Online marketing is a fast-paced and ever-changing landscape, but one thing remains the same: content is king.

We’ve compiled a list of 31 blogging statistics that will help guide your content marketing strategy in 2024 so you can spend less time fretting and more time creating content that delights and converts.

Your business blog presents an opportunity to connect with your audience by providing helpful and enjoyable content that keeps people coming back.

Brands that prioritize blogging see 13 times more ROI than brands that don’t, so read on for facts and stats to keep you in the know and inspire your future content marketing endeavors — feeling inspired to start your blog?

Great! Let’s get into the facts.

• General Blogging Facts
• The Benefits of Business Blogging
• Writing, Formatting, and Posting
• Blogging Challenges
• Building a Successful Blog

General Blogging Facts

• There are over 600 million active blogs across the internet. (Growth Badger, 2022)
• More than 50% of bloggers are between 21 to 35 years old. (Truelist, 2022)
• Blog posts remain the most popular content format, with 9 out of 10 marketers using blogging to achieve content goals. (SEMrush, 2023)
• There are an estimated 32 million bloggers in the U.S. as of 2022. (Statista)
• Over 2 million blog posts are published daily. (Hosting Tribunal)
• The niches that have the highest percentage of blogs with over 50,000 monthly sessions are food (42.8%), lifestyle (13.3%), and travel (10%). (RankIQ).

The Benefits of Business Blogging

• 80% of internet users interact with both social media sites and blogs. (DemandMetric)
• 59% of marketers find blogging valuable. (DemandMetric)
• Websites with active blogs have 434% more indexed pages and 97% more inbound links than those without. (BKA Content)
• Companies with blogs produce an average of 67% more leads monthly than companies that don’t blog. (DemandMetric)

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• After video and eBooks, blogging is the third most common content marketing strategy. (HubSpot)
• 80% of bloggers report that blogging drives strong marketing results. (Orbit Media)
• 90% of businesses use content marketing tactics, such as blogging. (DemandMetric)
• Companies that blog get 55% more website visitors than businesses that don’t. (HubSpot)
• Bloggers, on average, include 2-3 images per post. (Orbit Media)

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• 88% of bloggers who gate content report some/strong results from blogging (35% of them report strong results). (OrbitMedia)
• Bloggers who use 7+ images per post are 2.3x more likely to report strong results. (OrbitMedia)

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• 70% of people would rather learn about a company through articles than advertisements. (DemandMetric)

Writing, Formatting, and Posting

• In 2022, it took bloggers 4 hours and 10 minutes to write a typical blog post, up from 3 hours and 57 minutes in 2019. (Orbit Media)

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• 40% of content marketers say original visuals, such as infographics, perform best in their articles. (Venngage)
• The average blog post is 1,376 words. (Orbit Media)
• Many business bloggers argue that listicles (list articles) are the most popular blog post format. (HubSpot)
• B2B blogs are typically 12% longer than non-B2B blog posts. (Orbit Media)

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• Posts with video experienced a 4x increase in engagement metrics. (Orbit Media)

• 88% of marketers use visuals in over 50% of their blog articles. (Venngage)
• Bloggers who publish 2-6 times weekly are 50% more likely to report strong results. (Orbit Media)

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Blogging Challenges

• 52% of bloggers say engaging with readers through their content is getting harder. (Orbit Media)
• Although content creators say that producing original visuals provides results, 35% say they struggle with creating this content consistently. (Venngage)

The chart below highlights content creators’ biggest struggles when it comes to implementing visual content in articles:

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• 43% of people admit to skimming blog posts. (HubSpot)
• B2B bloggers spend, on average, 26% more time on each post than B2C bloggers. (Orbit Media)
• The average human attention span has decreased from 12 seconds to 8.25 seconds in the last two decades. (Golden Steps ABA)

Building a Successful Blog

Now that you’ve seen the benefits of running a business blog, you might be eager to get one started on your site or improve upon your current blog.

Regardless of where you are in blog development, brainstorm ideas for engaging posts that keep your buyer persona in mind, optimize your web content for SEO, and follow other best practices that have led businesses to gain ROI from their online content.

