number is tricky since there are factors that you’ve got to take into account. For example, some of those sites are inactive now. But it’s still an impressive number and there are no indications that it will go down anytime soon.
2. Bloggers in the United States Can Make $51,120 a Year
On average, a blogger based in the United States can make up to $51,120 per year according to Glassdoor. This data is based on 18 bloggers who submitted their salaries anonymously to the platform.
This can change based on where in the United States the blogger is located in the country.
3. Bloggers Publish Millions of New Posts on WordPress Every Month
There are 70 million new posts that go live on WordPress every month. The same source notes that there are 409 million views each month. They view more than 20 billion pages in that time frame.
4. Companies Outsource Their Content Creation
Content Marketing Institute via SlideShare
Of those who outsource their content strategy, 88% say that they do so for content creation.
35% of them hire people to distribute their content. Some outsource jobs related to content technology, strategy, measurement, and editorial planning.
If you don’t have an in-house content team that’s dedicated to blogging, there’s no harm in outsourcing those tasks as some marketers do.
5. Most Bloggers Publish Once a Week
According to ConvertKit, most bloggers (38%) publish content once a week. That’s regardless of whether the publisher is a professional or not.
While the frequency of posting is different for every blogger, what’s important is that you post on a regular schedule.
6. Outdated Plugins Are Responsible for Malware Attacks
In its 2016 report, Sucuri mentions that malware attacks are caused by out-of-date plugins. 56% of WordPress installations are out-of-date. But this percentage is much lower compared to other content management solutions like Joomla (85%), Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) (97%), and Drupal (81%).
It also notes that SEO poisoning of a website came in at 32% while 68% of the time, Securi found backdoors on each of the websites they observed.
7. Huffington Post Earned $14 Million a Month from Sponsored Ads
In an article published in May 2017, it was reported that Huffington Post earns $14 million a month from sponsored advertising through banners and other digital ads across its channels.
It’s one of the most successful blogs which, at the time, was worth over $1 billion.
Other high-earning blogs include Engadget ($5.5 million/month), Moz ($4.2 million/month), and Mashable ($2 million/month).
e-Commerce Blog Statistics
8. High-Income and Low-Income Bloggers Prioritize Content Quality
Bloggers who earn at least $50,000 a year believe that content quality is the most important factor for success. Lower-income bloggers feel the same way.
However, they do differ in priority. High earners focus on article headlines, introductions, SEO, site design, blog name, and email marketing.
Low-income bloggers spend their time working on their social media presence, publishing frequency, and standing out from similar content.
9. Blogs Add Credibility to a Website
68.52% of surveyed bloggers agreed that blogs help add credibility to a website. They use blogs to showcase their expertise in their field.
When asked which specific factors contributed to their credibility, most (30%) said that content quality is the key. 17% of respondents answered good design.
15% said that publishing regularly is important while 12% leaned toward having good authors.
10. Consumers Will Stop Altogether If Images Won’t Load
According to Adobe, more than half of consumers (53%) will stop browsing a site if the images won’t load while 32% will switch devices given the same situation.
Other potential issues that can turn users away are trouble interacting with the content on the site, content is too long, content takes too long to load, video is slow (or the resolution is poor), and the content not displaying well on the user’s device.
11. Shoppers Do Research Before Buying
59% of shoppers that Google surveyed said they’ll research a product before making an in-store or online purchase.
That’s why it’s important to have a blog where you can talk about your products and services. 46% of shoppers also said that they confirm a business’ inventory online before going to the store.
By having a blog, you provide potential customers the information they need. This improves your chances of landing a sale.
12. Millennials Feel That Online Content Drives Brand Loyalty
62% of millennials say that a brand’s online content is what keeps them loyal to the company. But they also say that the content they get can turn them off since they do little to address their concerns.
Instead, they get too long, sales-driven content that doesn’t tailor to their interests.
About 12% said that they don’t like marketing communications.
Marketing Blog Statistics
13. In 2020, 22% of Bloggers Spend 2 to 3 Hours on Each Post
In 2014, most bloggers only spent 1 to 2 hours working on their blog posts. Only a few would take 6 or more hours on it.
But in 2020, only 6% of bloggers spend an hour or less on posts. 22% spent 2 to 3 hours. This only shows that bloggers saw the importance of spending time to optimize posts for success over time.
14. Bloggers Only Pitch Guest Posts to 10 Contacts or Fewer per Month
Out of 70 respondents to Referral Rock’s survey, 50% said that they only reach out to 1 to 10 contacts for guest post opportunities per month.
27% said that they pitch to 11 to 25 contacts. 16% send inquiries to 25 to 100 people. 7% of the respondents will write more than 100 contacts for guest post opportunities.
