A recent study on blogging in 2018 shows that the least common blogging tactics are most likely to be successful.
Orbit Media Studio surveyed 1000+ bloggers and published the statistics and trends in a detailed report.
Perhaps the most interesting portion of the study is an analysis of what top bloggers do differently.
Only a minority of bloggers are doing these things, but a majority of those putting in the work report seeing strong results.
Publishing 2000+ Word Articles
Only 18% of those surveyed are publishing articles of 2000 words or more.
Out of those who are publishing 2000+ word article, 42% say it drives strong results.
On average, the length of the typical blog post is 1,151 words
Publish Articles More Than Once Per Week
Just 21% of bloggers in the survey are publishing articles more than once weekly.
Out of those who publish more than once per week, 46% say it drives strong results.
Blogging frequency has been going down over the past 5 years. In 2018 most bloggers are publishing a few times per month.
Spend Over 6 Hours Writing an Article
A small minority of 13% of bloggers are spending 6+ hours on each article.
Out of those putting in 6+ hours per article, 39% report seeing strong results.
Time spent per article is on the rise, but half of all bloggers spend less than 3 hours.
In 2018, the average length of time to write a blog post is 3.5 hours.
Create Their Own Research
Only 25% of those surveyed say they create their own research.
Out of those publishing original research, 58% report seeing strong results.
Bloggers who conduct original research are 2.9x more likely to report “strong results” compared to those who don’t.
Why Are Most Bloggers Not Doing These Things?
The reason why only small percentages of bloggers are doing these things is that it’s difficult, time-consuming, and expensive.
For most bloggers, it’s not feasible to spend over 6 hours writing 2000+ words and conducting original research.
Many bloggers also have day jobs, so in order to accomplish those actions, they would likely have to hire writers, a research team, and maybe even an editor.
However, that may be a worthwhile investment for businesses looking to drive better results with their blogging efforts.
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