Want more success tips on how to be a better blogger? Check out this post with tips from HubSpot’s own blog team. With our free blog builder, you can get started blogging today.

The post Blogging Statistics — 31 Stats You Need to Know in 2024 appeared first on ProdSens.live.

Our 2023 Marketing Trends Report shows that 29% of marketers use a website or blog to attract and convert leads.

The enduring importance placed on blogging isn’t shocking. Blogs are integral to most digital marketing plans because they can:

• Boost SEO
• Improve overall site traffic and a brand’s online presence
• Help prospects learn more about your industry, brand, product, or service

However, starting and running an effective, traffic-generating blog requires much time and energy. Plus, if you’re a marketing manager on a tight budget, you may wonder, “Will blog posts actually lead to purchases?”

To answer the question, here’s some research we conducted to help you determine if a company blog suits your marketing strategy.

Important Blog Statistics Marketers Should Know

Do Blog Posts Lead to Purchases?

Why Blogs Lead to Purchases

How to Lead Readers to Purchases

Creating Your Blog Nurturing Process

Important Blog Statistics Marketers Should Know

As previously mentioned, blogs remain essential to many marketing strategies, and there are statistics that show why. Here are some blog statistics we gathered from our Marketing Trends Report:

• One in three marketers are leveraging their blog or website as well as SEO to land on SERPs
• Blogs, social media shopping tools, and influencer marketing are all tied for the highest ROI of any marketing channel

• 33% of marketers are leveraging blog posts in their marketing strategy.
• Blog posts, interviews, images, and podcasts will see high first-time use among marketers in 2023.

Do Blog Posts Lead to Purchases?

The growth of other content strategies, like video marketing, might make you think consumers will only buy products after seeing them on other platforms.

However, when we surveyed 300 consumers via Lucid and asked, “Have you ever purchased something from a company after reading a blog post?” a whopping 56% said, “Yes.”

Furthermore, according to our trends report, blog posts are among the media formats with the highest ROI, along with videos, images, and podcasts.

Why Blogs Lead to Purchases

If your company has a blog that discusses your industry or how your offerings can help with the average reader’s everyday pain points, your audiences can discover and gain trust in your brand’s expertise. That trust and credibility could ultimately lead to purchases.

Why? Suppose a prospect trusts the advice or information given in your blog posts. In that case, they might trust that your offerings are better quality than your competitor’s because your brand knows the industry, what customers want, and the pain points your product or service solves.

Even if you prefer video, social media, or visual marketing strategies, it’s important to remember that blogs can help you sell products in ways other content types can’t.

Videos and images, for example, might only give prospects a glimpse of how a product or service works. However, blog posts can offer extensive information that would otherwise be cut from videos and images to avoid overwhelming viewers on social media.

Blog posts can also increase your search ranking and allow more opportunities to link directly to a landing or purchasing page. Consumers can find your content via search, then read your post, and easily click to a product purchasing page after your content persuades them to buy a product.

Additionally, because most blog sites allow you to embed videos, podcasts, and imagery, your company blog can also be a great place to promote your other marketing assets while still informing prospects about your brand.

How to Lead Blog Readers to Purchases

In the following year, consider a content marketing mix that includes blogging. How do you persuade shoppers with your blog posts? Here are a few quick tips.

Strategically place product page links and CTAs.

Mentioning your brand, product, or service where it feels natural in your blog posts is an excellent way to generate leads and purchases.

However, you can also use hyperlinks to link to product pages or CTA buttons that draw slightly more attention to a product or offer without directing reader attention far away from the blog post.

At HubSpot, we usually place at least three CTAs related to a blog topic in each post:

• A text-based CTA in the introduction
• A larger banner image at the bottom
• A slide-in CTA that shows up to the side of your text as you’re scrolling through the middle of the post.

This allows three mentions of a product or offering without interrupting the reader’s experience.

The image below is an example of our CTAs.

From top to bottom: A text-based CTA, a slide-in CTA, and a bottom CTA. (Image source)

Offer a free resource:

You probably noticed the above CTA examples included links to free resources. Though it may sound counterproductive, free resources can help your blog lead consumers to make purchases. Here’s how:

If your brand sells a subscription, service, or product that’s pricier or needs your company’s leadership approval, blog readers might need more than a few blog posts to trust your brand and invest in your product. In that case, you should focus on lead nurturing rather than sending blog readers directly to a purchasing page.

