Does your company website have a business blog. Are you actively publishing to it or is it an after-thought?Don’t have one yet? It’s time to join the club. Blogging is increasingly critical to marketing success, and allows your brand to connect with its potential customers. I hope that these business blogging statistics will help you decide what your business needs to do to maximize your digital marketing through your corporate blog.
Business blogs have great ROI
One thing I love about blogs is that they’re out there forever. And every time you publish a blog post, it can be indexed by Google for people to find later. Here’s how it adds up for your average business:
Producing content costs 62% less than traditional marketing formats, but generates 3x the leads.
Part of this cost reduction, of course, is the fact that you pay less for distribution. Writing doesn’t require special software, either. You can create great content with just an internet-connected computer and business applications. No graphics design tools, or anything like that. Of course, superior lead generation results in part from the fact that content stays out there to access any time.
Prioritizing your blog increases your chance of making money off of it by 13x.
In other words, writing a blog shouldn’t just be a mindless task that you do at random. Instead, make the blog an important part of your marketing strategy. Set aside time to make a quality post, and put forward your best work. Get an editor to make sure it’s easy to read, and answers lots of questions. If you’re having trouble finding time, then consider hiring someone to help you. It’s that important.
Write a blog for 94% more links to your website.
Remember that links to your website don’t just increase views by themselves. They’ll also help your website rank higher in web searches. When someone asks a question on Google, they’re more likely to end up on your website, where you have a chance to convert them into customers. Case closed.
Business Blogs Drive Traffic
Did you know that blogs run by a business work to drive internet traffic to the site? One reason for this is that blogs offer you the opportunity to answer customer questions. This gives the customer something valuable…but they have to come to your website to get it.
Consider this:
Businesses that do 4 or more blog posts per week get 3.5x the traffic of those who post one or fewer weekly.
I must admit that this is a lot of writing. And a lot of time spent creating content. However, blogging increases your business’ presence on the Web. More pages of skillfully written content on your website have the ability to catch, and retain, consumer attention. This goes far beyond the “50% off last year’s products” pitch.
Part of this is due to the fact that:
23% of social media posts contain links to blogs.
Think about that a minute. Anyone who takes a look through their Facebook feed will notice that there are status updates from friends, clever memes, political rants and…links. Many of those links are to blogs of various sorts, whether from traveling friends or a nonprofit group. And of course, many of the blogs will be commercial in nature. Create quality posts, and a share of the traffic is yours for the taking.
Just as importantly:
At least 75% of websites include a blog.
That’s a huge segment of the internet, isn’t it? Of course, some websites are exclusively a blog, without much other content such as shopping or news. However, this large percentage demonstrates that many business websites also include blogs. The type of content can vary widely, from discussions of what kind of tile to put in your bathroom, to beauty tips and stock analysis.
Blogs are a great way to distribute content
Yes, really. I’ve talked about email marketing at length before, and this is certainly an efficient way to distribute content. But unless you have a customer’s permission to email them, your ability to do so legally is limited. How can you solve that problem? Put your content in a place that allows a browsing customer to find it for themselves. That’s one reason blogs are awesome.
In fact,
65% of content marketers say blogs are their most-used format.
Let’s unpack this a little bit: One reason that blogs are used so much is that the content originator controls access. Distribute something on Facebook or Instagram, and you’ll have to pay advertising fees to keep it online. Email marketing is useful, but at some point the email you sent is going to get pushed to the bottom of your customer’s inbox. But if something is posted on your website, it stays there until you take it down. Pay for content generation once, and it’s the gift that keeps on giving.
45% of B2B marketers say blogging is their second-best marketing method.
That’s after email, of course! One of the advantages of email is that it goes directly to the consumer. But as I’ve said before, the content can get lost, so better to save those for newsletters or sale announcements. By contrast, blog posts are available by Google search any time. And if blogging wasn’t an awesome way to distribute content, marketers wouldn’t be doing it. Either way, blogging gives customers a way to get to know you, which has a way of boosting sales later.
59% of B2B marketers say blogs are the most important tool they use.
This blogging statistic is an interesting contrast to the one above, especially given that these numbers add up to more than 100%. But the stats are actually a bit different from each other. Why? Importance is hard to measure against effectiveness. Email is often aimed at immediate customer response, such as purchases during a promotion. By contrast, blogs are usually more interested in consumer education or talking about what’s going on at a company. Both help sell goods and services, but in different ways.
Business blog posts get passed on.
Really. They do. And this wouldn’t necessarily be the case if all marketers did with these posts was toot the company horn about how much money they made every year. These types of blogging statistics are best kept among business stakeholders, though customers can find those numbers for public companies. So, how do we know business blogs get passed on?
