General statistics
These are all essential questions that will allow you to better understand blog reading statistics and your competition.
Find out the number of bloggers in the United States, their main Reasons to blog and other information for bloggers.
Number of blogs in the world
Let's assess the number of blogs that exist (and thrive) on the internet. While there are plenty of websites devoted to blogging, many sites only include small blog sections and articles. Additionally, while new blog sites are created every day, some blogs are removed or become inactive.
As of 2021, there are over 570 million blogs on the Internet, according to activities reported by WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, Wix, Squarespace, and Medium (and that number is constantly increasing).
We are going to show the statistics for the various platforms and explain how we arrived at this figure below.
First, let's take a look at the number of websites of all sorts. According to InternetLiveStats, there are over 1.93 billion websites on the web.
In addition, numerous blogging platforms present their activities:
- WordPress statistics - 30 million sites
- Tumblr stats - 541 million blog accounts
- Blogger Statistics (Blogspot) - 617,000 blogs
- Wix Statistics - 200 million users
- Squarespace stats - 2.8 million websites
WordPress claims that 43% of the web is built with its services and its software powers more than 30 million websites. But, of course, not all of these WordPress sites are blogs.
However, there are other extremely popular website builders and CMSs as well.
Tumblr usage statistics show 541 million accounts, Wix Count more than 200 million users, Squarespace feeds 2.8 million websites, Blogger (Blogspot) powers more than 622,000 blogs, and there are many more blogging platforms in the world.
Even if we are pessimistic and only add figures from Tumblr, WordPress, and Blogger, without taking into account the blogs of the rest of the websites, we can see that our estimate of over six billion blogs is correct.
(Source: Statista.com, Wix.com, Builthwith.com)
Number of articles published every day
With the number of active blogs approaching 500 million, it is not surprising to discover that over 7 million blog posts are published every day.
This figure is exceptionally high considering that many blog sites don't post every day. Many of them only post a few times a week, or even a few times a month.
(Source: Internetlivestats.com)
The most popular blog platform
43% of 1.93 billion websites that exist online are powered by a single content management system, WordPress, which shows that it is a definite market leader.
Further proof that most blogs are powered by WordPress is the fact that 20 billion of their blog pages are viewed every month by 409 million users.
Although WordPress owns between 40 and 65% CMS market shares According to various sources, there are many other similar platforms. Shopify (5.0% market share), Joomla (2% market share), Wix (2.6% market share) and Drupal (2.5% market share) are just a few examples (as of October 28, 2020).
Why do people start blogs
The main motivation for starting a blog is self-employment (24.2%), while 17% want to express themselves creatively and 16% want to build an audience.
(Source: Convertkit.com)
Use of blogs by Internet users
About 43% of people only skim over blog posts, but 36% of readers find blogs believable if they include case studies.
(Source: Quoracreative.com)
Length of blog content
Whether you're a guest writer, a ghostwriter, or have your own blog, the main question on your mind is probably how many words should your posts contain.
How long should your content be to provide real added value to your readers while keeping them engaged to the end? Can you get your message across in the short amount of time people spend reading a blog post? How long should your headlines be to generate higher click rates? The answers to these questions are critical for your blogging efforts to bear fruit.
Keep in mind that while there are many statistics that show that certain item lengths perform better than others, you should remain cautious. The success of your blog depends on a delicate balance between quality and quantity.
The following blog statistics will help you better understand how write compelling blog posts and attract and retain readers.
Optimal item length
Whatever the reason, bloggers who make the big difference are more likely to see results. In fact, the majority of bloggers who write articles longer than 3,000 words report “good results.”
That doesn't mean that 3000 words is the magic length for good SEO performance. However, this indicates that longer articles have better SEO performance overall.
(Source: Orbitmedia.com)
Longer article results
Trends show that successful blog posts are getting longer every year, with the number of posts over 2,000 words increasing every year.
(Source: Orbitmedia.com)
Most shared blog posts
Because longer articles are more effective for long-tail keywords, they have better SEO performance, which leads to a direct increase in social media shares.
(Source: Quoracreative.com)
Length of articles vs number of links
Longer blog posts simply contain more information and are therefore more likely to be found and linked.
(Source: Backlinko.com)
Writing and reading habits
In addition to viewing and reviewing blog statistics, serious writers should also look at blogger statistics. These can tell you if you're spending too much (or not enough) time writing your posts, if you need to adapt how you find your titles and headers, and whether it would be a good idea to update and republish that old, already very successful blog post.
Studying the habits of other bloggers can help you improve your writing process and show you How to boost your articles.
So let's take a look at some of the most important statistics and facts about blogging.