HubSpot and many other blogs have grown their contact and qualified lead lists simply by creating a free downloadable resource, such as an ebook, template, or research report, and offering it through CTAs at the end of blog posts.

Below is an example of a recent free research report resource we offered at the end of one of our Sales Blog posts:

To access free — but gated — offers, readers must give basic information about themselves and their company. From there, they receive an automated email or instant download of the resource while also becoming a contact — or lead — and enter our lead-qualification process to see if they could be an excellent prospect to reach out to.

The HubSpot Blog’s free resource strategy results in thousands of qualified leads per year that could convert into HubSpot customers. You can learn more about how to implement it on your blog here.

Remember, quality beats over-promotion.

In another recent Lucid survey, one-third of our general consumer respondents most commonly read blog posts to “learn something new.” Meanwhile, roughly 20% read blog posts for the sake of entertainment.

It’s important to remember readers will likely find your blog because they’re looking for information related to an industry they work in. They may also want to learn something related to their hobbies or need solutions for a pain point in their daily or professional lives.

Odds are, they’re not looking solely for promotional content. If a reader visits your blog site and finds nothing but blog posts filled with product shots and cheesy advertorial language, they’ll likely lose interest in your content and may not develop the sense of trust needed to make a purchase.

It’s wise to place a few un-intrusive CTAs in your blog posts and to mention your product or service when it feels relevant. Ensure that your content primarily offers valuable guidance, advice, and information to help your reader fulfill their needs.

For example, in this post about AI social media tools, we give valuable information about implementing AI-based technology in a social media process while listing HubSpot as one of the tools readers can use.

While we still mention our offerings, the post aims to show readers how multiple AI tools can streamline a marketing process.

Creating Your Blog Nurturing Process

Every brand has a target audience with different interests and content needs. While one blog strategy, such as free resources, will work well to generate qualified leads for a B2B company, other tactics, like simply linking to a product in blog posts, might be more lucrative for consumer-facing brands.

As you focus more on turning your blog traffic into revenue, keep these questions in mind:

• What information is valuable to my audience?
• Does my product require lead nurturing, such as gated offers?
• Will the tactic I’m using seem over-promotional or disengaging to my audience?

Want to learn more about how the HubSpot blog generates leads? Check out this post from one of our content acquisition managers. Or, take down these tips on how to make money blogging.

Before you check out those pieces, download the free resource below.

The post Do Blog Posts Actually Lead to Purchases? [New Data] appeared first on ProdSens.live.

Rebranding a business can be a smart and necessary step to growing a long-lasting business. However, when it comes to your brand or business blog, renaming your blog doesn’t have to be. From the start, you can choose a blog name that stands the test of time, and the various iterations of your brand’s life-cycle.

Outgrowing a brand, or at least a brand name, is common. Marketing platform Mailchimp used their rebranding to help the company transition to a more “grownup” brand that would allow them to serve more small businesses. Many blogs I read, like “Liv’s Healthy Life,” (Now known as just “Liv B,”) quickly rebrand when they realize their old blog name just doesn’t make sense anymore.

Let’s go over some strategies to use when naming a blog, that will give your blogs longstanding relevance.

How to Choose a Blog Name

1. Identify your niche.

What are you doing? What will your blog be about? Will it be an extension of your business or its own project? Identifying what your blog will be about is key to defining a name that’ll expand with you.

The blog name will represent your unique point of view in your industry or niche. It should match the aesthetic of your blog and define the mood you want to give your readers when they visit your blog’s homepage. It should also be descriptive of the type of content you’ll publish.

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For example, I love the blog name “Hot for Food.” The blog is a companion to creator Lauren Toyota’s YouTube channel of the same name. It’s a great example of a name that goes well with its cooking niche.

The name is also broad enough that Toyota can grow her brand outward. If she wanted to release a cookware line down the road, “Hot for Food” would still make sense, and have about a million available puns at the ready. How fun would a saucepan labeled “Hot with Sauce” be?

