39 Powerful Blogging Statistics and Trends for 2020

Boriana Slabakova Feb 13, 2020 · 10 months ago
blogging statistics

Whether you are looking for statistics to help you write an article or you want to stay informed about the advances in the blogging world, we have all the latest statistics in one place!

The blogging community is ever-growing and trends are constantly changing depending on the present reader’s interests and the ways they search for information. Finding the most accurate and up-to-date statistics on the various trends and bloggers will help you succeed with your blogging endeavors.

Below you will find the most essential blogging statistics for 2020 to help you attract readers, boost traffic, and to stay ahead of the competition. Take a look down below and see for yourself!

An Overview of the Most Important Statistics (Editor’s Pick):

  • There were an estimated 505 million blogs online in 2018.
  • Time spent writing a blog post went up 65% since 2014.
  • More than 50% of bloggers are 20–35 years-old.
  • Over 77% of online users regularly read blogs.
  • In January 2019, there were already 350 million new blog posts, according to blog statistics.
  • 30% of successful bloggers spend more than 30 hours weekly working on their blogs.
  • The cost of blogging is 62% less than outbound marketing while generating three times as many leads.
  • 52% of marketers state that finding time to create and promote content is the biggest challenge.
  • There are more than 31 million active bloggers in the US.
  • 75% of bloggers reported “strong results” when using more than 10 images.

Blogging Industry Statistics

To discover new, relevant blogging trends, one needs to invest a lot of time and effort into researching the history, as well as the current state of blogging — hence why we compiled data gathered from a variety of sources to present all the facts in one place.

Overall, the blogging industry has grown dramatically over the last 20 years, and based on current statistics it will continue to do so in the future.

New blogs are created daily, an increasing number of people trust blogs, and more and more companies are turning to blogs to connect with their target audience.

Get all the facts you need down below.

1. Blogging stats reveal that by 2020 there will be 31.7 million bloggers in the US.

(Statista)

Blogging is getting increasingly popular and will continue to do so as more people search for genuine and trustworthy content. Research done by Statista in 2015 revealed that by 2020 there will be more than 31.7 million bloggers in the US; considering that the number of bloggers in 2019 reached 31 million, this number isn’t that far off.

2. There were an estimated 505 million blogs online in 2018.

(SoftwareFindr)

The latest blog stats reveal that there are around 600 million blogs today. However, these figures aren’t 100% accurate as there are many platforms with little to no information as to how many blogs they have.

In 2018 this number was estimated to be at around 505 million; these include Tumblr (441 million blogs), WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and approximately 1 million blogs on other platforms.

3. The first blog appeared in 1994.

(SoftwareFindr)

In 2005 it was estimated that there were about 50 million blogs. By 2013 this number jumped to 152 million and continues to grow by the day.

4. As for 2017, 21.9% of survey participants published a blog post once a week.

(Statista)

Blogging statistics (2017) by Statista reveal that only 2.6% of bloggers post new content on a daily basis. The most popular timeframe for new blog posts was once a week (21.9%). Now, whether this is due to sheer laziness or they simply lack the time, overall, it’s a poor strategy. Namely, daily posts are one of the most effective ways of building a successful blog.

5. Time spent writing a blog post went up 65% since 2014.

(Orbit Media Studios)

The average post currently takes 3 hours and 57 minutes to write. However, every year it takes a bit longer to write an article as there is more demand for quality content. Blogging statistics (2018) show that it only took 3 hours and 28 minutes to write a blog post in 2018.

Half an hour may not seem like a lot, yet do keep in mind that the more often you post content, and the longer the post, the higher the success rate. In fact, 38% of bloggers with the most substantial results spent more than 6 hours writing an article for their blogs.

6. The five “supersectors” entail almost 2/3 of all blog sectors; these include lifestyle, parenting, travel, beauty & fashion, and food & drink.

(Vuelio)

Vuelio reveals the most viewed blogs. The two most popular topics are lifestyle and parenting. Fashion saw a massive decline from 2016, dropping from 22% to only 8% in 2018. This is because social media has taken over what fashion blogs did for readers in the past.