47 Million pieces of content get shared every day, according to AOL.
Think about that number another way: viewers think that something is useful to them 47 million times a day. These can be educational blog posts, or announcements about some social initiative undertaken by your company. Maybe someone knows that a friend is facing a certain problem, and sees the solution in a blog post.
Speaking of which:
94% of the time, blog posts are shared to help someone else.
Help can come in many different forms. For example, if an area Realtor has a blog post about choosing a house for a large family, that post might be shared with a large family by someone who knows they’re looking for a new home. At the same time, a thrifty Millennial might send a blog post about fixing leaky faucets that they found on a plumber’s site to their friends. In both cases, the “giving away” of free help can result in the purchase of services by someone who needs them.
Shorter isn’t always better
When writing a blog, you want to ensure that posts are the right length. Write something that is too long, and a time-challenged consumer might skip it. Make it too short, and you risk not covering the topic adequately. Remember that people share helpful posts, so you’ll want to ensure your blog meets this benchmark regularly.
Want a top Google ranking? Shoot for 1140-1285 words.
I like this blogging statistic because it shows that medium-length posts are favored by Google. It allows you to get quite a bit said, but at the same time doesn’t get too long winded. Remember, especially in business your customers are often busy, so you’ll want to get to the point.
At the same time,
Only 18% of commercial blog posts are over 750 words.
Think about it: write 300 more words, and boost your chances of getting a top Google ranking. As everyone knows, this ranking is important for getting your content discovered. Social distribution is important too, but Google rankings help when a potential customer is asking a question.
Long posts create 9x the sales leads of short ones.
Without a doubt, part of this has to do with search engine placement. At the same time, being able to answer an established customer’s question or make a connection with your reader are helped with longer posts. These factors are what drive sales, so this blogging statistic is too important to ignore.
Lastly,
Less than 10% of bloggers get “strong results” with posts over 2,000 words.
That’s not to say we should never go over that word count. In fact, this post is over 2,000 words. If a post’s topic calls for more than 2000 words, then it’s probably better to cover your topic thoroughly rather than just breeze through it. You can use shorter posts to call attention to that larger one. Also, long posts will be read if your audience considers them useful. Professional judgment is very important here.
Make your posts relevant
Want to leverage your blog posts to increase sales? Make sure the blog is relevant to your audience. Otherwise, they are less likely to be read, and less likely to be shared with others. In order to be relevant, you need to ensure that you are sensitive to your audience-type. Consider this:
96% of B2B buyers like hearing from industry experts.
At the same time,
58% of customers trust content prepared by editors.
Blogs need to be relevant to their audience. Industry experts in B2B marketing often include management of medium or large companies. They can also include academics if applicable, researchers, and other professionals who know a lot about your field. For B2C businesses, the focus is a little bit different. Customers like to hear from people who have used these products, reviewed various options, and decided what’s right for them. Content (and blogs) written by editors includes third-party generated opinions.
What these blogging statistics show in both cases, however, is that potential buyers prefer to hear from people like them when making purchasing decisions. Seeing what others enjoy, use, or think is instructive any time someone is deciding on a course of action themselves.
Readability is key
No use writing a brilliant blog post only to have people pass it over, right? After all, the value of blogging is to have customers read it, share it, and act on it. The most pertinent posts are the ones that people remember the best, and that customers are more likely to “reward” with sales. So, what blogging statistics can help us format our posts to be useful?
43% of consumers skim blog posts.
This means that your potential customer is going to look at the page quickly, and decide in a few seconds if they’re going to digest the whole thing.
List-based headlines are preferred 36% of the time.
Likely, one reason for this is that skimmers can get right to the point of a blog. If they really need to gather more information from your blog, they can always do that later. Either way, you have provided relevant, useful content to a potential customer. You never know when that’s going to pay dividends.
By the way, if you are still on the fence about blogging, outside of these blogging statistics you should check out the thought-provoking article Are Blogs Still Relevant Today?
How has your marketing business benefited from blogs? I’d love to hear your success stories as well as which of the above blogging statistics you found most inspiring.
Neal Schaffer is a leading authority on helping businesses through their digital transformation of sales and marketing through consulting, training, and helping enterprises large and small develop and execute on social media marketing strategy, influencer marketing, and social selling initiatives. President of the social media agency PDCA Social, Neal also teaches digital media to executives at Rutgers University, the Irish Management Institute (Ireland), and the University of Jyvaskyla (Finland). Fluent in Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, Neal is a popular keynote speaker and has been invited to speak about digital media on four continents in a dozen countries. He is also the author of 3 books on social media, including Maximize Your Social (Wiley), and in late 2019 will publish his 4th book, The Business of Influence (HarperCollins), on educating the market on the why and how every business should leverage the potential of influencer marketing. Neal resides in Irvine, California but also frequently travels to Japan.