The same survey mentions that more than half of them (60%) end up writing 1 to 5 guest posts per month.
15. Content Marketing Budgets Are Rising
In 2019, marketers increased their content marketing budget by 78% over the previous year. In the same report, nearly a third of marketers (32%) said that they are “definitely clear” on the best way to run a content marketing campaign.
16. Write Longer Content if You Want Backlinks
According to Backlinko, long-form content gets an average of 77.2% more links than shorter articles. The same can be said for social shares but you get diminishing returns when you go past 2,000 words.
The same research also shows that there’s no correlation between backlinks and social shares. That means there’s little to no crossover between what’s shareable and content that gets backlinks.
17. Videos Are the Best Way to Promote Blogs on Twitter
Twitter claims that Tweets with video attachments get 10 times more engagement than those without. Video ads also save 50% on cost-per-engagement.
There are different types of videos that you could use to engage users. There are video ads, video ads with website buttons, and Amplify Pre-roll.
If you want to increase your user engagement on Twitter, try adding videos.
Blog Content Statistics
18. Long-Form Blog Posts Get More Shares
Most people use their mobile devices to read posts. So for bloggers, it only makes sense to write shorter posts to a user’s attention span.
But according to BuzzSumo, long-form content gets more shares from people. If your content is 3,000 to 10,000 long, the average share is 8,859 on Facebook.
So you have a better chance of outperforming your competition on social media if you write longer blog posts.
19. Bloggers Will Welcome More Guest Posts in 2021
One of the key findings in The States of Digital Media 2021 by Influence & Co is that 93% of editors stated that they plan on increasing or maintaining the volume of guest content that goes up on their sites.
Also mentioned in the report is the average word count of posts with more than 1,000 shares which is 891.
20. Get More Shares by Asking Questions
Headlines that end in a question mark get 23.3% more social shares than headlines that don’t end in them.
The same research also mentions that headlines that are 14 to 17 words in length will generate 76.7% more social shares compared to shorter headlines.
You should also know that the average post gets 9.7 times more shares than a post that’s published on a B2B site. However, the distribution of shares and links for B2B and B2C publishers appear to be similar.
21. How-To Articles Is the Most Popular Blog Format
Do you want to start blogging but don’t know what to write about or which format to choose?
Apparently ‘How-to’ articles are the most popular blog format in 2019 according to 77% of bloggers surveyed. This is followed by news and trends (49%) and guides and ebooks (47%).
Other popular blog formats to consider include opinions, interviews, research, gated content, infographics, and roundups.
If you’re running out of ideas, switch it up and try any of the following formats. If these work for other bloggers, there’s no reason why they can’t work for you.
22. Engage Users by Adding Research Data to Content
Having content that’s backed by data is 73% more persuasive than publishing a post without one.
People want to read blogs that support their content with facts and figures. Not only will getting into the practice of citing sources and doing research help get more eyes on your blog, but it also establishes your blog as an authoritative figure in your niche.
This can get you more backlinks and recognition from your peers.
23. You Have 7 Minutes to Get Your Point Across
According to Medium, the average time that a user spends on an article is 7 minutes. That means your content’s length should ideally be that long.
If an article moves past the 7-minute mark, you’ll see a dropoff in readers.
24. More Bloggers See the Need for Visuals
In 2019, 74% of marketers said that more than 70% of their blog posts contained some form of visual. This is up from 2018 where only 63.5% of them added visuals in their posts.
It’s a 10.5% increase from the previous year.
When asked what kind of visuals they use, 40% said they use stock photos. 34% said they used original graphics. Another 14% use videos and presentations. About 8% said that they add charts and data to their blog posts.
But when asked about which type of visual content helped them reach their goals, 40% said that original graphics like infographics had the best results. 24% credited videos and presentations. Stock photos weren’t as good since only 13% said that these helped them reach their goals.
The majority of those surveyed (28%) spent less than two hours working on their visuals for blog posts. 36% of the respondents used an online tool or a graphic maker to create their visual content. 29% said they had an in-house designer work on the project.
Blogging Statistics – Conclusion
Blogs are here to stay. There is no doubt about that. They bring us all the latest news, inspiring ideas, even contribute to our self-improvement. They are such a powerful tool that even politicians and celebrities use it to boost their visibility and ratings.
It might be hard to accurately determine how many blogs are there, but one thing’s for sure:
At this rate, we will be celebrating 1 billion blogs in no time.
Think the best is yet to come?
We sure do!
Let’s see what the future holds…
Want to Learn More?
- The Ultimate List Of WordPress Statistics
- How to Start A Blog: Step-by-Step Guide
- Best WordPress Hosting