7. Bloggers with higher income use paid promotions 10.3 times more often than bloggers with lower income.

(GrowthBadger)

They are also more active in creating videos, offering free tools, doing podcasts, and collaborating with others. In reality, bloggers making $50,000 or more per year are more focused on investing further in their blog and offering their readers more than just written content. These statistics on blogging reveal the mistakes of low-income bloggers; namely, focusing solely on content instead of expanding to other forms of content.

8. More than 50% of bloggers are 20–35 years-old.

(Sysomos)

Next in line are bloggers under 20 years of age, making up 20.2% of all bloggers. A close third are bloggers between 36 to 50 years of age (19.4%). Finally, older bloggers (51 years and over) make up just 7.1% of all content creators. When it comes to gender differences, blogger demographics (2018) reveal that women are slightly in the lead with 50.9%, whereas men follow suit with 49.1%.

9. There are about 5.8 million blogs posted daily.

(Internet Live Stats)

Even though statistics reveal that posting daily gives better results, the frequency of blogs being posted has dropped since 2014 from several times per week to several times per month.

10. 23% of bloggers post several times per month, and only 2% do so daily.

(InterLiveStats)

A survey on blogging statistics by Orbit Media revealed the rising trend of writing long-form content over short-form content.

Additionally, they state that success is only a matter of finding the middle ground between content length, which can be time-consuming, and the frequency of posting.

11. As of January 2019, there were already 350 million new blog posts for that year alone.

(InterLiveStats)

Bloggers are especially active during the holiday season with more blog posts being posted during this time of year. Moreover, this data just goes to show how active they are on a monthly basis.

Blog Reader Statistics

Getting an exact figure on the number of people visiting and reading blogs is quite a challenge. Many blog readers go through numerous blogs to skim and focus only on what they feel is most important. Overall, readers want content that is genuine, informative, and entertaining. Content that doesn’t offer anything in return will be overlooked quickly.

To gain your readers’ trust you must first provide them with some real value. Take a look at the following stats to get a better understanding of how this is done.

12. Blog traffic stats reveal website traffic can be increased by as much as 434% with a blog.

(MyStory)

By adding a blog to your website, regardless of the site’s topic, you’ll generate more traffic overall. Search engines prefer quality content that is not only entertaining but also informative for the readers; the more effort you place in your blog, the bigger the reward.

13. In a 2018 survey, 46.74% of 18 to 29-year-old Americans stated that they read blogs.

(Statista)

Blog demographics statistics covering the different age groups reveal that in the US younger generations read blogs the most. The survey was conducted on a number of internet users that have read a blog on a PC over a four week period in 2018 throughout the US. Each entry was reviewed and organized by age. With no great surprise, the results revealed that the younger generations were the most active.

14. Over 77% of online users regularly read blogs.

(D. John Carlson)

Stats on blogging reveal that most people when asked whether they read blogs, say that they either don’t have the time or the interest; yet figures tell otherwise.

Blogs are no longer composed in the online “diary” format as in the past, focused more on opinions and sharing your voice. Today blogs are written to inform, educate, offer facts, and present readers with valuable information.

15. The average time a reader spends reading an article on a blog is 37 seconds.

(NewsCred)

Considering the incredibly high word count bloggers are currently aiming for, the blog readership statistics stating that an average reader spends 37 seconds per blog post are discouraging, to say the least.

Still, the key is not to fall into the trap of chugging low-quality content as most bloggers do; instead, grab your readers’ attention straight away so they read the entire post rather than just skim through it.

16. Content that offers a solution to readers is more successful, blog statistics reveal.

(NewsCred)

Increasing your post count, inviting guest bloggers, and providing more value to your target audience is a recipe for success. Nevertheless, blogs aren’t read for entertainment purposes only.

Readers usually read a blog to find a solution (to a common problem). The content should, therefore, be skimmable so readers can find what they are looking for without having to read the whole post. Lastly, don’t forget to use images, videos, and audio content to boost engagement.

17. The number of blogs offering personal experience has put blogs in 5th place on the list of most trusted sources for credible information online.