Time required for writing
- Bloggers need an average of 3.5 hours to write a blog post. Bloggers who spend 6 hours or more writing their content are more successful.
- On average, 30% of bloggers are successful, while 38% have results that are above the norm.
- Bloggers need 65% more time to write a blog on average compared to 2014. Blog posts are also 56% longer on average today than in 2014.
- 38% of bloggers say they update their old blog posts: Even if a blog post has been published for a while, it can still generate organic traffic and get shares.
Effective titles
- Blog titles with a minimum of 8 words have a 21% higher click-through rate
- Blog titles with a colon or hyphens have a 9% higher click-through rate
- 58% of bloggers write two or three titles before choosing one
- 1% of bloggers try 11 to more than 20 titles for their blog before making a decision
- 54% of bloggers work with editors, while 46% edit their articles themselves
Most used languages
- 71% of WordPress blogs are in English according to statistics.
- Spanish is the second most used language for WordPress blogging with 4.7%.
- This linguistic diversity makes English blog posts accessible to a global audience.
Frequency of publication
According to Firstsiteguide.com
- The frequency of publication depends on the target audience and the type of blog.
- It is possible to post several times a day for short and quick articles.
- 22% of bloggers surveyed publish 2 to 3 blog posts per week.
Link between publication frequency and results
- The relationship between publication frequency and blogger results
- 60% of bloggers who post daily get good results
- 15% of bloggers produce and publish content daily
- 67% of bloggers who publish one post per day get great results
- Only 46% of bloggers who post several times a day say they perform well
Statistics sources include Quoracreative.com and Orbitmedia.com
Favorite blog reading times
- Knowing the reading habits of your target audience is crucial to getting your blogs noticed.
- Scheduling your articles according to your readers can help you optimize the reach of your blogs.
- Most people prefer to read blogs between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., especially on weekends.
- 7 minutes is the preferred reading time for blogs.
- Medium concluded that 1,600-word or 7-minute blog posts performed best in terms of reading, according to Buffer.com.
Hubspot concluded this after sampling 170,000 blog posts.
Content types
Deciding what type of content you're going to use to create a blog post can sometimes be difficult.
For example, you might prefer to write in-depth articles rather than how-to guides, but what about summaries and infographics? Should you spruce up your content with other types of articles from time to time?
You should explore the content types that give the most positive results in terms of traffic, in order to be able to increase it constantly.
The following statistics will give you an idea of the types of blogs that generally perform well. Use them as inspiration, but not necessarily as strict guidelines.
Impact of quality content on traffic
- Content quality is very important to get organic traffic on Google.
- Google sets the rules for organic traffic and decides what content will be visible.
- High-quality blog posts are more likely to receive more traffic.
- The quality of the content is a key element for natural referencing.
Reuse of content on social networks
- Over 60% of marketers are reposting the same content on social media.
- Duplicate content on social media is not penalized.
- Many bloggers repost their articles several days after they are published on their blog.
- Many of them are also reposting the same content on social media like facebook, Medium, and Tumblr. (Source: Neilpatel.com)
Most popular content
- 60% of marketers use blogging, while 80% use visual content.
- Bloggers add visual elements to their posts to increase their appeal.
- Marketers produce a variety of content to achieve their goals.
- Visual content has surpassed blogging in popularity. (Source: Statista.com)
Images in blog posts
- 39% of bloggers who add 10 or more images to their posts get good results
- 26% of bloggers who add 2 or 3 images report solid success.
- Images are directly linked to the success of blog posts.
- 39% of bloggers who add 10 images or more say they've had good results.
Photos that work best:
- Photos of real people have a 35% higher conversion rate than stock photos.
- It's important to add images that are unique, credible, and relevant to get better results.
- New images can add more SEO value. (Source: Optinmonster.com)
Audios in blog posts
Audio content in blog posts led to better results for 45% of bloggers.
The majority of the audio content that is included in the articles relates to podcasts. When used properly, audio content can add depth to your content and spice it up.
(Source: Optinmonster.com)
Blog traffic
Optimizing your blog for search engines is one of the most important steps you need to take to increase your organic search traffic and your ranking in search engines. This starts with keyword research and continues with putting up engaging images and videos and updating old blog posts to improve their performance.
To generate more traffic to your blog, you need to promote your content regularly. Les social media are your greatest asset today, but there are also paid ads, email marketing, SEO promotions, guest blogging, and influencer marketing.
With that in mind, we're going to look at how other bloggers are driving traffic to their websites and see what we can learn from them.
Impact of videos on traffic
- Video content generates 50x more organic traffic.
- Video content is 50% more likely to generate organic traffic according to research conducted by Omnicore in 2018.