2. Do your research.

Look at what prominent blogs in your industry are doing. Take note of what you like and don’t like, and use their blogs as a springboard for what readers in your industry like to see. Look for how these blogs are branding, the names of their blogs, and the responses their content receives.

For example, if you’re starting a blog about technology, look at TechCrunch, a massive blog about startups and technology. Their name is short, memorable, and professes their content strategy all in one: to dissect and disseminate the latest tech news for their readers.

It’s also a good idea to think about how your blog will stand out from others. This is also a good time to find out if any of the blog names you were thinking of are already being used.

Start with a simple Google search and then get a bit more technical by checking LLCs in your state. Once you’ve found a name that’s free, make sure that the domain is also available, and consider registering your chosen name to protect it. That way, you can refine how you want your brand to be perceived, and how you want it to grow within the market you choose.

3. Think about your message.

What do you want to communicate? Consider your message now and in the future. When looking over your five-year plan, does your message expand as your company does, and will your blog name still reflect that?

For example, to say media giant Buzzfeed has grown exponentially over the past decade would be an understatement. Buzzfeed’s YouTube channels alone each have billions of views and millions of subscribers. As the company has grown, it diversified and expanded its YouTube content.

Buzzfeed YouTube channels were originally named after colors, for example, Buzzfeed Blue, Buzzfeed Ultraviolet, and Buzzfeed Yellow. Recently, those names have been stripped.

Buzzfeed rebranded their content to grow with their company. Yellow rebranded into Boldly, and later, when Boldly outgrew their name, rebranded into As/Is.

According to founder Jonah Peretti, the rebrand of channel names was to reflect “design and product features that reinforce their unique identities and better serve their many fans.”

4. Use a blog name generator.

When you’re brainstorming name ideas by thinking of your niche and message, write down key words and phrases. Then, you can input those in a blog name generator to help you get started with a few ideas.

For example, you can use Themeisle’s Blog Name Generator, Domain Wheel, Zyro, or Panabee.

These can be used as a starting off point to help you brainstorm even more ideas and get the creative juices flowing.

5. Consider your target audience.

One of the first things you need to think about is “Who is reading my blog?” Will your target audience change over time or do you want people to grow with your brand?

For example, The Children’s Place store is always going to be targeting parents of young kids. While those kids will grow up one day, their target audience will always be parents of young children. On the other hand, with a personal brand like Kaitlyn Bristowe’s, while she started off targeting young women who watched The Bachelor, as she gets older, her demographic could grow with her and change to young moms (if she ever decides to have kids and be a blogger).

Those are just two examples, but it’s important to keep in mind that your target audience might change with you, so you want your name to have a timelessness to it.

6. Keep your brand in mind.

In a similar vein, your blog name should be linked to your brand. Whether you use the same font, colors, or use a play on words, you want people to know that it’s your blog.

Additionally, the overall brand messaging should be consistent across your blog, main homepage, social media, etc.

7. Make sure it’s easy to say and spell.

Don’t let wordiness or design get the best of you when you’re choosing a blog name. Ultimately, you want your name to be catchy, easy to remember, and easy to say and spell. You might be thinking, “Why does that matter?”

Well, let’s imagine that a user comes across your blog on Google. They want to come back to your site, but forget the name because it was too long. Or maybe they try to type in the name but misspell it because your blog name used a pun or play on words. This can lead to confusion and lost readers.

Keep it simple and easy to remember so users can come back again and again.

Blog Name Examples

1. LADbible

LADbible, an entertainment company, originally had a blog of the same name. Over time, their messages expanded and required different funnels for them. LADbible now has multiple blogs in tandem with the original: SPORTbible and Tyla (formerly Pretty52).

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Pro Tip: Flexibility is key, when establishing a brand presence and coming to better understand your audience. Make known, as transparently as is practical, the cause of pivots and overall intention for the changes. Opportunity opens for collective interests and a sensation of shared stakes, when you take your audience on the journey with you.

2. Contently

Similarly, Contently’s blog has a name that’s separate from the company: The Content Strategist. This name suggests that the blog is named after their target audience, a clever way reach the readers they serve.