(Search Engine People)

Even though the majority of blogs are not written by experts in the field, their personal touch makes them a trusted source. Meaning, they are an excellent way of reaching out to your customers and community and providing visitors with information on the latest insights and news.

18. 30% of the most successful bloggers spend more than 30 hours weekly working on their blogs.

(Vuelio)

Successful bloggers are the ones that have more than 10,000 unique visitors or more per month. In 2018, blog stats revealed that bloggers investing more than 30 hours on their blogs (each week) were more likely to attract new visitors. Regardless, for a blog to be successful and earn money, it is crucial to invest adequate time for it.

19. In 2018, as much as 79% of Australians between 30–39 years of age read blogs and reviews online.

(Statista)

Statista reveals that based on the number of consumers who read reviews, Australia makes for an excellent target audience. Usually, the most prominent age group interested in reading online content is that under the 30-year-old threshold. In essence, blog reader demographics (2018) reveal that older readers in Australia are increasingly gaining interest in online content.

20. 43% of bloggers get the most results by driving traffic through paid services.

(Orbit Media Solutions)

Even though 97% of bloggers use social media to drive traffic, it is actually the least effective way of generating traffic — a mere 28% of bloggers state it brings results.

On the other hand, the most effective way — paid services — was used by just 17% of bloggers in 2019.

21. More than 22.2 billion blog posts are viewed by 409 million readers on a monthly basis, blog traffic statistics reveal.

(WordPress)

It is never too late to jump into the blog writing train as readers are as hungry as ever for engaging content. With the figures revealing that reader traffic is skyrocketing and growing exponentially, new bloggers can quickly jump in on the opportunity.

22. 54% of bloggers have a hard time keeping visitors of their blogs engaged.

(Orbit Media Solutions)

If the marketing is stale and if no efforts are made to attract the right target audience, readers get matched with a blog that doesn’t answer their questions (or solves their problems). To engage readers, the targeting must be narrowed down and more specific in order to attract only those who find the information you provide of use to them.

B2B Blogging Statistics

A B2B blog is one of the most crucial tools for driving traffic to any business website. A blog will allow a business to not only connect with their potential and current customers but also provide fantastic benefits as well; for instance, spreading brand awareness, driving traffic, SEO, and more. 

Approximately 76% of B2B marketers share that one of the most important things to have on your business website is a blog. This is because it offers numerous benefits, including attracting new customers, engaging visitors, and boosting conversion rates.

23. Blogging stats reveal that businesses that publish more than 16 blog posts a month get almost 3.5 more traffic than those that publish less than 4 blogs a month.

(HubSpot)

The study further revealed that smaller companies with 1–10 employees that posted more than 11 blog posts a month had two times more traffic than companies of the same size with only 2–5 blog posts a month. On the other hand, large companies with more than 200 employees that posted more than 11 blog posts a month had over three times the traffic of their competition that posted less.

24. Blog statistics reveal that 55% of marketers feel that for inbound marketing blog content creation is a top priority.

(HubSpot)

As per the State of Inbound 2018 Global Report, the first priority for marketers for inbound marketing was expanding their SEO efforts and organic search. Right after that was the focus on quality content creation for the company’s blog.

Honorary mentions include marketing automation (50%) and content distribution (47%). Overall, one of the best ways to attract more traffic, which 61% of marketers are still struggling with, is through quality content.

25. Business blogging statistics 2018 show that 53% of Fortune 500 companies have a blog.

(Center of Marketing Research UMass Dartmouth)

The report, conducted by The Center of Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts, analyzed blogs and social accounts of companies from the 2018 Fortune 500 list.

They discovered that the percentage has gone up by 11% from the previous year. What’s more, in the year 2015, there was a record low (21%) of Fortune companies that owned a blog.

26. One of the most impressive statistics about blogging is that through blogs B2B marketers get 67% more leads over those who do not have a blog.

(HubSpot)

One of the most significant benefits of blogging is being able to attract high-quality leads. The more a reader has contact with the blog, the more likely they will make a purchase. If you’re putting out valuable content consistently, you’ll be surprised how much your leads can skyrocket.