- 51% of online users prefer video content to any other type of content.
Using social media to generate traffic
- Only 29% of bloggers consider social media to generate good traffic results.
- 69% of bloggers use SEO to generate traffic.
- 66% of bloggers use email marketing to generate traffic (Source: Orbitmedia.com)
- 97% of bloggers consider that social media helps increase traffic to their blog.
- Social media can dramatically increase your blog traffic.
- 93% of marketers believe that social media increases their visibility.
- 88% of marketers say social media gets more traffic.
- Social media is a free channel.
(Source: SocialMediaExaminer.com)
Blog growth
Once you've reached your desired stage in terms of audience size, it's easy to feel satisfied and successful, and to stop trying to grow your blog further.
However, if you take your blogging career really seriously, you should always do what you can to expand your audience and continue to focus on growing your blog. Here are a few blog statistics that illustrate how other people are expanding their audience and the reach of their site.
Keyword research
- 83% of bloggers do keyword research.
- 26% of bloggers do keyword research for each article.
- 17% of bloggers never do keyword research.
- 53% of bloggers who always do keyword research get good results.
- Only 17% of bloggers who never do keyword research get good results.
Use of paid advertising
- 80% of paid ads are used to build an audience.
- 65% of online marketplaces use paid methods to generate traffic.
- 52% of online marketplaces use paid methods for niche audiences.
- Only 42% seek to promote the launch of new services or products.
Source: Searchenginewatch.com
Importance of blogging for inbound marketing
- Blogging is the top inbound marketing strategy for 55% of marketers.
- 61% of marketers have SEO as their main inbound priority.
- 55% of marketers focus primarily on blogging.
- SEO and blogging are deeply intertwined. (Source: Hubspot.com)
Impact of the blog on the number of inbound links
- Businesses with an active blog get 97% more inbound links.
- Quality content is rewarded with inbound links from other sites.
- Blogs are considered to be credible sources of information. (Source: Hubspot.com)
Blogging activities
What motivates you to create content for people who share the same interests as you?
Is money your main motivation, or do you find pleasure in helping people learn something new or answer their questions?
Maybe you blog for professional reasons and want to establish yourself as an expert in your field?
The reasons for individuals and businesses to start blogging are numerous, and many businesses are now using blogging to increase profits.
Believe it or not, a simple quality blog can really do wonders to increase profits.
So let's look at the benefits that motivate most people to blog and how they monetize their blog.
Reasons why people blog
- 24% of bloggers blog to express themselves creatively.
- 16% of bloggers are motivated by self-employment.
- 12% of bloggers are motivated by teaching.
- 12% of participants created a blog to have their own audience.
- Only 12% of bloggers created their blog to increase their income.
Impact of blogging on buying decisions
- 61% of online shoppers in the United States made a purchase after a recommendation in a blog post.
- Blog marketing is more effective at building trust than any other marketing method.
- Blogging really gets consumers' attention and can be very persuasive. (Source: Contentmarketinginstitute.com)
- 80% of bloggers say that their blogging efforts have a positive business impact.
- Businesses that keep an active blog see a 126% increase in leads.
- Small businesses that work actively on their blog see 126% growth in leads.
- Blogging can be an effective way for businesses to generate leads and grow their customer base.
How to make money with a blog
- 22% of bloggers surveyed do not generate any income.
- 19% of bloggers say affiliate marketing is their main source of income
- 17% of bloggers earn the most money selling various services or products to their readers. (Source: Orbitmedia.com)
Most popular blogs
- Most blogs have a readership of a few thousand people.
- Some blogs have millions of unique readers every month.
- Sites that have a lot of traffic can generate considerable profits.
- Sites with millions of unique readers per month can earn several million dollars.
- There are very popular blogging sites that attract a large number of readers and make significant profits.
Conclusion
Starting a blog can be one of the most rewarding projects, both emotionally and financially.
However, you need to do it right if you want to take advantage of all the benefits available and ensure that your efforts pay off.
These blog statistics will help you understand the big picture and prepare for a successful adventure.
Over the past few years, the blogging world has seen massive changes. Just looking back and comparing the evolution of the number of bloggers between 2014 and 2020 proves just how much change and growth has taken place.
There are currently millions of blog sites, millions of devoted fans and readers, and that's not about to change.
The only things that could change are current trends. Blogs will remain popular for many years to come, but their form and content are expected to change.
Here are a few examples of trends that we can expect to see in the future blogosphere:
- Greater attention to visual content
- Adapting to the trend of voice searches
- Transition to visual search
- Prioritize quality content
- Other affiliate marketing examples
- More long content
- Making the switch to data-driven blogging
- Greater adoption of SaaS