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Pro Tip: If your company name allows for it, consider derivatives of the name itself – thereby keeping some connection to the company, while maintaining a stand-alone presence.

3. Whole Foods

Rather than name their blog “Whole Foods Blog,” the organic food company went with Whole Story. The name connects to its company but also has its own option for diverse content, telling stories of where their products come from and the customers it satisfies. Whole Foods also kept the keyword in the title, so SEO would be a breeze.

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Pro Tip: When naming your blog, think about what makes it’s brand different from the overarching themes and impact of your company.

4. Target

‘A Bullseye View’ is Target’s all-encompassing blog name. Twisting in the logo was Target’s route, which reflects their branding. With a name like that, the opportunities are endless as to what Target can put on their blog as it grows, something the company keeps in mind with categories such as “Lifestyle,” “Team,” and “Company.”

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Pro Tip: We love this approach. Target does a great job of moving away from their main brand presence while maintaining the theme of their name. Try extending your message, in even humorous ways, by making your blog’s name an enjoyable pun.

5. Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn wants you to know their company, ‘Inside and Out’ with this fun, immersive blog name. The name gives interior decorating buffs a nod, hinting that content will provide deeper information about the people behind the design, as well as the homes Pottery Barn caters to.

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Pro Tip: Making the blog name related to, but not derived from the company/brand name itself allows for the blog to extend the narrative/idea of what the company/brand’s presence and impact are.

6. Plan A Day Out

Plan a Day Out is a local Orange County parenting blog. The reason I love the name of this blog is that it’s super catchy, easy to remember, and communicates its mission. Talk about a blog name that does it all.

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Pro Tip: Acronyms do not work in every scenario. Sometimes they make complicated, non-syllabic phrases that are hard to remember, discern or retain. However, when it aligns, acronyms are a great way to have the entirety of your brand’s name be retained, in a consciously short-handed manner.

7. Backlinko

Backlinko is an excellent blog name by SEO expert Brian Dean. This is a great example of a blog name that is catchy, unique, but also easy to remember. Additionally, the niche and messaging is clearly communicated through its name. Anyone in Brian Dean’s target audience will understand the blog name, since backlinks are a common SEO strategy.

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Pro Tip: It’s possible, and recommended – where applicable, to use the actual mission/purpose/function of your business in it’s name. Try it out – see if it can be done in a seamless and catchy manner!

8. Thrillist

Another great example of a blog name is Thrillist. This blog name is honestly just fun and easy to remember. It doesn’t necessarily correlate to the blog’s message, but that’s okay. Sometimes a fun, catchy blog name will work just as well.

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Pro Tip: Had you ever heard the word “Thrillist”, prior to learning about this blog? Neither had we! And that makes us all remember it! Something to think about…

9. Marketing Brew

Marketing Brew might be my favorite example of a blog name because it comes from the Morning Brew newsletter. Whoever is running Morning Brew came up with a blog name that was perfect for growth. From Morning Brew, you have Marketing Brew, a blog clearly directed toward marketers. Then, you have Emerging Tech Brew, a blog targeting users interested in emerging technology.

The opportunities are endless for the Morning Brew crew. If they want to start a blog about parenting, it could be called Parenting Brew. The overall concept had growth in mind when it was born.

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10. Rob Has a Podcast

I know this is a podcast, but I think the name is a great example of a simple blog name that you won’t forget. This is a personal fan favorite of mine since Rob Has a Podcast is a reality TV podcast from a former reality TV contestant (is my nerd showing?).

This is a great example of just using a simple formula that people will remember. Every blog name doesn’t need to be this creative phrase. Sometimes it can just be your own name.

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Pro Tip: Keep it simple. Many audiences seek out relatability first and foremost. By taking an approach like our friend Rob here, you allow your audience to feel you’re no different than them, and can represent their interests.

Once you’ve finished brainstorming your blog name, it’s time to dive in and learn everything you can about business blogging. In HubSpot Academy’s business blogging course, you’ll learn how to craft a blogging strategy that drives business growth, create quality blog content, and build a guest blogging strategy powered by SEO.

Creating a blog is an important business strategy, and you want to make sure your blog name and content will resonate with your target audience for years.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in April 2014 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

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