Once a blog is up and regularly updated, it will continue to work for the company and boost leads as well as sales. It’s a cost-effective way to boost the marketing efforts of small companies (and large ones as well).

27. A blog for companies can get 97% more inbound links to the website.

(HubSpot)

Results came from data collected from 1,531 HubSpot customers that have primarily small and mid-sized businesses. Of all of these, 795 had a blog, while 736 did not. Those that blogged regularly also saw 55% more visitors to their website and 434% more pages indexed by major search engines.

28. 52% of marketers find that finding time to create and promote content is the biggest challenge.

(Orbit Media Solutions)

This, combined with the difficulty to get readers to engage in content (54% marketers reveal), shows that there needs to be a balance between the time and the quality of content.

29. Blogging ROI reveals that $1,600 worth in content can mean over $60,000 in traffic.

(ExpressWriters)

The investment in blogging is relatively small in terms of money. What makes blogging expensive is the time that it consumes. With that said, seeing how “time is money” a study found that approximately $1,600 invested in blogging content can have an ROI of over $60,000 in traffic, organic searches, and potential profit if done properly. However, experience, knowledge, and a lot of time is needed to achieve this kind of results.

30. The cost of blogging is 62% less than outbound marketing while generating three times as many leads.

(Content Marketing Institute)

Content marketing is an excellent and inexpensive way to generate more leads. Outbound marketing is in the past and doesn’t target customers who actually have an interest in the products or services. Moreover, it consists of ads that primarily share how great a product or service is regardless of whether consumers care or want to see the ads. Consumers prefer real information that is useful to them over being bombarded with advertisements and messages they have no interest in.

31. Guest blogging statistics reveal that 62.96% of consumers feel that blogs with more than one author are more reliable.

(NEIL PATEL)

More authors means more knowledge, experience, and expertise is put into content creation. Consumers feel that the more writers you involve in a blog, the higher the value (of the content in question). Different writers can provide different points of view that can give readers more insight into the topic.

Blogging Trends 2019

The first blog made its debut in 1994. Since then, blogging has taken the internet by storm with new blogs popping up every day.

From personal blogs where individuals share their most intimate opinions to company-owned blogs used to boost sales, you name it — blogs are everywhere.

Personal bloggers use them to share their knowledge and expertise. Companies, on the other hand, add blogs to their websites to connect with customers and boost brand awareness. As a result, blogging will continue to grow as long as there are new trends, applications, and interests from readers.

32. Blogging statistics reveal that on a scale of 1 to 10, prominent bloggers put 9.2 on quality content.

(GrowthBadger)

Quality content is the principal focus for bloggers who make more than $50,000 a year. Following the focus on high-quality content, bloggers rank headlines and introductions next with 8.5, 7.6 for SEO, 7.2 for email marketing, 7.0 for website design, and 6.3 for the URL and blog name. 

If you want your blog to be successful and reach the big-blogger earnings, focus on what is most important, top-quality, insightful, and exciting content.

33. There are more than 31 million active bloggers in the US.

(GrowthBadger)

To answer the question “how many people blog around the world” would be nigh impossible. However, in the US we know that there are an estimated 31 million bloggers actively posting at least once a month.

This number grows daily, and data from Ahrefs reveals that the number of people searching in Google for the term “how to start a blog” is around 121,000 every month worldwide. Meaning, approximately 4,000 people consider starting a blog daily. With that said, it’s never too late to start a blog as the interest for more blogs grows with each passing day.

34. Statistics on blogging 2017 reveal that the typical blog length was 1,142 words.

(Orbit Media Studios)

There is a tendency for blog posts to gradually increasing in length each year. Statistics reveal that readers prefer valuable and informative content over short articles. In 2014, the average post length was 800 words. In 2017, this number went up to 1,142 words. Today the typical post length is 1,236. Bloggers with successful blogs reveal that they get “strong results” in their blogs with longer content.

35. According to blogging statistics 2019, prominent bloggers apply 343% more email-marketing methods than low-earning bloggers.

(GrowthBadger)

Email marketing is far from dead. In fact, it is one of the best ways of connecting with readers. Bloggers that earn more than $50,000 through their blogs (annually) use multiple email collection methods to get new subscribers than low-income bloggers. On average, they use about 2.4 collection methods for getting new subscribers and gathering email information on their readers, while the lower-income bloggers use about 0.7 methods for email collection.

36. The latest statistics about blogs reveal that, at 75%, how-to articles are the most popular type.

(Orbit Media Studios)

Bloggers choose how-to articles over all other blog formats; the least popular type of blog posts were roundups. Next in line were news and trend blog posts at 49% and eBooks and guides at 47%.

These numbers reflect the blogger’s activity over the last 12 months. The success rate, however, is quite different. Although eBooks took third place, bloggers saw the best results in writing long-format guides and eBooks with original research at 40%. The least successful blog posts at 28% were news and opinion.

37. Blog statistics 2019 show that 75% of bloggers reported “strong results” when using more than 10 images.

(Orbit Media Studios)

The more images used in a post, the better the results, in fact, 75% better. Other successful tactics are writing more than 10 draft headlines at 67% and publishing new blog posts daily also at 67%. Only 1–3% of bloggers, however, include more than 10 images into their articles.

Bloggers tend to focus on other elements of blogging, which has proven less successful. 35% of bloggers publish original research, but it has proven to be only 39% effective. Approximately 32% of them check analytics for every article with only 49% effectiveness, while 30% use formal editing processes with just 38% yielding results.

38. Blogging stats 2019 further reveal that 55% of bloggers had good results with blog posts with more than 2000 words.

(Orbit Media Studios)

As previously mentioned, the word length is constantly growing as more readers want to find all the information they need in just one sitting. The average length that bloggers saw as most successful was around 2000 words. The effectiveness of blog posts drops quite significantly when they’re between 500–1000 words (20% effectiveness), and for articles that are less than 500 words, it goes slightly up to 22% in regards to results.

39. 47% of travel bloggers include 2–3 images.

(Orbit Media Studios)

Travel blog statistics reveal that highly visual content equals more success. The more images incorporated into a blog, the better the results. The majority of bloggers use only 2–3 images in their blogs, yet only 30% say they get strong results.

However, they can get better results by upping their game to more than 10 images. 75% of bloggers report results when using more than 10 images in their blogs. Visual content is important and it helps build trust and keeps readers interested.

FAQs

Are blogs still popular in 2019?

(WordPress)

Yes, blogs are not just popular but are also growing in popularity as more readers turn to blogs for valuable information, feedback on products and services, and entertainment. WordPress reveals that the interest in starting blogs and the rate at which new blogs are being created is still just as popular, if not more, than in the past few years.

How many bloggers are there in 2018?

(SoftwareFindr)

Currently, there is simply no way we can get an accurate (100%) figure on the number of bloggers around the world; primarily due to the many different blogging platforms being used around the globe. Yet, SoftwareFindr collected data from all the leading platforms and estimated that during 2018 there were around 505 million blogs. Now, how many bloggers actually post there is hard to tell.

How many blogs are there in 2019?

(Statista)

As mentioned above, getting an exact number is near impossible due to the many platforms used for blogging and the numerous new blogs that are created daily. Based on recent estimations from 2018, combined with Statista’s report, by 2020 there will be around 31.7 million bloggers in the US alone; most importantly, the number keeps rising each year, so keep that in mind.

What percentage of blogs make money?

(GrowthBadger)

In a survey of 1,117 bloggers done by GrowthBadger revealed that less than half of bloggers actually make money from blogging. Still, 71% of bloggers start a blog to make money, and only 17% do it because they have a passion for blogging. So, the success rate of having a profitable blog is relatively low.

Bottom Line

If you plan on starting a blog, or you already have one, to be successful, you need to check the latest data concerning the direction that blogging is currently taking. It is crucial to be aware of the newest trends, the leading statistics, and what successful bloggers are doing at the moment.

So, now that you have all the latest blogging statistics, are you still considering starting that new blog? If you already have one, share your most successful strategies and what you are doing to get the best results.

Sources:

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